Hawaii
THAT was a familiar smiling face in the front row of the crowd on the "Today" show yesterday morning. It belonged to Dave Sayre of PR Works, who was in New York on a media blitz for Aston Hotels. Hearing that the NBC crew was collecting children's books to give to deserving kids, Sayre Sayre’s always
on the jobgot his Hawaii office to FedEx him keiki books. He then had a large sign printed up, complete with rainbow, saying, "Aston Hotels Hawaii Supports Literacy," and went down to the street fronting the NBC studios in the pre-dawn hours to commandeer a position the front row, hanging his sign over the barrier. I happened to recognize the smile, having seen so much of it when Sayre was instrumental in setting up a roast at the Hawaii Theatre to celebrate my 30 years of writing this column. Aston ought to give that guy a bonus ...
WE mentioned that entertainer Jimmy Borges, flying back from California gigs, saw the film "Notting Hill" on the plane, and recognized the young girl in a life-sized poster in the Hugh Grant character's flat as his daughter, Stephanie, who modeled in Japan during high school. Well, almost. We now learn that the girl in the photo is in fact an island girl who was modeling in Japan, only it wasn't Stephanie. The girl in the poster grew up Maria Emi Johnson in Kaneohe, and must bear a decided likeness to Borges' daughter. Now Emi Joy and living in L.A., she e-mails that she did the modeling job for Fuji film when she was in high school, and it was shown around the world, except for Japan. She's seen it pop up over the years including in Hong Kong and Bali when she was there. Emi saw a trailer for "Notting Hill" and from her second row seat heard herself blurt out, "That's me!" What a coincidence! ...
Taking the plunge
EVERYONE considered Dr. Bruce Carlson of the Waikiki Aquarium as the consummate bachelor, so you can imagine the surprise of staffers when he returned from a diving trip and announced that he'd taken the ultimate plunge. Carlson's bride is Marj Awai, assistant curator of the Florida Aquarium, who spends as much time in the water as he does. They'll have a celebration of their wedding on Nov. 18. And what have they chosen as a honeymoon trip? Why a diving excursion to the Solomon Islands, what else? ...SUCH a deal! You can buy Le Creuset cast iron cookware at various local gourmet shops, and while it may seem a bit pricey at $700 or so, it's considerably less than the $25,000 paid for a Citrus-colored set a week ago. Of course that was sold at a Christie's auction, and had been the property of Marilyn Monroe, so someone had an inflated idea of its value ...
Rockin' downtown
THEY'LL be rocking and reeling downtown tonight with both a "Nuuanu Nights" street party up and down the avenue and the Hawaii International Film Festival unspooling at the Hawaii Theatre around the corner on Bethel. But before any of that takes place, there'll be lots of rocking in Tamarind Park at lunchtime, too. Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii lined up a number of well known folks in the community to demonstrate rocking babies, rather than shaking them. Demonstrating their rocking techniques: Vicky Cayetano, Riley Wallace, Dave Shoji, Carole Kai, Miss Hawaii Candace Gentry (still unmarried, incidentally), Mrs. Hawaii Dee Dee Guss, Mr. Hawaii -- uh, I mean City Council Chairman -- Jon Yoshimura and many other media types ...
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