Hawaii
SOMETIMES the postman has to ring more than twice. Whenever a package addressed to "Dr. Chong" is delivered to dental offices at 74 Ponahawai St. in Hilo, he sometimes has to make the rounds. It could be for Dr. Wallace F. Chong III, who recently received his DDS degree from Indiana University and has joined his father, Dr. Wallace F. Chong Jr. and his sister, Dr. Carolyn Chong in a dental practice there. All three plan to hand out candy to celebrate Halloween, not to mention ensure another generation of patients ... Speaking of the Big Island, the question of the day is, "What do Gene Autry, Madonna and Hilo photog Gladys Suzuki have in common?" Give up? They'll all be part of a traveling photo exhibit featuring Western wear sponsored by the Gene Autry Western Museum. One of Suzuki's photos of a paniolo will be placed with a photo of Madonna wearing Western duds ... Chong family presents
another dentist to HiloLongtime Isle residents may remember Mark Egan who was with the Hawaii Visitors Bureau right after World War II and kick-started the effort to make tourism the No. 1 business in the state. Egan's son, Osmond, reports the tourism pioneer has died in San Francisco where he lived in retirement. He died one day before his 96th birthday ... I've known for some time that STAR 101.9 morning DJ Hudson was expecting but was sworn to secrecy. Apparently she's filling out enough these days (to hear her own description on the radio) that she finally went public with the news. Husband Steve Hott, a singer who goes by "Joe Rockstar," had better get ready to be the second-rated star in his own household ...
Life imitates art
NO less a star than Barbra Streisand has her own Web site (barbrastreisand.com) and it includes her feelings about the terrorist attacks that should be of interest locally. She wrote that the songs for her next album, "Christmas Memories," were chosen months ago, "yet in light of what happened, several of the lyrics took on an unexpected new relevance." Streisand had asked St. Louis grad Dean Pitchford (who'd written the lyrics to "Fame" and "Footloose" to name but two), to write a song about losing someone you love, in memory of a friend who had died in June. She recorded the song in August and on mixing the song after the World Trade Center disaster, "I sadly learned that Dean's sister (Patricia Colodner) had been one of the victims." It was at that time she rediscovered that "life can unexpectedly imitate art -- the lyrics took on another all too real and heartbreaking dimension." One verse in "Closer" struck me as particularly poignant: "So on this silent night/I call your name and suddenly/All time and space between us disappear/I see your face in firelight/I hold you close in memory/And even though I know you're gone/I know you're here." ...
Up, up and away
WE'RE told to go on with our lives, fly off on vacation, buy things and try to bring normalcy to our lives. So, being a good patriot, I'm off on vacation. I'm reminded by a quip from attorney Tom "Tiny" Jordan, commenting on a typo made a decade ago reading, "Dave Donnelly is one vacation." He wanted to congratulate the paper for truth in advertising ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com