Nancy Sinatra put some photos of her and the late Lee Hazlewood online. Click here.

Thanks to Robbie on the Exotica Mailing List.

Sunday, August 19, 2007 – 1:00 p.m.
Typographical Transcendence: Tales from the Griffin Vault

Carl Rohrs, artist and instructor at Cabrillo College, discusses Griffin’s unique contribution to graphic design featuring rarely seen works by the artist.

I read it here, at the blog of the San Onofre Surfing Club. His name was Les Williams. I never knew who was the surfer on the Beach Boys Surfin’ USA album cover, but it’s a great shot with style on a considerably sized wave. A big wave. The album is among my favorite Beach Boys albums, and even pure instrumental Surf fans should know it.

Dumb Angel Blog is delivering the goods here. The next best thing to being there at the time is knowing all the good stuff.
All the themed night-clubs. The recording studios and labels. The Doo-Wop groups, the R&B and soul acts. The garage bands who covered them. The cool jazz-acts. Early Doors, artists and mindblowing interior design. Pheww… You owe it to yourself to check out this update of the Dumb Angel Blog.

Friday, July 6 – 7:30 PM
Hawaii, 1966, MGM Repertory, 161 min.
Director George Roy Hill’s (Throughly Modern Millie) adaptation of James Michener’s sprawling South Seas epic was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography (Russell Harlan) and Best Music Score (Elmer Bernstein). Max Von Sydow is the puritanical missionary who marries disappointed-in-love Julie Andrews just before they set sail to do the Lord’s work in the early 19th century island paradise. But they get more than they bargained for, squeezed between an onslaught of natural disasters and strange native customs. Their Calvinist devotion to a fire-and-brimstone worldview clashes head-on with the uninhibited, Dionysian headiness of the tropical lifestyle. With Richard Harris as Andrews’ former flame, Gene Hackman, Carroll O’Conner, Jocelyne LaGarde (who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress).

Saturday, July 7 – 4:00 PM
Rare Tiki Island-Themed TV
Approx. 60 min. Artist Kevin Kidney hosts an entertaining hour of vintage tiki-themed television from the early 1960s – including some special surprises! *Tickets available to this program at the door only UNLESS purchased with the Luau Dinner ($20).

Saturday, July 7 – 5:00 PM
Luau Dinner
Following the 4 PM program, join us in the Egyptian Courtyard at 5 PM for a Royal Southern California-style Luau with live music from King Kukelele and his Friki Tikis, the Polynesian Paradise Dancers, vendors and a bountiful island-themed dinner.

On Saturday, July 7th, you have three special ticket price options:
Movies Only (valid for all movies on Saturday only):
General: $12; Senior/Student: $10; Cinematheque Member: $9

Luau Dinner Only: $20 (includes film admission for 4 PM show and dinner.)

All Movies (4 PM and 7:30 PM Movies), plus the Luau Dinner:
General: $27; Senior/Student: $25; Cinematheque Member: $24

*A limited number of dinners will be sold at the door. To guarantee a dinner ticket please purchase in advance.

Vendors in the Courtyard may include: Tiki Tony, Adrift Clothing, Crazy Al’s Bone Productions, “Dumb Angel” Magazine authors Dominic Priore and Brian Chidister, Tiki Diablo, Falling Cocos, Coconut Kids Clothing, Tiki Farm, the American Cinematheque selling poster and others…

Saturday, July 7 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
The Sophisticated Misfit, 2007, Smee Entertainment, 65 min.
Mark Chervinsky directed this four-year exploration of the world of Shag, the unlikeliest of Los Angeles artistic icons. Shag’s work doesn’t reflect the multicultural urban milieu of contemporary Los Angeles but rather an entirely different era. Think post-WWII boom years, suburban tracts sprawling across the landscape, Disneyland opening its doors and designers embracing the space-age motifs of Sputnik and the mission to the moon. Shag’s world is one of early 1960’s furniture, cocktail hours, sprawling ranch houses, built-in wet bars, and jet-set style. He embraces a simpler time. But his artwork is filled with subtle, humorous winks of the eye acknowledging that this period wasn’t quite so simple. The smiling women in their mod dresses hold secrets. The festive party scene in the go-go ’60’s home isn’t really what it seems. With Whoopi Goldberg, Patton Oswalt, Paul Frank and Shag. Winner of the Maverick Filmmaker Award at the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival.

