Price it right from the get go, or go away!

Get it? Got it? Good…

Biz

Hawai`i Chocolate Festival not so sweet

I forgot to order my ticket at $20 online, so gladly paid the $25 at the door. The entry fee gave you ten “sample tastings” at the vendors’ booths. Entering the exhibit hall I saw a few booths up front, then notice a huge line at Choco le’a tucked into the corner. Hmm… long line of people waiting = good stuff!

Wandering around I spied several booths with sliver size samples… no Scrooge Samples for me, I want to actually get a taste! So I strolled among the vendors until I spied Tiki’s Grill and Bar ! Hmm…I’ve eaten dinner there, held special events there, but…Chocolate?

Lo and behold, shot glasses of delectable Mocha Mousse appeared before me. I should have had two!

Richard's Bon Bons

The Expo was to run from 12-5PM, but by 2:30 many vendors were out of samples. Rather disappointing as I had arrived around 1:30. I tried a few vendors that were indifferent if not downright rude to the people waiting in line; not going to spend my tastes there! I had three tastes left, so I went back to Choco le’a. These folks are that good and nice, I spent six out of my ten tastes at their truffle table!

All in all the experience was ok, but not as professionally done as other similar events I’ve attended. Most of the samples were chintzy… and you should never run out of samples that early into the show. And there were several empty booths, the vendors never even showed up. Also, there were very few places to sit down which was not fun with my two artificial hips. Or for Mom’s with kids. Or anybody that wanted to sit down, actually.

Would I go to another event if they put one on? Maybe. It was really overpriced for what it was. But I have selective amnesia when it comes to Chocolate experiences. And Bacon.

Do not taunt the Chocolate Fairies!

Aloha,

Biz

Tweeple just want to have fun at

Royal Hawaiian Shooting Club!

Starting out with a Brown Bag Lunch and Safety Briefing, we then  moved on into the indoor range area of the Club. We had a mix of experienced shooters as well as newbies attend, and a good time was had by all!

The Club had a drawing for T shirts and a Thank You gift for each of the folks attending the Tweetup. We’ll be doing more of these as the response from Twitterville was “Hey, how come we weren’t invited?” Well, you were… you just have to keep checking Twtvite for the notice and RSVP.

Good shooting...Good times!

We had some great photo shooting as well as pistol shooting from the Tweetup! Check out Royal Hawaiian Shooting Club’s Facebook. I handed my camera over to Nicholas Haigler, who’s the Marketing Guru for the Club and he took some great shots at, er,  of us! @madmarv did his usual great job with a photo set here !

@ShilohSwanson put up some nice photos here .

@hawaii does some amazing shots from his iPhone!

And many thanks to @NctrnlBst for a nice write up and vid on Nonstop!

Well, that’s about it from the first ShootzHI Tweetup! Check out the Shooting Club when you’re at Royal Hawaiian Center, it’s a great place to go with the family and learn some new skills in a comfortable environment. Air Conditioning, nice lounge area and a Starbuck’s downstairs… that’s my kind of shooting! Eh, a girl’s gotta have hobbies…Beading & Firearms, Whiskers on Kittens. These are a few of my favorite things!

Safe gun handling skills are taught first in the classroom before we go to live fire.

And let’s hear a Cheer for the All Stars of the Kukui High School Shooting Team!

Tweet y’all later,
Biz

Diamond Head Theater Acts Up!

Primarily started as a Ladies’ social club, “The Footlights” membership was comprised of Honolulu societies crème de la crème. These affluent women met at each other’s homes to read plays they had written. Men were not allowed to join!

On April 28, 1915, the ladies put on the play “The Amazons” by Pinero.  Staged at the Honolulu Opera House, the cast was made up of some of the Grande Dames of Honolulu: Mrs. Walter F. Dillingham, Helen Alexander, and Margaret Center. The Opera House was located where the main Post Office on Merchant Street now stands.

"The Mikado" 1935 production

In the early 1930’s the name was changed to the Honolulu Community Theater and produced their first musical: Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado.

During World War II, Honolulu Community Theater productions entertained thousands of troops with over 300 performances throughout the Pacific. Wartime curfews were enforced and cast and crew had to get special permits from the Honolulu Police Department to be allowed out and about after dark on Oahu.

Many years of expansion and construction to add on scene and costume shops, installation of lighting and sound systems, handicapped-accessible restrooms, lobby and an upstairs addition for expanded office space followed. In 1990 Honolulu Community Theater became Diamond Head Theater, the name it retains to this day.

The Theater offers six productions a season, including five musicals. So there really is no excuse not to go see a piece of Hawaii history come alive: it’s all there for you at the foot of Diamond Head!

Artistic Director John Rampage tells us the history of the theater

(Apologies for the lousy sound, I need to get a lavalier microphone)

See you in the footlights,

Biz