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‘Cats’ interviews
led to early trip

BECAUSE SHE SAID YES: "Cats" cast member Kym Chambers thought she was volunteering to do a few long-distance telephone interviews when she agreed to promote the show's upcoming run in the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Instead she got a four-day working vacation in Hawaii meeting the press, checking out the club scene and shopping with fellow cast member Justin P. Wingenroth. (He picked out a pink bikini for her; she chose a red Speedo for him). "Cats" opens April 12 ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Nathan Aweau, Jeremy Colvin, Dennis Kamakahi, Jay Molina and April Stoltz, celebrating today ... also to Sonny Ching and Zachary Helm (Friday), Elaine Codilla (Sunday), Dita Holifield (Tuesday), and Katherine Jones and Lorene Ruymar (Wednesday) ....

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Fil Slash, evening show star of KPOI 105.9 "The Big Kahuna," had two things on his "to do" list when visiting Florida recently: Catch Elvis Costello at Miami's Jackie Gleason Theatre, and check out the Mai-Kai Polynesian Restaurant, a center of "tiki culture" in Fort Lauderdale. Slash watched Costello entertain for 2-1/2 hours, then visited the Mai-Kai where he ordered, and finished, a "$60 Mystery Drink," a supersized version of a mai tai served in a tiki bowl with four straws. They didn't share the recipe but Slash describes it as "about a fifth of rum, a lot of fruit juices, and some other stuff" ...

ATTENTION LOCAL THEATER GROUPS: James Stanton is shopping a highly topical new play, "A Fortnight at Tripler," about a local couple whose marriage is tested after the husband is severely wounded in Iraq. Sounds like perfect material for a "dark night" production at Kumu Kahua or maybe Manoa Valley Theatre ...

SCENE-MAKERS: Pili'oha does a great impression of Hui Ohana that even duplicates Ledward Kaapana's showy work on guitar, but rhythm guitarist Gary Krug says the trio doesn't intend to be known as a tribute act. As for his extensive Hawaiian tattoos, they represent his genealogy, profession and the passage from childhood to manhood ....

A PENNY SAVED: Too proud to pick up a penny off the ground? Roger Wilco says he's "made" more than $200 that way in the past year. Wilco's haul includes a $20 bill, but loose change adds up too ...