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Lounge Music |
AquaZombie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 461
From: Thrillville
|  Posted: 2003-08-06 11:56 am Permalink
I don't even know who that babe is and I miss her already!
Just thought I'd throw my fez hat into the ring here though I have nothing new to add, really. We're all pretty much on the same wavelength. I LOVE Gleason (and "The Honeymooners" is still one of my all time favorite shows), and I think Lounge music from that era goes smoothly with any exotic cocktail in any tiki bar. Most neo-"tiki" restaurants play Whitney Houston and Boyz 2 Men and Kenny G crap, anyway, so if they throw on some vintage Mel Torme or even Tom Jones instead, though they aren't strictly tiki, I won't bitch. The Conga Lounge in Oakland plays a nice, healthy mix of exotica, surf, pop, lounge and even some rock 'n' roll for your R&R, and along with the tiki-themed film clips on the TV behind the bar, a soothingly nostalgic mood prevails and pervades. Trader Vic's in Emeryville has switched from its "Top 40" adult contempo format to playing more traditional Hawaiian music (I suspect because Otto kicked some ass), which is a welcome improvement. The Tonga Room in SF is of course notorious among hardcore tiki buffs for its charmless, cheesey 80s house band ruining the atmosphere (how hard would it be to get a guy with a ukelele and coupla hula dancers instead - you'd think, along with the faux rain storms, this would seem to be a no-brainer, geez!!).
Anyway, I also prefer collecting lounge on LP (I have hundreds) though I also have hundreds of lounge CD reissues as well. I've always preferred Lounge to Swing since I can't dance, and Lounge is drinking music. (amongst other things....)
Speaking of which, anyone out there ever hear of Bob Thompson? He was a contemporary of Esquivel's whom I interviewed for Atomic and Outre a while back. Anyway, Dionysus is FINALLY reissuing his landmark 1960 LP "The Sounds of Speed" on CD. Tracks from this have appeared on anthologies only, like Rhino's "Bachelor's Guide to the Galaxy" but this is the first Thompson LP to be fully reissued (others, like "Mmmm Nice," have come out in Japan only). Watch for it in the Fall.
Whether a tiki bar plays Yma Sumac of Julie London (my favorite female vocalist), either is fine with me. Lounge and Tiki are spiritually connected. It's when you throw Britney Spears or the soundtrack to "Titanic" in with the mix that everything goes to hell.
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Kailuageoff
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 1504
From: Honolulu Lounge,Lewes, DE
| Posted: 2003-08-06 12:53 pm Permalink
Thanks for the cool info. AquaZombie.
I'm on a major record hunting binge just now and spent about 2 hours going through about 1,000 albums acramed into a bunch of dingy shelves in a nasty thrift store. Of course that's why they only cost 50 cents each, so I'm not complaining. I haven't haunted that stack for awhile, so I came up with intersting stuff.
Today I found one of those 78 record booklets by Harry Owens and the Royal Hawaiian Band. Four of the five discs were inside and appear to be in reasonable shape.
I also came up with a fairly decent copy of Esquivel's "Strings Aflame".
I keep hearing how great this guy is, but I've only heard a snatch or two of his stuff off lounge CD's, so I'm looking forward to hearing this one.
Also, got a Les Baxter album I had not seen or heard before called "Jewels of the Sea"
This has some great titles on it:
Sunken City
Stars in the Sand
Sea Nymph
Singing Sea Shells
Dolphin
Dawn Under the Sea
The Enchanted Sea
The Girl from Nassau
The Ancient Galleon
Coral Castle
Dancing Diamonds
Jewels of the Sea
I also picked up a couple of odd Hawaiian music albums, as well as Martin Denny's Hawaii Goes a Go-Go. My Dad still plays this record and won't let me have it, so I was glad to find a copy.
[ This Message was edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-08-06 12:56 ]
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2025
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2003-08-06 1:22 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2002-10-09 21:26, Futura Girl wrote:
Anybody have any Music by Devol?
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Nothing by Devol, but plenty by Devo - including their ultra-rare self-produced Muzak disc, featuring them doing mukak versions of their own tunes... some with an Exotica feel!
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2025
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2003-08-06 1:35 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2002-10-10 19:17, tikifish wrote:
Yeah, Corey Hart... he blew chunks!
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And guys.
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Kailuageoff
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 1504
From: Honolulu Lounge,Lewes, DE
| Posted: 2003-08-06 1:38 pm Permalink
Does anyone think the dame on the "Miss You" cover looks a little like this gal?
[ This Message was edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-08-06 13:39 ]
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2025
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2003-08-06 1:46 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2003-08-06 13:38, Kailuageoff wrote:
Does anyone think the dame on the "Miss You" cover looks a little like this gal?
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This looks like Tina Louise!
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Kailuageoff
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 1504
From: Honolulu Lounge,Lewes, DE
| Posted: 2003-08-06 1:53 pm Permalink
Damn it James, you're too good. I think they look the same too. Does Tina Louise count as a tiki subject? Hopefully, she does cause I just posted this under the assinine "tiki and religion" thread in the main forum.
