Luau at the Lake

I'm getting into this tiki vibe - last weekend I attended the Luau at the Lake, the best excuse I've come across yet to wear Hawaiian shirts and throw a two day long party. While there, I saw several bands and listened to music I don't normally hear. Exotica and surf guitar, vibraphones and ukuleles, you-name-it-I-heard-it. Frankly, it was great. Check out a few of these bands, maybe your hula girl (or fire dancer) will pay you a visit.

The Cocktail Preachers

The 9th Wave

Fisherman

Waitiki 7

The dogs are barking......

The Yalloppin' Hounds were one of my favorite swing bands when I first discovered them. They do blends of classic swing jazz with some occasional hip-hop and rap built in, and catered to swing dancers in New York city (note a previous album, Lindy Hop Deluxe. In addition, here is a grainy you-tube video of them playing at the now destroyed Windows on the World that was at the top of the World Trade Center- link). Just as I was discovering them and looking for concerts to attend, they disappeared........No shows, no albums, and nothing new on the website. I was greatly disappointed and feared the band had dissolved. Unknown to me, the band spent several years working on their newest album, The Great Recession, which seemed to appear out of nowhere a few months ago and the music is tearing up the jazz scene. Both classic and new, traditional and fresh, the music is bold and engrossing and I am listening to this constantly now. Along with the aforementioned Miss Smith to You, I consider this a must-purchase for any bachelor pad, jazz aficionado or dancer.

Band Website
Amazon.com album link

PCU Soundtrack

As the movie Animal House was to colleges of the 50's and early 60's, PCU is to colleges of the 90's. I graduated from college in 1991, and I recognized, all to clearly, all to foibles and fun of my college experience in this movie. The story itself is quite thin, a prospective students visits PCU, a college in the throes of political correctness run amok, and he ends up hanging out with the comic slacker who is hated by the administration for failing to follow along. Of course, this is a great excuse to have a monster party. Who needs anything more in a movie?

The album has some great tunes, but I bought it almost exclusively for the two George Clinton songs that are unavailable anywhere else (that's George Clinton of the Parliament Funkadelic), entitled Stomp and Erotic City. Stomp is the classic party tune, with a great beat and lots of references to hazardous booty. Erotic City is a cover of the Prince song, and it's just as fun and dirty as the original. See the movie, buy the soundtrack, turn it up loud.......

No more waiting, Lavay Smith and her boyfriend, Chris Siebert have finally released their new album, Miss Smith to you! They have been talking about this for the last several years, and it's finally done. The album is a bit of a divergence from their past albums, and is a bit more bluesy. I'm still listening to it so I don't have a review yet, but check it out! They don't do bad music, and you won't be disappointed.


Update 9/12/09 - I now have the album, and I must say it's wonderful. Lavay's voice is distinctive and strong, but she purrs like a kitten when she wants and it's hard not to be entranced. My wife and I saw Lavay and the band play a few weeks ago at Enrico's in San Francisco (they play there almost every Monday night), and it happened to be the birthday of one of their trumpet players, Allen Smith. Allen has played with Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and many of the heavy hitters, and is a true icon. In addition to the normal trio and Lavay (drums, upright bass, piano), they added a saxophone, a trombone, and bongos player as the night went on, and we spent the night watching several swing dancers in their 20's beautifully and skillfully tear up the floor with some 8-count dancing. Buy the album, it deserves a place on your hi-fi.

Lavay Smith Link
Amazon.com album link

Shorts

I'm a big fan of film director Robert Rodriguez, who did the El Mariachi movie series, Planet Terror, and the Spy Kids Trilogy. His movies are straightforward and fun (if a bit gory at times), and I like that he handles his career mostly on his own terms. I especially like that he does both adult thriller and kid-focused movies, and I watch both with equal enthusiasm. He has a new movie coming out soon called SHORTS, which I hope to see, I encourage you to also.

SHORT link

For some real fun, rent his DVDs and watch some of the special features. Different movies have different features, but he includes things like a 10-minute film school and 10-minute cooking school.

In terms of music, I recently downloaded the soundtrack to the movie Oceans 11. My favorite song, 160$ million Chinese Man.

Cheers everyone,

Dan

Forgive me - confession

I know, I know, I'm a bad, bad blogger and haven't kept up with my posts. Well, it's time to get back on track, and I hope to do better next time.

