Show Biz
Sean Na'auao has new album and new son
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
VITAL STATISTICS: There was a small bet going at Mountain Apple Co. recently to see if Sean Na'auao's new baby or his new album, "Still Pounding," would be released first. Shaelo Kamaehuokalaniakea won, arriving just four days earlier (June 15) than the CD (June 19). Shaelo is Sean and Kaui Na'auao's third son; he weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces, and measured 20 fl inches long ...
By the way, "Still Pounding" has a contest under way at Tower Records, with a lu'au for 300 as the prize. On July 9, you'll be able enter on the Internet, too, at thehawaiichannel.com. The winner gets the feast and a show — but must provide the back yard ...
Muriel Flanders' "The Music of Muriel Flanders" has made the 92-year-old composer an instant celebrity. "I feel like a star — everyone at the Arcadia is so nice to me," she says. And one fan, reading about her in The Advertiser, told her a charming story: "He said it took him three hours to read it ... because he had to do it with a magnifying glass." At her CD launch party at daughter Mary Philpotts McGrath's Nu'uanu home Saturday, she received a proclamation from Gov. Ben Cayetano, declaring June 23 (her birthday) as "Muriel Flanders Day." Yep, she was thrilled ...
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NAME-DROPPING: Sunday's memorial tribute to Francis Ruivivar, Hawai'i's certified Broadway star, drew several hundred to the Outrigger Waikiki's Main Showroom, where the late actor-singer's sense of humor provided laughs between tears. Nephew Anthony Ruivivar was the butt of a fake TV commercial audition gag (shown in a video) that was a Frank concoction ...
Kane Fernandez, Hawai'i's premiere showman, who died in January, always had a soft spot in his heart for Canada, where he and wife Linda went on many fishing expeditions. That's why Linda, following the wind-up of the 50th State Fair, journeyed to Canada, to spread some of Kane's ashes in the waters he loved, and to meet some Canadian friends who have raised a significant amount of money in Kane's memory to support a Fernandez scholarship enabling a Canadian student to attend his alma mater, the University of Hawai'i ...
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TRAVEL LOG: Tom Moffatt took in the Brian Wilson-Paul Simon show in Chula Vista, Calif. (he was their guest), and at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He says they're dynamite together, which brings up the question: Will he be booking the acts in Honolulu in the future? ...
The Honolulu Symphony's executive director, Stephen Bloom, and staffers Jim Mancuso, Donna Bebber and Christine Eilers, just spent a week at the American Symphony Conference in Seattle. They've been spreading the good news about the Honolulu orchestral scene: concert revenues and fund-raising dollars up. And if the orchestra achieves a balanced budget by Saturday, it will receive a $1 million anonymous matching donation. The Million Dollar March is still $100,000 short, with the clock ticking away. To donate, call 525-0815 ...
Andy Wood, the orchestra's director of marketing, also is on the move: Gee leaves his post in mid-July, planning to retire from nonprofit life and serve on the orchestra's all-volunteer Marketing Committee. If you recall, Wood was part of the management team that reopened the Hawai'i Theatre ...
And that's Show Biz ...
Wayne Harada writes Show Biz on Wednesdays and Fridays.
