1. Koo Mei – Movie MV
2. Jungle Book Opening
3. Arthur Lyman Clip
4. Arthur Lyman at the Makai Bar
5. Connie Francis – Misirlou (1965)
6. Debra Paget: Beauty and Glory in the South Pacific
7. Afro Mood
8. Desi Arnaz – Similau
9. Desi Arnaz – Tabu
10. Efialths (voodoo dance)
11. Hoton me aisi baat- Jewel Thief
12. Karle pyar karle
13. Korla Pandit
14. Leon Berry – Beast in the Basement
15. Criborn plays Polynesian Village disc
16. Ethel Smith Live The Breeze and I
17. Three Caballeros – Baía
18. Mambo Brazilero
19. 1954 (Mambo)
20. Josephine Siao movie 1/4-dance
21. clip 5/5
22. not in current char set
23. Thelonious Moog – Take 5, 6 &7 The Long Version!
24. Ukulele – After the Fox
25. Ukulele & Melodica – Tequila
26. The Raymond Scott Quintette – War Dance For Wooden Indians
27. Soy Cuba clip: floorshow
28. Setsuo Ohashi – Ebb Tide
29. Santo & Johnny- Moonlight Serenade
30. Stranger in Paradise – Violin Solo in stereo
31. Keroncong
32. Raquel Welch: Space-Girl Dance
33. Exotica in Space
34. Pagan Love Song
35. Reg Kehoe and his Marimba Queens
36. The Lawrence Welk Show: Hindustan
37. 196x
38. (not in current char set)
39. Misora Hibari in Shichihenge Tanukigoten (clip 2)
40. Nat King Cole – Caravan
41. Miserlou: an Egyptian girl conquers America, Greek Song Music
42. Martin Denny – Quiet Village (from Hawaii Calls)
43. Les Baxter Music of the 60’s
44. Les Baxter – Tahiti A Summer Night At Sea
45. The Tikiyaki Orchestra – Exotique
46. Movie MV
47. GeLan / Grace Chang
48. 1950s Dancing Hillbilly Boys – Vintage 8mm Home Movie
49. Blue Bossa vibes solo
50. KTown Heroes ft. Jake Shimabukuro – Bodysurfing (cover)
    
51. Ernie Kovacs Nairobi Trio (original music)

Waitiki live in Berlin, 2008

Check out the videos Waitiki put up on the web. Some from this summer’s Wassermusik, which took place in Berlin. I was there, and it was very special and otherwordly and beautiful.
The following is quoting professahhummingflowah / Randy from the opening post in a Waitiki video thread on Tiki Central.

As you may know, this summer Waitiki launched a new project that has been christened The Waitiki All-Star Exotica Septet. In other words, a 7 member ensemble dedicated to the preservation and performance of classic and modern exotica.

The group is comprised of: Abe Lagrimas & Randy Wong (Waitiki co-founders; drums and bass, respectively), Tim Mayer (‘The Mayor of Exotica’ – sax/flutes), Jim Benoit (Berklee vibraphone wunderkind, of the Phil WIlson Rainbow Big Band), Helen Liu (dazzling violinist, a.k.a. “Ms. Helenini”), Zaccai Curtis (Latin jazz pianist with Paquito D’Rivera, Christian Scott, Wallace Roney), and Lopaka Colon (percussion and birdcalls; son of original Martin Denny percussionist and birdcaller, Augie Colon).

For your listening & viewing pleasure, here are some selected videos from our two recent performances—The Wassermusik Festival (Berlin, Germany) and the Retro Cocktail Hour’s 500th Broadcast Anniversary (Lawrence, Kansas). We will be mixing and mastering audio from the Retro Cocktail Hour show, as well as recent studio and other live performances, for an upcoming commercial release. Stay tuned.

In the meantime:

From our European debut – videography by Jochen Hirschfield of Armchair Travelling and ‘The DVD of Tiki’

Coronation, shot in Berlin. Featuring Lopaka Colon (son of original Martin Denny percussionist, Augie Colon), bongos & birdcalls.

Primativa, shot in Berlin. Featuring Tim Mayer (Waitiki’s Mayor of Exotica), saxophone.

Tiki, shot in Berlin. Featuring TIm Mayer (sax) and Zaccai Curtis (piano).

From our American debut

Sweet Pikake Serenade, shot in Lawrence. A composition by Randy Wong, in the style of Arthur Lyman’s great exotica ballads. Featuring Lopaka Colon (birdcalls/percussion), Jim Benoit (vibraphone), and Zaccai Curtis (piano).

