ASB yule spirit already shining
IT'S still a week until Thanksgiving, and already people are getting into the Christmas spirit. I got my first Christmas card yesterday from former Honolulan Brownie Barnes - a snow-skiing scene. That should come as no surprise since Brownie represents Look Bindings and Lange Boots in Stanford, Calif. Still, it was a pleasant surprise getting a card from the mainland that had holiday greetings written in the Hawaiian language - by Brownie's own hand ... And getting into the spirit of giving is Wayne Minami of American Savings Bank. For the second year in a row, when the Institute for Human Services asked for help to raise funds for its shelter for women and children, his response would have made Santa proud. He marshaled some bank volunteers to help make phone calls and gave IHS full use of the facility and phones at the bank's Kalihi Training Center. And not one to just watch others do the work, Minami rolled up his sleeves and helped cook dinner for the more than 40 employees who'd volunteered. Thus far, the phone and mail campaign has raised over $60,000 for IHS ...
THEY'RE marking 40 years of rock 'n' roll in Hawaii tomorrow night at the Hard Rock Cafe. Emcee Tom Moffatt, who plays oldies on 107.9FM in the morning, will reminisce about that day in November of 1957 that he introduced Elvis Presley at Honolulu Stadium. And the Five Satins and Sonny Knight were performing at the then hot Civic Auditorium. And while both of those facilities are long gone, rock 'n' roll lives on. One lucky rocker attending the party tomorrow will win the door prize - Moffatt's own jukebox, complete with period records ...
IF the truth be known, and with the help of wine, we're told, it is, the wine list at Sunset Grill is truth in advertising. It's headed with a category called "Way Too Many Wines," and contains 90 Chardonnays, a bit daunting to the uninitiated and a challenge to the true oenophile. But owner Dick Bradley is a wine buff, to say the least, and even lives in Napa Valley now, which enables him to get allotments of some rare labels. There are 325 wines on the Sunset Grill list, and they are of such quality that Wine Spectator Magazine has bestowed its "Award of Excellence" on the Restaurant Row eatery ... In Vinum Veritas
DIVE instructor Jim Lauderdale had a weekend that, in his words, "pegged the fun meter" in San Francisco. He attended the sold-out Rolling Stones concert at Oakland Coliseum and the next day watched his beloved 49ers win yet another NFL football game. Lauderdale also brought home a classic T-shirt showing the trademark Stones "tongue sticking out" in gold on the front. On the tee's back, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge led into S.F. as if they were - well, what do you know? - "Bridges to Babylon." Herb Caen would have been proud.
IT proved to be just too much for one man and, following a stroke in the brain and an epileptic seizure, TV producer Mique Quenzer died in Queen's Medical Center without regaining consciousness. The former co-owner of Quenzer Driscoll Dawson, Mique was something of a giant in the TV commercial industry. Even after he closed his shop and took his talents to Seattle, certain major clients like Ala Moana Center or Bank of Hawaii would fly him back to work on campaigns. Friends are holding a public farewell for Mique tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at the Hawaii State Film Stage where "Hawaii Five-O" was filmed. It'll be his final wrap ... That's a wrap
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.