Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Hawaii
ANOTHER St. Paddy's Day is upon us, and once again bars of every ethnic stripe tip their hats to the Irish and serve up that dreadful concoction known as "green beer." It doesn't taste much different from the real thing, if memory serves, but it does tend to make your teeth look like they've been soaked in Lavoris. Once again the folks at the Columbia Inn will serve up such items as Shepherd's Pie, Irish O’Conover on piano
Stew and, so you can ruminate over the famine of 150 years ago, potato soup. Kimo "Knuckles" McVay appears to have retired from his "one day a year gig" at the piano, yielding the ivories to a real sing-along pianist, Don Conover, who'll play from noon until 10:30 p.m. He even provides song sheets with lyrics to such tunes as "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral" and "The Rose of Tralee." ... SPEAKING of which, Murphy will have his own "Tralee" (as in Waikiki Trolley) in the Paddy's Day Parade. And knowing the corner of Merchant and Nuuanu is Hawaii's busiest every March 17, he'll have a host of bartenders on hand. Likewise at O'Toole's across Nuuanu. Midweek, the freebie paper, has Don and Marian Murphy on the cover this week, in honor of Paddy's Day. The story tells about the various fund-raisers and good works the Murphys provide on a regular basis, and at one point mentions he often delivers food to the home of Eddie O'Toole, "who's in his 90's." O'Toole, the guy for whom O'Toole's is named, had been in the hospital, but is home now, and just turned 77! Needless to say, he was startled to read how old somebody must think he is ...
Equal time for England
WE can't let the Irish have all the fun today. Just back from a trip to England is longtime isle hotelman Jon Fukuda, now with Raffles Hotels. While chatting with a colleague in Brown's Hotel, a Raffles property, up walked Sheridan Morley, the noted English theater critic, and Fukuda was introduced as being from Hawaii. That set Morley off. "All he wanted to talk about was you and Hawaii," says Fukuda. Sherry and I have been pals since 1963 when he spent a summer at the UH theater department. He's now a successful author and critic, writing for such publications as the Spectator and the International Herald Tribune ... ALSO tying England and Hawaii together was Cathy Ingledow, a recent guest at the Waimea Plantation Cottages on Kauai. She's the mayor of Whitby, England, the hometown of Captain James Cook and the home port of his boat, the Resolution ... YOU'D think a group of Sheraton "oldtimers" holding a reunion might choose to do so at a Sheraton property, but no. Choosing the Elks Club for an impromptu gathering were such Sheraton alums as Bill Bigelow, Laura Broad, Nani Aluli, Tani Bova, Charlie Aldinger and others who date back 20 years. Even a few current Sheratonians showed up such as Keith Vierra, Mike Troy and Ray Kitsu. The meeting was Broad's idea to renew old friendships "before we read our names in the obit columns." ...
Rocky situation
THIS has nothing to do with the rockslide on the North Shore. Still, there's a detour ahead for people who have seen and dreamed about the beautiful and talented singer Rocky Brown over the years. She and trumpeter DeShannon Higa have decided to make beautiful music together and have set Sept. 16 as the wedding date. Best wishes to the two of them ... Wherever you go and whatever you do, make Paddy's Day a safe as well as happy one ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com