INSIDE SCOOP

-- Eron Ben-Yehuda and Angelique Flores

Japanese flutist Masami Nakagawa can captivate an audience in a concert

hall, but he’s not so lucky in the kitchen.

Among the Japanese shows on which he makes guest appearances is a popular

cooking show. However, his wife, Izumi Nakagawa, isn’t sure why they

invite him.

“He doesn’t cook well. I’d never eat his cooking,” she said.

Nakagawa played a concert at the Huntington Beach Central Library on

April 30.

IN NEED OF ELDERING?

At a meeting last week, Huntington Beach Community Services Director Ron

Hagan learned the perils of crossing the Council on Aging.

Hagan argued against using federal money to help pay for senior

transportation for elderly who are too frail to get around. But he

promised Pat Davis, a member of the nonprofit group, that the program

will not be cut.

The director stressed that he is a big supporter of the program,

especially because his mother depends on it.

Although Davis was satisfied with his promise, she couldn’t resist

needling Hagan about his dear old mom.

“We won’t pick her up,” Davis teasingly threatened.

MASSAGING THE LANGUAGE

Be careful about how you touch people.

The Huntington Beach City Council changed the legal definition last week

of “massage technician” to help clarify the term.

A technician is “any person who performs a massage in exchange for

anything of value whatsoever...” Massage technicians are not allowed to

ply their trade in the city without a permit.

Resident Chuck Scheid said he worries that with the new clarification,

the police may barge into people’s homes.

“A husband who is massaging his wife’s shoulders, or whatever, with the

expectation that she might reciprocate and massage his shoulders, or

whatever, is clearly a ‘massage technician,”’ he said.