Left Arm of Buddha, shot in Lawrence. Arrangement by Tim Mayer, of Martin Denny’s classic. Featuring Tim on alto flute and Jim Benoit.

L’Ours Chinois (‘The Chinese Bear’), shot in Lawrence. A composition by Randy Wong, in the style of Fritz Kreisler, Martin Denny, and Maurice Ravel. Featuring Helen Liu (Ms. Helenini) as violin soloist.

Firecrackers, shot in Lawrence; the encore to our show. Arrangement by Abe Lagrimas Jr. and Jim Benoit. Features Abe on drums and Jim on vibes.

Hope you like the videos. Sorry that some of the audio isn’t completely synced to the video; I’m still learning how to use Final Cut Express!! Let us know what you think of the group!!

– Randy & The Waitiki All-Star Exotica Septet

Tiki Central Forums – Topic: The Waitiki All-Star Exotica Septet: videos from our European and American debuts.

see Martin Denny Quiet Village from Hawaii Calls

Darrell Brogdon writes:

To celebrate the 500th broadcast of The Retro Cocktail Hour, Kansas Public Radio presents Waitiki, the Boston-based tiki-tainment band, in concert at Lawrence’s Liberty Hall.

It’ll be an exotic, once-in-a-lifetime South Pacific sound adventure like no other, featuring classic music by Martin Denny, Les Baxter, Robert Drasnin, Augie Colon, Gene Rains and others, plus original tunes by the band. Besides the unforgettable music, there’ll be a full service Tiki bar and a dance floor, so come early and party all night!

go to the Retro Cocktail Hour website here

This is going to be fun!

Monday night, April 14th, 7 – 10 pm PST:
Come celebrate Martin Denny’s 98th birthday on Strike’s Kitsch Niche! Strike will celebrate the Earl of Exotica with a 3-hour exotica special! Tune in to hear his attempt to play a track off of every Martin Denny record, do an extended Quiet Village cover set, play some rare Tiki Room stuff, and play one of the rarest exotica records in existence…a vocal version of Quiet Village sung by Darla Hood of Our Gang fame!! Don’t miss this alluring and enticing night of beautiful and strange music this Monday from 7 – 10 pm PST, only on LuxuriaMusic!

From the LuxuriaMusic newsletter.

I knew about this big back-catalogue re-issue being planned before, but I somehow never could view the web-page until now.

Arthur Lyman died a couple of years ago, and it was a great loss to the people into Exotica and Tiki as he was still performing. He used to play with Martin Denny before he ventured out with his own group. Both artists released similar styled albums, but Lyman kept more Hawai’i in his music as the sixties went on, being hawaiian might be a reason. He had some of the deepest, most atmospheric and soulful Exotica recordings, combining authentic ethnic instrumentation with modern jazz. Another interesting point of note are humorous tunes he often selected to appear towards the end of his LPs. He may not have had a Sandy Warner on the covers, but many are very beautiful, classic Exotica designs. Taboo 2 had an authentic shrunken head on the front, until it was repackaged with a shot from the Pele roll of film.

Kevin Crossman writes on the Exotica list:

Collectors has released 18 Lyman albums in their entirety as 9 two-fer CDs.
…
Don’t be fooled by lame, generic cover art. each release has the cover of both LPs printed in full color. All you have to do is take the front booklet out and fold it backwards to show the cool orig Lp cover art! The CD also contains a reprint of one of the Lp back covers
…
Look for the double titles separated by a slash. Steer clear of the Greatest Hits package – it is not bad but I’m sure you would rather have the full experience of a Lyman lp in its original format
…

go to Collectors’ Choice Music

Jeff Chenault on the Exotica Mailing List writes about his upcoming appearance at this year’s Tiki Oasis. Quote:

Aloha Exoticats,

It hasn’t been formally announced yet but I will be presenting a seminar on Exotica Music at the Tiki Oasis event in San Diego this year. The dates are August 14th-17th 2008. More info can be found at www.tikioasis.com

Below is a brief description of my presentation…….

Jeff Chenault presents Sounds for Sophisticated Savages

Exotica researcher Jeff Chenault has become a well-known figure in the Exotica world. His extensive research comes from a lifetime love affair with music and his consummate passion for unusual sounds. For the past two years he has presented his Exotica seminars to enthusiastic crowds at the Hukilau event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His ultimate goal is to share, educate and enlighten people with this extraordinary and fascinating form of music.

