Uncle Tom’s Got Dots
To replace an iconic columnist, MidWeek finds another local icon, deejay and show promoter nonpareil Tom Moffatt, to write a new three-dot column called Uncle Tom’s Gabbin’. It debuts next week
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Tom Moffatt shares Chinese takeout with staffers, from left,
Luke Wurpel, Mahealani Diego and Alan Arato
You’d figure after five decades as Hawaii’s premier showman, Tom Moffatt would be closer to winding down these days than revving up. Heaven knows the man who’s been the nexus for entertainment in the Islands - who hasn’t been to a Moffatt production at least once in their lives? - has earned the right to do what Robert Kekaula often advises his viewers to do, “kick back and relax.”
But “Uncle Tom” - as friends and business associates have affectionately called him since his pioneering days as a radio disc jockey - isn’t interested in taking it easy, even at the ripe age of 75. Dim the lights and close the curtains on this career? Nah. Go out and enjoy a favorite pastime like swimming or backgammon, rather than work the phone lines and book a major act? Maybe later. Much, much later.
Fact is, this busybody’s days just got a little busier after accepting the gig as MidWeek‘s newest three-dot columnist. In doing so, Moffatt is determined to follow in the footsteps of such local daily luminaries as Tom Horton, George Daacon, Dave Donnelly, Ben Wood, current MidWeek editor Don Chapman and, of course, the man whom he is replacing - Eddie Sherman, who’s been writing about the Islands’ people and its famous visitors since 1956, and been a mainstay at MidWeek since 1985.
“I’m excited about it,” says Moffatt, whose weekly column titled “Uncle Tom’s Gabbin’” - a witty take on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic novel - begins in the Feb. 8 issue. “I’ve always liked the dot-dot-dot concept and would like to pick up where Eddie left off.
“I’ve known Eddie since we were junior announcers over at KGU in the mid-‘50s, and he had told me a few weeks before his last column that he was retiring. Next thing I know, Don Chapman is calling me up and telling me about the idea of using me as Eddie’s replacement. I was like, ‘Are you joking?’ And Don said, ‘No, we’re serious.’
“Honestly, I liked the idea right away. But I wanted more time to think about it. On top of that, I didn’t know how Eddie would take it. But Eddie called me up afterwards and said the move by MidWeek was ‘brilliant’ and ‘a coup.’ Those were his exact words and I really felt good when he said that.”
Still, Moffatt understood that because this wasn’t a solo endeavor, he would need a commitment from others before making the jump into the print medium.
“I first talked it over with my staff because I knew I needed their help in
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