Entertainer Sonya Mendez hosts a set of live music at a fundraiser for the Well of Hope Foundation at 5:30 p.m. today at Aloha Tower Marketplace's Events at the Tower stage. The lineup includes Anita Hall and Nueva Vida, Connie Kissinger, Ben Vegas and Maila Gibson. Mendez co-founded the foundation following a 2006 trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Well of Hope has raised money to build a water well near Gilo Ager, an Ethiopian village so remote that every day its children wake up at 3 a.m. to fetch water from a river an hour and a half away. Tickets, $40, include food. Call 545-2820 or go to www.hawaiisbesttickets.com. Information: 228-4499.

— Advertiser staff

AT HOME

ASIAN AESTHETIC

Lacquers and woods, open spaces and ornate objet d'art — the Chinese design sense is a sensual, enveloping aesthetic. New Mexico-based writer Sunamita Lim captures the look in "Chinese Style: Living in Beauty and Prosperity" (Gibbs Smith, $39.95), mixing the traditional and the contemporary. With all the Asian antiques spots in town these days, it's easy to follow her lead, whether you grew up in a Chinese family, as Lim did, or not. Available at Barnes and Noble, www.bn.com and www.gibbs-smith.com.

— Lesa Griffith

FINAL WORD

"Is that Hillary calling? Breaking my flow?"

Barack Obama | the presidential candidate at a recent appearance, when a colleague's cell phone started ringing, from Time magazine