Show Biz
Magician checks out his 'YES!' audience

JEEPERS, PEEPERS: Phelston Jones, the new resident magician in the "YES! Encore Hawai‘i" revue at the ‘Ohana Reef Towers Hotel, does his homework before going on stage nightly. He peeps into the audience, using a monocular, via a parting in the stage curtain, to check out his crowd. "I always look for someone with a coat," he says, the reason for which becomes obvious during his show (he "burns" a hole in the garment, which, of course, is an illusion) and he further searches for "victims" for his playful run through the audience, where he lifts watches from unsuspecting wrists ...

RANDOM NOTES: Byron Nease, who played Raoul in a previous "Phantom of the Opera," is in town for a holiday of sorts. He sings at a private event this Saturday at a Round Top home in an event linked to the expected gubernatorial campaign for Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono ...

Brickwood Galuteria, KINE 105.1 radio co-host and host of "Hawai‘i’s Kitchen" on KHON 2, has completed a Public Broadcasting System promo on the "Hawai‘i: Songs of Aloha" TV special produced by Stephen Reed and originally televised by KHET here during the last live Hawai‘i Public Television pledge. "Most of the major markets of PBS will promote the ‘Songs of Aloha’ show," said Galuteria. "A guy from New York flew in to do the spot, which will be shown nationally." The promotion includes three 10-minute pieces, featuring the Brothers Cazimero, Reed and hula dancer Leialoha Hoohuli (who performed the "Hawaiian Wedding Song" on the show). Don Robbs, former executive director of public TV here, was to do the hosting but was injured in a bathroom accident and Galuteria filled in ...

Funeral services for Sam Bernard will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Kaumakapili Church in Palama, where friends may call from 1 p.m. He died last Thursday following a long illness, and his Tihati ‘ohana is planning a fund-raiser later ...

NAMES ’N’ PLACES: The Augie Reys experienced hours of anxiety, when the Army helicopters crashed recently in Kahuku. Reason: their son, Warrant Officer Joseph Fernandez, a chopper pilot, was home after being away 12 years, and was to be part of Rey’s daughter Reina’s wedding that weekend, but couldn’t attend the festivities because of training in Kahuku. "The helicopter that crashed was the one that my son was supposed to be piloting, but by a quirk in the scheduling and the grace of God, he was not on that flight." Hours of waiting, telephoning and hoping finally resulted in a call from Fernandez to his parents that he was OK. "They (the victims) were all good friends of his and he is still shaken over it," said entertainer Rey, who performs at Hyatt Regency Waikiki’s Harry’s Bar ...

Gaylord Rieta now is performing from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays at the St. Louis Alumni Clubhouse, 916 Coolidge St. ...

Makeup artist Lon Bentley was home recently; he’s been plenty busy, doing most of Tom Selleck’s cable movies (an affiliation dating back to his "Magnum P.I." days) and also films and projects with Robert Wagner and Linda Evans. He dined twice with Selleck at Assagio’s in Hawai‘i Kai, before leaving town ...

Mimy Chen, the Chinese songbird who performs Hawaiian music in her native Chinese, performed in Monterey Park and Huntington Beach, Calif., to mark Chinese New Year ...

And that’s Show Biz ...

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