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Hawaii
ONE more Christmas under our belts -- along with tons of food and sweets -- and two more football "bowls" at Aloha Stadium, notable mostly for the number of fans who showed up disguised as empty seats. And for the second year, players were struck with food poisoning. Where are these guys eating, Root for the underdog
anyway? ... My son took me to the Iolani Classic, the basketball tournament at Iolani School, and we all cheered on the underdog, Northwestern, a team not afraid to shoot three-pointers no matter how many they missed, knowing they'd hit them when they counted. And they did. I'd guess Northwestern is a poor school, since the players had the ugliest uniforms, and were the only team we saw which didn't have matching shoes. But they've got a trophy! ... I saw a familiar face among the policemen there to keep order and handle traffic, one which more often pops up on TV talking about homicides. It was Lt. Bill Kato. He didn't take the job to make a few extra bucks, as some cops do, but donated his services as a favor to the Iolani coach ...
WHEN the Green Bay Packers were going to Super Bowls, former Miss Hawaii USA Heather Hays ('92) was thrilled to be an anchor on a Green Bay TV station, because she got to travel to the Big Game and cover it. Now that Green Bay's failed to make the playoffs, it was an easier transition to Texas, her native state. And though the Cowboys' glory days appear over as well, she's taken on the job as 5 and 9 p.m. anchor for KDFW, the Fox station in Dallas ...
Location, location, location
IT'S not just in the real estate business that location is everything, as casting director Garrison True discovered. Things were slow in Honolulu, so he hied off to L.A. for a spell, and hadn't been there 12 hours than he got hired as a dialogue and acting coach on a horror film being made by the folks who brought you "Gods and Monsters." Producers called his cell phone asking him to recommend someone for the job, thinking he was in Honolulu. He recommended himself and was told they needed someone on the set at 5 a.m. "I'm there," said True, just leaving Warner Bros. Studios at the time. He even stopped by their offices and got a script, to familiarize himself with it before meeting the actors. The next day they were filming at a sewage waste station. "Don't know what smells worse," ruses True, "the location or the script." One other thing: "I'll never drink L.A. tap water again." ...IF you know anyone who taped that TV special on the Sons of Hawaii, which ran on Channel 2 the other night, ask to borrow it. Eddie Kamae and Joe Marshall, and others who later joined the group, helped demonstrate why it became established as the best Hawaiian music group ever ...
Memorable quotes
ARRIVING at the Makiki Heights home of Diana Wiley Pietsch for a holiday party, her first without husband Charlie Pietsch III who died early this year, we found ourselves right behind Cathy Foy and four Renaissance garbed madrigals who'd been contracted to sing. "Oh my gosh," said my date, "Is this a costume party?" Uh, no ... We stopped by the Veranda of the Kahala Mandarin to hear the stylings of Loretta Ables Sayers (no hyphen, though she's added husband Dave Sayers' last name) and pianist Betty Loo Taylor cracked up everyone when she introduced a guest jazz pianist. "This is what Honolulu really needs," deadpanned Taylor, "like a hole in the head." ...
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