Jazz fest the finest ever
SATURDAY night's international jazz evening of the four-day jazz fest at the Hawaii Theatre was one of the best I've seen. Such an eclectic batch of music with little time wasted between the four separate entities and no aimless wanderings around the stage by organizer Abe Weinstein. Jimmy Borges kicked things off with three smooth standards backed by the excellent Out Takes, consisting of three McKinley grads, Noel Okimoto, Benny Rietveld and Allen Won plus guitarist Jamie Fox and guest pianist Ed Webber. The Out Takes proceeded to back all the visiting artists as well: Puerto Rican flutist Nestor Torres, saxman Ernie Watts, a kind of mid-morphed version of John Waihee and Ben Cayetano, and trumpeter Tiger Oishi, who's as good at his game as Tiger Woods is at his. The latter two specialized in original compositions, and Oishi, in particular, dropped the usual jazz trumpet style in favor of tonal poems that could have served as image-making music behind a thoughtful film. As for Webber, he's as good as they come as an accompanist, but at times during solos he got so into the music that with all the bobbing and weaving, tics and grimaces, he made David Helfgott look like he was on Prozac. But why do jazz fans feel it necessary to applaud every solo by every backup musician throughout an evening? This is unlike fans of any other music I can think of. But that's a minor, personal cavil. Overall grade: A-plus ...
WE get results: After mentioning an ad in The Real Estate Book, a free publication found in newsstands all over town, about an apartment close to "the Kahala Mandarin Motel," it was sold. Now may we interest you in the publication's latest offering, a Nuuanu property described as a "Peaceful Steamside Home." Does Jay Leno know about this publication? He does a funny feature devoted to dumb headlines ... Speaking of Leno, the other night he mentioned that authorities were about to take away O.J. Simpson's piano. "Why," asked Leno, "can't they take away John Tesh's piano?" ... Move over Guido Salmaggi! Singing the National Anthem at the Anaheim Angels baseball game Friday in L.A. will be Na Leo Pilimehana, on the West Coast promoting their new album, "Colours." ...
YOU may recall that when Queen's V.P. Duane Walker got home from attending a birthday party, he found a huge pile of horse manure in his yard, a "gift" from a woman he still considers a friend. This year for his birthday, Walker overnighted at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. What did he find when he returned home from the "Pink Palace"? Why, numerous plastic pink flamingos . And the next day when he returned home from work he found little piles of manure sprinkled all over, little gifties from the flamingos. Walker has a bead on the culprit, a boutique Realtor whose favorite color is pink and whose Kahala home has lots of pink. My guess is that Mary Worrall had best be looking over her shoulder ... Pretty in pink
WEEKENDING at the Hyatt Regency was Brian Austin Green of "Beverly Hills 90210" and the hotel's Mona Wood went all out to make his stay a memorable one. She put him up in the Ke'alohilani Suite, a two-bedroom beauty worthy of Beverly Hills and then some. In addition, she hosted him to dinner at the Texas Rock ' N Roll Sushi Bar and also attended with some Hyatt pals the invitation-only bash Fox Network threw at Planet Hollywood for Green and the "Bev Hills" bunch, who just finished shooting here ... Green fields
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.