NAME-DROPPING: Singer Helen Reddy — in the company of Sue and Gordon Damon — stopped by Hy's Steak House for dinner recently and invited entertainer Audy Kimura to join them during a break. Reddy, known for signature hits such as "I Am Woman," "Delta Dawn," "You and Me Against the World" and "Angie Baby," told Kimura, the singer-composer of tunes such as "Lovers and Friends," that she's now "happily retired and enjoying life." They exchanged show-biz tales and chuckled about one involving Kimura, who was once asked by a fan to do Reddy's "I Am Woman." He politely declined. ...

Kimura, by the way, has written and produced a new TV commercial, now airing on KITV4, for Joan Simon's Noa Noa shop at Ward Centre. The video, featuring Kimura's music, was shot and edited by Dean Sensui, with shop owners Simon and Paul Melton appearing, along with models Margot Oshiro and Lesli Fujise. If the voice sounds familiar, it's Kathy With a K of KSSK. ...

AROUND TOWN: Harry B. Soria Jr. and Karen Keawehawai'i will co-host the Aloha Festivals' falsetto contest (kane only, by the way) at 7 p.m. Oct. 13 at The Royal Hawaiian hotel's Monarch Room, so should be good fun. Raiatea Helm is a guest performer. ...

Kelvin Ro again is honorary chairman for Kapi'olani Community College's "Ho'okipa 2006," a fundraiser for the culinary arts/hospitality-tourism program at the school, set for Oct. 6 at The Royal Hawaiian's Monarch Room. Tickets are $200 for lanai sitting, $300 for dining room space, with corporate tables also available. A sellout is the norm. ...

Reminder: Tickets to Billy Joel's Dec. 16 concert at Blaisdell Arena go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday at the box office and Ticketmaster locations. Tickets are $65 and $95. ...

HERE 'N' THERE: Director Jim Simpson's "The Guys," a drama by Anne Nelson recounting a fire captain's eulogizing in the days after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, is in a limited-run revival (through Sept. 23) at Simpson's Flea Theatre, a stone's throw away from Ground Zero. Tom Wopat plays the fire captain and Grace Gonglewski the journalist who helps pen the eulogies. Simpson, a Punahou grad, featured his wife, Sigourney Weaver, in the original and subsequent film version. ...

Maui-based publicist Bonnie Friedman and D.K. Kodama's family of restaurants (Sansei, d.k Steak House, Vino and Hiroshi) will part company, effective Sept. 30, after nearly nine years. "Just time for both companies to move forward in different directions," she said. ...

Meanwhile, Friedman's Roselani Ice Cream client served up 1,500 Roselani hula cookies sandwiches (Hawaiian vanilla- bean ice cream, nestled inside chocolate-chip macadamia-nut cookies) at the 15th annual "A Taste of Lahaina," and earned the Judges' Choice Award. ...

Time flies when you're having fun: Chef Russell Siu's Kaka'ako Kitchen restaurant marks its 10th anniversary with an on-site to-do Sept. 20. ...

Mixed martial-arts fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller stopped by Hawai'i's Natural High to pick up a Bob Marley T-shirt to wear into the Blaisdell Arena before his fight with Robbie Lawler. ...

CHIT-CHAT: Chai Chaowasaree's "Dining Out With Chai" cooking show has moved to the 5:30 p.m. slot Sundays on KHON 2, taking over the "Hawai'i's Kitchen" time slot. ...

" 'Ohana Road" host Dale Payson is back from his native Maine. Between painting his mom's house and tending to an old family graveyard, he found time to tape a segment at a local antique auto museum that will air on KITV 4 later this fall. ...

Six-time Olympic speed skater Bonnie Blair spent nine days with family in tow at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, doing poolside pauses along with meals at Imari, Lagoon Grill and Orchid Cafe. She retired in 1995 and devotes time to being a motivational speaker and doing charitable work. ...

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.