That being said, I have LOTS of ideas for new posts. My goal is to do at least 2 a month, maybe even on a week on average. I'll post when I can, and will do my best to keep up with everything. Now on to the good stuff.

Remember Todd Murray? Who I showcased in a previous post? Well, I just had the opportunity to see him sing. It's a long story, but Todd is from a small town and I'm from a small town close to his, so when he made a pilgrimage home to sing I heard about it and attended. I think most of the town was there. He's a wonderful singer and a charming person, after signing a CD for my daughters they spent the rest of the evening enamored with him and we've been listening to him ever since. Please do check out his website and buy a CD, you won't be disappointed. I own both, but am particularly fond of Stardust and Swing.

Todd Murray

By the way, I DID actually complete the tiki bar. Check it out here and all the rest of the forum while you're at it.

tiki bar
tiki bar build it yourself link

Cheers everyone, more music coming in the future.

Dan

Tiki Day

I have decided that today is Tiki day.

I came to Tiki in an odd way.  Remember when I talked about podcasting?  During my obsession with swing jazz, I went searching for podcasts that played swing and neo-swing, which led me to The Bachelor Pad Radio Show (and Bachelor Pad Magazine) and the Cocktail Nation podcast.  Somehow, this led me to Tiki Magazine.

I recently subscribed to the magazine and ordered a couple of back issues that had articles on Shag (artist Josh Agle) and Tiki Bar TV (discussed in a recent blog post). Shag is incredible, I love his artwork,  which is sexy, stylish, and evocative of a 50's, 60's, and 70's mentality.  I may do a post on him in the future

Check out Tiki Magazine Here,

I'm starting to listen more to "tiki" and exotica music.  It's kid of best described as a cool version of easy listening.  I think it's generally perfect for an afternoon and evening in a beach bungalow with your significant other.  

There are several bands that seem to be favored by tikiphiles.  Remember, this is a new genre I'm experimenting with.  I'm sure there are many other great bands I'm neglecting.  Several names pop up over and over again, and these are two groups that seem to be popular.  I'm particularly fond of the Don Tiki website, where you can play a game called Virgin Sacrifice.

Don Tiki website here

Martini Kings website here

My goal over the next week is to build a tiki bar.  We'll see how it goes.........

Cheers - Dan

Podcast time again

It's time for you to try another podcast. In case you don't know, podcasts are audio files you can download. I listen to several, some on a weekly basis. Many are homemade radio shows or rants of some sort or another, some are audiobooks that are released as serial podcasts. Some are short and some are long, some are worthwhile and many are terrible.

Today's recommendation (definitely not terrible, pretty damn good) is for the Cocktail Nation podcast, broadcast from a penthouse in Sydney, Australia by a gentleman named Koop Kooper. He plays a lot of great retro and lounge tunes, tiki and exotica, spy-jazz and swing, and he seems to have a warm place in his heart for Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack. I listen to his podcast pretty consistently. While I sometimes turn other podcasts off when they start to get boring (there is simply too much available to make it worth listening to something that isn't entertaining), I listen to Koop's all the way through pretty much every week. His taste in music is spot-on in my opinion. His shows really mix it up and he has some great interviews and history that he peppers in as well. Download a few shows and give them a try.

Main site here

Tiki Bar TV

Okay, it's not exactly music. But it's pretty friggin' funny. Check out tiki bar TV here.

LINK!

Trey rules

I love Trey Anastasio. He was great when he played with Phish, and personally, I think he's even better on his own. I'm listening a lot to one of his newer albums with the "Undectet "(an 11-piece supporting band). The album is Original Boardwalk Style, and was recorded live in Atlantic City. Besides being friggin' great music, proceeds support the Seven Below Arts Initiative, a program to support arts education and artistic development in Vermont. So, buy knowing you're not only concerned with your aural sensibilities, you're also helping to support artist residencies at Trey's old recording studio (known as the Barn).

check it out here

Jam On

Loyal Listeners - As you've probably figured out by now, I have an affinity for retro swing, blues, and lounge music. I'll be talking a lot about it in this blog. But it's not all I listen to, and I believe that everyone should listen to as many different musical styles as they can muster.

