Hawaii
THERE certainly is a diversity of courses offered at UH in the College of Arts and Humanities. One course describes its subject matter as "an American 'hypertext,' as a multivalent 'sign' that can be read to reveal Las Vegas a literary desert
the swift economic, environmental, military, moral, social and cultural changes that have taken place in the twentieth-century United States." And that subject matter, ladies and gentlemen, is (fanfare, please!) Las Vegas!!! It's a course to be offered in the spring of 2000 called "Viva Las Vegas" that includes such reading materials as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "The Death of Frank Sinatra," "Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley" and "The Enforcer: Spilotro -- The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas." Missing from the required reading list is the biography written by the daughter of Mafioso Dave Berman. I once asked an oldtime Vegas hand if he knew Berman, whom I first learned about from the book. His capsule reply: "Nicest killer you'd ever want to meet." Viva, indeed ...
IT won't be presented to her until next June, but Irmgard Aluli of Puamana will be next year's winner of the Alfred Preis Award for lifetime commitment to the arts ... Quadruple bypass surgery has sidelined performer and teacher Keith Haugen for the duration of the holidays. All his performances have been canceled, re-runs of previous programs are filling his timeslot on KHPR and substitute teachers for his classes at Star of the Sea had to be called in. Oh, and no Honolulu Marathon this year ...
China bound
OFF to Beijing is retired Adm. Joseph Prueher and his wife, Suzanne. Prueher, recently appointed Ambassador to China by President Clinton, and his wife made sure to stop by the Academy of Arts before their departure to select art works to display at the ambassador's residence in Beijing. The academy was happy to have its collection considered for the Art in Embassies program, and topping Mrs. Prueher's favorites were works by the late painter John Young, who'd often entertained them on their latest tour of duty in the islands. She was looking for Pacific and coastal scenes as the theme of their loan exhibition because her husband often tells the Chinese, "The Pacific makes us neighbors." ...DINING at Alan Wong's the other night were Michael Bay, who directed "Armageddon" and Walt Disney exec Bruce Hendricks. The two were taking a break from scouting locations for the film, "Pearl Harbor," which is reportedly the most expensive film ever budgeted despite no "name" stars. Filming is set to begin this spring ...
'Forbidden' memories
THE mention here of Nora Ako, mother of KHNL's Diane Ako, chit-chatting with singer Jimmy Borges about old times at the Forbidden City in San Francisco in the '60s, brought back other memories. Nora was a dancer and Borges performed at the club under the name Jimmy Jay. Travel man Paul Diller recalls he used to bring a hundred or more tourists a night into the club, but after moving to Hawaii never connected Borges with "Jay" until they bumped into each other in 1990 and relived old times ... And ex-saloon keeper Dick Boyd, now retired in Hawi, used to conduct nightclub tours for Gray Line and one of the stops was Forbidden City. He also recalls Mai Tai Sing (Ciao Mein manager) when she ran the Rickshaw and he had Pierre's on Broadway. Ah, a flood of memories ...
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