Keali'i Reichel's career-making "Kawaipunahele" CD has become the first traditional Hawaiian music album to go gold.

Reichel, a kumu hula, chanter and Hawaiiana expert, received the award — which marks record sales exceeding 500,000 copies — at his Friday Kukahi concert at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Castle Theatre. Alaka'i Paleka, KPOA program director, made the presentation on stage.

"We're grateful to the thousands of Hawaiians and Hawai'i music enthusiasts for their love and support," Reichel said in a statement. "As a Hawaiian, I hope that this can serve as an example of what we can achieve when we work hard to bring forward the intelligence and creativity of our kupuna in this modern world."

Jim Linker, whose Punahele Productions produced the 1994 CD and subsequent Reichel CDs, recalled the album's "humble beginning ... a recording done partially in studio and partially in a Maui basement with a budget raised by Keali'i's halau baking and selling shortbread cookies."

— Wayne Harada, Advertiser entertainment writer

NO FEAR OF FLYING FOR RALPH FIENNES

British tabloids the Daily Mail and the Sunday Mirror said actor Ralph Fiennes chatted up an attendant on a flight last month and followed her when she excused herself to go to the bathroom. But salacious rumors to the contrary, she says, no carnal desires were expressed or actually sated.

"Mr. Fiennes became amorous towards me and, after a short period of time, I convinced him to leave the toilet," says Qantas Airlines flight attendant Lisa Robertson. (She is grounded, pending an investigation.) The plane was taking Fiennes from Australia to India for his gig as a UNICEF ambassador to raise awareness about HIV and safe sex.

No comment from his reps.

NEVER DRUNK, ABDUL INSISTS

NEW YORK — Paula Abdul's spacy behavior on "American Idol" has prompted many to ponder if there's a tumbler or two of booze in that red cup on the table in front of her on the Fox talent contest.

That's nonsense, the 44-year-old "Idol" judge tells Us Weekly magazine in its Feb. 16 issue. "I've never been drunk. I have never done recreational drugs," she says. "Just look at my 20-year career. Tell me someone who is into partying or doing drugs that could have done that."

In her five years on "Idol," Abdul — a singer and a movie, TV and stage choreographer — has weathered criticism about her sometimes odd behavior, which has included slurred and garbled speech, and her not-so-subtle gushing over the show's young, male singers.

"There have been 100 million lies about me," says Abdul, who has said she's taken prescription medication for health problems, including inflammatory arthritis. "I'm squeaky clean. I've worked my ass off my entire life. (But) being involved in the show causes people to question everything."