“Jimmy Borges: A Life Story,” that splendid documentary on the beloved jazz singer, is one of three specials up for a regional Emmy Award in the historic/cultural category.
The winners will be announced at a June 3 gala in San Francisco.
Director Phil Arnone can’t attend, but Rick Blangiardi, GM of the Hawaii News Now brand comprising KGMB/KHNL/KFVE, will be on hand should the show win. HNN and KHON2 are vying for Emmys in several news categories, with the former dominating the isle bids. …
Jimmy Borges also will be remembered and saluted when a nameplate — the lone local so honored — is embedded in a table at the Blue Note Hawaii club at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort.
The crooner never got a chance to perform there, as he died of cancer May 30 at age 80 only a few months after the nightspot opened. An A-list of his jazz/Waikiki peers, not yet named, will toast Borges in a special show. Stay tuned. …
CONSUL-TATION
A group of 65 members of the Consular Corps of Hawaii and their spouses assembled at Jack and Cha Thompson’s Portlock home recently for a first-ever consular luau.
Jack Thompson, aka Tihati, is a consul for the independent state of Samoa, so he and wife Cha hosted a home-style bash of local kaukau and mele. Nina Keali‘iwahamana stopped by for two songs. The Thompson ohana shared hula and serenades. Grandkids and kin like Joe Recca interpreted melodies not commonly heard in Waikiki, translated by Misty Mokihana Tufono. This classic Hawaiian brew blew away associate member Raymond Burghardt of the American Institute of Taiwan, and Swiss consul Hans Strasser, marking a birthday, got lei’d.
“It was the real deal,” Cha said about the mood and manner, difficult to replicate in a hotel ballroom. The family laid patches of fresh grass outdoors to create natural carpeting, rented party tables and chairs, and lit luau torches. Musicians from the Papakolea area offered kanikapila, prompting guests to wonder why a hoopla like this hadn’t been staged before.
The start of a new consular tradition? …
WHO ‘N’ WHERE
Loretta Ables Sayre, co-starring in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” at the Goodspeed Theatre in Connecticut, is making her soft-shoe debut. Director-choreographer Denis Jones created a dance sequence for the “South Pacific” Tony Award nominee despite her “I am not a dancer” stance.
“When I told (Diamond Head Theatre’s) John Rampage, I could hear him laugh all the way here,” she said. Since Jones’ choreography for his previous show, “Holiday Inn,” earned him a Tony nomination, Ables Sayre asked hubby David Sayre to bring a lei from Hawaii to honor him. …
The Glenn Cannon Foundation’s “A Little Bit of This … A Little Bit of That,” at 4 p.m. today at the Temple Emanu-El sanctuary will toast the memory of veteran director-actor Glenn Cannon. Joyce Maltby will direct; troupers include Shari Lynn, Buz Tennent, Kip Wilborn, Larry Bialock, Steve Kramer, Ernest Harada, Becky Maltby, Don Pomes and Don Conover. Tickets: $20, 595-7521 or shaloha.com, with proceeds benefiting the Torah fund. …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …
Wayne Harada is a veteran Honolulu entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or email wayneharada@gmail.com.
