I’ll turn 83 on Oct. 26, and the time has come for me to reduce my weekly Wood Craft output. I’m not throwing in the towel, but I will be slowing down and doing just one column a month that will run on the last Sunday of each month, starting Oct. 26, my special day. I suffered serious injuries to my knee and shoulder decades ago, and I’m beginning to feel like a used car that needs new parts. But you can’t just walk into a shop and buy new body parts. Physical therapist Pat Ariki and his very competent staff at Sports Medicine Hawaii have managed to keep me running — I should say walking — when the going gets more than tough. I may be seeing them again before long.
When I was a young man of 75 I was OK. But along came other problems. And when the vog blows in it beats me up. As for my bad knee, well, when it happened my doctor told me it would give me trouble years later. He was so right. I’ve even outlived two of my docs and a few have retired on me. What’s more, they were younger than I am. So I’m going to ease up. It’s tough to walk away from my column and the business I have been in for almost 60 years. So I suggested to my Today section Editor Christie Wilson that I could do one column a month and she said she would like that. That makes me happy …
ONWARD: It’s always a pleasure to write about worthy events that are free to the public, so here’s one to check out. Maui-born filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton‘s award-winning feature about troubled teenagers, "Short Term 12," will be shown free Thursday, 7 p.m., at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Art Building. Cretton’s short film of the same name, from which the feature was developed, won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The feature premiered at the 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. He was also awarded a fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For more info, call 956-8244. Cretton will be the instructor in the "From Shorts to Features" workshop at UH’s Outreach College Pacific New Media, Oct. 4-5 …
COLORFUL FASHION designer Nake‘u Awai‘s annual Pre-Holiday Musical Revue of Fashions will be held Dec. 6 at Koolau Ballroom. It will feature Aaron Sala, Starr Kalahiki, Halau Hula Ka Lehua Tuahine and Kama Hopkins. Tickets for the show and lunch are $60. Call 841-1221 for reservations. The Holiday Market Place runs from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. with lunch from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Showtime is 12:30 p.m. and the collection sale begins at 1:30 p.m. …
SHORT SHOTS: Beatles fans rejoice. Matt Catingub will strike up the Hawaii Pops band for "Top to Bottom: Sgt. Pepper & Abbey Road!" at the Sheraton Waikiki, 7:30 p.m., Saturday … Hawaii’s University of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, a Heisman Trophy candidate from Saint Louis School, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Sept. 22 issue … Jimmy Fallon challenged chef Nobu Matsuhisa, who has a Nobu restaurant in the Waikiki Parc, to a sushi-making contest Sept. 18 on NBC’s "Tonight" show. Ho-ho. You know who won … The Ilikai Hotel marked its 50th birthday this month. The hotel booked great entertainment; some were world-class stars, in the old days … "Hawaii Five-0" key makeup artist Karen Preiser was spotted in Neiman Marcus late last week, buying cosmetics for Carol Burnett. Carol wound up filming Thursday for an upcoming episode that will also feature singer Frankie Valli …
I WILL REVIEW some of the events that came my way this year for the next two Fridays, then take a short break and begin Wood Craft on Oct. 26 …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
