Hawaii
JUST when you've convinced yourself that David Letterman is pretty hip -- and in some surprising ways, he is -- he comes a cropper on his TV show. Tuesday night, Letterman, out of the blue, stated that since Hawaii is the Aloha State, people who live there should answer their phones with "Aloha." So, while musing on whether Hawaii was the 49th or 50th state, overlooking "Hawaii Five-O," one presumes, he called a woman at random and naturally, she answered "Hello." When she asked who he wanted he said, "I don't care." She hung up on him, showing she had better sense than him. Letterman revealed he'd never been to Hawaii, though his bandleader, Paul Shaffer, has been twice. His first visit, he revealed, was ruined by a traffic mishap which landed him in Queen's Medical Center, "though fortunately it was our second day there and we'd seen Don Ho the day before." Maybe KGMB, the local CBS affiliate, could arrange to get Letterman here on his maiden visit and telecast his show from here ... Letterman needs to visit
BY the way, Shaffer's second trip to Hawaii was in 1986 with the Beach Boys, but when they return Saturday it'll be without him. An item here in '86 mentioned that singer Jimmy Borges was tickled to meet Shaffer, whom he described as his idol ... A young friend offered me an extra ticket for the first showing of "The Phantom Menace," which I think is about the IRS, at the Waikiki Theater, but I suggested he give it to someone who'd better appreciate it. He was somewhat taken aback: "Seems I've waited half my life for this," he said. At any rate, now that "Part I" is out, I can see them all for the first time in order, should I choose to ...
Snore wars
WHILE I can't get excited about George Lucas' latest sci-fi extravaganza, I'm apparently in the minority. Adman Marty Schiller bought tickets for his entire staff and friends to see the 12:01 a.m. showing yesterday, but made it clear he didn't care how groggy they were, they were expected to be at work on time with no called-in "Wooky Hooky." Signature Theaters, which aired the show a minute after midnight, hired Greg MacDonald's steel drum music and Curtis Kam's magicians to entertain people standing in line. Not that there's much else in their lives anyway, judging from those interviewed on TV ...BUMPING into attorney Rick Fried with Suzy Tripton, I said, "I hear you're getting married." Ever a stickler for detail, lawyer Fried responded carefully, "Well, we're engaged." ... The Irish Hearts group is teaming up with Partners in Time, a Balkan folk group, to raise money for Kosovo refugees. Money from a concert Friday at McCoy Pavilion (6 to 9 p.m.) will be funneled through the International Rescue Committee. Fiddler Lisa Leung, who's played with both groups, will go on first with Irish Hearts, and then they'll head down to perform at O'Toole's ...
B.P. in L.A.
THE "Beautiful People," as they're called, sometimes sarcastically, were gathered at isle-born film producer Chris Lee's May Day Luau in his Hollywood back yard. Getting their fill of island kaukau were a bevy of beauties including Julia Nickson, Kelly Hu, Brook Lee and Carolyn Sapp, the latter two Miss Americas. Others on hand were Christopher Ciccone (best known as brother of Madonna), and actors Brian Tochi, Clyde Kosatsu, Marcus Chong, Matty Liu and Dustin Nguyen. Local grinds provided by Larry Wong. Watch those waists ...
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.