David Spangenthal, Paul Theroux
HAWAII time strikes again. Hundreds of Internet surfers in Hawaii learned that Miss USA Brook Mahealani Lee became Miss Universe Friday long before KGMB-TV began its -- ho, hum -- delayed telecast of the contest. We've heard all the arguments about why such shows are delayed here but it still sticks in the craw that an estimated 2.5 billion people in the world saw Our Girl win the title before viewers of Channel 9. The delay also allowed other island TV stations to announce the news before KGMB, though that, of course, risked sending their viewers channel-switching to watch her win ... News of Lee’s win
beat TV telecastSPEAKING of girls named Brook, one called me yesterday, but unfortunately she was looking for the other Dave Donnelly, the HPU student who's on the school's championship cheerleading team. When she said her name was Brook, I asked if she were Miss Universe. "No," she replied sweetly, "but I'm Miss Placer County." Turns out she's an old girlfriend of the other D.D. and wanted to let him know she'll be in the running for Miss California this year. Go for it, Dave! ...
I'M hardly a shill for Diamond Head Theatre, but its production of "Crazy for You" is so good and so professional that you'd be crazy not to get tickets for it. John Rampage has done some fine work in isle theater, but with two professional stars like Lolly Totero, who co-directed with Rampage and recreated the original, inventive choreography of Susan Stroman, and especially David Spangenthal, the real star of the show, this is the best I've seen. Spangenthal has those boyish good looks that seemed to have been invented for Broadway musical stars and boy, can he dance. A script by Ken Ludwig exists only to serve as a vehicle for the lovely George Gershwin tunes (often with the corniest of rhymes by his brother, Ira) and together they combine to make a King-sized hit, lovely to look at and with many a melody that lingers on ...
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton has proclaimed May as Older Americans Month, which at one time wouldn't have meant a thing to me. But suddenly it takes on great import, and it's in the spirit of Older Americans that the Peace Corps has saluted Arthur Goodfriend of Honolulu, its oldest ever volunteer. Goodfriend will be 90 next month. That would have made him 7 years old when World War I broke out. Goodfriend served in Hungary from 1991-94, finishing his tour at age 87. He taught high school English in a small town near the Romanian border. An early administrator with the East-West Center, Dr. Goodfriend holds a doctorate in education from the University of Hawaii ... Goodfriend's among us
YESTERDAY'S San Francisco Chronicle reviewed Honolulu resident Paul Theroux's new novel, "Kowloon Tong," calling it "chilling." The reviewer describes it thusly: "In controlled prose, he tells a harrowing story of complicity and betrayal build around -- and analogous to -- the return of Hong Kong to China." ... The same issue of the Chronicle had a piece written by Greg Lucas of the paper's Sacramento bureau after his vacation here, on his observations of the Hawaii legislature vis-a-vis the California Assembly. He finds it hard to imagine, for example, the Sacramento solons ending their session by standing and singing the California state song, "I Love You California," as the Hawaii legislators did with "Hawaii Aloha." On auto insurance, Lucas wrote, "Hawaii residents pay the highest rates in the nation. Drive there and you'll know why." Amen ...
THERE'S nothing manini about Lisa Bos and her 465-square-foot Gourmet Express at Kahala Mall. The shopping center just honored her year-old eatery for the highest sales per square foot in the restaurant category. And in July she'll be opening the Panini Grill in a kiosk just across from her other store and will feature grilled Italian specialty sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries and more ... She's the Bos
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.