By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Michael Jackson, shown performing here
in 1997, will return for a Millennium Eve concert
at the Aloha Stadium.

Some celebrations
won’t come cheap

Barbra Streisand's Las Vegas gig is
a little pricey, but Michael Jackson's
Aloha Stadium show and other Hawaii
events are bit more affordable

Mainland shows

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

How do you spell millennium?

$$$$$$. Lots and lots of dollar signs.

With the biggest New Year's Eve of the century about four months away, partygoers must be prepared to pay big bucks to attend even the smallest events.

Entertainers all know that the eve of the new millennium is a good time to collect a big paycheck. For instance:

Barbra Streisand will perform a single concert in Las Vegas for a reported $13 million, with cheap seats at $500 and front-row ones for $2,500.
Jimmy Buffett will headline a 12-hour concert in Los Angeles for a reported $4 million, with single tickets ranging from $500 to $1,500.
Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt concert seats in L.A. are going for $150 to $1,000 per ticket.

So what about Hawaii?

Forget that much-publicized Elton John gig. First, Hawaii couldn't afford what John wants and there's no venue left that's large enough to house his audience. That's because Michael Jackson is performing at Aloha Stadium on Millennium Eve. Jackson made the announcement Aug. 29 -- his 41st birthday - at a news conference in New York City. Plans actually have Jackson performing two New Year's Eve concerts beginning in Sydney, Australia, then jetting across the International Dateline on a flight to Hawaii.

Promoter Marcel Avram told the Star-Bulletin months ago that Jackson "most likely" will receive the biggest fee ever paid to an artist, for the two concerts.

Star-Bulletin file photo
Pop group 'N Sync will play over three nights
-- Dec. 30, 31 and Jan. 1 -- at the Blaisdell Concert Hall;
tickets are $40, $65 and $45, respectively.

The other "big" millennium event is a trio of 'N Sync concerts -- Dec. 30, 31 and Jan. 1 -- at the Blaisdell Concert Hall; tickets are $40, $65 and $45, respectively, and available at the Blaisdell box office and usual outlets. And that's it as far as major name talent performing here, though the Hawaii Millennium Commission has organized activities statewide on New Year's Eve.

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Oahu

Ala Moana Park

Celebration Starlight MADDness' First Night Event will feature food booths and entertainment, as well as synchronized and simultaneous fireworks displays off barges at Magic Island, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Halekulani, Sheraton Waikiki and Kuhio Beach.

There will also be an outdoor concert at the Hilton Hawaiian Village starring various entertainers, including Keali'i Reichel. For more information, call 847-9322.

Aloha Tower Marketplace

Toast the millennium in five time zones across the United States with a New York Times Square toast at 7 p.m. and ending with a fireworks finale at midnight. There will be several stages with live music, tents of food and beverages, and a family play zone. The party is free. For information, call 566-2337 or www.alohatower.com

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Wherever you end up on New Year's weekend, look up
-- there'll likely be a spectacular fireworks show overhead.

Kapiolani Community College

The Koa Gallery will host "Closing the Door," a mixed-media miniature art exhibition honoring the close of the 20th century. Participating artists will be those who have shown at the Koa Gallery since its inception. For more information, call 734-9382.

The Kahala Mandarin Oriental

There will be four parties going on, with gourmet food stations, champagne, party favors and several live bands. The party themes are: "Rockin' to Y2K"; "Millennium Magnifico"; "Swing Style 2000"; and "Reflections '99." The evening will end with a fireworks display on the resort's beach. All-inclusive admission price is $225. For more information, call 739-8888.

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel

Enjoy a five-course "Art of Food and Wine" dinner by Executive Chef Tom Wong in The Surf Room. The cost will be $100 per person. Afterward, listen to the Cathy Foy Trio at the Mai Tai Bar.

The Monarch Room will feature "Flavors of Hawaii," a six-course dinner prepared by chef Wong, with entertainment by a 16-piece band; $400 a person. Each guest will receive a keepsake and party favors. For information, call 931-7194.

