Jeweler barely
dodged payoutIT was plenty hot in Hawaii on Sunday, but not enough to cost Maggie Breeden thousands of dollars. Her Royal Hawaiian Heritage Jewelry shops had again promised to rebate 100 percent of money spent on purchases throughout August if the thermometer reached 93 degrees at Honolulu Airport on Sunday. It just missed, and she's no doubt breathing a sigh of relief about now ... Cheryl Tsutsumi, one of the ablest writers about Hawaii and traveling around here, has bid aloha to "Aloha," stepping down as editorial director of Rick Davis' "Aloha" magazine. She's becoming editor of Pacific Connections, in-flight magazine of Hawaiian Air as well as Hawaii correspondent for Recommend magazine, a Florida-based publication for travel agents. "Aloha" is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and Cheryl has been with the company for 17 of those years ...
SPEAKING of writers, David Cheever is putting the final touches on a new book, "Daytrips Hawaii," for Hastings House, which has published "Daytrip" books for London, Paris, N.Y. and dozens of other areas. He'll include 50 daytrips in his book, from hiking through Waipio Valley to mountain biking in upcountry Maui, a pursuit that befits a man who formerly owned a bike shop. He made an "extraordinary" discovery in his research -- an 1851 trip made by "missionary Henry Cheever" riding a mule in Hawaii. "What's scary," states David, "is to think we may have missionaries in our family background." ...
THE L.A. Times reaction to "Hawaii Goes Hollywood" at the Hollywood Bowl was curious. The critic liked the singing and slack key guitar of George Kuo and Dennis Kamakahi best, found the unbilled dancers "particularly appealing" and thought the Honolulu Symphony under conductor Samuel Wong "had the sound of a solid musical organization." But he preferred the Hawaiian number by tenor Keith Ikaia-Purdy to the two operatic arias he sang, and the fact that most of the second half of the program was devoted to Hawaiian singer Keali'i Reichel he found "mystifying." He called him "a pleasant-voiced but not particularly imaginative singer-songwriter." The Times did allow that he "clearly is popular with Hawaiian audiences" and got spirited response from "the numerous Islanders in the modest-sized crowd." Faint praise, indeed ... Not Bowl'ing them over
USUALLY Matteo's G.M. Russell Druce recognizes his customers, but last week the reverse was true. A gent came in with his wife and said, "I remember you from 1973." The man turned out to be Ron Theobald, who played baseball for the Hawaii Islanders at the time (and later played two years with the Milwaukee Brewers), when Druce was host at the Don Ho showroom. He remembered assistant manager Mimi Mattox as well. She had worked at Rudy's -- owned by former ballplayer Rudy Biale -- where Theobald used to dine ...
THIS year's Zoofari fund-raiser Sept. 13 for the Honolulu Zoological Society is called "Crocodile Rock." It should be a biggie since this is the Honolulu Zoo's 50th anniversary. Sponsoring "Crocodile Rock" is Hawaii's oldies radio station, 109.7FM, and the theme is a swinging '50s and '60s party. So, twist the night away, sip "croc-tails" and help raise money to build an endangered Komodo dragons exhibit. Honorable chairperson is Mayor Jeremy Harris, and let's stop with the croc jokes already. Valet parking is at the Monsarrat gate of the zoo that evening ... Rock around the croc
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.