Our Picks for the Weekend
Star-Bulletin staff
|
STAGE
Comic Lewis Black back with bigger profile
Our favorite ranting stand-up comic, Lewis Black, returns to Hawaii with a public profile that been upped considerably since his visit last November.
He's had roles in two recent film comedies, "Accepted" and "Man of the Year." His HBO special, taped in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, "Red, White and Screwed," is now out on DVD. And just before his appearance here, he'll be part of Saturday's HBO "Comic Relief 2006" telecast from Las Vegas, benefiting victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Black performs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets are $30, $45 and $55. Call (877) 750-4400 or visit ticketmaster.com.
He also performs Nov. 25 at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (also with opening comic John Bowman). Tickets are $25, $35 and $45, available at the MACC box office.
LAST CHANCE
Visual comedy pokes fun at over-serious sports
This is the final weekend to see Honolulu Theater for Youth's production of "Sport," an action-comedy intended to poke fun at the intense competition that some people bring to "games," while also presenting a positive message about the benefits of exercise.
Ensemble cast members BullDog, Reb Beau Allen and Alvin Chan share the spotlight in comic segments that include three-way boxing, a surf ballet, extreme cheerleading, a ball game between babies and a bizarre game of tennis.
"Sport" is a local adaptation of a Spanish performance piece, "Slastic," and utilizes many styles of visual comedy -- clowning, mime and pantomime among them.
"Sport" closes with Saturday afternoon performances at 1:30 and 4:30. Tickets are $16; discounts available for those 17 and younger, and seniors. Call 839-9885 or visit www.htyweb.org.
FAMILY
Teens speak out at their own poetry slam
What with the popularity of the First Thursday poetry slams held to standing-room-only audiences every month at the Hawaiian Hut, it was only a matter of time that its offshoot, Youth Speaks Hawaii, would get around to staging its own major event.
Co-organizer Melvin Borja hopes Saturday's Interscholastic Poetry Slam will be the first of a yearly event. (YSH offers free after-school writing and performance workshops for teens, and open-mic slams on the third Saturday of every month downtown at The ARTS at Marks Garage.)
Students from Kalani, University and Mililani high schools, as well as Punahou School, Mid-Pacific Institute and the Hakipu'u Learning Center, will offer their free-wheeling verse on stage at the Kaimuki High School Auditorium.
While the event is free to students, older folk will have to pay $7 for the privilege of hearing these young voices in full flight. It all starts at 3 p.m. Saturday. The group's Web site is www.youthspeakshawaii.org.
MUSIC
Piano prodigy takes on Romantic favorites
If you're going to thwack the ivories, there's no better blueprint than those laid down by Chopin, Debussy and Rimsky-Korsakov -- bold melodies with lots of yowsa appeal. That's what you're in for during this weekend's "Straight From the Heart" edition of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra's season.
Debussy was so inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé's poem "L'après-midi d'un faune ("The Afternoon of a Faun"), written in 1876, that the composer began banging out a complete orchestral work, but he ran out of steam and only finished the prelude.
The performance will also include Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" round.
Rossen Milanov, associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, picks up the baton, and the hired piano player is Fabio Bidini, a youngish Italian prodigy who apparently knows dozens of concerti by heart, ranging from Baroque to beatniks.
It runs 8 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Admission is $12 to $65. Information: 792-2000.
FOOD
Uncle Bo's
599 Kapahulu Ave. / 739-2426
Uncle Bo's is one of the most eclectic restaurants I've come across recently, and that's saying a lot, given the chop-suey nature of so many local restaurants. It's an establishment that's trying to be many things to many different people. Usually, that spells disaster, right?
Not this time.
Uncle Bo's may be part American bistro, part local-Asian bar and grill, part neighborhood watering hole, part city café, but somehow it all works.
Chef/owner Bo Pathammavong looks a little too young to be called "Uncle," but the name is meant to evoke the feeling of familial hospitality and that whole eat-till-you're stuffed backyard party vibe. You can count on sampling a little bit of this, a little bit of that, from $7 to $11 appetizers including poke and outstanding (though tiny) Thai street-style grilled chicken wings, plus spinach-artichoke-crab dip, mixed greens and steak and seafood entrees from about $17 to $25. There are even several television sets, like in Auntie and Uncle's living room. The main difference between home and Bo's: You'll have to find someplace else to snooze after you've stuffed yourself.
Open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Dinner for two about $25 to $60 without drinks. There's parking in a lot diagonally across Kapahulu. Use a crosswalk and look out for crazy drivers.
Send questions, stories or other story ideas or comments to: Features, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813 or e-mail
features@starbulletin.com.
Please include your phone number.