Tony Bennett - I left my heart in San Francisco

Back


Union Bank of California promo. Beautifully danced by Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu. SF own local halau, lend their talking hands to the story of the city by the bay.

I recently had contact with the director, Jim Yager, and he provided some background on this amazing work of art.

Jim: "It was inspired when I saw Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu perform their choreography of this song at KQED for an event. It was one of those lightning strike moments when I saw the whole film produced in my mind's eye as they were dancing gracefully in front of a black curtain. It was just plain serendipity ..."

"We filmed Hula SF just a few weeks after 9/11 in 2001. We had been making production plans since mid-summer, and had delayed the production a couple of times as their was so much fear and uncertainty in the air here in the city. We finally spent two days with the dancers in all the locations you see in the video in early October, and I will never forget the response from those watching along the sidelines as we filmed. Tears of joy filled their eyes as Mr Bennett's song permeated the air, and the dancers swayed and told the story with their hands. It was a great emotional release for all of us, I think, and a reminder that their was still simple beauty and romance in a world that had been so tilted off its axis. It was one of those pure experiences I will never ever forget. I figured it would air for a few months on KQED and then be forgotten. Amazingly, it's been on their air nearly every day in the six years since then."

Jim can be reached at

The fantastic dancers are at


Channel: Music
Uploaded: January 13, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Author: stargazer4atime

Length: 00:02:46
Rating: 4.85
Views: 220455

Tags: Tony Bennett Hula dance San Francisco Union Bank Jim Yager

Embed Code: Paste this code in your page


Video Comments:
tarokirl (November 23, 2008 at 2:58 pm)
What the hell do hula dancers have to do with San Francisco? LOL
StanGrad97 (November 23, 2008 at 5:18 pm)
Right..now I see what you mean. WTF! that is funny. I dont see the correlation. Good song though. I live here!
gypwin (November 23, 2008 at 9:12 am)
great singer but then so is 'gypwin' or 'gentleman john'.check them out on you tube
songomz (November 23, 2008 at 6:24 am)
San Francisco is one of my dream city...
LEOPARDTWO (November 4, 2008 at 6:42 pm)
Beautiful...
scotty12347 (November 4, 2008 at 9:59 am)
why the sarcasm?
dinan545bmw (November 4, 2008 at 5:00 pm)
oh, sorry if you misinterpreted here! wasn't intending to be sarcastic at all. on the contrary, was merely being cordial and respectful to ALL!! :) so, please do visit us again soon in SF! BEST REGARDS!
scotty12347 (November 4, 2008 at 9:59 am)
why the sarcasm?
Chlorof0rm (November 4, 2008 at 1:17 am)
Does it really have the dancing girls on the streets?
stargazer4atime (November 4, 2008 at 1:37 am)
No - you have to visit the halau, or just close your eyes and dream.