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Hawaii
IT didn't take long for word to get out about how much fun "Forever Plaid" is at Manoa Valley Theater. Just five days after opening, the phones were jangling in Manoa at such a pace that a decision was made immediately to extend the show. It'll now run for two extra weeks, with an announced March 26 closing ... One of the "Four Plaids" in the show, Terry Howell, had to learn accordion to do the three-minute, 11-second send-up of the "Ed Sullivan" show, complete with Senor Wences and ‘Forever’ gets a
little longerTopo Gigot. He plays "Lady of Spain" while mayhem breaks out all around him. The one problem was Howell didn't play accordion, so HTY director Mark Lutwak, an accordion aficionado who owns several instruments, not only loaned him one, but taught him to play as well. After the opening, Lutwak quipped that after the run of the show, "it's safe to say that the instrument has never and will never again play 'Lady of Spain'." ...
AND while we're in Manoa, the Shetland Angels of the Manoa Youth Baseball League would appear to be a shoo-in if coaching were everything in Little League, which it isn't. The coaching staff includes UH assistant football coach Mike Cavanaugh, UH assistant men's volleyball coach Tino Reyes and UH associate athletic director Jim Donovan. But do they know baseball? A rivalry may also crop up in the league as UH wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji coaches another team ...
Mahalo
IT was a joyful series of reunions for Bob Turnbull when he and wife Yvonne returned to the islands. They attended the 30th anniversary of the Waikiki Beach Chaplaincy which Turnbull began in 1970. We'd mentioned he would be speaking at Wayne Cordeiro's New Hope Christian Fellowship and he reports many who came up to him after the services where he spoke told him they'd read about it in this column. He also had reunions with ex-UH football players dating back to when he was assisting the team and retired HPD officers he'd got to know when he was police chaplain for 10 years. Now he says he's loaded down with email addresses so he can keep in further touch with all his old isle friends ...OHA'S Jerry Norris wonders aloud who would have guessed Hawaii would become the site of an "Uncle Ben-Rice" controversy ... Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today Show" yesterday asked an expert why the cost of gasoline was $1.65 in Hawaii when it was under $1.30 in other locales. "Oh, they can afford it out there," came the response. Lauer lifted an eyelid and quipped, "You're making a lot of friends out there." ... You think our politicians run up bills? Hawi retiree Dick Boyd, former owner of the late, lamented Boyd's in the equally late, lamented Alexander Young Hotel, says Louisiana has us beat. He cites a copy of the New Orleans Times-Picayune which says the price tag for repairs in crumbling New Orleans schools has topped $1 billion ...
Switching channels
AFTER years of airing her independently produced specials, "Emme's Island Moments," on KHON-TV, Emme Tomimbang is moving up the dial to KGMB, Channel 9. The station is already calling her "one of the good things about Hawaii." Her first special done for Channel 9 will be "John A. Burns: The Man and His Times." It commemorates the 25th anniversary of the death of the former governor, who was also Emme's father-in-law -- she's married to Judge James Burns ...
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