Don’t ask me why, but I never developed a taste for a local favorite, ox tail soup.
Yet I’m eager and ready to slurp through the turkey tail soup that’s on the Zippy’s menu periodically, through the end of March.
When you think about, the textures are the same with oxtail and turkey neck. There’s flesh on the tailbone of an ox as well as the neck of a turkey. Chunks of boney pieces are in a broth that’s similar; with peanuts, cilantro, star anise, and mushroom. The order comes with grated ginger, and I dash it with shoyu.
That said, I ordered the turkey neck soup last week, remembering it was among the specials this month. I must remember to order it again before it trots off the menu.
Disclosure: I get two meals from the generous serving, mostly because these days, I tend to eat less, enjoy more, when dining. It’s been part of my post-surgery habit.
Have thoughts to share on this ox tail vs, turkey neck soup?
Robert Cazimero’s 75th birthday celebration last night (March 20) at Chef Chai’s was an unprecedented three-hour serenade, characterized by a spectrum of melodies by the maestro of the keyboard.
The champagne flowed, which fueled the formidable mini-marathon, and the vocals prompted impromptu and voluntary hula, validating the local custom of getting up and dancing, if you know the particular number. So, a continuous wave of hula brothers and sisters – solo, or perhaps up to seven or eight — joined the celebratory, mesmerizing moments.
And lei. Plenty of lei were bestowed on Cazimero, nearly burying him head-deep in fragrant pikake and pua keni keni, making him look like a Kamehameha Schools chap on graduation day.
Naturally, his output of tunes – Hawaiian, pop classics, even kid-time numbers – made him appear like a human jukebox, minus the coins needed to fuel the music. This was, emphatically, a command performance before a loyal crowd, mostly of folks who’ve followed him concerts large and small. Cazimero might have stayed till midnight, but the non-stop three-hour session set a record.
And since we’ve reviewed his shows regularly in recent months, we’ll resort to sharing instead a modest gallery of those who danced. And if you know the restaurant’s setting, the aisles are not ideal for dancing, or photographing.
Happy birthday, Robert…may you have more joyous years of serenading. And mahalo, Chai Chaowasaree, for providing Robert a monthly showcase…
Diamond Head Theatre’s 2024-25 season will offer a potpourri of shows, including one Hawaii premiere, a Christmas favorite, musical revivals with timeless and traditional plots and tunes, a splashy kid-centric cartoon production, and a textbook play on how to prepare for a stage role.
The season begins Sept. 20 and “builds on DHT’s tradition of artistic excellence with fresh energy and innovative theatrical storytelling…and offers entertainment for all ages, from keiki to kupuna,” said Trever Tamashiro, Diamond Head’s executive director, in a statement.
Productions run for three weeks, with performances Thursdays through Sundays, including weekend matinees. Extension playdates are added, when there is a demand.
The lineup includes:
“Honeymoon in Vegas,” a musical with a book by Andrew Bergman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, based on a 1992 film of the same name. Jack Singer promises his dying mother he’d never marry but falls in love with Betsy Nolan. They elope to Las Vegas but a charming gambler, Tommy Korman, threatens to steal Betsy away, leading to a madcap adventure including a romp to Hawaii. Opens Sept. 20.
“White Christmas,” a musical based on a 1954 Paramount film, with book by David Ives and Paul Blake, and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. A tale of two veterans, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, who had a successful song-and-dance act after World War II, who seek and follow two singing sisters at a Vermont lodge owned by the soldiers’ Army commander. Features Berlin’s trademark tune, “White Christmas,” plus “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” and “How Deep Is the Ocean.” Opens Nov. 22.
“Master Class,” written by Terrence McNally, a textbook lesson on how Maria Callas conducted a master class to bolster an audition. Rich with theatrical nuggets, about a soprano, Sophie, who selects a challenging aria, and details of Callas’s famous affair with Aristotle Onassis and struggles with her own career. Opens Jan. 24.
“Grease,” the teen musical best known for the 1978 film hit co-starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on a a screenplay by Bronté Woodard and an adaptation by co-producer Allan Carr, inspired by the stage musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.Set in 1959 at Rydell High, greaser Danny Zuko and new-girl-in-town Sandy Dumbrowski flourish amid the travails of the Burger Palace Boys and Pink Ladies. With jukebox hits like “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” and “You’re the One That I Want,” this is the soundtrack for teenhood. Opens March 21, 2025.
