Hawaii
Rocky learns
a new hulaROCKY road to happiness: Rocky Ching, the striking model seen in much of the art photography of Kim Taylor Reese, says "Life after divorce is good." She and Reese, who were married, went their separate ways and Rocky met and fell in love with Ka'au McKenney, a Hokule'a crew member and one of the fabled Farden Family. The two were wed last Saturday in Lahaina, and on June 13, McKenney will leave on the sailing canoe's first leg from Hilo to the Marquesas. Rocky is keeping a high profile, flying for Hawaiian Airlines, and when her new hubby gets to Tahiti in a month or so, she'll meet him there and let the honeymoon commence. As for the wedding, it was at the family home, "Ka'iaholokai," and performing in the ceremony were Puamana, Auntie Irmgard Aluli and Nalani Olds with Rocky dancing two Farden Family dances. Ka'au's mom is Luana McKenney, who sings with Puamana. He and Rocky make a great looking couple ...
DINING at L'Uraku the other night were Barbara Eden of "I Dream of Jeannie" fame, and the woman who runs KQED, the PBS station in San Francisco, ex-Hawaii resident Mary Bitterman. Let me hasten to add that the two were at separate tables ... There will be two Grand Marshals at this year's Kamehameha Day Parade. They are sisters Lilani and Puanana Alama. The siblings and six of the 1999 Miss Hawaii contestants won't be on flowery floats this year, but riding in style on seven DaimlerChrysler Sebring convertibles. The parade this year is on June 12, one day after the holiday itself ...
Surface tension
CAST members of the soaper "Days of Our Lives" reached new depths this week. Oh, it wasn't their acting or the story-line twist -- it's just that they were doing their filming of a kidnapping aboard an Atlantis Submarine off Waikiki. Involved in the "Love Sub" sequence were Diedre Hall (Dr. Marlena Black), Drake Hogestyn (John Black) and Joseph Mascolo (Stefano Dimeria.) It's safe to say, without dampening the drama, that deep emotions surfaced during the episode ... And speaking of subs, Glenn Fujihara, who was lured out of the real estate business to take over the Sub-Zero dealership here, doubled the business and has now doubled back, rejoining Prudential Locations Inc. ...FROM the Manila folder: Lita Apienza, the mayor of Manila, is visiting in the islands. Little known is the fact that the mayor lived here in the 60s, and performed with the Pearl of the Orient dance company. On a previous visit he returned home with a Toy as a souvenir of his stay here -- that would be former City Hall figure Toy Arre, who's now his assistant in the Philippines ...
Dueling for dollars
GOVERNOR Ben Cayetano was guest speaker Tuesday at a gala dinner at the New Otani Hotel in Osaka, and showed a film about things to do in Hawaii, hoping to pick up the pace of tourism from Japan. Not to be outdone, the governor of Osaka, a former comedian named Knock Yokoyama told the visitors the Kansai area also has things for people from the islands to see, from the ancient city of Kyoto to the new Universal Studios now under construction. The same Cayetano dog and pony show will be repeated tonight at the Four Seasons, again with music by the Brothers Cazimero, cuisine by Philippe Padovani and an appearance by Hawaii's sumo champs, Akebono and Musashimaru ...
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.