SEASON'S GREETINGS: It's never too early to plan for Christmas. Designer Nake'u Awai, whose holiday fashion cavalcades always sell out, has tapped "Music of the Sixties: Up! Up! and Away!" as his theme for his Dec. 1 spectacle, a luncheon event set for the Ko'olau Golf Club. Alvin Ing, his longtime pal from their '60s-era time together in the Big Apple, will come home to serenade the lunch bunch; he's starred in "Pacific Overtures," "Flower Drum Song," "City of Angels," "Mame" and "The King and I" over the decades. Starr Kalahiki, lately from " 'Ulalena" on Maui and "Naupaka," the Peter Rockford Espiritu Hawaiian opera, will be aboard, along with Randy Hongo, Puanani Higgins and Jeanne Miyamoto. Songs from The Fifth Dimension and The Beatles will be part of the fashion segment. A marketplace will open at 9 a.m. for early buying and browsing; lunch will be served at 10:15 a.m., with the show set for 11:15 a.m. Tickets are $45 per person (with eight to each table), so reserve early at 841-1221. ...

TRADE WINDS: Jack Johnson, the North Shore resident singer, is prepping "Sleep Through the Attic," for release next February. His acoustic, gentle sound will be supplanted by electric guitar in this CD, recorded at Los Angeles' Solar Powered Plastic Plant. Johnson is supposedly finishing tracks at his home studio, but he's been quoted, "I've been changing it (the room) from the kids' playhouse back into a recording studio." ...

When "The Lion King" opens Saturday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, a pair of locals will be in the company. Charlaine Katsuyoshi, formerly with Ballet Hawaii, Hawaii Ballet Theatre, Big City Productions, Honolulu Dance Theatre and Diamond Head Theatre here, is in the dancing ensemble. Her grandmother's Helena's Hawaiian Food restaurant is where you might have seen her. Another resident, Lynn Camilo, is assistant stage manager; she has family on Kaua'i. ...

John Kolivas and his Honolulu Jazz Quartet will present a fundraising benefit at 7 p.m. today at the Musicians Association on Kapi'olani Boulevard. Tickets are $20. The event— with Jimmy Borges and Keahi Conjugacion chiming in — will support the HJQ's first Mainland tour, Sept. 17-27, with gigs in San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey and Sonoma, with Seattle added last week. ...

HITHER 'N' YON: We had a luncheon chat with Joy Abbott and Davis Gaines at Elua restaurant last week, and learned that Gaines, a celebrated former phantom in "The Phantom of the Opera," previously played Cornelius Hackl in "Hello, Dolly," when Carol Channing staged her signature at Blaisdell Concert Hall in the mid-1980s. He's been back repeatedly to the Islands since, visiting Isle resident Abbott, widow of Broadway legend George Abbott, for whom Gaines previously worked on the Mainland.

Gaines, here for some promotional work, returned home to Los Angeles but will return when he and Abbott co-star in "Broadway Reflections," at 7 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Hawai'i Theatre. Her accompanist will be Betty Loo Taylor; his is Carol Anderson, currently conducting "Wicked" in Los Angeles. The concert is a benefit for the newly organized Hawai'i Performing Arts Foundation, headed by Guy Merola. Tickets: $35 to $125, available at the Hawai'i Theatre box office, 528-0506. ...

Nohelani Cypriano is spearheading a revival of regular entertainment — through her Cypriano Productions — at the Pagoda Hotel and Restaurant starting tomorrow, when La Salle on the second floor of the restaurant becomes a showcase from 8 to 10 p.m. Fridays. Ka'ala Boys kick it off tomorrow, with Jon Osorio and Steve Brown on Sept. 21, Ledward Ka'apana on Sept. 28, Sean Na'auao and Robi Kahakalau on Oct. 5, Augie Rey on Oct. 12, Melveen Leed on Oct. 19 and 'Ike Pono on Oct. 26. A Hawaiian buffet and pupu service will be available. ...

And that's Show Biz. ...

Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.