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.

More than 94% of life on earth is aquatic.

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This is really sad news. One of the last Exotica icons of the 1950s. She experienced several resurrgences of interest in her life and was a truly unique artist. This text is from her homepage.

Nov-2-2008

It is with deep sadness, that we report that Yma Sumac passed away at 11 am on Saturday Nov 1st. It was peaceful. Those closest to her were at her side.

A very, very private funeral will be held at an undisclosed location. Per her and her closest relative’s instructions, she will be interred in Hollywood, where she spent 60 years of her life.

Her last year was spent surrounded by people who loved her and looked after her with the very best care possible. It should be a consolation that she was always surrounded by flowers, your beautiful cards, photos of her glory days, and an extraordinary view of Los Angeles’ west side. Also, her personal assistant’s two little Chihuahua’s, whom she loved dearly.

Although this news is written as “news” we are all devastated here. Indeed, there was plenty of time to prepare, but when that final moment comes, one finds they may not be at all prepared.

Yma Sumac – Official web site – the Inca princess

Some Yma Sumac videos.

CNN on Yma Sumac

Update:
I got it today, but could only read bits here and there so far.
My favorite quote currently is Johnny Bartlett saying:
“See, a lot of surf bands (in recent years) got it so wrong. It’s not just the guitar you use, or the sound you get, or the clothes you wear… it’s the whole package.”

I encourage anyone with an interest in Surf to buy it asap. It’s just epic.

Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom: Brian Chidester, Domenic Priore
This is going to be a must have book – just trust me. If you’ve read previous publications by the authors (like the latest Dumb Angel Magazine for example), you know they get deep into their subjects and have great sense for entertaining writing. They take you right there, with coolest people – connecting all the dots of southern california youth culture of the sixties.

link to Pop Surf Culture on Amazon for your pre-order. I am Amazon affiliated, which just means by using this link for a purchase you get a great book and support this blog at the same, for the same money. Why give it all to Amazon ;–?

just what the headline says.

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This is another one. The modification of olf hi-fis to support modern media-components seems to become popular. And I understand it. They are too beautiful to throw away if you have the space and they sound incredible.

Mister Jalopy artwork on display in Los Angeles gallery Nov. 1 – 18, 2008 – Boing Boing

see Groovy Dance Party in 1963 — with Groovy Fun Music

When I was asked to DJ Exotica music on a boat recently I had to burn some vinyl of mine to CD. So I could see the sound waves and made two screenshots of the perfectly mastered Arthur Lyman album Bahia.

The reason I chose this one was that the loudest and first track I ripped peaked at 0dB without the limiter catching it. I just left the dials to their own devices and hoped I can capture the entire album with this “magic” setting. It was just plain luck. So I ripped this particular vinyl record without any additional limiting or compression, peaking at 0dB and all the music of that album perfectly relative to that peak.

When you see the soundwaves you will recogn that each one has got its own shape. This means that the creativity of the musicians is reflected in the volume at any given point in time, allowing for drama, surprises and expression. Sure there was some kind of processing going on even in those days, but it was to get a good, hi-fi sound at the end-consumer, with the goal being a natural room impression – heavy compression doesn’t allow that. See that one very quiet track – it’s meant to be that way. How they made it? They played their instruments softer. You have to be quiet yourself to clearly hear it, you start interacting with the music.

It all made me realize on a new level, what beautiful works of art music masters can be.

Here are two Heavy Metal soundfiles for comparison. It’s the same track, the upper, more dynamic one was given to a game company, the lower one is from the CD album. Wether this was a mistake or the less dynamic sound was considered more desireable I don’t know.

related posts:
Turn Me Up! | Bringing Dynamics Back To Music
Loudness Wars Explained
Article on Metallica‘s new album at Wired.

Now you can cover your boring Apple iPhones and Motorola Razr V3 cell-phones with wild low-brow Tiki art by MySpace friend Big Toe. If it wouldn’t have been for his bulletin this would ’ve completely passed me by.

Visit Big Toe at Ding Life and MySpace

limited edition of 500!

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