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The Haugens’
platter chatter
promotes lucky
Pierre’s album

THE ULTIMATE COMPLIMENT: Keith & Carmen Haugen usually promote their own recordings between sets at the Pacific Beach Hotel, but Keith is so impressed with Pierre Grill's new album, "Ke Aloha: Hawaiian Love Songs," that he is playing it during the duo's breaks instead. (For our review of "Ke Aloha: Hawaiian Love Songs" see "Island Mele" for March 12.) ...

SCENE-MAKERS: KITV's veteran weather man Ben Gutierrez wrote the lyrics for several songs on the upcoming album by Jon Almosara. It'll be Almosara's first American release. He recorded an album in the Philippines in 1999 ... Yvonne Elliman has been getting emails from all over now that her four-song CD, "Simple Needs," is available on her Web site. Elliman says she's "two phone calls away" from doing a national revival tour of "Jesus Christ Superstar" this fall ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Matt Catingub and Tiva Tatofi, who are celebrating tomorrow ... and to Danel Verdugo (Saturday) ...

A PEACH OF A DAY: Veteran wrestler Lord James "Tally Ho" Blears will enjoy a can of peaches Monday, the 61st anniversary of his rescue two days after his ship, the Tjisalak, was sunk by a Japanese submarine during World War II. Blears was one of 100 people taken aboard the sub, the I-8, after the sinking. (The commander of I-8, Tatsunosuke Ariizumi, also commandeded the giant I-400 subs, one of which was discovered off Oahu last week!) Blears was one of five who miraculously survived as the Japanese crew slaughtered the helpless prisoners with guns, swords and sledgehammers. Blears and the others escaped as they were about to be killed, swam back one by one to the floating wreckage of the Tjisalak, and were rescued on the 28th by an Allied merchant ship. First thing he ate that day was a can of peaches ...

CONGRATULATIONS: To The Crud, on winning $500 in mastering services from Freq Mastering, an mainland recording studio. The group is finishing its debut album, "Antidote," for release in May ...

A WORLD RECORD: Monty the Magician has received word he's going into the "Guinness Book of World Records," along with the 128 other magicians who joined him in simultaneously linking 534 Chinese Linking Rings at the International Brotherhood of Magicians' convention last year ...