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When you’re 97, planning
ahead is a good idea

BUSY PEOPLE: Bill Tapia released his second album, "Duke of Uke," on Tuesday and is already planning his third. Tapia wants Gabe Baltazar on it. Tapia, 97, plays the Paliku Theatre with Lyle Ritz, Byron Yasui, Benny Chong and Noel Okimoto on Saturday ... Gary Aiko's fitness program includes lots of walking around Waikiki, and he multi-tasks by carrying a device to strengthen his grip as well. Works one hand on the way out, the other on the way home ...

THREE STARS for "The Wedding Date," that cute romantic comedy starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. Take "Pretty Woman" and reverse the genders and you've got the premise -- he's a male "escort," she's a low-level airline employee -- but there are a few fresh spins in play, several good one-liners, and a slant to the story that makes it more than a "chick flick." Who expects romantic comedies to have any resemblance to real-life male/female relationships anyway? ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Pat Namaka Bacon, celebrating today ... also to Malia Song (Saturday), Chris Carillo, Moses Goods III and Mahi'ai Kekumu (Monday), Russell Shimooka (Tuesday), and Ely Wyatt Na Ka Ulu 'Aina Rapoza (Wednesday) ...

FOR ART LOVERS: "Hawaii Exposed IV" was the artistic highlight of the Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday festivities at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Works by 10 island painters, sculptors and photographers were displayed in a secluded area at Gordon Biersch. The art ranged in style from mildly suggestive to comically imaginative. Peter Cannon indulged fiancée Tracie Cyr by photographing her posing in front of a painting of men at the beach, Denby Fawcett stopped by to view the stark and tasteful nude sketches by "hula sister" Elisabeth Knoke, and Kim Taylor Reece was so taken with a blue ceramic piece by Tanya Pitre that he bought it. Samantha St. James and photographer Tim Orden added performance art to the event when she climbed on a table for a photo shoot ...

CONGRATULATIONS TO Fredalba, named "Songwriters of the Year" at the 2005 DYI (Do It Yourself) Music Festival in Los Angeles. The band played to a packed house at Wave Waikiki last August while lead vocalist Eric Balfour was here working on the NBC TV police drama "Hawaii" ...