Post #681760 by Tiki-ESP on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 12:36 PM

On 2013-06-11 11:44, JOHN-O wrote:

On 2013-06-10 18:30, Tiki-ESP wrote:

On 2013-06-10 15:30, JOHN-O wrote:

Hmmm... it would appear that both GROG and Tiki-ESP are self-censoring Hillybilly haters who take issue with the "derailment" of this year's Tiki Oasis. :D

If you're really serious about HULA-billy as a musical genre then go to this thread I started, otherwise HILL-billies in mid-century pop culture were Gol' durned FUN !! :)

Seriously though I think Hillbillies might share even more of a zeitgeist with Tiki than the past Oasis themes of "Spy" or "South of the Border". (Actually I don't even know what "zeitgeist" means but the Bigbro uses that word a lot).

Here's my reason... I think the backwoods disinhibition of Hillbillies resonated with middle class suburban L7's much in the same way the "modern primitive" appeal of Tiki did. Hillbillies were free from all of the uptight social conventions that pre-counterculture America had to adhere to. Hillbillies said whatever was on their mind, made their own moonshine, married their underaged cousins, and shot at those pesky revenuers.

I think that was part of the big appeal of the "Beverly Hillbillies"' which was one of the most successful sitcoms in television history, along with other popular rural themed comedies like "Green Acres","Petticoat Junction","Andy Griffith", and "Gomer Pyle".

And before the "Beverly Hillbillies"' there were "The Real McCoys" who hit the airways roughly around the same time Tikis starting popping up in "Polynesian" restaurants.

The Hillbilly craze was sweeping the nation !! :D

You take from the event what you will, or call it whatever you like. But seems disingenuous to the essence of the event when it is called a "Hulabilly" event, but yet a majority of the marketing, and posts here, are referencing the Hillybilly theme. These are distinctly two different words, with different meanings. Its like going into a restaurant that on the outside advertises as French cuisine, but once you are inside its serving Mexican, or vice versa.

Well as much as I hate to rely on Wikipedia to make a point, this is from their definition of Rockabilly...

"The term 'rockabilly' is a portmanteau of 'rock' (from 'rock 'n' roll') and 'hillbilly', the latter a reference to the country music (often called 'hillbilly music' in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style's development."

Spike's definition of Hulabilly sways more towards Rockabilly incorporating Hapa Haole, Exotica, and Surf influences. The steel guitar is a major part of The Hula Girls' sound.

Otto's definition is a bit broader, refer to his take on the first post of this thread.

The challenge with "Hulabilly" is that as a musical style, there isn't an abundance of pop cultural iconography to uniquely represent the genre, aside from maybe "Blue Hawaii" Elvis. If anyone here can contribute other examples, then I encourage them to post on this thread.

HILL-billies on the other hand, were all over the place during the Pre-Tiki and Tiki eras as evident in film, television, and print. They were a unique pop cultural phenomena as reflective of the times as Spy, the "South of the Border" sound, and yes Tiki.

This broad umbrella or "connecting of the dots" is what makes Tiki Oasis so unique among all the different events.

It's also what makes it so much FUN !! C'mon, we need to think outside the box otherwise we're just gonna wind up with Viva Las Vegas (the event) in Aloha shirts.

Carry on, Cammo. :)

I love the discourse we are having here John-O.

From the all knowing Otto's own Tiki Oasis page

This year at Tiki Oasis we are exploring the Hawaiian influence on American music. Part Americana, part Hawaiiana, Hulabilly is an American music style derived from the blending of Rockabilly and Haole Hawaiian music.

Just as Tiki Style is a blend of Polynesian influences as interpreted through Americans' romanticized view of the South Seas, Hawaiian music has been sentimentalized and interpreted by American musicians. Like waves hitting the Pacific shores, America experienced recurring ukulele crazes with a longing look toward the Hawaiian Sunset. Similarly in the 1930s, 40s and 50s Hawaiian Slack Key guitar and slide guitar seeped into Western music and permeated The Nashville Sound. American musicians used that sound to play their own versions of Hawaiian music classics such as "On the Beach at Waikiki","Hula Blues", and "Ukulele Lady" and then form their own Westernized Hawaii sound blending Hawaiian music influences with American early rock n roll (Bop) to create the sound of HulaBilly.

From Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys version of "Hawaiian War Chant" in 1946 To Elvis Presley's "Rock-A-Hula Baby" in the Grammy-nominated movie "Blue Hawaii" in 1961, Hulabilly was a popular music form on America's radios, televisions, and movies.
*

That introduction never mentions hillbilly, which is sometimes considered to be a derogatory slang term. Yet, there are posts here that are doing everyone interested in learning more about Hulabilly a disservice. John-O started his own thread about Hula-billy, but somehow ‘hulabilly’ takes a backseat to ‘hillbilly’ in this thread? More/less the 'Hillbilly' genre/aesthetic has piggybacked (no pun intended) onto this, and with the organizers (sorry Otto / BabyDoe) perpetuating this connection with emails in the proverbial southern accent twang doesn't help. Its like paying for some information from a reliable source, just to be sold something completely different except for the switching of a couple vowels. Don’t worry kids I swear its milk they say, well I ain’t drinking it!

So, instead of posting the ‘Greatest Hillbillies of All Time’, or cartoons, why not talk some more about the aforementioned groups that were brought up in the Tiki Oasis intro, the bands, the event itself?

Some posters/readers don’t even care for the theme, as that’s not the reason they are going. I’m usually in that crowd of whatever, this event really doesn’t need a theme to me, ie – the year it was ‘Circus’ didn’t even care. I know I’ll have a good time chatting with people, and taking in some of the bands, symposiums. If the theme is something I can wrap my head around then great. But, when skewing the lines of the theme into something it isn’t, then that needs to be corrected. I know there are those that agree with that, and those that say let bygones be bygones. Guess this year’s theme I’m siding with the former. Yea, look for me at the event, I’ll be wearing the shirt that reads –ITS HULABILLY, not HIllBILLY. :)

[ Edited by: Tiki-ESP 2013-06-12 12:37 ]