Hawaii
IT was a pretty funny segment on KITV's morning show yesterday as Paul Udell and Jill Kuramoto hosted the chef from Buca di Beppo, opening its 69th Italian restaurant with a private party tonight in the Ward Entertainment Center. Chef Vittorio Renda had whipped up some huge meatballs, a seafood plate and a tiramisu for the crew to sample. Udell suggested that Renda really wasn't from Southern Italy, and he rattled on, ending with, "I'm Calabrese. From Calabria." Funniest line in the segment came when Renda was asked what Buca de Beppo meant in Italian. Deadpanned Renda, "Joe's Basement." Well, it is located under Dave and Busters in the complex, if not exactly the basement ... From time to time, Bali by the Sea brings in visiting chefs from New York, Boston, San Francisco and the like to prepare a special dinner. Well, they didn't have far to reach for their guest chef on Jan. 19. Putting on his toque will be Martin Wyss, former Kahala Hilton chef who most recently owned and ran the Swiss Inn in Niu Valley ... Buca di Beppo hosting
opening party tonightIT would seem like the Gaelic folks music group Irish Hearts is taking a bit of a musical break, though I'd be amazed if they don't get back together and start booking gigs around the middle of March. St. Patrick's Day, don't you know ... Singer Rocky Brown writes from New York that hubby Deshannon Higa is getting steady work and must be making a name for himself as he's getting to play with the best musicians in the Big Apple. Now if Rocky could just be lured back into singing gigs -- she's so talented ...
A Grammy for Matt?
HONOLULU Symphony Pops conductor Matt Catingub has been recognized by the world's top music critics in selecting nominees for the 44th Grammy Awards. Rosemary Clooney won a nomination for her work with Catingub and his Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack on "Sentimental Journey." There's some pretty vicious competition in the category as you might expect, with Betty Buckley, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Feinstein and Keely Smith also being nominated. But Catingub was thrilled just to be a part of Clooney's nomination, calling it "one of the highlights of my career." ... And one of five albums making the final ballot on the best reggae division in this year's Grammys is the CD "Island Warriors," featuring a number of isle musicians ...I LOVE Channel 7 newscaster Kim Gennaula to death, but I wish she'd learn to pronounce "insurance" correctly. Instead of stressing the second syllable, she calls it "IN-surance," sounding like some kind of redneck ...
Surfing USA
FORMER Isle resident Sean Chang Connolly now lives in Harrisburg, Pa. Last Sunday he got up early and hoped to wend his way through his local paper before his kids woke. He got to the travel section which, he says, "always features a story on Hawaii just to torture us exiles freezing on the mainland." This time it was even worse -- a syndicated story about his 1991 St. Louis High classmate John Pregil, a fireman who now runs a surf school. He suggested to his wife that he could do the same and she shot back, "Can't. The Susquehanna River is frozen." ...
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