It's interesting. In college ( which occurred during the dark ages it seems, I'm feeling a mid-life crisis coming on), I listened to rock, rock, and more rock. But I played a lot of jazz. For some reason I didn't want to listen to jazz, but I loved playing it. I think that experience helps me to appreciate jazz more today, to hear the silence between the notes, and to understand how to play something to make it swing. It's an experience I'm grateful for.

But now it's time for something else. Jam band music gets my mind moving. I was never a great improvisational player, so today I am fascinated with live and improvisational music (There is place for a studio recording and a live recording and I believe more and more that they are completely different genres). A band I used to listen a great deal to was Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Silly name, great band. They are primarily a live band and have built their fan base by touring. They have a new album out, that they are giving to listeners for free for a while. You have to sign up at their site, and then you can download it. I just got my copy, but haven't listened yet. I'm looking forward to it. Check it out.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Free Album

Lavay, ohhhhh, Lavay

I love Lavay Smith. I love listening to Lavay, I love looking at Lavay, I love dancing to Lavay. I think she, her boyfriend and bandleader Chris, and her band "The Red Hot Skillet Lickers", all come together and create a unique and spectacularly skilled group that plays some of the best music available today.

This style of swing and blues music is rapidly dying out. When I listen to podcasts or read about the artists, most all discuss having players in their bands who are well into their 80's. They still have their chops, but aren't being replaced with younger players at the pace at which they are passing on to the great gig in the sky.

My hope is that you will give a shot to Lavay, and to the other swing and neo-swing groups I listen to. They play a truly original and American form of music. While the sound will evolve, as all music evolves, I hope it continues to hold its own and continues to attract both players and listeners to keep it alive.

They perform constantly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and regularly show up at other jazz festivals and venues around the world. My wife and kids and I saw them at Enrico's Sidewalk Cafe in North Beach and had a great time.

The following links are for their first 2 albums. Sometimes on ebay you can find a 3rd and relatively unknown album that was only released in Japan. I have it and it's well worth a listen if you can find it. In exciting news, they are working on a new album that will hopefully be released in the relatively near future. Chris assured me in a recent email that the music is in the can but they are finishing up some artwork, so hopefully it won't be too long. I'll let you all know as soon as I hear. While we're all waiting, check out their official website and drop them a line to say hello. Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers


Cheers - Dan

BBVD, Cab Calloway tribute - pre-order contest

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is one of my favorite bands. They were a major force in the neo-swing movement, and in my opinion have the most staying power of any band of that genre or period. They tour relentlessly, and I've attended and danced (swing/lindy hop) at two of their shows, as they often make sure there is a dance floor available.

They have a new album coming out called "How Big Can You Get? A Tribute to Cab Calloway". My wife and I saw them practicing and performing many of the songs when they were on tour last year, and FINALLY the album is completed and being released. Pre-order the album to receive a CD signed by the band, and a chance to win 4 concert tickets! I can't tell exactly how long this promotion is going on, but the contest for the concert tickets ends 3/25/09 and the album will officially be in stores on 4/21/09. I'm placing my order right after this blog entry.

Go see them when they come to your area, and they probably will eventually as they are CONSTANTLY in motion. Their shows are high energy and fun. They tend to hang around after the show to sign autographs and besides being great musicians, seem to be fun and friendly guys -

check out their main site here: lots of video and other cool stuff!: BBVD homepage

Pre-order here: How Big Can You Get?

If you aren't already, you MUST start watching the show "Spectacle", which airs on the Sundance Channel. The show is hosted by Elvis Costello, and on each episode he features one or more artists and discusses their music. Recent artists have included Elton John, Diana Krall, Jakob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, and James Taylor. There are many more. Besides getting the opportunity to listen to best musicians and singers in the world perform the best songs ever written in ways you can't imagine, you get an amazing look into the "lens" of an artist, and the kind of history of music that you can only get by talking to the people who made the history. I think it is absolutely phenomenal.

Check out the main page here: Spectacle

If you don't get the Sundance Channel itself but your cable company offers "HD on Demand", check there. I view the show on-demand from my cable company, anytime I want.

