Great art, as always!
website
live acts:
Tikiyaki Orchestra – Los Angeles
Martini Kings – Los Angeles
Fisherman – New York City
Haole Kats – Florida
Intoxicators – Florida
exotic activities and special guests:
Jeff “Beachbum” Berry presents Potions of the Caribbean
Sven Kirsten – author of The Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern
Hukilau Games – Beach Volleyball and other activities
Tiki Carving with the Masters – on the Beach!
He directed the biggest bollywood movie of all time: Sholay. Here’s a movie song (composed by R.D. Burman) on YouTube.
From the BBc South Asia website:
Veteran Bollywood film producer GP Sippy has died in the western Indian city of Mumbai at the age of 93.
Mr Sippy was best known as the producer of Bollywood’s biggest ever commercial success, Sholay (Flames).
…darum auf deutsch)
Aus dem Hula News Newsletter:
Das Allerwichtigste vorweg:
Letzter Hula-Tanz-Workshop am kommenden Wochenende.Zweites Advent-Wochenende – 08./09.12.2007
Weihnachts-Hula-Special-Weekend in 78355 Hohenfels-Mindersdorf in unserem neuen Hula-Tanz-Studio “Hale Kalehua” . Wir lernen 2 Hula-Choreografien (Auana- und Kahiko-Style) zu den schönsten,! hawaiianischen Weihnachtsliedern.Euer sehnlichster Wunsch wurde erhört. Nun gibt es das Weihnachts-Special-Hula-Tanz-Event gleich im Doppelpack.
Am 08. und 09. Dezember 2007 habt Ihr Gelegenheit, zwei der schönsten und romantischsten hawaiianischen Weihnachts-Hulas zu erlernen.
Die Songs zu den Choreografien sind:
1. Tag: Hula-Auana-Style: “Kanaka Wai Wai”
2. Tag: Hula-Kahiko-Style: “Little Drummer Boy” (Keiki Kane Ho’okani Pahu) – hier seht Ihr einen Videoclip mit Kalehua, die den “Drummer Boy” tanzt…
Beide Choreografien sind relativ leicht zu erlernen und sind deshalb auch für Hula-Anfänger geeignet.
WICHTIGE BRANDAKTUELLE INFO:
Eine Trainings-DVD als Langzeitgedächtnis zu beiden Liedern kann an den Kurstagen erworben w! erden!Dieses Hula-Wo chenende in besonders feierlicher Stimmung ist auch zugleich der letzten Hula-Workshop im alten Jahr 2007.
A big article and interview on Brian Wilson in the Washington Post.
(through the exotica mailing list)
The Beach Boy’s Hymns to the Dream State of California Belied The Nightmare He Was Living
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 2, 2007; Page M01
LOS ANGELES — Brian Wilson still hears voices.
They stalk him sometimes when he’s on the concert stage, bedeviling him from inside his head. They ridicule and threaten the original Beach Boy, backing him into dark corners that don’t exist. Watch closely, says his wife, Melinda, and you can tell when Wilson’s schizoaffective disorder is having its way. His eyes become distant and glazed. Another auditory hallucination…full article at washingtonpost.com
I don’t have it, but judging by the blurb alone it’s a sure shot.
Various Artists-Paradise Lost & Sound
Here’s what they say at Fleamarket Music:
Flea Market Music recently discovered a treasure trove of Island-inspired songs written in the 1950s and early ’60s by well-known LA studio musicians Ken Darby, Perry Botkin Sr., Mel Henke and others. Many of these tunes (“Legend Of The Rain,” “Hana Maui,” “Leis Of Jazz,” “China Clipper”) were originally recorded by Hawaiian exotica king, Arthur Lyman. Paradise Lost & Found features new recordings of these songs by WAITIKI, a group of extraordinary musicians who have a passion for this kind of jazzy exotic music. Other guest artists include uke sensation Abe Lagrimas, Jr. playing Perry Botkin’s 1950 instrumental “Ukey-Ukulele” and Chris Kamaka (of Kamaka Ukulele and Ho’okena fame) singing the Ken Darby classic “Legend Of The Rain.” Other standout tracks include “Duke Of The Uke” with Four Preps lead singer Bruce Belland. Rounding out the project are a few Jim Beloff songs including “Sunrise At Haleakala,” “The Hawaiian Turnaround” (with music by uke master, Herb Ohta) and “I’m Carrying A Tiki Torch For You” performed by King Kukulele and the Friki Tikis. Ukulele is featured on about half the tracks but it’s all fun. 14 tropical tracks!
Thanks to Tiki King at Tiki Central
Thanks to Tiki Tena on the Surf Guitar 101 forum. Another great version of Miserlou, by the one and only Korla Pandit!
Read more on the keyboard virtuoso at www.korlapandit.com.
You might also check neatocoolvile.
Of course Wikipedia as well.
Saturday september 22nd was all about Tiki. The attendance could have been stronger – bad mana Berlin!
But many Ti-key figures came from different parts of europe. The Klang & Kleid guys (Switzerland‘s Lurker, who organized the complete series of events, what an effort, especially considering the timing problems…), of course Sven Tiki and Tanja & Jochen Hirschfeld were there in person to present their respective Tiki documentations.
I also met Virani (from Paris) and Sian the Beachcomber and Trader Jim (of Pocketiki from England), Carola & my old buddy Andreas, Liz & Chris from Cambridge and even though we live in the same city I hadn’t seen Moritz® in a while, but there he was.
