Sonya Mendez
AIEA grad Sonya Mendez has been performing with an Atlanta jazz group of late called Worldwide Groove. They're going to be getting some worldwide attention, too, since they've been signed to perform at the opening of Athletes Village at the Olympics this summer ... Speaking of Olympians, former UH volleyball star Teee Williams, a bronze medal winner in 1992 and a member of Team USA at this year's Olympics, is in town this week promoting the 1996 Bank of Hawaii Cup taking place Sept. 12-15. Teee and former teammate Suzanne Eagye agreed to show up at UH volleyball coach Dave Shoji's camp this afternoon at the Special Events Arena ...
SINGER Jimmy Borges gets as upset over the misuse of words as I do, and the other day an American Journal TV reporter grated his sensibilities with "Momentos of justice" when she meant "mementos." Some recent dictionaries - but not mine - have thrown in the grammatical towel and include such widespread misuse. That, of course, just encourages more ... Then there was KHNL's Lee Cataluna yesterday morning talking about a concert featuring Haydn and Mozart, only she pronounced "Haydn" as if it were a Hayden Mango instead of rhyming it with "hidin'." Don't those TV stations have dictionaries? ...
IT wasn't enough for attorney Liz Schaller that in her role as Gypsy Rose Lee in Leeward's production of "Gypsy," she had to answer to the quintessential stage mother, Mama Rose, played by Shari Lynn. There was also her real life mom to worry about. Lee Schaller of Reed Kaina Schaller & Strom offered a word of motherly advice that perhaps Liz was being typecast in roles where she appeared scantily clad. Prior to "Gypsy" she was barely noticeable in "Grand Hotel." Ever the advocate, Liz countered with, "Yes, but don't forget, I was once a nun." And indeed, she was in full habiliment in "Nunsense Two" ...
WHEN I heard that Buffalo Bud's Bar & Grill in the Aloha Tower Marketplace was going to have a mechanical bull, I naturally wondered about the probable high insurance costs. Turned out they were minimal. Hawaii's first mechanical bull is being used as a photo prop only ...
WHAT a perfectly good way to ruin a weekend, thought Philip Richardson, president of the party planning outfit Current Affairs. He'd received a call about a break-in at his Keawe Kafe, and had to drive over to assess the damage. Picture his puzzlement as he drove up and found some 50 people gathered in the street waving to him. They were staffers and friends, many bearing "Over the Hill" balloons. They'd done the unthinkable, pulling a surprise birthday party on the boss - there was no break-in, just a ruse to turn the tables on the Englishman who does such things for a living. Just the week before he'd quipped, "Nobody is ever bloody surprised by a surprise party" ...
