Bob Dylan, I could have received your Nobel Prize for you

Bob Dylan, I could have gone for you.

When I was in my 20’s, I earned 7 university credits on this six week tour of Europe.

There were over 50 of us standing before the building in Oslo where the Nobel Prize for Literature is presented.

The host looked us over and lo and behold, he pointed at me and said, “Miss, today you will receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Come everyone, we will go through the exact rituals.” And he gave me his arm.

He explained the very low steps with, “The steps are not high so the women won’t trip over their long dresses.”

My dreams of becoming a writer were still in incubation but I was so sure this was an omen. He took us through the ceremony as it would have happened. . .I alone, was lost in ecstasy. Make that fantasy.

Mr. Dylan, I could have gone for you. I had already gone through the practice run, I would have known what to do. And I wouldn’t have brought you shame by  tripping  over my gown.

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Wordsworth Makes Show Biz column

Thank you, Wayne Harada, for your generous support of my work. I know Wordsworth and I don’t dance and sing so it’s an honor to appear in your Show Biz Column.

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from Wordsworth, It’s in your Pocket

Wordsworth wrote this poem to Akiko in his effort to bring her back from her electronically addicted world.

 

Akiko

iPOd, iPhone, iTune

iSolate friend from friend.

Return to the world we once knew

When there was no cyberspace

Between us all, forever and ever

Until the end.

 

Remember those words

That once flowed from your heart.

Where did they go

Those images and song?

Are they lost in your wireless wires

Or have they vanished into thin air?

 

Oh, don’t you miss

Real friends like us,

Instead of cartoon characters

On computer screens?

Can they read your poems?

Talk story with you?

Can you splash in waves

Or walk the shores

With animated friends

On computer screens?

 

 

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Wordsworth’s Awards by NCPA

Thank you Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA)  for honoring Wordsworth, It’s In Your Pocket, with Best Children’s Award and Honorable Mention for Best Cover and Design. All four books in the Wordsworth series now bear that Best Children’s Book golden seal, from NCPA and Hawai’i Publishers Assoc. If you would like that golden seal to attach to your copy of WW, It’s in Your Pocket, I will gladly send it to you. Thank you, Wordsworth fans, for your support.

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Grateful

This weekend, I attended the Sunrise Ministry Foundation “Journeys to Wellness” seminar. I delivered the keynote address and was honored to be one of the three recipients recognized with the group’s Puaka’ana o ka La (Rise Up!) award.

I cherish this award because it brings me back as Hawaii’s child. I thought my umbilical cord to Hawaii was severed when I got my California driver’s license. So, thank you, Sunrise Ministry Foundation for this significant gift.

Thank you also to Sharlene and Ron Yamauchi and Wally Fukunaga for their assistance in arranging to have my books available for attendees to purchase at the event.

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Elvis and Me

Monday, May 13, 2013          80.0°F  

How did Elvis and I get on the same page in Wayne Harada’s column, you ask. Well, I did see Elvis  perform in Vegas before he died; he tossed his sweat-drenched handkerchiefs to the audience and I could easily have grabbed one but I didn’t. Now, if  he were Bing Crosby, I would have climbed over heads and bodies. This isn’t about handkerchiefs so read on.

Beloved personal collection of Elvis items will aid MVT
By Wayne Harada
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, May 12, 2013

 
Disclosure: I’ve been a collector of recorded music for more than 60 years. Imagine walls of shelves and boxes upon boxes on the floor containing vinyl 331⁄3 LPs, 45 rpm singles, cassettes, CDs and videos. To me, this was pure treasure; to my wife, junk that took up a whole bedroom and then some.

 
So clearing out a lifetime of recorded music — whole lotta spending and shaking going on over the decades — has been painful and nostalgic. There were easily 10,000 titles, representing a lifetime of memories and reflecting a soundtrack of my life from the 1950s to the present.

 
Amid the stash, I discovered vintage collectibles and decided to dub a parcel “The <B>Elvis Presley Quartet” to donate as a live-auction bundle for Manoa Valley Theatre’s upcoming Manoa Marquee fundraiser, “Rock ‘n’ Roll is Here to Stay!,” at 5 p.m. May 19 at the Pacific Club. Elvis may not realize it, but proceeds will help MVT continue its tradition of presenting quality stage productions.

 
The package includes:

 
» An autographed photo of The King. Got it when I was in high school. (I still savor another photo, addressed to me.)

 
» A limited-edition “Aloha Elvis” decanter of bourbon (still filled) with Elvis clad in a white jumpsuit and lei. This trophy was created for a USS Arizona Memorial fundraiser (a project he supported), and doubles as a music box that plays “Blue Hawaii.”

 
» Four mint-condition 33 1⁄3 vinyl LPs of Presley’s early best-sellers.

 
» A coffee-table book, “Elvis: A Celebration,” by Mike Evans, DK Publishing.

 
It’s priceless stuff, impossible to merely give away since it represents part of a storied history of listening, collecting, interviewing and reviewing Elvis over the decades. For the right collector of things Elvis, it’s a gold mine.
Are you that collector? If so, call 988-6131 for ticket info — and bring your credit card. …

 
PERSONALITIES: Congrats to isle author Frances Kakugawa; her “Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer!” (Watermark Publishing) won best children’s book laurels at the 20th annual Book Awards Competition sponsored by the Northern California Publishers/Authors group. So all three of her “Wordsworth” books have that gold-seal winner’s decal on the cover. …

 
SMALL WORLD: When Matt Yee was at the Red Carpet Club in Narita, on a layover from Hong Kong/ Macau where he was performing, he overheard on the speaker: “Robert Cazimero, would you please …” Yep, Cazimero constantly visits Asia. Yee just staged his “Divas Live!” show in the Big Apple. …

 
ON BROADWAY: Local theater buffs who remember Kevin Gray, the Broadway actor who portrayed Scar in “The Lion King” in its Honolulu debut six years ago, may be interested in a celebration of his life at 2 p.m. Monday at the Majestic Theatre, where “Phantom of the Opera” resides. Gray died Feb. 11; Harold Prince, Craig Schulman, Cris Groenendaal, Rebecca Luker, Hugh Panaro and Dodie Pettit (Gray’s widow) will participate. Share your aloha if you’re in the Big Apple. …

 
SHORTS OF SORTS: Universal is delaying “Jurassic Park 4” filming even though director Colin Trevorrow has been prepping here for the June 24 shooting launch, now on hold. …
Frank De Lima’s Mother’s Day show unfolds twice, at 10:30 a.m. (brunch) and 6 p.m (dinner) today, at Pagoda’s C’est Si Bon. Call 948-8370. …

 
“Rain,” the Beatles experience, debuts Tuesday at Blaisdell Concert Hall. …

 
Society of Seven LV unveils a new show Tuesday at the Outrigger Waikiki’s Main Showroom. On weekends, “Live at the Outrigger” with Augie T and Andy Bumatai launches at 10 p.m. Saturday and repeats Saturdays thereafter. Call 923-7465. …

 
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 http://www.staradvertiser.com

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