Hawaii
Murphy’s hosts auction
WANT to see the UH Rainbows in the Top 10 again? The basketball teams in recent years have had trouble achieving national rankings, but if you stop by Murphy's Bar & Grill tonight with $25 (and a checkbook) you can be a part of the Coaches vs. Cancer campaign. It begins at 5:30 p.m. and lasts until all the donated merchandise is auctioned and the food and beverages consumed. UH has been in the Top 10 for the past two seasons in the charity "competition" among hundreds of schools in all divisions. Money is raised through fan donations for successful three-point shots, and through the Murphy's auction. The cancer fund was inspired by late coach Jimmy Valvano, whose message to those fighting cancer was simple: "Never give up. Never, ever, give up." Honorary chairman for the local fund-raising campaign is sportscaster Jim Leahey, who took Coach Valvano's words to heart and won his own bout with cancer ...
LET'S hear it for the boy: St. Louis grad Dean Pitchford is flying high these days, with his Broadway production of "Footloose" garnering four Tony nominations including for best book and best score, both of which he wrote. Tickets are still going strong for the show, and the Tony nominations can't hurt. The awards will be handed out next month. When "Footloose" was released as a soundtrack album from the movie, CBS reported record sales of 16 million copies, highest ever for a soundtrack. There's already a "Footloose" touring company playing in Nashville, and wouldn't Hawaii be a great spot to showcase a local boy's work? It'll get a sample of it when "Fame" plays here -- Pitchford wrote the title song from that musical, too ...
Thunder Down Under
ISLE singer Jimmy Borges took off yesterday for New Zealand where he'll appear Saturday night with the Auckland Symphony as part of a pops series. He'll be doing the tribute to Frank Sinatra he did three years ago with the Honolulu Symphony, and local pops conductor Matt Catingub will be accompanying him. Borges will be the first singer from Hawaii to appear with the Auckland orchestra. Others on the pops bill are reed player Eddie Daniels and vocalist Cleo Laine with her husband, bandleader Johnny Dankworth ...WHEN Castle High junior Jewl Anguay performs here as part of the touring company of "Miss Saigon," she'll be the youngest cast member ever in the show. She'll be one of the dancer/prostitutes who -- at least in the London production I saw -- get pretty explicitly sexy for and with the U.S. soldiers in Vietnam ... Three excellent actresses made the readers theater version of "Agnes of God" well worth attending at Army Community Theatre. It repeats there for the next two Sunday afternoons. Stephanie Conching, Eden-Lee Murray and Jo Pruden are all excellent in their roles in the most intimate of settings with the audience sitting on stage along with the actresses ...
Final curtain
SORRY to hear that Jerry Van Volkenburg has died at his home in Ventura, Calif. For years he was one of the merry pranksters at Trade Publishing, and more often than not the butt of their jokes. Many of his partners in crime preceded him in death, such as Don and Josie Over, Jerry Beam and Sam Sanford. It has to seem a sad time for his other practical joker pals such as Bamboo Opperman and Carl Lindquist. Jerry is survived by his wife, Connie ...
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.