NICOLE SINGS FOR JERRY AT AULANI

Jerry Santos knew that Hawaii’s Nicole Scherzinger was a celebrity of note.

“Her performance and acceptance speech at (this year’s) Tony Awards really blew me away,” he said.

Imagine, then, when the star of London’s and Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard,”  showed up on a recent Tuesday evening, when Santos and his partner in music, Kamuela Kimokeo, were doing their gig at Disney’s Aulani resort.

“Apparently, some of her ‘ohana work at the Aulani, and they were having a family gathering to celebrate her being home,” said Santos.

“Getting to meet her was an honor,” he said of the former leader of the Pussycat Dolls, now a certified global celebrity. “I was truly touched by what a sweet, humble spirit she is.”

Scherzinger acquiesced to her family’s urging to sing a song. ‘I was just hoping we could play for her,” he said.

Then the surprises unfolded, one by one.

“What a lovely surprise to find that she knew who I was (surprise No. 1) and said she’d like to sing my song (“E Kuu Home O Kahalu‘u,” surprise No. 2). “To hear my words coming to me from that beautiful voice was such a gift (surprise No. 3). “I can understand why people love her” (surprise No. 4, but come on, why?)

Scherzinger knew the lyrics to Santos’ trademark Olomana hit, which made him a household name, and perhaps another surprise might’ve been how he could play the melody, but why not? Most fans can sing the song by heart, and clearly, she has been a fan from way back, possibly before she became a stellar stage trouper.

The fact, too, that she would sing his song,  and not one of hers, was a certification of her generosity. After all, this was his gig, his turf, his own moment of celebrity.

What is astounding is that Santos and Kimokeo – who’ve been performing at the Disney resort since it opened in  2011 – deserve to play before local and visiting listeners  beyond the Mickey Mouse venue. But Waikiki properties are not known for hiring and supporting talent, like the bygone era when every major hotel had a showroom, and most gave island acts time and space to perform in lounges and in bars. Not so today.

So folks like Santos augment their livelihood with one-nighters, like the recent Henry Kapono Foundation’s fundraising gala, and Molokai’s Kulaia event this Saturday, a street festival for Na Wahine O Ke Kai,  plus an upcoming slack key festival Oct. 18 in Seattle.

“Just doing the fun stuff when they come,” he said of his show scheduling.

“I’m old; it’s more than enough,” Santos said. OK, he’s a senior citizen still possessing the gift of mele, and he should be in the limelight more regularly in venues frequented by locals. He had a secure Friday-Saturday gig at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for 25 years, but management changes put the skids on his casual kanikapila shows for locals and visitors…

Here, there, everywhere

Got to say hello, and renew ties, with retired Broadway conductor Bob Billig, at a performance of “Come From Away” at the Diamond Head Theatre. He has resettled in Hawaii again with husband Richard Vida, who is executive director Ballet Hawaii.

Vida was in New York earlier this month and Billig – who conducted “Les Miserables” in early times on Broadway — was Mainland-bound, too, to oversee and supervise the music for the forthcoming Kander-Ebb musical,” “Chicago,” which will be at the Blaisdell Concert Hall Dec. 2 to 7.

I recall seeing Billig once when he was conducting “Chicago” on Broadway. The maestro and ork were positioned on stage rather than in the pit, for the revival that’s still running, and it’s been a great tactic since the evergreen became the new rage for singers, dancers and audiences alike.

Billig won’t be conducting “Chicago” here – the show is the finale in the Broadway in Hawaii series…

Trees trigger letter-writing

Poet Frances Kakugawa, formerly of Pahoa and Honolulu and now a Sacramento resident, is a prolific author and an occasional letter-to-the-editor writer.

“I’ve had three letters published,’ she said of her words, aligned in a poem, and recently printed in the New Your Times. Yes, thrice is nice.

Her submission dealt with a recent NYT feature story, by Dodai

Stewart (with photographs by Alex Kent),

about some of the magnificent, giant, angled, and aging specimens on New York’s fabled roster of trees.

Here’s her poem, accepted as a passionate response to the wonderful piece on the city’s greatest trees.

‘I SEE YOU’

I see you.

Put that saw away.

You will not use my sisters and brothers

To fill your bank account

With Real Estate towers.

I see you.

Put that saw down.

Look up at my glory,

Home to hundreds of life

More than you can accommodate

In your blue-printed home of destruction.

See me.

Before it is too late.

— FRANCES KAKUGAWA, SACRAMENTO

Tree-mendous submission, Fran!

And that’s Show Biz…