Songwriter writes tune about old paniolo friend
‘Maui Cowboy, Ulupalakua’ by Mondokane written about Wendell Wong
Wendell Wong has had songs written about him before, but when his lifelong friend Mondokane wrote “Maui Cowboy, Ulupalakua” about Wong, the 61-year-old cowboy was moved.
Mondokane is the stage name for Maui songwriter Raymond Medeiros, who was a classmate of Wong in the late 1970s at Baldwin High School. Wong won the 1977 state wrestling title at 167 pounds.
“Mondo and I went to school together,” said Wong, who has worked as a cowboy for Ulupalakua Ranch for more than 30 years. “He was a wrestler, I was a wrestler. His brothers were all wrestlers.”
The song idea came up at Mondokane’s birthday party about a year and a half ago.
“I never thought he was going to become an entertainer, but I went to his 60th birthday, and I saw that he played music over there,” Wong said. “Then I told him, ‘Hey, bruddah, you got to write one song for the Ulupalakua guys, my boys.’ He tell, ‘I will.’ ’’
Wong is familiar with songs about his paniolo past and present.
“You know, I actually got about two or three songs,” Wong said. “Danny Estocado, he wrote one song for me and other brother, about a good friend of ours. We always go rodeos and stuff and he always plays over there; that was maybe in the 1990s.”
Mondokane, 61, said the song came to him naturally. It has a country twang to it.
“I’ve been playing since I was a youngster; my professional career started in my 20s,” Mondokane said. “I was born in Lahaina, I came from Kam III in 1st grade, so I think I was like 6 years old when I met Wendell at Wailuku Elementary.”
Mondokane recalls being at a Baldwin class reunion “a couple years ago, and you know, we were talking, and he was always talking about Upcountry and the cowboy rides and stuff like that. I said, ‘Hey Wendell, I’m going to write a song about you.’ And, you know, he’s a man of few words, not a man of many words. He just said, ‘shoots.’
“So, then I wrote the song and he just got really excited about it. . . . It just grew from there.”
Mondokane said a video is also planned to go with the song, which he hopes to have done by early next year. He plans to enter the song in the single of the year category at the Na Hoku Hanohano awards. The song is available on all digital download stores.
Both men are a little saddened by the demise of the Fourth of July Makawao Rodeo, which saw its 55-year run at Oskie Rice Arena in Olinda end last year. It is being replaced with the Upcountry Stampede.
“Very sad because it was here for many, many years,” Mondokane said. “And why? It’s known throughout the whole world as the Makawao 4th of July Rodeo. I don’t understand why they did that . . . I don’t know why they have to change that.”
Wong said he enjoyed wrestling in high school because “wrestling the humans was not as hard as wrestling the cattle.”
He once chose a rodeo appearance over playing in a Baldwin football game.
“Even when I was playing football and whatnot, I was going to rodeos. I stayed away from the bull rides though, that wasn’t my thing,” Wong said. “I do roping and whatever else — calf roping, team roping. That’s why once the (football) coach said, ‘Hey, you cannot go rodeo tomorrow.’ I said, ‘I going rodeo tomorrow. I was rodeoing before I played this football.’ They don’t want you to go get hurt. I say, ‘don’t worry.’ ’’
Mondokane was gratified to bring the Ulupalakua paniolo history to the stage.
“You know, I used to go to all the rodeos, that was when Wendell was one of the big guys over there,” Mondokane said. “I would try to do what
the cowboys do when I was young, everyone wants to be a cowboy when you’re young. I always had cowboy friends, so I always told myself, ‘I wish I could have done that when I was young,’ but I know it’s pretty hard work.
“I wasn’t no John Wayne, that’s for sure.”
Wong enjoys the song. “You know if it was 20 years ago it would have been better because then I could rock to that song. Now, if I dance to that beat I might get one heart attack. It’s all good,” he said.
His life as a cowboy has been rewarding, too.
“The best part is riding a horse, but not every day is on a horse,” Wong said. “Sometimes, it’s digging holes. I don’t know if you could count all the holes I have dig already.”
Sumner Erdman, president of Ulupalakua Ranch, said Wong, his most veteran cowboy, deserves every song he has written about him.
“He’s a former state wrestling champion; he wrestled for (coach) Garner Ivey way back in the day,” said Erdman, whose ranch is currently handling 1,400 head of cattle. “He has been a cowboy here, working for us for 30 years. He’s loyal, great, jack of all trades, fun-loving guy.
“The song has him laughing; that’s just part of him. You always know his laugh. I cracked up when I heard that was in the song.”