Bride eclipses
other beautyACTOR Tia Carrere was Maid of Honor at a wedding on Maui last week, and guess what -- she wasn't even the best looking one there. Nothing against the beautiful Tia, to be sure, but that honor belonged (fittingly) in my view to the bride, Tia's sister, Audra Lee Janairo. She and her boyfriend tied the knot at the Grand Wailea Hotel. On hearing he's 15 years her senior and never been married, I guessed he must be Irish. "No, he's Australian," she insisted. And his name: "Brendan Ryan." Yeah, he's Irish. Before racing back to L.A., sister Tia was able to attend the reception held later at the Sheraton-Waikiki, where Audra works. Missing from the reception, though he'd hoped to attend, was Arnold Schwarzenegger. He'd popped into town to help his old friend Mits Kawashima, the body-building enthusiast, celebrate his 80th birthday. So did the new hubby come through with a nice first Valentine's Day gift? "The wedding was all I could ask for," cooed Audra, lovingly, though she later admitted he did present her with a 24k gold necklace as well. Way to go, Brendan -- you're learning ...
JUDGING from a glance at TV coverage of yesterday's Great Aloha Run, there was a majority of the 30,000 who signed up for the thing who didn't take the last word seriously. It appeared that several thousand entrants used the occasion to have a nice stroll and win a T-shirt. And with the new route changes, the course is even easier, going downhill rather than up. At least the opening cannon outside my window failed to awaken me ...
Early breakfast
WE are so accustomed to having our TV programs delivered to us on a delayed basis in Hawaii, that it might come as a shock that one national program featuring two local performers was actually telecast live. Of course, it was at 3 a.m. HST!!! That would be when Randy & Gay Hongo appeared at the 45th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington at the request of Sen. Dan Akaka. It was telecast live on C-Span, which unlike the "Today" show (five hours delayed) and even the Hawaiian Open golf tourney from Waialae, which KITV chose to delay a few hours on Saturday, the breakfast reached Hawaii before most of us had a chance to open our Wheaties. The Hongos got to meet, chat and shake hands with President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary, Vice President Al Gore and wife Tipper, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Florida Sen. Connie Mack, the morning speaker ...AS he does each year, former strip club owner Jack Cione pulls out all the lavish costumes he keeps in storage for use in the Mardi Gras Follies at the Banyans Club at Pearl Harbor, opening Feb. 26. The difference is that the mixed military and civilian cast of 60 keep these costumes on! This is the 43rd annual all singing, all dancing follies, and Cione has lured his old pal Reiko Douglas, widow of comedy writer Jack Douglas, whose fractured accent made her a favorite guest on the old Jack Paar TV show. The Follies will run through March 28 ...
The lower depths
LEST you think you're going to see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet at the IMAX theater, check out the spelling of the current feature. It's "Titanica" -- not "Titanic" -- and its a deep-ocean documentary showing the clearest motion pictures ever taken at its depth. It was also movie director James Cameron's inspiration to film actual footage of the shipwreck for his box office hit. Snagging the IMAX film was something of a coup for theater G.M. Doug Mossman ...
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.