The Society of Seven Las Vegas, led by Richard Natto, will lend its kokua to the Sacred Hearts Academy Marching Band, directed by Matthew Martin, with performances at 8:30 p.m. Dec. 17-18 at the Main Showroom of the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel. The band is in the midst of a final push to raise $7,500 of the $30,000 it needs to acquire warm marching uniforms for a New Year's Day parade in London, where, brrrrr, insulated garb is a must.

The band, 129 strong, is one of nearly a dozen invited from the U.S. to participate, and is the lone representative from the Islands. The parade will be televised via 500 TV stations on five continents with the potential of reaching 220 million visitors, according to Martin. That doesn't include the half-million who will shiver along the route and embrace the aloha of our local kids.

The Sacred Hearts group also gives a performance Dec. 29 at London's St. Augustine's Cathedral, so they'll share good will and aloha aplenty.

Band members also will perform a couple of tunes with the SOS — first time in my recollection that this is happening in the Waikiki showroom.

HERE'S HOW TO HELP: Make reservations for either show; cost is $35 per person, seating is first come, first served. Call 923-7469 or 922-6408.

The band, plus a retinue of about 100 parents and chaperones, leaves Dec. 26 and returns Jan. 3 — no doubt with beaucoup tales to share. ...

POLITICOS: Reports of Richard Nixon waving Island-style political signs on the roadside over the past two weeks turned out to be Manoa Valley Theatre board members and volunteers touting the theater's "Frost/Nixon" production. That was Jim Myers "campaigning" for the play, dressed as the late president, and other sign wavers included Jon Brekke, Elizabeth Hata-Watanabe, Jackie Smythe, Dick Morris, Barbara Nickerson and Donna Bebber. ...

Bill Ogilvie as Nixon and Ned Van Zandt as David Frost earned rousing standing ovations from the first-nighters, many leaving the theater with a deeper understanding of the disgraced president and, yes, compassion. Ogilvie apparently has dropped the faux nose intended to make him look like Trickie Dickie — but he doesn't need it.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie and wife Nancie Caraway were there; they're friends of director Bree Bumatai and her late husband, Ray. Other politicos included Janis Akuna, ex-MVT president recently elected to the Board of Education, and kumu hula Michael Pili Pang, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Culture & the Arts. ...

Actress Melinda Maltby, who plays multiple roles in "Frost/Nixon," remembers Nixon's 1972 visit to the Islands on a stopover on the way to China, when he stayed at the then-Kahala Hilton. Melinda and sister Becky were wandering through the lobby one day and spotted Nixon checking out; he said hello and shook Becky's hand. The sisters visited a relative there and encountered the maids cleaning the Presidential Suite; they were let in, and jumped the bed. Just a historical note. ...

RANDOM NOTES: Popular pianist Kit Samson resumes his Kahala Resort serenades this month, subbing for David Swanson this Thursday and Friday, and again Nov. 22 and 25. ...

The just-closed Cirque du Soleil "Saltimbanco" show marked a milestone while here: its 400th performance, on Nov. 12, since the tour was launched July 30, 2007. Veuve Cliquot champagne — Cirque founder Guy Laliberte's favorite — was poured for a toast. And yes, it's really true: "Allegria" will be the next Cirque here, agenda to be determined. ...

Nice buzz about an upcoming Kalapana CD. And a double-CD from Pali. Expect a December bow. ...

Garret T. Sato, an actor formerly from Hawai'i, has a role in "Wasteland," which got its first screening last week in Hollywood. Locals Sherry Shaoling and Zero Kazama also appear in this indie, which will hit the film-fest circuit over the next few months. Sato's next project is "Repeat Offenders," with Taimak ("Last Dragon"), set for a March 2009 shoot. ...

Since returning to their New York home, Peter Lockyer and Melanie Tojio Lockyer — who helped shape and mold Diamond Head Theatre's blockbuster "Les Misérables" — have immersed themselves in the Broadway whirlpool. "We are back into the swing of things; we saw 'In the Heights,' 'Tale of Two Cities,' 'White Christmas' and 'South Pacific,' " Melanie wrote in an e-mail. Plus the first preview of the musical "Shrek." Of our Loretta Ables Sayre in "South Pacific," she said: "What a pro! Her heart and spirit shine so brightly." Yep, they've had withdrawal symptoms, too, missing the "Les Miz" cast and crew. ...

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.