Hawaii

By Dave Donnelly

Friday, September 26, 1997

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To dine with
canine is divine

WE'VE all heard that it's a dog-eat-dog world out there, but with October being "Love a Dog Month," the Dixie Grill is holding a "Sunday Pooch Party" to celebrate. Unless the health department says "nein" to the canines, people and their dogs will lunch together at the popular new Ward Avenue eatery. The owners will dine on a Dixie Grill lunch (hot dogs?) and their pets on Dixie Dog Desserts. Red Dog Beer is assisting with the private party (half the $20 ticket is tax deductible as a contribution to the Hawaiian Humane Society) and there'll be various contests (owner-pet look-alike, for example) and a mascot contest with the winner getting two tickets to see - what else? - Tap Dogs at the Hawaii Theatre. One of the celebrity judges is from Pets 'n People magazine and has the unlikely name Bee Tan ...

IS it my imagination or are more and more Bank of America commercials running on television now that the bank's announced it's leaving the islands? The most annoying one is the woman who says she uses the ATM machine "days, nights, weekends." Why doesn't she just get a credit card or check book? ... And even more annoying, if that's possible, is the ever popular and ubiquitous Foodland commercials, in which shoppers giggle at the prospects of the bargains they're getting ...

SINGER Shari Lynn is back from Palm Springs, where she performed with pianist Bob Corwin. While there, Lynn also sang with pianist Bill Marx, whose father went by the name Harpo. She was floored by his imitation of Uncle Groucho Marx, and is going to try to find him a gig in the islands. Meanwhile, she's appearing again Sunday and Monday with a host of others in "An Evening at the Cabaret" at Manoa Valley Theatre, a fund-raiser for the Hawaii Academy of Performing Arts scholarship and performance support fund. Others who'll be singing at the Cabaret are Tony Conjugacion, Brother Noland and Annie MacLachlan, among others ...

Brain Drops are falling

REGULAR readers of this column will know that certain misusage of the English language gets my blood boiling, especially with the excuse that "popular usage" now permits it. So it was with pleasure that I found in George Carlin's irreverent new best-selling book, "Brain Droppings," that he feels much the same way. He offers some advice to networks for their announcers, hosts and newscasters to keep in mind while they're influencing America. No. 1 on his list, as on mine, is that, "The English word forte, meaning 'specialty' or 'strong point," is not pronounced 'for-tay.' Got that? It's pronounced 'fort.' The Italian word forte, used in music notation, is pronounced 'for-tay' and it instructs the musician to play loud." He mentions another favorite: "chomping at the bit" should be "champing at the bit."

HERE'S a switch: People are calling Martha Walstrum, house manager of the Honolulu Theater for Youth, to see if they can usher at "Green Eggs and Ham," though it's weeks away. The public can view the Dr. Seuss tale on Oct. 18 & 25 at Ft. Shafter's Richardson Theater ...

Goodbye, Paradise

THE Oct. 16 edition of The Nation magazine is based on the theme, "How we are losing Paradise around the globe." There'll be a full-page color ad for Michael Dougherty's book, "To Steal a Kingdom," subtitled "Probing Hawaiian History." It illustrates the historical basis of what brought about today's sovereignty movement, and fits right into The Nation's theme ...