Lots of organs coming, going
SINCE yesterday's column began with news of the Dead Liver Society and the National Kidney Foundation, we seem to be on an organ binge. So let's acknowledge that Sunday will be Canon John McCreary's last after 35 years as organist at St. Andrew's Cathedral. Fittingly, he's closing with "Finale in B Flat" by Cesar Frank. Sunday is also the final one at Central Union for organist Nyle Hallman and her husband Roy Hallman, minister of music ...
NOW we're not completely done with organs. Former Waikiki Theater organist Bob Alder, who spent 17 years at the keyboard there, is supposedly "retired" in Hilo, but he's busier than ever. He plays dinner music on piano on weekend evenings at the Orchid Village Restaurant and repairs church organs during the week. He's also working on the restoration of the Palace Theater in what he laughingly refers to as his "spare time." Incidentally, there'll be a big rummage and antique sale at the theater Aug. 1 to help raise the $50,000 for repairs to get the 1925 structure in shape for the Hawaii International Film Festival in November. The downtown Hilo landmark was a smaller version of Honolulu's long-gone Princess Theater, which was located where Kukui Plaza now sits ...
Double play for med school
ALL that cloning around at the UH medical school has paid off with worldwide publicity as Dr. Ryuzo Yanagimichi and some fellow med school experimenters working behind closed doors succeeded in creating mice scientifically. I can hear the bar wags now: "That's what we need in this world -- more mice and the end of sex as we know it." It could have some wonderful scientific benefits, too, as the effort to eradicate disease continues. But in the rash of publicity in newspapers and on television around the country, it went nearly unnoticed that Dr. Milton Diamond, whose office is next to that of Dr. Yanagimichi, appeared on "Prime Time Live" Wednesday night in a piece on sexual reassignment by doctors on babies whose sex could not be determined ...YESTERDAY'S profile on City managing director-designate Ben Lee listed his first job as a keno dealer in Vegas. At least he wasn't a crap dealer! ... And I felt just a little uneasy with the idea of Daryl Jones, a former Amway salesman, being nominated as Secretary of the Air Force. He's met with plenty of sales resistance from the GOP, however ...
THAT'S what we need -- one more TV cooking show in Hawaii. It seems like you can't turn on your television without seeing somebody searing something or cutting up something else, and now we have another chef stepping forward. Jean-Marie Josselin of A Pacific Cafe will be debuting a new TV show in the fall on KGMB called "A Taste of Hawaii." It will feature a Studio Becker Zeyko kitchen set, so little wonder that Josselin was cooking up appetizers at the company's recent anniversary celebration. Those attending also got a sampling of the new "Matters of Taste" eatery opening at Gentry Pacific Center ...
Fancy bumping into you
ENTERTAINER BB Shawn met a new fan the other night, but it wasn't a traditional face-to-face meeting. He'd been performing at Shipley's and while he and agent Nancy Ishimoto were waiting at a red light, there came a screech of tires. Fortunately they had on seat belts when a woman, who'd seen him at Shipley's and wanted to meet him, did so in the worst way -- by crashing into his car. Now Shawn and Ishimoto are wearing matching neck braces, but they'll not soon forget his new fan ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.