Star-Bulletin file photo
Moe Keale will be among those
at the Sheraton Waikiki.

The Sheraton Waikiki

"Hoomaka Hou 2000" is a celebration of music and dance featuring the Moana Chang Trio; Makaha Sons with Robi Kahakalau; Hapa; Moe Keale with Nalani Keale; Kanilau; and Kapena and a hula halau. Platinum seating is $95; Gold seating, $85. Dinner packages are $225 and $200.

Ciao! Restaurant will host a "Kendall Jackson Wine Dinner" from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., at $105 per person.

The Hanohano Room will be open for two dinners: Tinsel Town, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.; $125 a person, and Diamond seating, from 8:30 to 9 p.m.; $250 a person. For information, call 922-4422.

The Sheraton Moana Surfrider

Special dinners and events will take place at the hotel's three restaurants.

The outdoor Banyan Courtyard millennium night will include five hours of continuous entertainment by the Star Sisters, Jan Brenner and Rea Fox, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 31, to half-hour past midnight. The $100 admission gains entrance to the appetizer buffet and outdoor party festivities, a holiday beverage, party favors and a glass of champagne at midnight to toast the new year. Tickets to the entertainment-only festivities at the Banyan Courtyard are $75 per person.

The Ship's Tavern, the hotel's fine dining restaurant, will feature a five-course dinner menu and entertainment package, at $275 a person. There are three dinner seatings available: 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

The Beachside Cafe will set up a seafood dinner buffet at $45 a person; children 5 to 12 years old can eat for $22.50 each. For information, call 922-3111.

The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani

A millennium pool party and showroom extravaganza are on the bill for New Year's Eve. The outdoor pool deck of the Pikake Terrace and Lounge will be transformed into a giant time machine with a "Back to the Future" theme. Guests will enjoy a century of music favorites when a live band begins this blast from the past with songs spanning the '40s through '60s.

As the countdown to midnight begins, a large video screen set high above the pool deck will broadcast the monumental "ball drop" in New York's Times Square. The hotel is creating its own Hawaiian style "Pineapple Rise" in which a giant handmade pineapple will rise in unison with the ball dropping in New York for a simultaneous countdown to midnight and the new year. The pool party celebration also will feature special lighting effects, pyrotechnics, lighted balloon sculptures, confetti and lasers.

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Revelers were out at full force celebrating the last New
Year's holiday. This year, with Year 2000 rolling in,
partiers will have much more to choose from to ring
in the new millennium.

The Pikake Terrace Restaurant and Lounge, along with the pool party celebration, will feature two millennium dinner packages: The Deluxe Dinner for $99 a person includes access to the specialty buffet, plus party favors, a glass of champagne and preferred seating in the main terrace area under the umbrellas near the pool-party festivities. For $85, customers will be treated to the same buffet, party favor and glass of champagne, with seating located in the Ainahau lobby area of the restaurant. Dinner seating is 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Dinner patrons may join in the pool party celebration at no additional charge. For those interested in attending only the millennium dance party without dinner, there will be a $30 cover charge starting at 6 p.m.

"Extreme Experience -- A Millennium Extravaganza" features dancers and musicians from Tihati Productions at 5 and 9 p.m. Both shows offer cocktail or dinner options. For the early evening show, cocktail seating begins at 5:45 p.m. and at the second show, cocktail seating begins at 9:45 p.m. Cocktail prices are $50 to $75 a person.

The dinner show option, which offers a deluxe dinner buffet, begins seating at 5 p.m. for the first show, 9 p.m. for the second show. Cost for the dinner show ranges from $120 to $150 a person.

A complimentary millennium collector's item souvenir will be given to guests of the early show. For the second show, guests will be given a complimentary glass of champagne, party favors and a millennium souvenir.

Two special millennium Chinese dinners will be offered by the Lotus Moon Restaurant. Platinum dinner seating is 5:45 to 10:30 p.m., at $79 a person, which includes a special New Year's drink.