His Majesty O’Keefe, 1954, Warner Bros., 91 min.
Director Byron Haskin (THE NAKED JUNGLE; the original WAR OF THE WORLDS) brings a bracing exuberance to this tall tale of stranded-in-Micronesia sea captain Burt Lancaster’s quest to manipulate his native hosts into helping him build a trading empire. Joan Rice is the enchanting island girl who ends up being queen to his king. The spectacular Fiji Islands locations were stunningly photographed by the great cinematographer Otto Heller (THE CRIMSON PIRATE). Co-starring Andre Morell, Abraham Sofaer, Benson Fong. “…This swashbuckling South Seas adventure feature is ideally suited to Burt Lancaster’s muscular heroics. The Fiji Islands location lensing is a plus…” — Variety Discussion in between films with Shag and director Mark Chervinsky.

Sunday, July 8 – 7:30 PM
Miss Sadie Thompson, 1953, Sony Repertory, 91 min. Dir. Curtis Bernhardt (Possessed).
After having to leave Hawaii when her Honolulu singing job goes kaput, hard-luck dame Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth) is stranded on the isle of Samoa which is home to a U.S. Army base. She’s befriended by well-meaning, lovable GI hunk Aldo Ray as well as his soldier pals (including a young Charles Bronson). But dirty-minded lay minister and self-righteous gadabout Jose Ferrer, laying over with his wife on a trip, believes she is nothing more than a common prostitute and is offended by her presence. He takes it upon himself to make Sadie’s life a living hell until he can get her deported back to the States. Although Rita’s singing voice was dubbed by Jo Ann Greer, you would never know it during the musical numbers – she is positively dynamite performing “Hear No Evil,” “The Heat Is On,” and “Blue Pacific Blues.” Originally shot in 3-D, this is a terrific color remake of W. Somerset Maugham’s classic tale Miss Thompson, first filmed in 1932 as RAIN by director Lewis Milestone with Joan Crawford.

Check out this disturbing street skating video.

One of my all-time favorite albums, re-released by Sundazed.

Quoting from their MySpace profile:

Surf Soundtracks 1964 – 1974 Released on July 2nd on Harmless Records

Never mind the Beach Boys, Chairman Of The Board is a collection of vintage soundtracks from iconic cult surf films. Underground film makers wanted original music, a harder sound to reflect the new wilder cinematic expression now possible on the face of a wave. The soundtrack they chose to enhance this visual experimentation was the mellower stoner blues and psychedelic rock, which perfectly captured the cerebral highs of living the alternative dream. The music featured on this compilation, some of which has never been released, originates from six of these classic surf films.

I have some of the films on VHS or DVD, and some of the released soundtracks on vinyl. It’s a really great genre with a very high musical standard. And it’s something you can play to people if they ask you what music surfers listened to, in the 60s (and early 70s in this case).

Ingfried Hoffmann – Plays Jazz for Secret Agents

Fantastic organ led spy-jazz cd. Mostly Bond titles from the early movies, but some great originals too. A nifty guitar player is involved here as well!!!

iTunes link

Tiki Talk made me aware of this rare bird from Gretsch a while ago. The guitar is based on the very rare Gretsch White Penguin, which is like a small bodied White Falcon. You can see one like this in the Beat Club appearance by the Small Faces, or here.

Update by baxter from the Gretschpages:

Couple of notes on the Easton White Tiki:

Vintage White Penguins are excruciatingly rare. A real Holy Grail guitar. Few people have ever even seen one. However, they have been reissued, and modern ones aren’t particularly difficult to come by.

The White Tiki itself doesn’t share much with the penguin beyond the white paint, although it was undeniably inspired by it. It’s actually much closer to standard signature model (6128EE, in Gretsch model numbers) only with the white finish and tiki trappings that Elliot’s a big fan of.

Response to the guitar was overwhelmingly positive, () but for whatever reason Elliot and Gretsch parted ways and that was the end of that. As far as I know, only the one prototype was made.

If I hunt, I maybe able to find the revised headstock treatment I created for it.

I like the smooth, active style on a small but very nice wave.

Check it here.