[ This Message was edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-08-06 13:54 ]
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tiki410
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 31, 2002
Posts: 156
From: Tonga Isle
| Posted: 2003-08-06 5:55 pm Permalink
Kailuegeoff,
I hope I spelled that correctly. I am in the process of reducing some of my record collection and have two that you might be interested in. (Sorry I have not set it up for me to post pictures but you can find them on Amazon and I do think you would like these).
The first is a Dave Brubeck - Red Hot and Cool shows a swanky red head in a red dress leaning over the piano smiling at the piano player jazz band blurred in the background. It even has the "High Fidelity Recording LP" logo on it.
The second is not from the 50/60's but was photographed that way. It is from an album called Dressed Up To Get Messed Up from Roomful of Blues. The female has a scour (late boyfriend) but has the stockings with the line up the back in a pink room. The only problem is that it is a promo and the corner is cut but should be covered up if framed. Also there is a record player.
Anyway if you are interested let me know. Oh yeah they are vinyl and not CDs.
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AquaZombie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 461
From: Thrillville
| Posted: 2003-08-06 6:10 pm Permalink
Les Baxter is my favorite composer next to Mancini, and I covet his LPs. I recently found (finally) my "holy grail" SPACE ESCAPADES (not one of his best albums, but one of the coolest covers), but that JEWELS OF THE SEA is next on my list - chiefly because it looks like the cover girl is none other than one of my favorite models of all time, Diane Webber.
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Kailuageoff
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 1504
From: Honolulu Lounge,Lewes, DE
| Posted: 2003-08-07 10:27 am Permalink
Tiki410:
Thanks for the offer of the albums, but I'm really specific in what I'm looking for -- it's got to have an actual Hi-Fi or at least Hi-Fi parts, or at least a turntable, plus a young lovely.
(BTW, ,my TC name is a combination of "Kailua" -- where I grew up on Oahu -- and my first name.)
AquaZombie: I'm with you on Les. I am continuously impressed when I listen to his lps. I think what makes his stuff so amazing is that he wrote and conducted this incredibly elaborate and hypnotic music for orchestras, not for five piece combos.
Don't get me wrong, I love Denny and Lyman too, but Baxter really has to get the credit as the true genius behind exotica. I haven't listened to Jewels in The Sea yet, 'cause I'm waiting for just the right moment to experience it. And, that doesn't happen for just any old easy listening lp.
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2025
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2003-08-07 1:11 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2003-08-06 13:53, Kailuageoff wrote:
Does Tina Louise count as a tiki subject? Hopefully, she does cause I just posted this under the assinine "tiki and religion" thread in the main forum.
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Seeing as how she played Ginger on Gilligan's Island, I think we can we can justify a pic of her somewhere on TC!
And AquaZombie: you may be interested to know that Diane Webber also used the pseudonym Marguerite Empey in the 1950's, and during that decade, under that name, was a Playboy centerfold not once, but twice. I guess Hef liked her too!
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thejab
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2987
From: Tradewinds Apartments, Alameda, CA
| Posted: 2003-08-07 1:28 pm Permalink
Another big Diane Webber fan here!
There's an episode of Peter Gunn where he goes to this beatnik's pad and Diane Webber and a couple other hotties are frolicking around enticingly. It's on DVD (and AquaZombie showed it at Thrillville some time ago).
Here's a nice shot of her w/tapa cloth:
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thejab
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2987
From: Tradewinds Apartments, Alameda, CA
| Posted: 2003-08-07 2:26 pm Permalink
I forgot to mention that in the Peter Gunn episode the beatnik is a skin diver that Gunn wants to hire so his pad is filled with nautical bric a brac, the girls are all wearing hawaiian print swim suits, and they are drinking from coconuts! Peter Gunn remains cool and calm even being surrounded by the girls and their coconuts. What a crazy scene!
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 5273
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2003-08-07 4:22 pm Permalink
Aqua: Forget Julie London, April Stevens is the bomb! She is my favorite torch lighter.
Another favorite that's not been mentioned is Henri Rene. White Heat.
These and more are on the Swank Pad broadcast. Click below...
I am working on a monthly or biweekly lounge DJ night here in Knoxville. I just can't decide if want the hassle. I will do it once and see how it goes I guess. Everyone may hate it!
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"Mai-Kai: History & Mystery of the Iconic Tiki Restaurant" the book
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2025
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2003-08-08 08:28 am Permalink
Purely by coincidence I was browsing in a CD store to kill some time on the way to a gig, and I found these three CDs yesterday, all of which relate to this thread:
A Tina Louse disc, 12 tunes, great pic on the cover.
A weird Arthur Lyman CD full of covers of Beatles tunes and stuff like Hang on Sloopy, other 60's pop hits!
A three-disc Jackie Gleason Orchestra greatest hits. 12 songs per disc.
I should have bought them all, they were all cheap (used), but I am broke right now.
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