Hawaii
HAVING watched the first episode of "Pacific Blue" that was filmed in Hawaii, it dawned on me that the title should have been "Pacific Blown." Dreadful story line, horrendous "acting," stilted dialogue (mainlanders saying "bruddahs," ‘Pacific Blue’ a
sad attemptlocals saying "serious bummahs" and "I mean for reals") and only localite Andy Bumatai sounding remotely believable. Even he had a "Hawaiian curse" he had to cast on someone, complete with "shaka" sign. There were many, many shots of the Hilton Hawaiian Village which, unsurprisingly, housed the company. Some scenes of the cops meeting took place on the hotel roof, an odd choice save for the background scenery. They even got bossman Peter Schall standing in the porte cochere in one shot, though I swear he sneaked a peek at the camera, an acting no-no. There were many shots of surfing and bike racing, which served one useful purpose -- it kept dialogue to a minimum. But I did enjoy my birthplace being mentioned by one cop who out of the blue said, "Keokuk, Iowa is a hot weather city." ...
COMPARED to "Pacific Blue," the other show filming in Hawaii, "Baywatch," should look positively Chekovian. Though she wasn't part of the initial three isle people chosen to appear in "Baywatch," Kona Carmack returns for more filming tomorrow, and unless I miss my guess will appear fairly regularly. She's matured considerably from her earlier modeling days ... And if David Hasselhoff ever gets tired of running around the beach in his bathing suit, he can always fall back on singing. He joined Kapena recently at Don Ho's Island Grill and sang, "Mustang Sally." ...
A Tony winner
FOLLOWING in the footsteps of his grandfather and his dad, Tony Spadaro has made a nice living making and selling sausages. Many of Hawaii's better restaurants carry a variety of his made-to-order links, but now he's entering new territory. Spadaro and a partner have formed Maui Taro Burgers, a round sandwich-sized burger containing no meat and no eggs or dairy product of any kind, using taro as a main ingredient. It's designed to be an alternative to the Gardenburger, and is already in Times Supermarkets and many restaurants are also being signed up. It doesn't hurt that his Oahu sales rep is a real go-getter, Lee Nicole Felipe, who has that slender, vegan look about her ...FORMER Star-Bulletin city editor Ed Edwards and wife Barbara have long been retired and living in Australia. Like so many other Hawaii ex-pats all over, he keeps up on isle happenings through reading the Star-Bulletin's online edition. Now comes an e-mail advising me that Australia, with only one percent of the world's population, has 20 percent of the poker machines -- slots, to you yankees. Edwards, always a straight-laced type, adds, "You can see how we spend our spare time and spare change down here." ...
Ripping good time
IT was a showbiz reunion for isle showman Jack Cione and confetti-throwing comic Rip Taylor at Don Ho's the other day. Cione, whose main involvement in retirement is producing the "Mardi Gras Follies" at Pearl Harbor, once featured Taylor in shows as well. Taylor, fresh from completing his "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" tour, was getting caught up on things by Cione. What's next for Taylor? Cione once presented "naked waiters." You don't suppose -- on second thought, forget about it ...
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: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com