Comedian Frank De Lima had long held three ambitions in his colorful life as a performer: to open up his own club called Frank’s Place; to maintain storage space for his vast collection of character costumes (Imelda Marcos to "Tita" Turner) and vintage assembly of 50 Lapinga statues featuring everything from saints to Nativity figures; and to cook Portuguese bean soup during the holidays.
The first two have been abandoned. "Too old to think about it now," said De Lima of his pipe-dream comedy club, which never materialized. And his storage locker’s cleaned out, with 25 boxes of collectibles sent to his brother Mark in Ohio "so his growing family can experience my journeys and traditions passed down to me by my mom." The parcels included a lot of maneki neko (good-luck Japanese cat figurines), a Buddha statue and travel souvenirs such as a Statue of Liberty replica.
The third tradition, however, lives on. De Lima cooked his late mom’s recipe and delivered the soup to select media folks earlier this month to herald the Christmas season. "I stayed up all night to cook, delivered in the morning," said De Lima of his soup ritual. …
De Lima visited his youngest bro, Mark, before Thanksgiving and was surprised and touched that all the shipped stuff was on display. The family gathered around the Lapinga, sang Christmas carols, flicked on the holiday lights and even sang "Auld Lang Syne" because De Lima wouldn’t be there to celebrate these holiday rituals. …
WHEE, THE PEOPLE: Author Frances Kakugawa, now a Sacramento, Calif., resident, is here to promote and sign "Kapoho: Memoir of a Modern Pompeii," her Watermark book crammed with insights of life in remote Big Island town Kapoho (since swallowed by a lava flow) in earlier times. She’s also targetingHilo for workshops and meet-and-greet sessions. …
Kevin Iwamoto, the ex-singer who’s now vice president of enterprise strategy at San Jose, Calif.-based StarCite, has been recognized with a Silver Magellan Award by trade publication Travel Weekly for having the best travel services blog of 2011. Further, a book Iwamoto edited, "Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice," is now out and available at Target, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. "I love it. … It doesn’t get any more mainstream than Target," he said. …
NIGHT MUSINGS: Shari Lynn was stoked when spark plug Ann McCormack, 90-year-old mother of actor Don Stroud, popped in to see and hear her at Hula’s Bar & Lei Stand last month. "And she sang," said Shari. "She did one of her signature tunes, Charlie Chaplin‘s ‘Smile.’ What pipes! What a bombastic attitude! What a figure!" What a rave!
Coincidentally, McCormack used to perform at The Embers more than 40 years ago, when Hula’s owner Jack Law used to park cars there. Talk about going full circle. Alas, Hula’s is abandoning Shari’s monthly gig, and the last stand was, well, the last stand. …
And don’t forget, Shari joins pianist Don Conover in "It’s Delightful, It’s Delovely, It’s December" at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Dec. 18 at Hawaii Public Radio’s Atherton Performing Arts Studio, 738 Kaheka St. Tickets: $25 general, $20 members, $15 students. Call 955-8821. …
DATEBOOK: "Makaha Kalikimaka 2011," a holiday dinner concert by the Makaha Sons, will be held Dec. 21 in the Akala Ballroom, Queen Kapiolani Hotel. Dinner service is at 6 p.m., performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $65 adults, $35 children ages 3 to 10, and $85 for Golden Circle seating. Call 542-8289 or send checks payable to "Makaha Sons Inc." to P.0. Box 22720, Honolulu 96823. …
The Rene Paulo Clan — led by mom Akemi and dad Rene — will assemble for a mammoth family Christmas concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. Akemi marked her 80th birthday Oct. 30 with a party at the Wedding Room in Las Vegas. …
Jay Larrin‘s holiday fling will be at 1 p.m. Dec. 23 (preceded at 11 a.m. by no-host cocktails, buffet at noon) at the Captain’s Room of the Hawaii Prince Hotel. Tickets: $50. Call 371-2910. …
And that’s "Show Biz." …
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist; reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com; read his Show and Tell Hawaii blog at www.staradvertiser.com.
