Hawaii
Vegetarian restaurant
soon to open on Queen StreetIT wasn't exactly a surprise to me to see the Aloha Tower Marketplace declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to lack of business. I walked through the middle of the marketplace at about 10 o'clock the other night, and it was like Tom Cruise must have felt in an empty Times Square in "Vanilla Sky." I was heading to Gordon Biersch to sing an original song I wrote with the Joe Rockstar group, and until I got there and found the place open, thought maybe I had the wrong night ... Former newscaster Russell Shimooka was there that night and when I asked what he was doing now that he was no longer on the air, he replied, "I'm retired." He must have received one heck of a buyout ... Aloha Tower, even in better days, hadn't been setting the town on fire, and after the Sept. 11 World Trade Center destruction cut back tourism, it's been hurting even more. Let's hope Chapter 11 can get it back on a healthy economic footing ...
PLANS to open a restaurant at the site of the shuttered Havana Cabana at Nuuanu and Pauahi across from the Arts at Mark's Garage have apparently fallen through, and the location remains vacant. But the veggie eatery, which was to open on Queen Street between Quizno's and McDonald's, is still on track. I ran into Wes Zane going into the store the other day, and he is shooting for a February opening ... Actress Sigourney Weaver, who is married to Isle director Jim Simpson, whose mom and dad are Anne & Jack Simpson, was on the "Today" show helping to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. Lots of people were probably unaware that Sigourney's father, TV pioneer Pat Weaver began both the "Today" show and the "Tonight" show. He's now 93, and Sigourney represented him on the telecast ...
Bla blues
BEST known for his slack-key guitar work in the Hawaiian music genre, Bla Pahinui, son of the immortal Gabby Pahinui, will show he knows the blues at the next KIPO Blues Night at Anna Bannanas on Jan. 26. He'll be joining the blues group Third Degree, led by Chris Planas. Bla will perform with the group on the first set only, beginning at 9 p.m. and following openers Jeff Said No ...SOME familiar faces could be found shuffling back sushi at the Hilton Waikoloa Village's Imari Japanese Restaurant on the Big Isle of late. Clint Eastwood made his day at the sushi bar one night, and the next evening it was U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle wielding chopsticks with the best of 'em ...
Making it big
YOU see the name Ken Levine in the writing or directing credits of a great many TV shows: "M*A*S*H," "Cheers," "Frasier," "Becker," "Everybody Loves Raymond," etc. Now Levine, who spent Christmas at the Grand Hyatt Wailea on Maui, e-mails, " 'Almost Perfect,' the show I co-created, produced, wrote and directed, starring Nancy Travis, that ran on CBS for a couple of years in the mid 90s, is back on the air. USA Network is re-running them again Sunday mornings at 6:30. I'm so excited. Not only to be back on the air but in such a fabulous time slot. Ten to a hundred people might be discovering the show every week. It's on the way to being a classic." Such self-deprecating humor that Levine has ...
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