THE Society of Seven dished up the best of its best, capped with a mini-musical written by leader Tony Ruivivar, in its dazzling 30th anniversary show at the Outrigger showroom Tuesday. It was the best SOS show I have seen and I have been reviewing the act since 1967. At a lavish pre-show reception, Tony said when they first came here as the Fabulous Echoes in '65, they followed the Four Amigos at Betty Reilly's Copacabana. "There were just 12 people in the first-night audience, including Melveen Leed and Carole Kai," he said. Carole was in the audience Tuesday and danced hot swing on stage with Bert Sagum, the only other original member of the group besides Tony. Longtime Showroom manager and Ron Lee said he first saw the group on his high school prom night. Outrigger Chairman Richard Kelley praised the SOS in his speech. Gov. Ben Cayetano presented the group with a proclamation. Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono added her congrats. It was Vicky Cayetano's birthday and the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Vicki Borges, wife of singer Jimmy, presented Mayor Jeremy Harris' proclamation. Vicki's much prettier than Jeremy ... SOS serves up
best of the best
The Sons rise again
EDDIE KAMAE and the Sons of Hawaii, each Son an island treasure, put on a fabulous concert Wednesday at Don Ho's Island Grill. Don intro'd Eddie, Brother Smitty, Moe Keale, Dennis Kamakahi and Martin Pahinui to start the broadcast, carried by KINE Radio and emceed smoothly by Frank Shaner. Each Son took vocal solos and was superbly backed, vocally and instrumentally. This was a rare gig as Eddie is making films and hasn't been playing much music. But the group's harmony, incomparable down-home Hawaiian sound and togetherness made it seem as though they had been performing forever. Hana hou! Or should I say, hana Ho? ...CHEERS to David Paul's, marking its first year with a series of events starting Monday, climaxed with a champagne party with food stations Friday ... Mari Frey presents a fashion show at the Kahala Mandarin April 8. Mari recently became engaged to John Sutherland ... Neil "Corky" Donahue, 82, Roosevelt football coach in the mid-1940s and a retired HPD captain, is at Maunalani Nursing Center after falling and breaking his hip in three places. He will not walk again, Neil Jr. sadly reports ...
Lousy, rotten golf shots
LAST Saturday on the golf course, the group behind ours hit into us because we were playing too slowly for them. One drive rolled well past us. When one of the impatient golfers walked toward us on the 18th tee he had the audacity to say we were supposed to keep pace with the group ahead of us. Duh! A member of our group, a very good golfer when he was a firefighter 40 years ago, handled the situation. The six men in the group behind us were younger, fast players. We had two women in our sixsome, which included a retired HPD lieutenant. All but one of us is over age 60. We were slower, But there is NO excuse to intentionally hit into another group. I regret not telling those guys about my late friend, Traylor Mercer, who spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair after being hit by a golf ball. Fortunately for both groups last Saturday, no one in our group was hit ...
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.
His columns appear online every Monday.
