Elvis lives, now
more than everWITH the 20th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley just around the corner -- Aug. 16 -- look for feature after feature on the "King" plus the ubiquitous impersonators who now abound. Jacque Smith was doing some research around tonight's Elvis "Hip-Swinging" contest at Ala Moana Center where the top swinger wins a one-year supply of Tsuruya Noodles. She found that in 1977, the year of Elvis' death, there were 37 impersonators in the country. Four years ago there were 48,000 making like the "King." If the trend continues, by the year 2010 one out of every three people on earth will be an Elvis impersonator. There's even a National Association of Amateur Elvis Impersonators and First Church of Elvis in Memphis. So it should come as no surprise that when the new nightclub Mystique opens next week in Restaurant Row, there'll be an Elvis look-alike serving Blue Suede Shooters ...
ONE of the people behind the Mystique grand opening happening Aug. 14-17 is promotions director Kymberlee Weil, the UH Wahine softball pitcher who was seen making her pitch in a recent Playboy. Now she's been notified that the magazine people want her for a future feature called "Voluptuous Vixens." which itself sounds like an exotic drink. And if she can just get Playboy to film her in Mystique, she ought to get a raise ...
AFTER reading here about the new smoke filtration system Steve Sasaki had installed in the Havana Pacific Club, the Hyatt Regency people contacted him to get more info about it. Seems they're interested in a similar system for their Ciao Mein eatery, where cigars are already being featured in an open air lanai and an enclosed room is in the works. The restaurant and Alfred Dunhill are having an end-of-summer cigar dinner there Aug. 27 with Dunhill's Macanudo 1000 and Montecristo Churchill as the pre- and post-dinner cigars respectively... The new Mystique (where Blue Zebra used to be located) has an outdoor cigar lanai as well, as does the new Dixie Grill. Just as cigarettes are on the outs, it appears cigars are in... More puffery
RELATIONSHIPS are "iffy" enough in Hollywood without my help, but in an item on tattoos, I somehow transposed Pamela Anderson Lee's name to Pamela Lee Anderson and had her married to Tommy Lee Jones instead of rocker Tommy Lee, who's she's dumped anyway. It's a small wonder I didn't get Loni Anderson in there somewhere, too. And for good measure, a caller assures me that the home of Tori Spelling's father, Aaron Spelling, is in nearby Holmby Hills, and not in "Beverly Hills 90210." And am I ever glad to see those people out of town ...
THE e-mail stated it came from Jester Vicar, whom I assume is an amusing minister from Great Britain. It was a standard form letter from Oberon Productions which ostensibly dealt with a localite who's involved with a motion picture called "Sleeping Dogs Lie." The release states that "Ozek Lucero has recently joined our team and is hard at work assisting the production." The release concludes either with a scoop, or an admission they're unaware of the sex of the subject: "Our records show that Ozek was a graduate of Kainuki (sic) High School in (sic) and we are confident that he/she will make the same quality contribution that he/she made to your towns' (sic) schools and community." What do you want to bet "Sleeping Dogs Lie" doesn't win an Oscar?... Ozek/Ozeki?
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.