Sven, as usual, had prepared a thoroughly enlightening slide-show on the Tiki Modern subject. He was first to present it in the Eiszeit Kino, not before just about everybody had sampled at least one of the 4 great cocktails supplied by the Aloha Luau. The Jungle Bird was a great new discovery for me. And the new book was on display (and for sale) to the enthusiasts. Everybody who bought one had it signed by Sven – they now have quite a heavyweight coffeetable load, considering this new book Tiki Modern has more and bigger pages, and more great pictures than the already huge Book of Tiki! The layout looks cleaner than in the Book of Tiki – which goes very nicely together with the modern subject.
Intermission allowed for another taste from Aloha Luau’s menu and then it was Jochen’s turn. He held a short speech explaining the pre-history of the Armchair Travelling project and the DVD started rolling in the darkened cinema. As I was involved with creating 8 tracks for the DVD’s soundtrack I had seen parts before and Jochen had told about his travels and who he had talked to in the course of making the film. But seeing the first part (about the 30s – 60s origins and beginnings of Tiki pop-culture) condensed into only 60 minutes, the giant afford that was done was at hand. It is something else. There were hours and hours of material edited into what we were presented here, in a great way. But you have to bear in mind that the two DVDs are going to be a hundred minutes each! I was under the impression that just about everybody who could say something profound on Tiki was contacted and interviewed. Of course speaking of the most interesting subjects, giving the most exciting details. So there’s interviews, but also old, private super-8 footage! Gathered classic urban archeaologist style at fleamarkets and garagesales. Another great ingredient were the animated stills. If you have seen Riding Giantsor Dogtown and Z-Boys you know what I mean. A new way of using still photographs in film to draw you into the subject – very effective! If you don’t know about it, it’s not apparent to you it’s stills often times. Just like in the other two docs I mentioned, combined with the right music it’s a great mood- and details-asset to a project like that.
Afterwards played Hulapunk from Hamburg, and a great time was had by all.
But Aloha Luau, in true spirit, had people last minute finishing his new, cute little mini Tiki bar in Oranienstr. while he was serving drinks at the cinema. So most everybody went to check that out, after Hulapunk were finished and the first chatting about the new enlightments was done. I had a Mai-tai (bit too sour) and another, fantastic Jungle Bird.
DVD of Tiki & Tiki Modern Release Party Berlin
Tiki Pflichtveranstaltung:
Sven Kirsten ist in der Stadt!
Er stellt sein neues Buch (nach Book Of Tiki)
Tiki Modern vor.
Außerdem, auch ganz wichtig:
Armchair Traveling stellt die DVD of Tiki vor!
Also am 22.9. sehen wir uns im Eiszeit Kino.
This is the event for the release of the DVD that I recorded those
Nancy Sinatra put some photos of her and the late Lee Hazlewood online. Click here.
Thanks to Robbie on the Exotica Mailing List.
Thanks to Lou Smith on The Exotica Mailing List
NPR – Weekend Edition Sunday, July 29, 2007
Lyle Ritz has logged over 5,000 sessions on the bass as a studio musician. But for his latest project, he wanted to figure out a way to make music on a computer. So Ritz bought an Apple laptop and a software program called GarageBand, designed for making home recordings. Six months later, he completed work on a new solo album.
‘Hardly anybody knew how to operate GarageBand, how to deal with it,’ Ritz says. ‘So I had to fool with it a couple of months.’
On No Frills, however, Ritz entered the bass line into the computer using a synthesizer. That’s because the album features Lyle Ritz’s other musical passion: the jazz ukulele.
Ritz is known as the ‘father of jazz ukulele’ for merging the genre with the four-stringed instrument, and his credits on bass include multiple pop hit singles. However, it was in college, while he was working at a Los Angeles music store, when Ritz first picked up either instrument.
‘This was in the 50s, when Arthur Godfrey, the entertainer, who liked to play the [ukulele], popularized the instrument, and so many people just had to have ukes,’ Ritz says. ‘And one day I picked it up, somebody wanted to see this beautiful, nice, big tenor uke, and I picked it up and played a few chords on it, and I was gone.’
After a stint with a U.S. Army Band during the Korean War—in which Ritz played tuba—he dropped by the music store and played a few tunes on the ukulele for his former boss. Ritz didn’t know that jazz guitarist Barney Kessel, the West Coast representative for Verve Records, was present.
‘I just about fell through the floor,’ Ritz says. ‘I couldn’t believe that I had actually played before this man.’
Kessel offered Ritz a record deal, and in 1957—50 years ago—Ritz recorded an LP called How About Uke?, the first album for jazz ukulele.
How About Uke and its follow-up 50th State Jazz generated little interest, however, and Ritz soon abandoned the ukulele for the bass. It was at that point when Ritz joined the ‘Wrecking Crew,’ the legendary group of studio musicians who played on many of the pop hits which came out of the Los Angeles area from the mid 1960s to the early 80s. Later, Ritz also played on film scores.
While Lyle Ritz’s bass was heard by millions, his jazz records for Verve were being studied by a generation of musicians in Hawaii, home of the ukulele.
Roy Sakuma is Hawaii’s foremost teacher of the instrument. ‘All of a sudden here comes Lyle with all these fantastic chord harmonies that just took music to a whole new level on the ukulele,’ Sakuma says. Sakuma tracked Ritz down in 1984, inviting him to headline his annual ukulele festival in Hawaii. Ritz ended up moving to the islands for some time.
Ritz currently lives in Portland, Ore., where he continues to experiment with music and new recording technology. He says he’s always fooling with his ukulele—after all, he did teach himself to play the instrument.
‘I’m a firm believer and exponent of the art of noodling,’ Ritz says. ‘You don’t necessarily have to have a goal in mind, you don’t have to have a specific phrase or song that you’re working on, but you just fool with it and things happen. And I call the result the fruit of the noodle.’
Lyle Ritz on iTunes