Cheers - Dan

Stardust and Swing

Today's post highlights a new artist you all should know about named Todd Murray. Todd's music is a fabulous combination of swing seasoned with a Broadway style sensibility, and Todd himself has the presence and showmanship of any singer in either genre. Some of his musical selections are standards, some songs he has written himself, but all are well-arranged and produced. Everything I've heard would easily fit in the background of a cocktail party, or hold its own as dance music for the lindy hoppers out there.

My aunt is neighbors with his mother, or some such story, so through a long and winding path I ended up listening to his newest album last week. I am especially enamored of "The Girl from Waco" and "Dream a Little Dream", and Todd conveniently has provided clips of these songs to listen to on his website.

Click on the link to visit Todd's website: Todd Murray Online

mp3 download here:


Cheers - Dan

No man is an island

There are a lot of blogs out there, so many that I've been thinking hard about a metaphor for how to comprehend it. I like thinking of the blogosphere as a big city, like New York. New York City has a little over 20 million people in the greater metropolitan area. But everyone in New York City lives in a neighborhood, a place where people know your name and say hello. A neighborhood is where we go from being anonymous to living in a community.

There are many folks on the internet who make up my my neighborhood, and to whom I owe a debt of thanks. I haven't met a one of them in person, but we communicate off and on by email, and I am grateful for the support and suggestions they have given to a stranger. I owe them all, and will be including them all in posts in the future. Please check out their sites and support their work.

In no particular order, the first I would like to first recognize is Java. Java creates a free podcast called the Bachelor Pad Radio show. On it, he showcases some great music, including vintage lounge, spy jazz, tiki, exotica, and retro-swing. Some of his musical selections are by modern groups, some by folks who bit the dust a long, long time ago. His most current show includes selections by Henry Mancini, the Moon Rays, Don Tiki, and Lenny Dee. I listen to his shows weekly, and Java does not disappoint. His shows last well over an hour and are full of good stuff.

Java's Bachelor Pad Radio show is at this link,

Check out the rest of his empire here, an article of mine will be in the next issue of Bachelor Pad Magazine. Thanks for giving me a shot.

Cheers everyone - more coming soon.

Dan

I've thought long and hard about what to showcase in my first post. I'm listening to some great stuff right now, too much to cover all at once, but finally came to the best possible conclusion. The first batch of music I will cover is the soundtrack to the Pixar/Disney movie, The Incredibles. It's a fabulous movie and contains some stunning music that would be easy to overlook.


The music was written by Michael Giacchino and is evocative of spy movies of the 60's, with jazzy melodies, strong horns, and a full orchestra. The liner notes describe it as, "big, funny, sexy, dangerous, exotic, (and) romantic". Personally, I find it evocative of Henry Mancini and early James Bond flicks.

Also very interesting is how it was recorded. Instead of being recorded digitally, it was recorded on analog equipment, in order to retain the 60's feel of the music and to allow for the full range of the massive brass sound. All the performers were in the same room together, which makes the sound fill the recording and allows the performers to play against and with one another. I watched the DVD extra about the music and score the other day, and it reminded me that it was more than the style that I loved, it was the extra seasoning that comes from a good grouping of excellent musicians (rather than simply tracks that are recorded essentially as solos and are later put together in post-production).

The soundtrack is well worth a listen.

Beyond the music, this is a movie I watch over and over again. I love the way it is character driven, and I love the counterpoint of the superheroes and their family life. This is what I think elevates it from a simple cartoon to something, much, much better. Pull it out of your DVD collection and watch it again. Better yet, watch while listening to the commentaries. Hearing how Brad Bird put it all together is it's own masterclass and it's own reward.

Support Lou Romano's blog, who did much of the concept and design work. (He graciously allowed the image of Mr. Incredible to be used in this blog).

Cheers - Dan

First Post

Welcome friend,

I hope you enjoy my blog. I was a serious band nerd in high school. I listened to Rush, Tower of Power, Sousa, and Holst. In college, I listened to Pearl Jam, the Grateful Dead, and Phish. Today, I love jazz and funk. I think 80's music should all be tossed into a hole and incinerated (with the possible exception of the aforementioned Rush) and I don't find most country or early rap very interesting, but I listen to just about everything else. In this blog, I will be sharing with you what I am listening to at the moment. You'll like some of it, you'll hate some of it. Just LISTEN to it and form your own opinion.

Cheers - Dan