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Hawaii
GOSH, you'd have thought Bill Clinton was at the Orchid at Mauna Lani on Saturday, or perhaps Bill Gates was getting married again. Yamaguchi’s day
scores a 10But no. Just before 5 p.m. the tennis courts and golf course was cleared, and guards cordoned off the area around the Plantation Estate, it was to make for some privacy for two people skating off into the sunset. Figure skating champ Kristi Yamaguchi tied the knot with hockey star Bret Hedican ... And it must be all those hot lights in the TV studios or something, but on the heels of the mention here that newswoman Jill Kuramoto got engaged, two competing weather people decided to share an umbrella for life. That would be Kim Gennaula of KGMB-TV and Guy Hagi of KHNL. If things go as they have, the two should enjoy some fine afternoons together -- Hagi works beginning at 5 in the morning and Gennaula toils at night ...
SPEAKING of the newly engaged Gennaula, she and anchorman Russell Shimooka of KGMB, last week helped judge the weekly Wednesday night karaoke contest D.K. Kodama holds at Sansei in Restaurant Row. After the judging, Shimooka was called up to do "Mack the Knife," possibly a tribute to the sushi chef in the kitchen. Restaurant manager Ivy Nagayama pronounced his rendition "awesome." ...
Foy'ed again
EACH Saturday night, pianist Pierre Grill performs on piano at Hank's on Nuuanu. Stopping in this past Saturday was Cathy Foy, who sang in English, French, Hawaiian, English and Japanese. Her "Hey Big Spender" knocked the socks off the crowd when she let down her hair and swirled it around. Who to follow her at the mike? How about Yours Truly. Jimmy Borges began the tradition, knowing I have the guts of a bandit. On separate occasions he called me up to sing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" following Tony Bennett and Pat Morita, something he was not eager to do himself. And so I was called up again to do a couple of original song parodies which went over surprisingly well, but following Cathy is a fool's errand ...I'VE seen the cover of the August Esquire magazine which featured local triathlete Lokelani McMichael on the cover and inside "A portfolio of America's 10 sexiest athletes." After running an item that McMichael was going to be on the cover, her family reports getting calls from people they haven't heard from in years, and yes, even ex-boyfriends who suddenly would like to reconnect with her. She looks very fit on the cover, with a little top and bikini bottom. She isn't alone in representing Hawaii in the issue. Surfer Malia Jones is also featured ...
A real 'Survivor'
FORGET that silly TV "Survivor" nonsense. A real survivor was Navy Aerographer's Mate Luther Jones. At the opening of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center last week, Sen. Dan Inouye recommended to the admirals in attendance that the Purple Heart awarded posthumously to Jones be upgraded to a Navy Cross, the Navy's highest honor. The new center was dedicated to Jones, who was captured on Guam when the Japanese took over the island during World War II. He escaped his captors and survived in a real jungle drinking rain water and eating beetles or other small animals he could catch. He was eventually captured again, tortured and when he refused to cooperate, was forced to dig his own grave and was then beheaded. A Navy Cross seems the least the United States can do ...
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