The Millennium Silver dinner package -- 5:45 to 11 p.m. -- is $49 a person. Both the Platinum and Silver dinners include a good-luck message written by a Chinese calligrapher. For guests who arrive after 9 p.m., party hats and favors will be offered.

The Momoyama Restaurant will have two special millennium dinners: the Millennium Deluxe, $79, 5:45 to 10:30 p.m; and Standard Millennium dinner, $49, 5:45 to 11 p.m. For more information, call 922-5811.

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Big Island

Edith Kanakaole Stadium

The Moonlight Family Jamboree 2000 will be held at the Hilo stadium from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. New Year's Eve. Enjoy dance, music, crafts and food. Community festivities continue the next day, with the fireworks display Burst 2000 taking place 7 p.m. Jan. 1 from Coconut Island in Hilo Bay. For more information, call 961-8706.

The Mauna Lani Bay Resort

The resort's "Dance Through the Decades Gala" New Year's Eve party features Nueva Vida performing musical hits from the 1920s through the 1990s. Guests are encouraged to dress in the style of their favorite era.

And there will be buffets and bars galore, including:

A Victorian Tea featuring tea cakes, finger cookies, sweet tarts and more at the dessert buffet. Waiters will be dressed in tail coats and top hats.

The Roaring '20s Bar, whose central focus will be a bathtub ice carving pouring out chilled gin.

The Silent Movies of the '30s bar will have a painted movie screen and red drapes backing a buffet station adorned in black, white and silver. Oversized reels of movie film, clapboards and megaphones will create a movie setting for the ice sculpture poised above the buffet.

Red, white and blue are the colors representing the 1940s, when the United States won World War II. A 15-by-15-foot square bar re-creates an Officers Club with wartime paraphernalia: posters, statues of soldiers, parachutes and model planes.

Remember when ducktails and poodle skirts were the rage? This wild bar will take guests back to Rydell High with a re-creation of a '50s-style soda fountain. The barkeeps will be dressed like soda-jockeys.

As for 1960s "flower power," one buffet will feature an oversized re-creation of The Beatles album cover for "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band."

As for the '70s, remember polyester? Leisure suits? Step into this disco club filled with neon and flashing lights. The buffet will be decorated with a silhouetted dancing couple in the center of a food station accented with lava lamps and beacon lights. A Dancing Queen will stand ready for action dressed in her polyester dress and Afro.

The "Me Generation" '80s, with its focus on designer labels, will be represented by three storefronts. Shopping bags, mirrors and more will accent the buffet, and who better than a Madonna impersonator to entertain guests.

The electronic fascination of the '90s will be featured in an Internet Cafe filled with pagers, cell phones and computers. The buffet demonstrates the crazy life of the '90s, complete with spools of fiberoptic cable, wires of beepers in a string, computer monitors with twisted silver tubing and two "Men in Black." For more information, call (800) 356-6652.

Hilton Waikoloa Village

To greet the year 2000 on a healthy beat, the resort will host a Health and Wellness Celebration, and Event of the Century beginning Dec. 27 through Jan. 2.

The resort's Kohala Spa is hosting a group of renowned authors, educators, spiritual teachers and healers, including:

Don Campbell, an educator on the transformative powers of sound, tone and music, who has written eight books, including the best seller, "The Mozart Effect." Campbell offers a synthesis of knowledge and experience of how music can be used for everything from reducing stress to improving learning, activating creativity and harmonizing communities.

Denis Waitley, who has studied and counseled leaders in varied fields, from top executives of Fortune 500 companies to Olympic champions. He wrote "The New Dynamics of Winning," "The Winners Edge," "Seeds of Greatness" and the best seller, "Empires of the Mind." During his seminar Waitley will share his motivational techniques currently being used to train U.S. athletes for the 2000 Sydney Olympic games.

Ellen Kriedman, who has educated and motivated thousands of couples to put fun, romance, communication and excitement into their relationships. Kriedman wrote the New York Times best sellers "Light His Fire" and "Light Her Fire."

