Honolulu resident Jim Nabors, who has performed "Back Home Again in Indiana" at the Indy 500 for the past 39 years, won’t be there in person this year.
The event, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27, falls two days before the beloved Nabors undergoes heart-valve replacement surgery at the Queen’s Medical Center. Travel, alas, is prohibited.
"It broke my heart," said Nabors, no pun intended. "This would have been my 40th year." But he’ll be there on tape and in spirit, since a TV crew will go to his Diamond Head home to tape Gomer Pyle singing the signature tune for the speedway crowd.
"I had trouble climbing stairs," he told me, so his doc recommended the May 29 procedure. "Amazing, this surgery," said Nabors."They’re going up … through my groin." As Gomer might say, "Gollee." …
AROUND TOWN: Ving Rhames, the Hollywood toughie ("Mission: Impossible II, III," "Pulp Fiction"), enjoyed the snow crab legs at the Oceanarium buffet at the Pacific Beach Hotel a few days back. He was in the islands with his sponsored Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club basketball team dubbed Team Dream, which competed with the Honolulu Boys & Girls Club at the Charles C. Spalding Clubhouse in Moiliili. The Pacific Beach housed the visiting team and hosted the buffet, too. …
CHATTER: That’s ex-Honolulan Ann Harada (no relation) on NBC’s current "Smash," playing the stage manager, Linda. She’s best known for originating the Christmas Eve role in the Tony-winning "Avenue Q" musical with puppets but had other memorable Broadway roles: Mme. Thenardier in the last "Les Miserables" revival and the short-lived "9 to 5" Dolly Parton musical. …
The 23rd annual Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival will be held May 31-June 3 at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Among the local filmmakers featured: Keo Woolford, with a short on bullying, and Connie Florez, whose work-in-progress documentary on The Glades, the boys-will-be-girls showcase from yesteryear, features classic footage of Brandy Lee, Butch Ellis and Prince Hanalei. …
REALITY CHECK:Isle author Frances Kakugawa, now Sacramento-based but back for the Hawaii Book & Music Festival this weekend at the Civic Center grounds, had a successful reading of her latest, "Kapoho," Tuesday night at Kilauea Lodge at Volcanoes National Park. She also participated in a festival panel Saturday — buoyed by good news that "Kapoho" won the best nonfiction book laurels at the 2012 Northern California Publishers & Authors Award banquet a week ago. …
The award validates Kakugawa’s accomplishments as a lifetime teacher and poet, and duly recognizes what’s near and dear to her heart: her roots, and her compelling manner in weaving a story.She makes the personal universal, simultaneously enlightening and entertaining the reader. Originally from Kapoho’s volcanic turf, Kakugawa is a former Honolulu teacher-educator and knowledgeably speaks on care-giving and Alzheimer’s. …
Actress Electra Gailas Fair marked her 90th birthday last month with — what else? — a Greek meal (leg of lamb, grape leaves, etc.) with daughters Dietra and Kaia and granddaughter Shannon Cabana. The stage veteran remains active with daily biking and swimming. You go, girl! …
DATES TO CIRCLE: Jack Cione is busily rehearsing his senior cast from Arcadia for his seventh annual Follies, themed "Come to the Cabaret," opening June 14 at the retirement residence. "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," one of the numbers, will feature seven hot mamas — ages 80 to 91 — decked out in feathers and rhinestones in Las Vegas-style glitz and frou-frou. The show will pay tribute to Flo Ziegfeld, Billy Rose, Busby Berkeley and Harold Minsky, legendary theatrical icons from waaaay back. …
That Ke Kula Mele Mother’s Day concert, at 1 p.m. May 13 at Windward Mall, will assemble scores of Hawaii steel guitarists under the direction of Alan Akaka. The kumu will be backed by his Ke Kula pupils onuke, guitar and bass, hoping to set a Guinness World Book record. Information: kekulamele.com. …
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.
