Thanks, Frank.
As the missile alert mishap investigation continues, we all owe comedian Frank De Lima one big shaka and mahalo for his witty ditty “Stayin’ Alive,” which parodies that ballistic blunder.
The Bee Gees tune, with Hawaiianized lyrics added by De Lima and his partner in parody, Patrick Downes, is the perfect panacea for those still reeling from the craziness, but happily, it was a bogus alert. Fake news.
De Lima, too, was frightfully confused when eating breakfast with Downes at Anna Miller’s that morn. By Monday the lyricists had framed the incident with a lively lament that surely has turned many frowns upside down. Radio and TV, plus this paper, couldn’t ignore this one — another one of De Lima’s satirical musical missiles that helped us all, at a time of need, to decompress and chill. A key chorus in the song — “the good news finally came at last, that it’s all right, it’s OK, we’ll live to see another day” — is perfection. Thanks, too, to musician David Kauahikaua.
Throughout his career, De Lima (through parodies) has chronicled and reflected community concerns about events and people. Past parodies have tapped tsunamis, Furlough Fridays, the Superferry, Marcus Mariota, even Donald Trump. But “Stayin’ Alive” — available for download, with a donation to support the comedian’s school enrichment tours, at frankdelima.com — is his best yet. …
DANDY BUMATAI
Another stand-up comic, Andy Bumatai, will get show-active next month, taking his Denial Comedy Tour to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Feb. 16 and the Surfer Bar at the Turtle Bay Resort on Feb. 17. Kamaka Brown, with North Shore roots, will join Bumatai as opening act. Bumatai has logged 40 years here; Brown has been working in California for more than 15 years. …
NEXT UP FOR KIM
Daniel Dae Kim’s production company, 3AD, will develop and adapt “The First Rule of Ten,” based on a series of mystery novels by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay, for a forthcoming TV series, destination still unknown.
Kim, the former “Hawaii Five-0” star and producer of ABC’s “The Good Doctor,” is set to produce a drama about a young Tibetan monk in a fish-out-of-water tale set in Los Angeles, where his Buddhist training clashes with the hubbub of the City of Angels. The monk struggles to sort out priorities after he witnesses a brutal crime and is drawn into its investigation. …
SIMPLY SUPREME
Diana Ross was supreme and scintillating in her one-nighter Jan. 12 at the Blaisdell Arena. It was a stop on her “I’m Coming Out” tour, and she came out with all her trademarks: four costume changes (turquoise, red, white and gold lame) befitting a pop superstar diva; the hair (frizzy but not full afro); and the Motown momentum (a loop of visuals, on the stage’s huge back screen, of herself with the Supremes plus a gallery of her peers, including the Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Lionel Richie, the Four Tops).
This was as much a fashion show as it was a flashback/soundtrack of the 73-year-old warbler’s glorious career. She did, of course, win an American Music Awards Lifetime Achievement laurel, and her family, including grandkids, assembled there with her as well as on the Blaisdell stage.
Ain’t no mountain high enough to pour on the cheer and the nostalgia. While the show was a jukebox of her goldies (“Come See About Me,” “Reach Out and Touch,” “Theme From ‘Mahogany,’” “Stop! In the Name of Love”), a few tunes were not her signatures, including Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” but were wildly applauded. Ross remains relevant. …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …
Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.
