TIKI CULTURE

Goodbye, Etta James

Etta James

On a cold, damp night in the early winter of 1960, an orchestra of 16 men, including a violin section, warmed up for a recording session in a small studio in Chicago, Illinois. They tuned up, and waited for the girl singer to show up…a young, pretty girl who had an R&B hit a few years before but hadn’t turned many heads since. The producer was a little worried that she might not even show up…she had a thing for heroin…but she walked in from the cold on time, and ready to sing.

She didn’t even need a warm-up; she’d already done that in the cab ride over to the studio, damn near breaking the glass in the side windows of the Checker.

She walked up to the mic, cool and professional, adjusted the hight, and smiled at the engineer. “At Last, Take One”, he said softly into his mic, and the bandleader raised his baton to start the orchestra playing a song that had been made a hit almost 20 years earlier by Glenn Miller’s big band, a ballad standard that had been played a million times in the original, ballad way. Until tonight.

The violins came in, and the girl singer closed her eyes as the intro soared. She took a quiet, deep breath, and on cue, she belted out the two words that would make her a star for the rest of her life:

“At Last”

That girl was Etta James, and no one had ever heard that big band ballad sung in such a soulful, lilting way before. With that one song she became one of the pioneers of the modern style of Rhythm and Blues, so much so that a half a century later the most popular singers of the time would do their best to imitate that style.

Today, January 20, 2012, Etta James left this plane for that big orchestra in the sky. She was 73, and considering the fate of many of her contemporaries, she lived a long and pretty damned good life.

Thanks for the music, Etta. You’ll always live on as one of the greats.

-Tiki Chris. (Note: Please don’t take this stylized post as fact. This is just the way I imagine that recording session may have gone. It’s true that “At Last!” was a tune that was originally recorded by Glenn Miller’s orchestra for the movie “”Orchestra Wives” in 1942, and became one of the band’s biggest hits. It’s true that no one ever sung it quite like Etta James, and that she pretty much set the style for vocalists like Beyonce and Mariah to copy. The rest is purely speculation. For more info on Etta James visit www.facebook.com/EttaJames.

Burlesque in South Florida: Morgan La Rue & The Shimmy-Shake Revue at The Monterey Club

Morgan La Rue & The Shimmy-Shake Revue

When you think of South Florida entertainment, things like Hip-Hop, Techno clubs and $30 Martinis usually come to mind. Retro-tastic burlesque shows, on the other hand, are more often linked to Vegas and SoCal.

Not this weekend. Tattooed beauty Morgan La Rue has been shaking the rafters at The Monterey Club on US 1 in Fort Lauderdale for some time now, and the doll and her ladies will be vamping it up again Saturday night.

This Saturday, December 17, Ms. La Rue will bump and grind on the Monterey Stage along with Val Vampyre, Francean Fanny, and Ember Furie (great names for some very hot chicks).  If the show is anything like past acts, it’ll be full of edgy, mod-retro burlesque performances, live music and plenty of punk-rock-a-billie rebels in the audience.

The show starts at 9; Beer and wine are served and there’s usually a BBQ truck in the parking lot. The Monterey Club is a very kool place for kats and kittens who dig the other side of the retro scene…the tattoos, bikes, hard-slammin’ rock and scantily-clad dolls usually associated with the seedy (and fun) underworld of the mid-century era. But if you miss this show, you’ll miss it forever…unfortunately The Monterey Club is scheduled to close just after New Year’s (for economic reasons). So get your kicks before it’s too late, Jack.

Morgan La Rue’s Shimmy-Shake Revue

Saturday, December 17, 2011, 9pm

The Monterey Club, 2608 South Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

954-598-1887

http://www.themontereyclub.net

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the pool hall at Tiki Lounge Talk.

Monsters, Inc. 2001 For Mod Movie Monday

Monsters, Inc. I know this ad/poster is a taken from another movie poster...anyone guess which one?

Just one look at this flick and you know that the creatives at Pixar really did an homage to the old-school Disney films when they put together

Monsters, Inc. 2001

starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly and Mary Gibbs.

I include this flick in the Mod Monday gig because there’s so much in it that screams of vintage while being made with technology way ahead of its time that the movie itself is a sci-fi wonder come true.

The opening credits alone will swing you back to Disney’s “first” golden era, with a clarinet-lead jazz instrumental that’s perfectly paired to a snaky monster and a plethora somewhat confusing and mod-looking doors, reminiscent of the Disney musicals of the 1940s and ’50s.

Then the story opens with a couple of very kool monsters, not particularly scary at all but kind of Muppet-like. They live in an apartment decorated with old-school furniture, one has a jalopy that looks like a ’60s sports car with teeth, they walk down a very 1940s-New York-looking street and report for work in a factory that’s sort of a mix of mid-century modern and minimalist industrial designs.

Doesn't this look like something from a retro-50s sci fi thriller?

The retro/vintage themes rack up from there. James Coburn’s voiceover sounds a lot like the bad guys in the old Hannah-Barbara cartoons from the ’60s and ’70s (or Burgermeister Meisterburger in Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, voiced by Paul Frees). There are retro Disneyland posters on the walls, and a 1960s-style newscaster. There’s even a scene on a tropical beach with a couple of Tiki huts!

