Chris Lee
POPPING into town for a bit of R&R over the weekend was Tri-Star Pictures exec Chris Lee. The Iolani grad has been busy prepping for the new film starring Barbra Streisand and Tom Cruise which he's producing and is due for release in December. Lee, who also was responsible for "Philadelphia" and "Legends of the Fall," and who's working on the script for the projected Robin Williams movie of "The Damien Story," is now off to Chicago. He'll be attending the Democratic Convention along with Streisand, who'll be making a rare personal appearance by singing there ...
IT seems to me that Oceanic Cable missed a bet when they halted their free preview of the value package that included ESPN2 on the day before the UH Wahine volleyball team played Florida in that incredible five-game match in Illinois. ESPN2 carried the match, and if potential customers had seen that as an example of what's available for a few extra bucks a month, they might have gone for it. And with K5 claiming an audience of over 100,000 for each Wahine match they carried last year, Oceanic will need all the viewership it can muster to justify getting the rights to the games ...
NOW here's a firm which really lives up to its name: Goodfellow Bros. Inc, a Maui-based construction company, is joining with Honolulu architects Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo to donate a combined $40,000 in charitable contributions to Diamond Head Theatre and the University of Hawaii Foundation. The bulk of the gift, $34,000, went to DHT and is earmarked for improvements to the theater facility. DHT managing director Deena Dray was more than pleased. Said she, "With the drop in federal and state funding levels for the arts, we are pleased that our benefactors recognize the value of theater to our community." ... FOUR generations of Yees and Chings gathered at the Empress Restaurant recently, a reunion of the family that founded Yick Lung. Local author Linda Ching Sledge rallied the clans for an overdue reunion. Her novel, "Empire from Heaven," was inspired by the family's journey from China to Hawaii. She's currently vacationing from New York with her husband, Gary Alan Sledge, managing editor of Reader's Digest ... KITV is airing an hourlong film of the Bankoh Ki Ho'alu Slack Key Guitar Festival, begun 14 years ago as a tribute to Gabby "Pops" Pahinui. Just about every slack key player of note will be on the show ranging from veteran Raymond Kane to Ikaika Brown, who at 13 is the youngest performer on the show ...
THE Maui Music Festival has a special guest appearing Sunday night. She's Pauline Wilson, who'll be appearing with Rick Braun and his band from L.A. After performing with numerous name artists in L.A. (Bruce Hornsby, Bill Medley, Jim Messina, Celine Dion, etc.) Pauline has recently moved back to her native Hawaii and is working on a new album ...
