HAWAII HITS THE GRAMMYS
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Footsteps
to follow
Hawaii's Grammy nominees splash
around rainy L.A., island style
HOLLYWOOD » "Can you believe this! Try look," Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom yells to friend and hula dancer Jackie Booth across the crowded foyer of the famed Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
"This is John Wayne's feet," says Gilliom, who is in the entertainment capital as a Grammy nominee for the first-ever Hawaiian music category. "Look how teeny."
On the weekend leading up to tonight's ceremonies, the five nominees in the Best Hawaiian Music Album category are busy promoting Hawaiian music and getting ready for the awards show.
But there's still a little time to play tourist.
The two women laugh loudly at the Duke's size 8's, then Booth, a flight attendant for Aloha Airlines, glances at another impression.
"Oh, my goodness," she says, eyes widening.
Gilliom hops off Wayne's imprints, only to stop dead in her tracks.
"Jesus!" Gilliom says. "Tom Cruise is huge! His feet."
"Can't be his," Booth says. "No way."
Gilliom steps into the two footprints.
"His is bigger than mine, and I'm a lot taller," she says. "I'm impressed."
"I was hoping to walk along Rodeo Drive and see the window decorations, but that's out," says slack-key album producer and guitarist Charles Brotman, referring to the heavy rain yesterday in Southern California.
The Cazimero Brothers performed Friday night at a Grammy party in the famed Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill. Robert on piano and Roland on guitar are accompanied by dancer Leina'ala Kalama Heine.
"(My wife) Joanie refused to let me wear the one I've used on concerts for about 20 years," says Brotman, who will say only that the new suit "was less than $1,000."
Lim, who also lives in Waimea on the Big Island, hasn't been in Los Angeles in "at least 15 years." He's wide-eyed during the 15-minute ride to the Farmers Market.
"Is that CBS?" he asks as the car rolls pass the network's Television Center at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.
Farmers Market is being deluged by rain, so Lim and Brotman dash from the car to an awning, and can't avoid getting soaked.
"Bet it's sunny in Kamuela," Lim jokes.
The storm begins to break as the Cazimero brothers sit in the Mosaic Hotel garden bordered by azaleas, impatiens, Australian tree ferns, even a banana tree.
Robert leans back in the chair, musing with Mountain Apple Co. President Jon De Mello about all the interviews the duo has done since nominations were announced in December.
"The secret is out about Hawaiian music, I think," Robert says.
All the nominees have been interviewed a dozen or more times, and are encouraged by upcoming stories in the Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, USA Today and especially a front-page story today in the Los Angeles Times.
"The flood began with a trickle," Robert Cazimero says later.
In a quintessential Hollywood scene, a film crew led by producer Monique Yamaguchi arrives to interview the Cazimeros and De Mello for a 30-minute documentary on this first Hawaiian Grammy. She hopes to have her film shown at the Hawaiian International Film Festival this fall.
The brothers sit back in their chairs, tanned faces glowing and tilted toward the sun, enjoying the fleeting February warmth. Across the patio is Bernstein, listening intently to the interviewer's questions. When Yamaguchi asks the unpredictable Roland how the Grammy compares to Hawaii's Hoku awards, Bernstein leans forward.
"Well, one is steak and one is Spam," Roland says. "But in Hawaii we really, really like Spam."
Bernstein smiles and Robert Cazimero grins.
Gilliom has a problem. She hasn't selected shoes or a dress for Grammy night, but has rejected gowns by several designers. Booth buys two umbrellas so the women can search a shopping gallery on Hollywood Boulevard for high-end stores. They come up empty.
"The Triangle," Gilliom tells Booth.
"But that's in Santa Monica, 20 miles away," Booth says.
"I know," Gilliom says.
But first the singer and other nominees will attend a special Grammy party hosted by Outrigger Hotels-Resorts and sponsored by the Hawaii Association of Recording Artists and Oahu Visitors Bureau in the famed Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill, once a haunt for celebrities like Johnny Carson and sidekick Ed McMahon.
Nearly 100 people attend, including Grammy Academy members, the L.A. Times music reporter, Washington Post music critic, an Us Weekly staff writer, a Variety reporter and photographer, E! Entertainment and Style Network.
Manu Boyd, Hookena's lead vocalist, arrives late but looking fresh, bragging about surviving the "worse L.A. can offer: Friday-night pau hana traffic in rainstorm."
"Bring it on," Boyd jokes. "Today the L.A. freeway, tomorrow the Grammys."
After mahalos by Outrigger executives, what's been anticipated all evening is about to happen.
Gilliom, the Cazimero Brothers, Brotman and Lim, Boyd and fellow Hookena musician Glen Smith take the stage for an all-star performance.
As the Cazimero Brothers begin the title song from their nominated album "Some Call It Aloha ... Don't Tell," Leina'ala Kalama Heine, referred to the "third brother" for her years as the duo's premier dancer, begins a rhythmic hula in muumuu, bare feet and ingratiating smile.
Outside, heavy rain again pelts the Cinegrill's walls, lending a melodic tap-tap-tap backdrop.
From behind the piano, Robert Cazimero tells the crowd already mesmerized by the Hawaiian music, "Welcome to Hilo, everyone."
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