The story? Oh, yeah…sometimes I forget to tell you about the story, don’t I. Ok, it’s about a couple of Monsters who work on the scare floor of the corporation who provides electricity for Monstropolis by collecting the screams of human kids and bottling them. The corporation reminded me a lot of Office Depot’s corporate headquarters where I worked briefly at the time this movie was made. The whole thing they do with “I am Monsters, Inc!”…yeah, Office Depot did that with their employees for a training video. Oy.

Uh...yeah. Mid-century Retro-rama, baby!

Anyway, back to the subject…It’s a great flick and the added retro-isms will have kats and kittens like you digging it even more. For a sneak peak (and the numbero uno reason this flick fits the Mod Movie Monday category), check out the two videos below. The first is the opening credits to Monsters, Inc., the second is a clip from Make Mine Music (1947) featuring the Benny Goodman band and visuals by Disney. You’ll see immediately where the designers for Monsters, Inc. got their inspiration. Even the music is similar…not the same, not copied…but inspired. Great job, Pixar. Keep the faith, baby.

Here’s the Intro to Monsters, Inc. 2001

And “After You’ve Gone” from Make Mine Music, 1947

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the Scare Floor at Tiki Lounge Talk. BTW…the bear in this photo look familiar? It should…he’s the original Winnie the Pooh

On the Occasion of Count Bill Basie’s Birthday…

Count Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984)

So on the Occasion of Count Bill Basie’s Birthday, here’s a few videos of the great Count Basie Band.

One O’Clock Jump

April in Paris

I’ve Got You Under My Skin, with Frank Sinatra

And my personal favorite, Corner Pocket, written by the infamous Basie band guitarist Freddy Green, a guy who never played a chord the same way twice. Listen to the execution, the perfect swinging groove these cats laid down back in 1962. The cool and swingin’ solos. The way the sections play together perfectly as to sound like a single, swingin’ horn. This one is also my favorite because I was lucky enough to have played lead tenor and tenor sax solo on this same arrangement in my college big band, 20 years ago. We, of course, were no where near as good as Basie’s band. But it felt good playing his music anyway.

-Chris “Zoot” Pinto swingin’ from the music studio at Tiki Lounge Talk

Dark ’n’ Stormy: Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail, and A Flash of Noir

The Dark 'n' Stormy

This weekend I’m officially announcing the latest tome to my collection of books, A Flash of Noir. To go with it, I needed a noir-style cocktail…and what could be more noir than a classic

Dark and Stormy

Trademarked by Gosling’s in Bermuda, the Dark & Stormy uses Gosling’s Black Seal dark rum and ginger beer. It was invented just after WWI, and was a favorite among American sailors who picked it up in the Caribbean. A strong and simple to make tropical drink, it is certainly at home on any Tiki bar.

•    2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum
•    3 oz ginger beer
•    lime wedge

Pour the dark rum over ice in a highball glass or Tiki mug, then add the ginger beer. Stir lightly with a glass rod and add the lime wedge for garnish. Don’t squeeze the whole lime wedge in…taste it first, and add a little at a time until it’s the way you dig it.

Annnd…fade to black, bring up sepia lights to

A Flash of Noir

Just before you mix your Dark and Stormy, get out your Kindle (or iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC) and go to A Flash of Noir at the Kindle store. There you can download my latest book, A Flash of Noir for only 99¢! By the time you finish mixing the drink, the download will be complete and you can begin to read while you sip.

A Flash of Noir - Kindle version

Yes, only 99¢

…for 30+ short, short stories, flash fiction, beatnik poetry and kool photos, all authored by yours truly, Tiki Chris Pinto (or as I’m known on my author page, Christopher Pinto). It’s jam-packed with kool 60-second reads full of gumshoe detectives, sultry dames, ghosts, murderers, and monsters. There’s even a story made entirely of song titles…see if you can find them all!

From the book’s description: “From smokey bars in New York City to the tropical islands of the Florida keys, A Flash of Noir takes you for a spin through the seediest gin joints and darkest alleys. One minute you’re speeding down I-95 in a hot rod, the next you’re tasting cheap whiskey in a basement tap room where the women are heartless and the men are unforgiving. Gangsters, cops, private eyes, strippers, murderers, phantoms…plus a few comedy pieces to keep you from wanting to slit your wrists.”

A Flash of Noir - Print version coming soon. Cover model is Colleen Pinto.

Why only 99¢? Well, I can tell you it’s worth a lot more, entertainment-wise. But I’m hoping that a lot of you will give it a shot for a buck. If you dig it, I hope you’ll download one of my other books, Murder Behind the Closet Door: The Wildwood Paranormal Mystery or Murder on Tiki Island: A Noir Paranormal Mystery in the Florida Keys…and if you dig those, I hope you’ll tell your friends so they get em too. The idea is to become rich and famous. Ain’t that what most of us want?

I just realized…it’s beginning to thunder and lightning here at the Tiki Bar. Perfect for a Dark & Stormy!

– Tiki Chris reporting from the library at Tiki Lounge Talk, the Blounge for swingin’ retro kats and hip chicks.