Hawaii
NAMES, they tell us, make news. They also sometimes make for a chuckle. Take Russell Druce, G.M. of Matteo's. He'd been alerted to a Japanese wedding party listed under Honda coming in for dinner one night at 7 p.m. When a well-dressed Japanese couple approached the podium, they looked like newlyweds to Druce, who asked if they were Honda? No, the husband deadpanned, "I'm Toyota." "Sorry," chuckled Druce, "wrong car," and took them to another table ... You mention Bond girls, and a certain image enters your mind. Well, set that aside for a moment. Helping make La Pietra's all-school reunion this coming weekend a success are four sisters who attended La Pietra, Betsy Bond (80), Sally (77), Susan (73) and Caroline Dvojacki (72). They come by their organization skills naturally, since they're great-granddaughters of Sophie Cooke and granddaughters of Dora Derby and Hazel Bond. Cooke was a founder of the League of Women Voters, Derby was an organizer of the first Holoku Ball in the '50s and a fund-raiser for the Honolulu Concert Hall. And Hazel Bond was a major force behind the Hawaii Blood Bank. I'd say the La Pietra event honoring Joseph H. Pynchon, headmaster of the all-girls school in 1964, is in good hands ... Those Bond sisters
really get things doneLOVE connection: When Courtney Love was staying at the Paul Mitchell estate in Lanikai, she asked if a masseuse could be summoned. The word went out to Malama owner Mary Suiter, who assumed that Love might want more than a rubdown. She dispatched five technicians including a masseuse, and Love so enjoyed the star treatment that she ended up ordering most of the items in Malama's extensive menu ...
Big Isle news
SHOULD be a big week on the Big Isle. Pacific Business News focuses on Hawaii in its current edition and on Thursday, KITV's Gary Sprinkle will conduct his "Pacific Adventures" on the Big Isle. That same night at 9 p.m., E! Entertainment will debut its "Wild on the Big Island," hoping to top last year's "Wild on Waikiki," which had the highest ratings in the network's history. The "hostess with the mostest" for the show is bodacious babe Brooke Burke and joining her will be Big Isle beauty and triathlete Lokelani McMichael, who'll host some segments ...STAR 101.9's Hudson isn't going after Perry & Price's Hanohano Room Saturday morning gig. But she will be there Friday evenings from 10 to midnight hosting "Late Night at the Hanohano Room" through July 20 ... In Sunday's Father's Day story in "Mauka Makai," I wrote that my grandfather was 16 years old when Abraham Lincoln was born. He was old, but not that old. He was 16 when Lincoln was shot ...
Kaimuki Country
PERFORMING on the Kaimuki-Kapahulu-Waikiki Trolley Saturday for "Family Fun" day was country singer Dita Holifield with fiance Ellsworth Simeona. They had a ball performing for packed trolleys as a favor to event organizer Jeff Apaka. The only thing missing said country-to-the-bone Holifield, is the beer ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com