Barbara Mark and Trudy Griswold, co-authors of "Angelspeak: How to Talk with Your Angels." They also wrote the "Angelspeak Book of Prayer and Healing."

Rose Offner, a journal-writing expert and author of "Journal to the Soul," "Journal for Teenagers" and "Journal to Intimacy." She will share the process that allows individuals to express their creative selves, and will introduce techniques in communication, relationship sustenance and soul searching.

Linda Tellington Jones, who has been referred to as The Horse Whisperer and is internationally renowned as a horse expert and animal behaviorist with more than 30 years experience. Jones has developed "T Touch," a language for interspecies communication. Her work is now recognized and accepted as a humane form of animal training and communication, deepening the human-animal bond.

Kathleen Thurston, who combines 25 years in the healing arts with a background in visual arts to offer seminargoers her expertise as a consultant and instructor in the Chinese art of placement, feng shui. Literally translated as "wind and water," feng shui is about where and how we place ourselves, on the planet, in our community, on the land, and what and where we place objects in our homes and offices.

Along with in-house guests, non-Hilton Waikoloa Village guests are invited to attend the keynote addresses and follow-up two-hour workshops. The nonguest fee for all eight speaker programs is $300 per person.

Other workshops at the spa will include forums on aromatherapy, I-Ching, pilate demonstrations, and Hawaiian philosophy of ho'oponopono (inspiring healing of body and mind).

Meanwhile, the resort's "Event of the Century" will feature Big Bang Beat, a 15-piece San Francisco band performing in the Grand Ballroom Dec. 31. The millennium here will be welcomed with special effects, indoor pyrotechnics and party favors.

In addition, the year 2000 will be heralded with an all-day event Jan. 1 with a dawn ceremony paying homage to the first sunrise of the new millennium. The rest of the day will be marked by entertainment, food and an all-day pool party. For more information, call (800) HILTONS, or call Hilton Waikoloa Village at (808) 886-1234.

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Maui

Sheraton Maui

Guests here can choose among several gala parties:

The Millennium Gala in the Maui Ballroom features music in the courtyard overlooking torch-lit gardens; 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.; $200 a person.

In the last hours of the millennium, experience a six-course feast in Teppan Yaki Dan; from 6 to 10 p.m.; $125 a person. Reservations for all millennium dinner events are required and may be made through the hotel at (808) 662-8016. For room reservations, call the central reservations office at (800) 782-9488.

Lahaina Civic Center

The West Maui Ohana New Year's Celebration will be a non-alcohol all-day event family event that includes food booths, games, entertainment and "millennium-related products." Call 667-2805 for more times and information.

Kaanapali Resort

Enjoy a fireworks display at midnight Dec. 31. For more information, call (808) 661-3271.

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Kauai

The Princeville Resort

A Year 2000 party will feature a fireworks extravaganza and champagne toast at midnight, $100. For more information, call (808) 826-9644.

Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort in Kapaa

A "Millennium Celebration" will honor Hawaiian values and the aloha spirit Dec. 28 through Jan. 2 at the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort in Kapaa. Hawaiian kahuna Kahu Abraham will guide participants throughout the celebration. Highlights include an opening ceremony with a welcome by Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka; a New Year's Eve dinner, party and ceremony; workshops by Hawaiian elders and healing practitioners; and nightly Hawaiian entertainment. In addition, specially created land excursions include cultural tours of ancient heiau (temple) sites, a trip to a Hindu monastery, a flora and fauna trek, a beach excursion and a hike through Waimea Canyon.

Attendees also will be able to monitor worldwide millennium activities via the Internet and television at the event's Millennium Central display.

Additional speakers include Shakti Gawain, author of "Creative Visualization," "Living in the Light" and "Creating True Prosperity;" Alan Cohen, author of a "Deep Breath of Life" and "Handle with Prayer;" and Hank Wesselman, Ph.D., world-renowned anthropologist and author of "Spiritwalker" and "Medicinemaker."

