Wood Craft
David Kateley goes all out
to please guestsLahaina Fish Company server David Kateley went far beyond the call of duty the other day. A guest was on the deck overlooking the ocean and she dropped her cane into the water. As the cane drifted out to sea, David quickly changed into his swim shorts, swam out and retrieved the cane to the applause and cheers of restaurant guests ...
Masa has a ball
Masatoshi Matsubara, 84 years young, got into the Oktoberfest spirit at the Ala Moana Hotel Tuesday. Masa bought pitchers of beer for about 20 members of his family and others, such as Denise Crosby sitting nearby. Among those around Masa and enjoying his hospitality were his wife, Jane, 83, Larry and Carolyn Matsubara and Judy and Haru Zakimi. Chriss Heyd was standing at a table, flapping her arms to the "Chicken Dance" song. Jeff and Gayln Akaka were in the crowd as was computer whiz Dan Hermon. Nathan Minn and his pals sat outside the ballroom in the "garden." The fest ends tomorrow ...Dwayne The Rock Johnson and other cast members of "Helldorado" slipped in the back door of Big Island Steak House at Aloha Tower the other night. Paiea was winding up but Rock asked members to stay. He also asked singer-musicians Barrett Awai, Dean Wilhelm and Kekoa Kaluhiwa if they had a hula dancer. About that time Kekoa's wife, Cheryl, a hula dancer, walked in and danced a couple of numbers. Rock tipped the group and asked members to perform during an interview he had scheduled with E! last Wednesday ... Augie Rey's keyboarder, Carlos Barboza, reports that former isle singer Norm Compton, The Rock's double, dropped in to catch Rey and his group at the Royal Hawaiian's Mai Tai Bar ...
Reese Witherspoon shows bigtime talent in the romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama." She really socks it to Candice ("Murphy Brown") Bergen, playing a brassy New York City mayor, in a classic scene ... Singer-pianist Michael Feinstein joins the Symphony Pops Friday and next Saturday at the Concert Hall ... Trumpet great Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra have a one-nighter at the Concert Hall Nov. 6 ... Jim and Jan George will chair next year's Symphony Ball, scheduled May 17 ... Local stars are lining up to do a benefit for Dick Jensen, who is recovering from triple bypass surgery and has big medical bills. The event is Oct. 27 at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani's Ainahau Ballroom ... Dave Heenan signs his book "Double Lives" at 11 today at Barnes & Noble Kahala ...
Ann McCormack returns
Former isle singer Ann McCormack and son, Don Stroud, took in the Don Ho show Tuesday night and Ann, a Las Vegas resident for 20 years, sang as Stroud, the former beach boy and actor, played bongos. The pair, along with Stroud's wife, Teri, spread the ashes of Ann's daughter, Joan Coogan, off Diamond Head Thursday. She died of lung cancer May 31. May was tough for Ann. Her husband, Paul Livermore, died May 2 ... I'll be on vacation for two weeks celebrating another birthday and mixing it up with old pals from the Stars and Stripes newspaper, holding a reunion here ...
Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin in the streets
of downtown Honolulu during World War II, writes of
people, places and things every Saturday.
E-mail him at bwood@starbulletin.com