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Hawaii
IT seemed like the perfect time to escape the wild winter in Chicago and fly to Hawaii for the opening of HOT's 40th anniversary grand opera season. But things got "HOT" in another way for Windy Citizens Sarah and Ted Strandt. Their leisurely stroll in the balmy sunshine through Kapiolani Park and the Zoo quickly became something of a walk on the wild side. Zoo employees with It’s a jungle out there
nets suddenly ran past them, one shouting, "An antelope has escaped." Realizing that being attacked by an antelope just steps from Waikiki Beach was a story nobody in Chicago would buy, the Strandts sought help. As the antelope was racing around the other exhibits, Sarah called her little sister, public relations exec Juliana LaReaux, to ask for help. Juliana was too convulsed to be of much assistance, but as the Strandts made their way back to their hotel, Sarah couldn't help but muse, "And they thought Chicago was a jungle." ...
And also on the subject of animals and HOT, it seems one Kahala girl has this thing about butterflies. Samantha Pang, a 7-year-old who played a part in HOT's "Madama Butterfly" last year, found herself fluttering about Iolani Palace as a butterfly during the Queen's Ball fund-raiser. She was one of 15 members of the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus to entertain gala attendees. But the butterfly connection for Samantha goes back to the beginning. When she was born, her parents, Drs. Stuart Pang and Robin Yim lived on Mariposa Drive. Wondering about the significance of that? "Mariposa" is Spanish for butterfly ...
Souled out
WHEN word gets out about the Jazz Cultural Journey Feb. 10 from 8 p.m. to midnight at the YWCA Courtyard across from Iolani Palace, it'll surely be a sell-out. The evening of soul music and food will be to celebrate the memory of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and will feature the jazz stylings of Tennyson Stephens & Friends, Azure McCall, JP Smoketrain and others. The food will be prepared by chef Sean Priester of the Wild Mushroom and will include catfish, roast pork, chicken apple sausage and sweet potato gumbo, blackeyed peas con queso, red beans and rice, smoked ham hocks and collard greens, jerk chicken skewers, cornbread with orange chile marmalade and sweet potato pie. If that doesn't whet your appetite, you're simply not into soul food ...AS usual about this time of year, NFL Pro Bowlers are showing up all over town. One favorite stop is Scruples, which has even been discovered by the NFL cheerleaders as a nice place to hang out ... Peyton Manning, on the other hand, dined in peace at Padovani's Bistro ... And Corey Dillon, the Cincinnati Bengals running back who broke Walter Payton's record for yards gained in one game, will be greeting fans at Liberty House Ala Moana from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Those who buy a Nike replica jersey will score his autograph as well ...
Murphy martini
WHILE Don Murphy usually sponsors Irish folk musicians like "Spirit of the Dance," playing next month at the Hawaii Theatre, tomorrow he's behind the "First Family of Chamber Music," the Juilliard String Quartet, at Orvis Auditorium. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but the Juilliard's violinist is named Joel Smirnoff. And the group is playing a quirky string quartet composed by Ruth Crawford-Seeger, stepmother of Pete Seeger, who, with Woody Guthrie, popularized modern folk music ...
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