The Hilton Hawaiian Village will be filled with songs and hula Friday when it marks the 90th birthday of the late Alfred Apaka, the “;Golden Voice of Hawaii.”;

  Alfred starred in a Hawaiian show at Henry Kaiser's Hawaiian Village, which later became the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and on the original “;Hawaii Calls”; radio program from “;the beach at Waikiki”; at the Moana Hotel. The handsome singer died 50 years ago Jan. 30, 1960, at age 40 while playing handball. According to Alfred's son, Jeff Apaka, Friday's celebration will start at Alfred's statue located at the Tapa Tower area at 4 p.m. Kahu Kaleo Patterson will give the blessing, and hula dancer Kanoe Miller and singer-musicians Doug Tolentino and Pakala Fernandes will take part in the lei draping of the statue. Entertainment will follow until 7 p.m. in the nearby Tapa Bar. Some of the singers, musicians and dancers Jeff has scheduled to appear include Nina Kealiiwahamana, Danny Kaleikini, Melveen Leed, Boyce Rodrigues, Bev Noa, Gary Aiko, Kealoha Kalama, Ethelyene Teves, Ainsley Halemanu, Joe Recca, Hiram and Casey Olsen, Kenneth Makuakane, George Kuo, Aaron Mahi, Scott Furushima and more. Kimo Kahoano is emcee for the event ...

Maurice Constantin, who recently took over as food and beverage manager at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, must have been pleased to come into a new position and find that Hilton's Bali Steak & Seafood restaurant waitress Kris Nago is the cover girl for Hawaii Hospitality's March/April issue. The magazine spotlights outstanding people working in food and beverage. Kris joined the Bali team as a server 21 years ago. She credits the team for her honor. Bali manager is Alicia Antonio. Maurice, a 25-year F&B veteran - 12 with Hilton - speaks seven languages. He comes to the Village from JW Marriott Desert Springs in Palm Desert, Calif., where he was director of F&B and golf operations. He has a 12 handicap ...

GRINDING ON: Hawaii Opera Theatre's general and artistic director, Henry Akina, Kiyomi Lueck and Indru and Gulab Watumull celebrated the success of this year's opera season with dinner at Stage March 2. Henry called Stage a great setting for the festive dinner ... The Brothers Cazimero are booked tonight at 7:30 in the Hawaii Theatre ...

CLOONEY scene: George Clooney was on location filming “;The Descendants”; Wednesday at the old CompUSA site near Restaurant Row ... Happy birthday to Daynin “;Grappler”; Dashefsky, who is celebrating today with friends at her Kaimuki home. I'm sure she would be on top of the world if George surprised her and showed up on her big day ... Today is a celebratory day for me, too. It marks my 43rd year at the Star-Bulletin. I'd rather be surprised by Sandra Bullock ...

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Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things Saturdays. E-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).