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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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An early July jolt of retail reality
WE have not even seen the Fourth of July bombs-bursting-in-air yet, but the e-mail inbox gave proof that the school year timetable has truly changed.
Windward Mall is announcing a back-to-school sale weekend for teens starting July 7.
Aw man, not yet!
Are the file boxes full of school-supplies lists even available at Longs yet?
School has only been out for -- not even a month, right?
Sure enough, an online check of some state Department of Education 2006-2007 calendars shows that the little and not-so-little darlings are due back in school by various dates at the end of this month.
Sigh.
New clothes and backpacks and protractors and compasses, oh my. And just where do those compasses wind up at the end of each year anyway -- with the lone socks that escape from the dryer?
Do they all get confiscated for usage during mock sword play?
And another thing. Do teachers really have storage space for the half-a-million rolls of paper towels that many students are required to bring?
Whatever the answers, Windward Mall plans three days of air-conditioned sidewalk sale deals with additional activities, including a noontime Sunday event called "The Scene" that will feature a 1:30 p.m. free concert by Natural Vibrations. Details are posted on the mall Web site.
On the Net:
» www.windwardmall.com
» Hawaii State Department of Education school calendars:
http://165.248.6.166/data/calendars0607.asp
Hank's Cafe
Popular Chinatown nightspot Hank's Cafe Honolulu, owned by Hank Taufaasau, is about 10 days from opening his expanded space.
The second floor at 1038 Nuuanu Ave., is being transformed into a jazz club where the likes of Hoku winners Pierre Grill and Ginai will perform, as will Michel's regular performer, Freddie Alcantar.
The club will be open six nights a week, so it would appear there will be more slots for the gigging.
It's not going to be your father's jazz club, to borrow a sentiment from a decades-old commercial. It does promise, however, to be colorful, Taufaasau said.
The jazz club will be called the Dragon Upstairs.
Any connection between a jazz club and the mythical creature not obvious to your columnist, the "why" question was posed.
"Because the people I (previously) leased to -- a tattoo parlor -- all up the stairwell painted this beautiful dragon, which I kept," he said. Hence the name, the Dragon Upstairs.
Station swap OK'd
The Honolulu radio station swap between Kauai-based
Hochman-McCann Hawaii Inc. and
Salem Media of Hawaii, based in California, has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
The swap, first reported in this space May 9, also involves Salem paying Hochman-McCann a cool $1 million.
In the deal, Hochman is turning over KORL-AM 690 to Salem, while Salem will give KHCM-AM 1170 to Hochman.
Each company keeps its employees, formats and call letters, as was also reported in May.
The CW is yet to land
It has been five months since struggling television networks The WB and UPN announced plans to merge into The CW, come September -- and The CW has yet to announce a Hawaii affiliate agreement.
Local industry players interviewed by TheBuzz could only confirm that negotiations are happening on a national, or corporate ownership level, as opposed to locally.
In March, KFVE-TV, which airs The WB programming, announced it would become an affiliate of My Network TV in September. That new network was unveiled shortly after news of The WB-UPN merger broke.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com