This year Jeff will present an ever-expanding version of his music seminar. The show will include an introductory overview of Exotica pioneers Martin Denny, Les Baxter and Arthur Lyman, and also chronicle more obscure artists such as Eden Ahbez and Jimmy Namaro. As an added bonus Jeff will highlight the career of Hollywood film composer Robert Drasnin. Bob’s quintessential first album Voodoo is considered by many to be a masterpiece of the genre. Bob will also be making a special guest appearance.

Join us for an entertaining and educational journey into the world of Exotica.

Cheers and Mahalo,

Jeff

I would go and have a good listen!!

This is a re really good online radio show with usually two hours of big band, lounge and exotica music, mostly old but some really good new stuff thrown in during the second hour. The Retro Cocktail Hour has been going for years and years and Darrell Brogdon keeps the quality level nailed on a high level – he’s deep into this, obviously.

Quote from his homepage:

the likable, eager-to-please instrumental pop of the 1950s and ’60s is back! Sparked by CD reissues from such major labels as RCA and Capitol Records, the lounge music craze encompasses a diverse array of music – the Polynesian sway of Les Baxter and Martin Denny, the eccentric pop confections of Juan Garcia Esquivel, the mambo madness of Perez Prado, “private eye jazz” from TV’s 77 Sunset Strip and Peter Gunn and the cartoon-like caperings of Raymond Scott, among others.

Kansas Public Radio’s Retro Cocktail Hour (Saturdays at 7:00 pm) is our weekly nod to the Space Age Pop revival. Here you’ll find vintage recordings from the dawn of the Hi-Fi Era – imaginative, light-hearted (and sometimes light-headed) pop stylings designed to underscore everything from the backyard barbecue to the high-tech bachelor pad. Darrell Brogdon serves up two hours of incredibly strange music on Kansas Public Radio, so grab a cocktail shaker and join us for The Retro Cocktail Hour.

Here..s what Domenic Priore wrote about the new Luxuriamusic shows:

Friday: Dom, Kari and Becky 3-9 pm on Luxuriamusic.com

hey there all youse MySpace pals…

Domenic Priore reporting here; I shoulda told you sooner, but I’ve just started a radio DJ gig on Friday afternoons, between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time… that means my New York friends can tune in at 6:00 p.m…. as for England etc., it starts at something like 10 or 11 p.m. (In Hawaii, it’s on at noon)

This can be heard here, every Friday: Luxuriamusic.com

My show is called Volcanic Action, and the music is primarily Exotica and Surf… whatever works in that context, including West Coast Jazz, Bossa Nova, Hawaiian, Surf instrumentals and Surf movie soundtracks, ’60s Beach Boys/Jan & Dean-type things (Gals made those kinda records too!), Indo-Rock, records from Australia and South Africa, ethereal Joe Meek, Arthur Lyman, Martin Denny… lotsa groovy stuff to dance to, to relax with, and to take you far out into the oceanic stratoshpere. Remember what Lloyd Bridges said on Sea Hunt; “75% of the world is covered in water, so learn to live with it, and enjoy its many riches”

K.A.O.S. a Go Go with Agent Kari follows at 5 p.m. PST with Psychedelic Go Go music, deep and rich. To find out more about who Agent Kari is, see pages 200-205 of PAD (Chronicle Books)

The evening gets really gone, to happy-land, with Bubblegum & Other Delights from 7-9 PST. DJ Becky Ebenkamp (also known as Penelope Pitstop, New York Becky and more) gets down with the whole Joey Levine/Kastenez-Katz/Archies vibe… it’s better’n a thrilling game of chutes and ladders. (You can read tons of Becky’s work in the Kim Coper/David Smay book Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth, from Feral House).

Please be with us; we’re here every Friday, your mutual friends of Dumb Angel, spinnin’ on Luxuriamusic.com

Domenic Priore

Fridays on Luxuriamusic.com
3-5 pm Volcanic Action hosted by Domenic Priore

Pop historian Domenic Priore (of Dumb Angel Magazine) has got a new weekly show on my favorite radiostation, Luxuriamusic.com.

Each saturday 0:00 cet, 3:00 pm pst.

Now, this is the show if you have any interest in Surf music. In his first show last friday he played the direct LA roots of Surf, where it went and some mega-rare tracks from the 61-64 heyday, you wont hear anywhere else. Together with the other styles he spins it makes for very entertaining and interesting four hours.