Aloha Y'all will perform Saturday, May 17, 2008, at the Hopewell Library, 209 E. Cawson St. Part of the Appomattox Regional Library's Roots Music Series, the show will start at 1 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Aloha Y'all will re-create the music of the Tubize Royal Hawaiian Orchestra and present a mini-lecture on the history of Hawaiians' roots music. Aloha Y'all is Charles "King" Arthur, Ron Curry and Dr. Gregg Kimball, state scholar for Virginia roots music.

The Tubize Royal Hawaiian Orchestra formed in Hopewell in the 1920s, and was led by Elbert A. Coley, later owner of Coley's Ice Cream. Made up of factory workers and housepainters, men and women, singers and musicians, the Tubize Royal Hawaiians were an in-demand act in prewar Virginia. The orchestra performed traditional Hawaiian songs, popular Hawaiian-style music and original compositions across the United States, recording for the Okeh record label and appearing weekly on WRVA radio until they disbanded in the late 1930s.

Their story, along with other local musicians, is told in "Old Friends: Music of the Southside from 1900-1930," an exhibit at the Hopewell Library and part of "New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music," a Smithsonian Institution exhibition also on display until May 24, 2008.

New Harmonies is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Virginia Association of Museums. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the U.S. Congress. For additional information on New Harmonies or Museum on Main Street, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org.

The Appomattox Regional Libraries has partnered with Historic Hopewell Foundation for New Harmonies. For more information on the Roots Music Festival lineup or the exhibits, visit www.arls.org.