“Man of La Mancha,” the beloved musical inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” novel, with book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, who gave the world “The Impossible Dream” anthem. Set during the Spanish Inquisition, the musical finds Cervantes and his fellow prisoners staging a play about the elderly Alonso Quijana, who becomes the idealistic knight Don Quixote on a quest to right the world’s wrongs. Windmills matter, too. Opens May 23, 2025.
“SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical,” the undersea spectacle based on the animated Nickelodeon series, where SpongeBob lives. With book by Kyle Jarrow and music by Steven Tyler, Sara Bareilles, Panic! and Plain White T’s. The mission at hand for the denizens of the deep is to save Bikini Bottom from a looming volcanic eruption. So SpongeBob finds unity with his buddies Patrick, Sarah, Squidward and Mr. Krabs to save Bikini Bottom. For the young and young at heart. Opens July 18, 2025.
Season subscribers can renew seats for the forthcoming season, with tickets available for $162. Renewing subscriptions will guarantee seats for subscription holders before subscriptions and sales are offered to the general public.
To become a subscriber, visit diamondheadtheatre.com or call the box office at (808) 733-0274…
MGM Resorts debunk Bruno’s debt rumors
Bruno Mars pictured below, doesn’t owe millions in gambling debt to MGM Resorts — despite what a recent report claimed — according to TMZ.
A rep for MGM Resorts International has told the website that singer Mars doesn’t have a $50 million gambling tab on the books with them, calling the allegation “completely false.”
In fact, the Las Vegas resort remains excited to continue to collaborate with the Grammy winner again in the future. Didn’t quite believe the rampant rumor that Mars would be the gambling kind who walked away from a debt.
“We’re proud of our relationship with Bruno Mars, one of the world’s most thrilling and dynamic performers,” the hotel/casino said in a statement. “From his shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM to the new Pinky Ring lounge at Bellagio, Bruno’s brand of entertainment attracts visitors from around the globe. MGM and Bruno’s partnership is longstanding and rooted in mutual respect. Any speculation otherwise is completely false.”…
Robert Cazimero’s “Pae ‘Aina (Hawaiian for archipelago) concert yesterday (March 17) was a two-part wonderment, celebrating the splendor of hula kahiko (ancient hula) in the first half, and informal chit-chat plus some hula auwana (modern hula) in the second half.
Cazimero, the kumu hula of Halau Na Kamalei O Lililehua, was acknowledging the astonishing breadth and roots of male hula and vocalizing, the hallmarks of his gents, at the near sell-out performance at Leeward Community College Theatre.
The opening number: “This Is Our Island Home.”
So, what was on display? Plenty, like the pulse, the professionalism, and the perfection within the halau, reflecting the devotion, the loyalty, the commitment, the camaraderie, and the brotherhood that have been the trademark of Halau Na Kamalei, now in its 49th year of sharing the
mesmerizing and magnificence of hula.
Clearly, Cazimero has shaped and honed his dancers, with choreography and vocals, and the process involves imagination and innovation, with syncopated movement and harmonic singing.
At the launch of the show, the guys rendered “This Is Our Island Home,” which became a medley with “He Aloha Nihoa,” which triggered an island-by-island tour de force, embracing each island with mele, beginning with Kaho‘olawe, Ni‘ihau, Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Lana‘i and Moloka‘I, Maui and the Big Island. With this ‘ohana, no island is left out.
When the company of 20 performs, the spectators have a lot to explore and examine – fingers and hands, feet and legs, arms and knees uniformly perform as one unit; the choreography enables any number of troupers – six, eight, two, four dancers beginning the hula, and two or four or one would easily glide into motion, without skipping a beat. That’s precision.
Hula kahiko — gents dance, kumu Robert Cazimero on pahu.
The lads augment Cazimero’s stint at the piano and pahu (drums), utilizing a number of traditional hula instruments for hula kahiko, like ‘uli ‘uli (percussion gourd), pu ‘ili (bamboo rattle), pu‘ohe (bamboo trumpet) ‘ipu (gourd drum) and kala‘au (rhythm sticks). That’s versatility.
