Posted on: Tuesday, May 10, 2005
SHOWBIZ
Monkee sighting in New York and lots more
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
DATELINE NEW YORK: We're just back from a quickie trip to New York, where celebrities were visible, not only in a myriad of plays and musicals on stage but also in public places. At the Elvis Presley-inspired musical "All Shook Up" (at the Palace Theatre), we saw Micky Dolenz (one of the original Monkees) at intermission. He was in Hawai'i, remember, in a production of "Grease" at Blaisdell Concert Hall, when he portrayed the deejay Vince Fontaine. On an R train, who should board but actress Dianne Wiest, whose most regular TV stint was on "Law and Order" (2000-2002, when she played District Attorney Nora Lewin) and recently provided one of the voices in the animated "Robots." With that kind of stardust, we expected to (but didn't) see Tom Cruise or John Travolta emerge from the Church of Scientology on West 48th Street, a few doors down from the Belvedere Hotel where we stayed for a couple of nights (after moving from a SoHo/Chinatown Holiday Inn that was closer to my wife's business conference). Can't wait to return again to the Big Apple in June-July to see more shows. ... WHAT'S THE BUZZ: D.K. Kodama and his wife Lori are expecting their third baby in mid-July. The chef-restaurateur doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl but has names — like siblings Brie and Chev — already picked, after a cheese. Straight from dad's mouth: "If it's a girl, we are going to call her Cashel for Cashel blue cheese; and if it is a boy, we are leaning towards Porter for the Irish cheese of stout beer and sharp Irish cheddar." Stay tuned. ... The Hilton Waikoloa Village will welcome Stephen Bishop as headliner of the upcoming Great Waikoloa Food, Wine and Music Festival, which is part of the Dolphin Days Summer Fest. His performance will be June 25. ...
Sight 'ems: Norah Jones dined at Roy's Hawai'i Kai with two gents when she was in town to give a concert at Blaisdell Arena. The buzz was she was celebrating her birthday, though she later denied it (it could have been belated — her birthday is March 30). ... And that was Verdine White, bass player for Earth, Wind and Fire, dining with the missus recently at D.K. Kodama's d.k. Steak House. ...
Makoto Fujita, the Japanese actor who stars on "Hagure Keiji" on KIKU-TV, was shopping with his family at the Waikiki A|X the other day. ...
Kona Carmack is back home, after a working stint on HBO's hot hit, "Deadwood." Dined at Shokudo the other night with dentist Alvin Chung, models-actors Jason Oliver and Jay Sawiki, filmmaker Edgy Lee and Pleasant Holidays' Duke Ah Moo. ...
Mayor Mufi Hannemann and wife Gail dropped into Dixie Grill for a Southern barbecue fix Monday night...
Composer-pianist-singer Jay Larrin and manager Alan Yamamoto have discovered Li May Tang's Shanghai Bistro in Discovery Bay and enjoyed dinner there over the weekend. ...
Joey Caldarone, who just joined singers Sherry Chock Wong and Rex Nockengust for the "Live from the Rainbow Room" show that was an integral part of the Hawaii Theatre's gala at the Kahala Mandarin, is among the first to discover Ed Kenney Jr.'s new Town restaurant on Wai'alae Avenue, dining there with pals Johanna Afshani and her husband Rob Afra. ...
AROUND TOWN: Cast members from "Lord of the Dance" were at the recent Kids Day kick-off brunch (hosted by John Langan at Compadres) for the PACT fund-raiser. He was surprised when the dancers all laughed about "Taco Tuesday," which is a biggie in his restaurant; it turned out that on tour they literally have tacos every Tuesday, so he gathered a Compadres T-shirt for each dancer. Other cast members gave a master class at Ballet Hawai'i, teaching local performers how to Irish dance, and then did a little carbo loading at Auntie Pasto's afterward. ... And the cast oozes energy — with dizzying motion and cadence of dancing feet. ...
Jewl Anguay has taken on the name, JEWLA, with an impending debut recording. She was one of the out-of-towners who flocked here to toast her high school mentor, Ron Bright, in the weekend benefits at Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College. ...
Maui publicist Bonnie Friedman is off to Italy on a vacation — a foodie's dream. ...
And that's Show Biz. ...
Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, or fax 525-8055.
