Hawaii
Former state statistician
marks 80th birthday FridayIT was a bit of a shock for one retired news editor attending a meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists honoring Helen Chapin and the late Bud Smyser. He noticed that the podium flag misspelled "journalists" with the "i" missing. It came out "journalsts." He always thought reporters were supposed to know how to spell, but decided that sometimes the "ayes" don't have it ... The incident reminds me of the time some staffers decided one columnist was writing too much about himself, so they taped over the "i" on his typewriter. He hadn't time to figure out what was wrong, and ended up writing a column about how difficult it was to write with no "i" on the typewriters, inserting an "x" instead of the missing vowel. When he learned what happened, he was not, shall we say, amused. Xrate, was more like it ...
FORMER state statistician Bob Schmitt, who loves all kinds of figures -- both female and statistical -- celebrates his 80th birthday on Friday, a particularly appropriate time., That's the same day that Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" opens at Diamond Head Theatre and I know of no one so blithe, as in carefree, happy and lighthearted, as Schmitt. Friday is also opening day for Mark Pinkosh's one-man comedy, "Haole Boy" at HPU, and Schmitt can easily tell you exactly when the first ones arrived in Hawaii or just about any other "firsts" you wish to know about. Some years ago he authored the book, "Firsts and almost Firsts in Hawaii." ...
LEWERS Lounge piano artist Jim Howard is making a rare visit to Studio 6 in the Musicians' Union Friday night, joining forces with the Honolulu Jazz Quartet. A nice coup for group leader John Kolivas to engage Howard to join them ...
Pahk Place
SANSEI honcho D.K. Kodama figuratively lit a fire in his Kapalua kitchen this week, and all the big kitchen guns began friendly fires. Kapalua exec chef Ivan Pahk, exec sous chef Albert Balbas, Honolulu exec chef Keith Endo and Kihei exec chef Tom Selman were all braising and basting and trying out specials on each other and on Sansei staffers lucky enough to be invited. They were trying out goodies for Valentine's Day plus the opening of the Kihei Sansei in April. Some moves are also in the works, with Chefs Pahk and Endo switching places, Pahk heading to Honolulu and Endo returning to Kapalua. Kodama figures the change of scenery is sure to stir the already creative juices, benefiting diners at both restaurants ...
Dem denim demons
folks who live or visit Waimea on the Big Island are well-aware that denim and jeans are the dress of the day in paniolo country, every day. Those who more or less live in their jeans are looking forward to visiting the St. James' Thrift Shop in Waimea. The shop was recently renovated and an enormous amount of clothing donated, loading them down with denim garments. This may not be reason enough to get Honolulans on a plane, but people from all over the Big Isle are expected to visit St. James' tomorrow or Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon to take advantage of bargains. On those days only, all denim garments: jeans, skirts, shorts, kids clothes etc., will be sold for $1 each ...
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