Show Biz
Hawai'i folks recall how attacks affected them

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

AFTERMATH: Roy Yamaguchi, who has a Roy's Restaurant in a Marriott hotel just a block and a half away from New York's World Trade Center, said the restaurant was evacuated and its crew spared after terrorists attacked the first tower Tuesday. "All our 25 staff members are accounted for," Yamaguchi said; the number includes several transplants from his Hawai'i restaurants. The old Woolworth Building, between the Marriott and the trade center, provided a shield, "but it is on fire and probably will collapse," Yamaguchi said Wednesday. Further, a nearby road has caved in. The restaurant is not likely to reopen soon ...

Anthony Ruivivar, the Hawai'i actor who co-stars on NBC-TV's "Third Watch," was out of New York, apartment-hunting in Los Angeles, when the attacks occurred. He and his actress wife, Yvonne Jung, want to be bi-coastal (they already have a place in New York's Upper West Side), so he was bidding for a townhouse, according to his grandmother, Ethel Walker. Ruivivar, who plays a paramedic, must have felt that life outdid art in the horrifying acts of terrorism ...

Scott Allan Katsura, a recording artist who is from Hawai'i but has lived in New York for more than a decade, also escaped the ordeal of Tuesday, but had at least 100 friends who worked in either tower. And Andrew Hongo, Angel Records employee based in New York, has told parents Randy and Gay Hongo that he's OK ...

Ku'uipo Kumukahi, Chris Kamaka (Kamaka 'Ukulele 'ohana, Ho'okena), Bryan Tolentino, Casey Kamaka and Asa Young were aboard a Continental jet, ready to bring them home from New Jersey (they attended an 'Ukulele Hall of Fame event) when the disaster grounded their flight ...

HERE 'N' THERE: When Jimmy Borges performs with the Florida Symphony Sept. 28 in Tampa, he'll have many Hawai'i people in the audience: Retired rental-car wizard Billy Williams and wife Ramona, Ed and Sally Crovo (he was general manager of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki and Maui and now is with a St. Petersburg, Fla., property), Honolulu Symphony board chairwoman Carolyn Berry, chef Nick Sayada, ex-Top of the 'Ilikai performer Ernie Mariani. Borges also sings Sept. 29 in St. Petersburg and Sept. 30 in Clearwater, Fla. ...

Collette Colangelo, former Maui resident and an Emmy Award-winning author-director, took in the "'Ulalena" show at the Maui Myth & Magic Theatre in Lahaina. Colangelo and Wendall Warrington (a guitarist-vocalist with "'Ulalena") were showmates in Tihati's "Lahaina Whaling Spree" show, circa 1980, at the Royal Lahaina. Director-writer was Stan Michaels, now general manager of "'Ulalena." Colangelo was here to audition for a Disney production ...

AHOY THERE: Hawai'i artists who never teach on land will conduct art classes aboard American Hawai'i Cruises ships Patriot and Independence the next three Saturdays, starting tomorrow. Among the artists: Lynn Cook and her daughter Terry Green. Painting aprons are optional; the cruise line will supply paint, brushes and more. Entertainment will include Don Ho, Keola Beamer, Nona Beamer, Na Leo Pilimehana, Henry Kapono, Ho'okena, Anuhea, Patricia Lei Anderson Murray, Ron Bright, the Poi Boyz and storyteller Punani Higgins, with kumu hula Blaine Kia, Kapu Alquiza, Ray Fonseca, Maelia Loebenstein Carter and Maile Beamer Loo also participating ...

And that's Show Biz ...

Wayne Harada's Show Biz runs Wednesdays and Fridays; reach him at 525-8067, e-mail at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.