Hawaii
Doris Duke --
the theatre, that is ...THEY'RE having a reception to see Doris Duke at the Academy of Arts tonight. No, not the tobacco heiress who died some years ago, but the Academy Theatre which has been renamed in her honor ... Peter Dietrich has worked for some of the best restaurant operators in town, such as Nick Nickolas, Jeff Harman, Ed Green, and at such clubs as Zanzabar and Indigo. Now he's busy buffing up his blazer, white flannels and necktie festooned with boats -- he's taken over as G.M. of the Waikiki Yacht Club ... And Jennifer Wong, bouncy dance instructor for JMG Partners, has taken over as an artist representative at the new David Lee Gallery at the Hilton Hawaiian Village ...
THEY'RE keeping the name Hank's, but owner Hank Taufaasau is selling the place to bartender David Loando, and plans to establish a new spot in the vicinity. He wants to call the place NoHo's Speakeasy -- a name I gave him for spots North of Hotel -- but the right locale hasn't been located as yet ... Rod Fukino has lost his battle with cancer. He was known throughout the community as a gifted musician, choreographer, dancer and teacher. Among other shows, he was music director for HPU's "A Night at Rosie's" in 1998 and "Tintypes" in 2000 ...
Moving on
FORMER Channel 9 reporter Jonathan Masaki is now reporting for UPN in Sacramento, but has tracked down the whereabouts of a plethora of ex-KGMB'ers or wannabe'ers: Noel (Keahi) Tucker just moved from the Fox affiliate in Washington D.C. to be weekend anchor at a Baltimore station; Beautiful Ku'ualoha Taylor does the morning weather at KFMB, San Diego; in the same market is Dave Carlin, who is weekend anchor at KSWB; Neil Everett continues with sports at ESPN, once home to Larry Beil, who's now anchoring sports on weekends at KGO in S.F. Former KGMB news director Jim Lemon is also in Sacramento, directing the news at the CBS affiliate, KQVR. One other expat is returning from a mainland reporting job. Mahealani Richardson will be anchoring the news on weekends on KITV after a stint in Portland. And finally, Karen Waygood continues with CNN in Atlanta ...ADD to the list of people who've had Kamaka ukuleles stolen recently Good Old Professor Fun, Fred Ball. He was one of the oldtime KGMB-TV performers who stopped by the Channel 9 booth at the Collectibles Show at the Blaisdell this past weekend, and is still bemoaning the loss of his pineapple-shaped uke ...
Being neighborly
A GROUP of workers at Malama in Manoa stopped in nearly next door to see "The Cripple of Inishmaan" at Manoa Valley Theatre. One who enjoyed it was the aptly named stylist Michelle Combs, described by some as a Britney Spears look-alike. She has a loyal following -- for example, owner Mary Suitor's son, Matthew, insists she does his hair. Don't go in to gawk, fellows -- she's married! ... And Joe Randazzo leads a Malama crew in doing hair for the Kathy Muller Agency graduation fashion show at Ala Moana's CenterStage tomorrow night at 7 ...
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