short waikiki documentary made by me! - General Tiki

B BC-Da-Da Member Joined: Aug 14, 2002 Posts: 161	B BC-Da-Da Posted posted on Fri, May 30, 2008 10:21 AM Hi Everyone, Thanks for the great posts. A little more information from me. I started working on the Waikiki Beachboys project around 1999, when I first heard about these guys. At the time, it was just a small obsession. A few people had albums with the "Beachboy" moniker, and the one that was most alluring was the Waltah Clarke 1963 Beachboy Party with Duke Kahanamoku. From there, the research grew. I went to Waikiki in 2000 and 2004 for extended periods, and shot interviews with the likes of Rabbit Kekai, Gabby Makalena, Harry Robello, Zulu, Captain Clay Goherr, Squeeze Kamana and any other living beachboy I could find. I would love to talk to any beachboys still living, from the '20s through the '60s. I have a forthcoming book titled "Pop Surf Culture: Design, Fashion, Film and Music from the Bohemian Surf Era," which will feature two chapters on the Waikiki Beachboys. The first chronicles their ascent to popularity during the Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age. The second one comes later in the book, and is titled "kalakaua Avenue." That chapter covers the second generation of Beachboys, who were mentored by the old-timers during the '50s and early '60s. Guys like Moe Keale, Zulu, Kalakaua Aylett, Harry Sonoda, Don Ho, Kui Lee and Sam Kapu. In my mind, the beachboy isn't just someone who teahes surfing or gives outrigger canoe rides, but is also an entertainer on the beach and in the nightclubs. Their acts and recordings are reflective of a life spent being loose and cool on the beach, as though they were scooped up with a forklift and dropped down in a studio -- sand, bare feet and all. If that type of beachboy musicality exists today, it is surely underground. Mainstream Hawaiian music is so slick, it sounds like Contemporary Christian Music, most of the time. The state of the film is such that the research has been done on the photos and footage, as well as 95 songs by the various Waikiki Beachboys, from the early 1920s to the late '60s. I also have the interviews that I shot on 16mm. It's a matter of funding, like anything else. Hopefully work can continue on the project, after this book comes out. Thanks again, everyone! So glad you enjoyed it. I knew this board would.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the great posts.

A little more information from me. I started working on the Waikiki Beachboys project around 1999, when I first heard about these guys. At the time, it was just a small obsession. A few people had albums with the "Beachboy" moniker, and the one that was most alluring was the Waltah Clarke 1963 Beachboy Party with Duke Kahanamoku. From there, the research grew.

I went to Waikiki in 2000 and 2004 for extended periods, and shot interviews with the likes of Rabbit Kekai, Gabby Makalena, Harry Robello, Zulu, Captain Clay Goherr, Squeeze Kamana and any other living beachboy I could find. I would love to talk to any beachboys still living, from the '20s through the '60s.

I have a forthcoming book titled "Pop Surf Culture: Design, Fashion, Film and Music from the Bohemian Surf Era," which will feature two chapters on the Waikiki Beachboys. The first chronicles their ascent to popularity during the Roaring Twenties and Jazz Age. The second one comes later in the book, and is titled "kalakaua Avenue." That chapter covers the second generation of Beachboys, who were mentored by the old-timers during the '50s and early '60s. Guys like Moe Keale, Zulu, Kalakaua Aylett, Harry Sonoda, Don Ho, Kui Lee and Sam Kapu. In my mind, the beachboy isn't just someone who teahes surfing or gives outrigger canoe rides, but is also an entertainer on the beach and in the nightclubs. Their acts and recordings are reflective of a life spent being loose and cool on the beach, as though they were scooped up with a forklift and dropped down in a studio -- sand, bare feet and all. If that type of beachboy musicality exists today, it is surely underground. Mainstream Hawaiian music is so slick, it sounds like Contemporary Christian Music, most of the time.

The state of the film is such that the research has been done on the photos and footage, as well as 95 songs by the various Waikiki Beachboys, from the early 1920s to the late '60s. I also have the interviews that I shot on 16mm. It's a matter of funding, like anything else. Hopefully work can continue on the project, after this book comes out.

Thanks again, everyone! So glad you enjoyed it. I knew this board would.

Post #383536 by BC-Da-Da on Fri, May 30, 2008 10:21 AM