Writer Wolfe
riding on airMAKING the rounds of talk shows and interviews to promote his latest book, "A Man in Fall," is author Tom Wolfe. The white-suited author (Labor Day be damned!) was on the David Letterman show Tuesday night on CBS and on the NBC "Today" show yesterday. The book, his first since "Bonfire of the Vanities," has already been nominated for a Na-tional Book Award. He told interviewer Katie Couric it took him 11 years to write the book. He had some local help, also. Seems Carole Goodson of the graphic arts firm Goodson & Yu was a college roommate of Sheila Wolfe, the author's wife. And when Wolfe created a character in the book who was from Hawaii, he called on Good-son's husband and partner, Roger Yu, to see that the pidgin used was au-thentic. Seems Wolfe is still concerned about "The Write Stuff" ...
DURING Jay Leno's "headlines" segment Monday night, he did a bit on names in ads that don't necessarily fit professions, such as the law firm called "Fink and Lied." One ad he held up was from the Star-Bulletin announcing the office opening of a Honolulu physician, Dr. Ramin Jamm, which drew a huge laugh from the audience. Leno then tried to squirm off any hooks by saying that despite his name, "I'm sure the man is a fine doctor." I'd mentioned the ad a couple of months ago, suggesting that with that name, Dr. J might make a splendid pro basketball player ...
Oooohs for Iz and Oz
LATE singer Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole wrote a lot of music during his short lifetime, and some of it can be heard in "Meet Joe Black," the new movie starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins which opens tomorrow at Kahala ... Then there's Oswald "Oz" Stender, one of the Bishop Estate trustees trying to oust Lokelani Lindsey from her seat on the board. He was turning heads as he breakfasted at Roy Shimonishi's Hungry Lion before the hearing on the Lindsey matter. Incidentally, the Hungry Lion will be featured on Nippon TV on New Year's Eve as a reasonably priced alternative to upscale Waikiki eateries. NTV host Tokoro was in the restaurant preparing a fish dish to compare with that of Shimonishi's, and the results will be announced on the New Year's Eve show ...LONGTIME isle auto exec Jack Jackson has acquired the car dealership of the retiring Mike Salta and is forming the Jackson Auto Group. It'll carry Lincoln Mercury, Pontiac and Isuzu, but with his firm's initials, he ought to be handling JAG's ... Here goes Hollywood again: First we had "6 Days, 7 Nights," which as anyone who's ever been on a package tour knows ought to be 7 days, 6 nights, and now Francis Ford Coppola, who ought to know better, is preparing a musical called "The Big Kahoona." It's kahuna, FF, and there's no two ways about it ... Jazz is sizzling up at David Paul's Diamond Head Grill. Jonny Kamae performs there on Mondays, David Swanson with singer Anita Hall on Tuesdays, and Swanson and his piano solo Wednesdays through Saturdays ...
King of the arts
THE curator of education at the Contemporary Museum, Louise King Lanzilotti, has been elected to the seven-member National Governance Committee at the Kennedy Center alliance for Arts Education Network in Washington. Lanzilotti was chairman of the Hawaii Alliance from 1995 to June of this year, and she was also a member of the Mayor's Commission on Culture and the Arts for five years. Lanzilotti's judgement is well respected, as befits the daughter of Federal Judge Sam King and wife Anne ...
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: donnelly@kestrok.com.