Showbiz
Elton John has been spotted around town

YES, SIR: Sir Elton John already is in our midst, popping in for dinner last Saturday night at Keo’s in Waikiki, posing for a new Wall of Fame photo with Keo Sananikone and autographing a wall photo with rocker Neil Young taken during an earlier visit, along with several CDs . . .

Sir Elton John was seen bying a watch at Neiman Marcus this week. Advertiser library photo • Aug. 13, 2000

On Monday, he bought a watch at Neiman Marcus . . .

And though John, who performs here Friday and Saturday nights at the Blaisdell Arena (not yet a sell-out), will link up with

Billy Joel for a Year 2001 tour, don’t expect the "other" Mr. Piano Man to show up here. They begin rehearsals for that tour after this gig. (But one can hope, huh?)

John is the newest milk mustache wearer in the current Got Milk? ad campaign, which features a print ad of him in a wild polka dot suit and matching shirt. He’s donating his fee to the Elton John AIDS Foundation . . .

NAMES ’N’ FACES: People

magazine types have been calling local spotters here to see if Tom Hanks ("Cast Away") and wife Rita Wilson materialized here over the holidays. He wouldn’t have had the scrawny beard he grew for that film, if you did see him . . .

But DreamWorks mogul Jeff Katzenberg has been holidaying here and dined twice with his family and friends at Aaron’s Atop the Ala Moana. He was pleased to learn that restaurant owner Aaron Placourakis and maitre d’ Skip Lambert both received "Gladiator" DVDs for Christmas; Katzenberg is hoping the movie starring Russell Crow goes the distance at this year’s Academy Awards . . .

Sometimes Island resident Tom Postilio has landed the lead role in an off-Broadway musical, "Our Sinatra," according to David MacArthur of Fishbone Talent. Postilio performed here last year at the Honolulu Symphony ball and is known for carrying on the Sinatra torch in gigs across the country . . .

MEDIA GRAMS: There are at least two localites with Grammy Awards links: Barry Flanagan is a co-composer (with Kenny Loggins) of "Hana ‘Aluna Lullaby," one of the tunes on Loggins’ "More Songs from ‘Pooh Corner,’" nominated for Best Musical Album for Children, with Hapa singing; Loggins wrote the tune for his daughter conceived in Hawai‘i.

And Dave Russell, a Maui native, is one of the engineers nominated for his work with three others on Steely Dan’s "Two Against Nature" CD in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical division . . .

Jeff Kino and Lois Miyashiro, co-hosts of KQMQ’s The Q Morning Zoo show, have been tapped by the Game Show Network’s "D.J. Games" series, which airs on the cable network. Camera crews invaded the studio the past two mornings . . . Other stations are lined up, too . . .

Tehani Gonzado is in her third week as a member of the KDNN wakeup show on KDNN, joining Augie T. and Lana‘i . . .

Bob Longwell, former Clear Channel Hawai‘i honcho here (he’s now CEO of the chain’s Australian Radio Network), wore an Australian bushman’s hat when he dropped in on the Michael W. Perry-Larry Price KSSK morning drive show, entering the Dole Cannery studios from a fourth-floor balcony. He surprised his successor, Chuck Cotton, as well as Perry and Price . . .

And KSSK program director Jeff Silvers is relocating to Atlanta’s WPCH ("The Peach"), one of the Clear Channel stations. Pals will say aloha at a Nick’s Fishmarket gathering tonight . . .

And that’s Show Biz . . .

Wayne Harada writes Show Biz every Wednesday and Friday.

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