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Hawaii Dave Donnelly |
Miles of tape and
yards of publicityFORMER Star-Bulletin reporter Stephanie Castillo has suddenly emerged as the Ken Burns of Hawaii video. Where Burns goes on for hours with footage about baseball, the American west or whatever piques his interest, Castillo has finished three projects in the past nine months, all of which have been years in the making. And while her latest, "Cockfighters: The interviews," is having a public viewing at the Cinema Paradise Film Festival in September in a two-hour version, it's but a fraction of what will be available on DVD and VHS. That version is eight hours long. You have to have a rabid interest in cockfighting to watch all that. Castillo is calling the business report of the complete work "Filmmakers Who Don't Waste Footage." ... Also ready for release is a project seven-years in the making, "An Uncommon Kindness: The Father Damien Story," narrated by Robin Williams with music by Keola Beamer. The third project, a documentary about Filipino Americans in WW11, "An Untold Triumph," is another eight-year project just completed. Now she has to travel about promoting them ...
Love 'em or lathe 'em
IN a move for authenticity, the folks who made the new American Savings Bank TV commercial about a father and son's woodworking business, filmed it inside the Martin & MacArthur furniture workshop in Kalihi. Owner Jon Martin doesn't have a son, but admits he's taught the business to a multitude of skilled craftsmen who he referred to as "his kids" during their apprenticeship ...WHILE John Wayne won't be at the Hawaii Library Foundation's 10th anniversary dinner June 22, they're calling the fund-raiser "Dinner with Duke & Directors." The Duke in question is Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona and with him will be DBED director Ted Liu, Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Mark Reckenwald, and Director of Budget and Finance Georgina Kawamura. Attending the dinner and silent auction at Oahu Country Club on Sept. 12 will give people a chance to "talk story" with some of Hawaii's movers and shakers as well as sample the cuisine of five of Hawaii's top chefs, Glenn Chu, Randal Ishizu, Peter Merriman, Goran Streng and Alan Wong. The Library Foundation is a non-profit separate from the Friends of the Library, which hosts a book sale at McKinley each summer ...
Give me a double
IT was two years ago that celebrated barkeep Tommy Velasco (Palm Tree Inn, Zebra Room, Sparkies) served up his last and was buried on the 42nd anniversary of his marriage to Rumelia. He'd wanted to be a granddad so badly, and both daughters, Adelaida and Rumelia, managed to deliver a child before he died. Then Rumelia Jr. had twins and a year later, Adelaida and her husband, national correspondent Barry Severson, also had twins. Those two, Brock and Sven, are celebrating their first birthday and Adelaida has decreed it'll be held at the Koolau Golf Course across the street from Hawaiian Memorial where Tommy was buried, and on Father's Day, no less. Tommy always liked doubles ...
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Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968. The Week That Was runs Sundays and recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns. Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com