YESTERDAY was Father's Day, but it was far from a happy one in many isle households. Yesterday's shocker of veteran Star-Bulletin photographer Terry Luke's death due to a stroke cast a pall over an already glum newsroom. He took the very first photo of me when I first began this column back in 1968 and he was a veteran even then. He'll be sorely missed ... And yesterday was veteran actress Linda Ryan's first Father's Day without her dad, long a backstage figure at various music and theater offerings. Memorial services for Jack Ryan were held Saturday ... And if that wasn't enough, news of the death of the "First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald on Saturday was still fresh in our minds...IT seems everyone has a favorite Ella story. Music lover Judy Neale, former Honolulu Symphony publicist, recalls trying to locate a pal to take in Ella's Waikiki Shell shows several years ago, but none could make it. Undeterred, she packed a picnic lunch, sat by herself on the grass and enjoyed the jazz great with no interruptions ... I was fortunate enough to see Ella about 10 years ago in the perfect locale - an intimate nightclub setting in the Venetian Room of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. My date and I had dined with S.F. columnist Herb Caen and a companion and repaired to the Venetian Room to see Ella, who remembered Herb as an early supporter from way back. A memorable evening ...
GUITAR virtuoso Charlie Byrd played to a full house at the UH Summer Session Hawaii Guitar Festival Saturday night and did an impromptu music tribute to Ella, who'd died earlier that day. He started with "A Tisket, a Tasket," the tune which first made the world sit up and take notice of the singer, then a teen-ager. Byrd also played guitar with Byron Yasui on bass. Yasui will be profiled in an interview by Heidi Chang on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." It's slated to run tomorrow between 6 and 8 a.m. Hawaii time ...
WHILE sports fans around the country are basking in the victory - finally! - of the Chicago Bulls over the stubborn Seattle SuperSonics yesterday, former Miss Hawaii USA Heather Hays is preparing for her new role as a Green Bay Packers fan. Heather has left KNDO, the NBC affiliate in Yakima, Wash. where she was co-anchor on the news, to become sole anchor on both the evening and late night newscasts on WGBA, also an NBC affiliate, in Green Bay, Wisc. It's a nice move up for Hays, with a market of some 1.3 million viewers. Not bad for a young woman who couldn't get her foot in the door in the Honolulu TV market, which the last time I checked wasn't overrun with major league talent ... MANY other localites are now making national waves besides Chang and Hays, including Rob Fukuzaki at KABC-TV in Hollywood and producer Cynthia Yip, who is putting together stories for such TV magazine shows as "Extra," "Inside Edition" and "American Journal." And just back in the islands is former NBC cameraman Keith Hathaway, who's married to isle musician Nancy Masaki. He just spent a month in East Africa shooting a documentary on killer viruses called "Natural Born Killers." The show airs next year...
NOW appearing at the Palace: Cha Thompson. That would be Iolani Palace where the wife of Jack "Tihati" Thompson completed docent training classes and last week gave her first audition tour and is now a regular on the circuit. Cha admits she was as nervous in her debut as she's been on any stage ...