Small group sessions and teachings will be led by Hawaiian kumu and kupuna presenters. Topics will include Hawaiian principles, living aloha, the metaphor of weaving life through lei-making, breathing techniques, Hawaiian herb therapies, Hawaiian rituals and storytelling, learning about ancestors as guides, and Hawaiian techniques of balance.

Millennium Celebration rates start at $1,639 a person/quad occupancy, and $1,999 a person/double occupancy. It includes five nights accommodations at the SunSpree Resort, all programs and entertainment, special meal plan and choice of one land excursion. For reservations and information, contact Avalon Travel at (888) 552-7375.

Kalapaki Beach

The New Year's Eve Cultural Festival 2000 is an alcohol-free alternative designed to bring culture and tourist together through food, entertainment and crafts and highlight the accomplishments of Kauai Habitat for Humanity. For more information call (808) 245-3991.

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Star-Bulletin file photo
It will cost you $150-$1,500 to see Gloria Estefan,
performing New Year's Eve in Miami.

Millennium
entertainment will be
a concerted effort

How will the stars align on the eve of the next millennium? Astrologers and music-minded celebrants making plans for New Year's Eve want to know.

With the advance billing that Y2K has received, some music promoters are playing it low key, betting that home by the fire is where you'll want to be. Others -- particularly at the glitzier venues -- are thinking large, planning once-in-a-lifetime, big-ticket concerts for a presumed once-in-a-lifetime evening.

Big thinker Steve Leber, producer of the "Party of the Century" at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York (Aretha Franklin, Sting, Andrea Bocelli), says that as the 21st Century progresses, "People are going to say, `Where was I when the millennium changed?' "

For some of those people the answer will be, "I spent more money than I ever thought I would, just to see a show."

Star-Bulletin file photo
You'll need $400 to $1,000 to spend New Year's Eve
with Rod Stewart in Las Vegas.

The price for admission to the Javits Center: $1,000-$2,500, which includes food and drink and access to "theme rooms." Kool and the Gang will boogie in the Disco Room; the Duke Ellington Orchestra and other big bands will play the Ballroom; Joan Rivers will headline the Comedy Room. Tickets went on sale in May, and Leber declined to discuss how many of the 20,000 places are left, beyond saying that sales are going well. One price comparison: the Supper Club in New York is charging $1,000 for dinner, champagne and considerably less notable attractions such as the Jumpin' Gigolos swing band.

At this high end, tickets to major concerts all over the country will top out at $1,000 or more. The Eagles, Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt will play the Staples Center in Los Angeles ($50 to $1,000); Barbra Streisand will be at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas ($500-$2,500). It will cost you $150-$1,500 to see Gloria Estefan at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, $400 to $1,000 to spend New Year's Eve with Rod Stewart at the Rio in Las Vegas.

In the mega category, Jersey division, there's one possible and one definite at this point. There is a good chance Bruce Springsteen and his reunited E Street Band will play the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford. The highest-profile show that is a definite is Cher at Caesars in Atlantic City. Her New Year's Eve and New Year's Day shows are invitation-only do's for high-rollers and other VIP's. The general public can buy tickets for her Dec. 30 appearance.

Only one other Atlantic City casino has announced its New Year's Eve player: The Hilton, which has booked comedian Paula Poundstone.

For a willing big name, the end of 1999 can mean a major payday.

"All of us performers want to stay at home on New Year's Eve and not deal with the insanity," says Barry Manilow, who will play for an invitation-only crowd at the Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn. "But these dates kept dangling in front of all of us, and the hoopla became more and more exciting."

"Most acts are getting five and 10 times normal," says Kenny Laguna, who manages rocker Joan Jett, among others. "Everybody I know of is getting tons of money."

Not wanting to deal with the insanity, Jett has turned down 10 offers, Laguna says.

Many artists have received offers they can't refuse, says Philip Citron, an independent booking agent formerly with the William Morris Agency. He's booked Roberta Flack and Vonda Shepherd into the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y., for a free show being presented by the city for four to six times the artists' usual fees.

In general, Citron said, this is in line with fees commanded by artists performing at regular, paid concerts this New Year's Eve. "There's only one millennium."