Taquita, Kaui find home on the Strip
Legions of showbiz wannabes come to Las Vegas seeking fame and fortune.
Taquita and Kaui, by contrast, already had their own TV show when they arrived.
The reality show veterans — neither of whom made the band in MTV’s “Making the Band 3” — return to MTV at 10:30 p.m. today, when “Taquita & Kaui” begins an eight-episode run.
Upon arrival in Las Vegas, Taquita and Kaui headed straight for the Strip — and found a home. They even can see the Luxor’s landmark Sphinx from their front door.
And while the Happi Inn — their headquarters during the show’s three-month shoot — might not be a Strip mega-resort, it’s “all we could afford,” explains Kaui, a 23-year-old Hawaii native.
Besides, “the hotel is pink — we like pink,” points out 20-year-old Taquita, who hails from Detroit.
Taking a break from shooting, the two sit side by side on one of the twin beds in their cozy Happi Inn room. It’s decorated with very Vegas souvenirs, including a Chippendales poster, photos of their adventures and a battery-powered miniature replica of the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign Kaui describes as “like the light of my life.”
The room’s a bit stuffy on this warm afternoon, so they check out the wall-mounted heating and cooling unit.
“We have A/C!” Kaui exults. “Woo hoo!”
Hey, they have a TV show. That’s worth a “woo hoo!” or two in itself.
When the duo “got fired from ‘Making the Band,’ ” as Taquita bluntly puts it, she kept in touch with one of the show’s producers, who thought their quest might be worth following.
“I think we have something special,” Taquita adds. Even so, “I never, ever thought somebody would want to follow our friendship.”
In their dreams, “our name was in lights,” Kaui says.
But there were no lights involved when they initially hit Glitter City, Taquita acknowledges. “I thought, ‘Ah, we in Vegas, we all that.’ “
But word that they would have to train for six months before they could join the cast of one Las Vegas show they tried out for prompted them to find an agent instead.
That, in turn, led to a variety of Vegas showbiz jobs, from magician’s assistant to background dancer.
“It’s a learning process,” Kaui admits. “But we’re having fun.” After all, “we have each other.”
Although “we’re very different people,” Kaui adds, “our differences complement each other.” In short, “we just have a natural chemistry.”
That chemistry surfaced during their “Making the Band” stint, when the two “fell in love with each other,” Taquita says.
“We couldn’t trust anybody,” Kaui says. “We gave each other strength. We’re kindred spirits.”
That previous reality series experience proved helpful when they returned to on-camera scrutiny. But the current show seems less stressful because “this is not a competition,” Kaui points out. “It’s more carefree.”
Even so, Taquita adds, “for the first week, it was really weird” adjusting to the camera’s constant presence, especially because “you can’t look in the camera,” even when it’s in your face.
Eventually, however, the cameras became invisible — except when the title duo ventured onto the street and bystanders wanted to know who they were, Taquita recalls.
Despite the round-the-clock camera time, the MTV stars have had to face the fact that “we have not gotten every job,” Kaui admits. They often discuss their quest for success with the Happi Inn’s desk clerk, whom they consider “our fairy godmother,” Taquita says. “We tell her about our jobs.”
As for those jobs, they might not always fit the all-singing, all-dancing dreams Taquita and Kaui brought with them to Las Vegas.
Yet they remain philosophical when it comes to their future as Vegas performers.
“You do what you can,” Kaui says, “until you can do what you do.”