Gunnie, clad in ti leaf skirt and draped in maile, has a solo moment.
As the regular Cazimero viewers know, the gents have nicknames like Bully, Kolohe, Buddy, Gunnie and Puna. There’s even a Brad Cooper in the ranks (he says he’s the original, not the film star) and peers with conventional names, like Nick, Zach, Jonah, Daniel, Parker, and Keola, among others, who emerge and entertain. That’s normalcy.
These guys let their hair down after intermission, in an informal, unscripted, hang-loose segment with panel leaders. Hula brother Manu Boyd had a stint in this section, too. The format was risky, the comments hilarious, the mood spontaneous. That’s humanity.
The finale: Lahela Ka’aihue dances on “Waika.”
Throughout the show, hula sisters like Sky Perkins took the mike to introduce the tour of the archipelago . Another hula sister, Lahela Ka‘aihui joined the company to dance in the finale, “Waika.” That’s fellowship.
Everthing considered, it was a halau of a production…
Actress Loretta Ables Sayre confirms that letting her hair go gray enabled her to land jobs like “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School” last year.
“I have now graduated from the mom/auntie roles to the tutu age market,” she said in an e-mail. “And frankly, I love it.”
Widely known for her Tony-nominated role of Bloody Mary in Lincoln Center’s revival of Rodgers and Hamilton’s “South Pacific” 16 years ago on Broadway, Ables Sayre surmises “there might be less gray-haired tutus in the Polynesian/Asian category that are looking for work (but) I love the freedom of being who I am and not having to worry about touching up my roots. At this point, darker hair didn’t make me look younger. It just made me look like I was in denial.”
On April 1, Ables Sayre will turn 66 and admitted her dye job days are over. “No one was looking at me saying ‘gee, I wonder if she’s still in her 50s?’ Letting my hair go gray the way it has wanted to the past 35-plus years was freeing.
Further, going gray was empowering and enabled her to land the role of a grandma named Lola in “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School” which she completed filming in New York last year. Appropriately, Lola is a name and also the term that Filipinos call their grandma (Ables is Filipino, so she knows!).
Ables Sayre portrays the tutu of Minnie Mouse, her granddaughter enacted by Malia Pyles in the HBO/MAX series, and the mother of Tony winner Lea Salonga, of “Miss Saigon” fame, who plays her daughter Elodie.
She wasn’t in “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” (Season 1) but makes her debut in “Summer School” ( Season 2), likely to premiere sometime in spring, continuing the topsy-turvy life in Millwood.
“I don’t think having gray hair means you look frumpy,” said Ables Sayre. “If you have a great cut that still looks fun and sexy, you can rock that. Being older doesn’t have to mean being over the hill. You can be gray and still sparkle; I have a great hair stylist, Donna Tokumoto, who keeps me in shape.”
Ables Sayre said filming was whirlwind but fab – “everybody brought their A-game to the set every day” – and the challenge was to complete the work complicated by the dual WGA and the SAG/AFTRA strikes. The Hollywood walkouts paused production and filming resume when the strikes were settled.
“I would come home whenever I could but sometimes, I would only be home for about four days before I had to head back to New York,” she said.
Enough to give one gray or white hair…
Bruno Mars has gambling debt
Hawaii’s superstar Bruno Mars (pictured below), who has an ongoing stint at the MGM casino in Las Vegas, apparently is an extravagant gambler, according to the News Nation website.
Mars, a professional poker player, has apparently logged significant gambling losses at the MGM, with a Vegas source indicating that the debt is in the $50 million range.
As the resident attraction in the casino’s showroom, Mars’ revenues from his performances likely will be paybacks to clear the debt.
Good thing Mars is completing a new album – his first solo disc since 2016’s “24K Magic” — and is in early conversations with Live Nation to plan a concert tour to support the disc through 2025.
He has been on an international tour with his group, The Hooligans, which has sell-out tours in key markets like Tokyo, so he’s cashing in huge sums.
He also has a secondary R&B career with Silk Sonic, with his blues partner Anderson .Paik. Their 2021 debut studio album, “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” earned four Grammy trophies…
