Hawaii
FORMER Isle DJ Kamasami Kong keeps Hawaii and its music on the map in Osaka, Japan, where he toils for FM802, and so it was only natural that he was chosen to emcee an event for Gov. Ben Cayetano, other politicos and members of the HVCB currently in Japan. Kong has just presented Charles Brottman's group Kohala, which played to sold-out events in both Tokyo and Osaka. Kong reports that in Osaka they performed at a two-story restaurant that was modeled after the Moana Hotel. It was complete with white banisters and a huge tree in the middle -- though not a banyan. Mayor Harry Kim will be pleased to note that every member of Kohala provided Kong's two million listeners with reasons for visiting the Big Isle during their summer vacations to Hawaii. Kim wrapped up his tour of Japan in time for Kamehameha Day ... Kamasami Kong touts
isle music in JapanLONGTIME Hawaii resident Jim Nabors and his incredible career was profiled on MSNBC's "Headlines and Legends" show featuring Matt Lauer the other night. There were lots of shots of Nabors touring his Big Isle property and his Diamond Head home in which he's lived for the past 30 years. Nabors couldn't have been happy with some of the "legends" aspect of the show, luridly publicized in the tabloids, and he certainly couldn't have been thrilled that the Lauer show following his the next night featured Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh ...
Disney premiere
IT wasn't in the same league as "Pearl Harbor," but Disney's initial preview showing of "Atlantis, the Lost Empire," was charming, to say the least. Invited to catch the preview was the ohana from Ronald McDonald House in Manoa, and not only the kids housed there but their families and House volunteers also took in the morning matinee. McDonald's of Hawaii actually provided tickets to the House for the movie, which comes to a theater near you, as they say, on Friday. It features the voice of Michael J. Fox ...CHEF Beverly Gannon of Haili'imaile General Store is becoming a kind of culinary Judge Judy. She'll be a member of the "tasting panel" on two upcoming editions of TV's Food Network and its "Ready, Set, Cook!" show. They'll be the ones airing on June 22 and July 3 ... If you haven't seen it yet, stop by the Ramsay Gallery on Smith Street and see the clever Corky cartoons, many of politicos. See how many you can pick out without a program ...
Seattle grinds
YOU associate Seattle with Starbucks and freshly ground coffee, but three former Isle woman have discovered different grinds there as well. There was a weekend gathering in Seattle organized by Suzanne Erler, Aiea high class of 1980 and former head of P.R. and Advertising at the Kahala Mandarin. She's now head of sales at marketing at Salish Lodge & Spa (the hotel seen in "Twin Peaks") and when she learned an Aiea classmate, Rene Zakahi Blevins, was visiting Seattle she called Salina Luna (Pearl City '80) and the three went to Kauai's Family Restaurant in the city. There were so many local folks in the restaurant, says Erler, "it felt like we were in Mapunapuna."
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com