Barbara Marumoto, Arturo Sandoval
MANY eyes were focused on Sports Illustrated this week to see who was on the cover. The famous S.I. cover "jinx" had been in full effect a week ago when the Kansas basketball team was featured on the front. Sure enough, the Jayhawks became the only No. 1 seeded team in the NCAA tourney to lose. That leaves three No. 1 seeds and a No. 4, Arizona, in the Final Four. But hunch bettors can rest easy, this week S.I. took a break on all the remaining teams and featured its baseball preview with Seattle Mariners pitcher Randy Johnson on the cover. So who'll take in all in the NCAAs? The Star-Bulletin's fearless prognosticator Mike Fitzgerald picks Minnesota, though he admits to having implanted his share of kisses of death on various teams ... SB’s Fitz
figures Gophers champsALOHA is alive and well in midtown Manhattan. Former isle resident Laura Bach, who is now living in New York and trying to break into theater there, stopped by the NBC studios Tuesday to see if she could get a glimpse of Harrison Ford being interviewed. Alas, his chat was already on tape. But she did see a couple of "Aloha" signs and investigated. She discovered the sign-wavers hoping to get on TV were from Iolani School, including drama students catching live theater on Broadway. She chatted with instructor/chaperones John Alexander and Lee Drew. She received a ti-leaf lei and a package of mac-nut chocolates. Bach found herself crying with homesickness on the sidewalk. The kids did get to give leis and pineapples to the crew, and even to news anchor Ann Curry who said, "Hey, I've eaten this type of lei." She thought it was seaweed ...
HAWAIIAN Electric's Scott Shirai is wired with excitement since his book, "Karaoke: Sing Along Guide to Fun & Confidence" was featured on CNBC's "Money, Money, Money," seen in Asia and Australia. It didn't hurt that the show's host is old pal Dalton Tanonaka, who incidentally is in Honolulu this week promoting his book, "Dateline Tanonaka." ...
THE good news is that Megan Marumoto, the young woman who was snow-boarding on Mauna Kea last week and ran out of snow, not unheard of in Hawaii, is out of intensive care and improving. But for those who wondered, her mom, Rep. Barbara Marumoto, who introduced the keiki car-seat tax credit law and this year's bill restricting people from riding in the cargo area of pickup trucks, has no plans to introduce a helmet law for snow-boarders. Incidentally, I've personally never been a fan of mandatory air bags in cars, and was happy to hear that legislation is on the way permitting people to disconnect them ... Restraining orders
IF you watched the lengthy Academy Awards telecast all the way to the end -- 11:45 p.m. in Hawaii -- you heard the classic closing line by host Billy Crystal: "Stay tuned for 'Nightline.' " You also got an opportunity to see trumpeter Arturo Sandoval perform one of the nominated songs with singer Celine Dion. Now you have the chance to see and hear him in person. Sandoval, who emigrated from Cuba in 1990, will be on Lanai April 1-3 and will perform at the Lodge at Koele as well as at Lanai High & Elementary School ... The winning bidder of the Seabourne cruise and African safari at the La Pietra "Hoopla" paid a handsome $18,000 for the package. She won't have to dip into her 401(k) retirement package, either. The winning bidder is president of the school's board of trustees, Barbara Cox Anthony, found annually near the top of the Fortune 500 list ...
LOCALITE Bill Frensley was all set to cancel travel plans to see the volcano after reading in the first edition of Monday's Star-Bulletin that a huge chunk of Hawaiian mountainside "is creeping out to sea at the rate of 2.8 inches a second." He got out his solar-powered calculator and determined that the mass must be "creeping" at almost four miles a week! Frensley said he was relieved to see in subsequent editions and on the Internet Online edition that it had been changed to read "2.8 inches a year." Cancel that tsunami warning! ... Creeping right along
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.