short waikiki documentary made by me!

Hi Everyone,

If you'd like, I posted this clip to YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wwvYNW07q0A

It's a short documentary that I directed four years ago, as a teaser to a larger project about the Waikiki Beachboys... native Hawaiian surf instructors and nightclub entertainers from the jazz age up through the '60s. There were two great generations of Beachboys, and even though there are still beachboy concessions on Waikiki Beach today, the music and scene is nowhere near what it was back in the day.

I hope you enjoy the clip. I have tons of interview footage "in the can."

I really enjoyed this film -- good work, and great footage. Did your larger project ever come to fruition? - if not, I do hope that something develops in the future. I loved all the great vintage imagery, and would love to see more, and hear more stories about Waikiki's past.

Vern

Thanks for sharing that BC.......cool images. Would love to see more.

[ Edited by: bongofury 2008-05-27 20:00 ]

Thank you Brian - great one. Very welcome.
Now, where can I get one of those navy sailors caps for surfing?

I care not
For your cafe life.
Oh, Waikiki
Is good enough
For me.

--Love it!

Woah, what a Delightful presentation. I'm sure I don't speak only for myself when I say "Give Us MORE". This will become a favorite here.
Thanks

Great job Brian!!!!!!! :)

Totally Entertaining!!!

Thanks for posting.

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

On 2008-05-27 18:38, BC-Da-Da wrote:
Hi Everyone,

If you'd like, I posted this clip to YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wwvYNW07q0A

It's a short documentary that I directed four years ago, as a teaser to a larger project about the Waikiki Beachboys... native Hawaiian surf instructors and nightclub entertainers from the jazz age up through the '60s. There were two great generations of Beachboys, and even though there are still beachboy concessions on Waikiki Beach today, the music and scene is nowhere near what it was back in the day.

I hope you enjoy the clip. I have tons of interview footage "in the can."

You should have interviewed Palika Pat Enos of our band, the smoking menehunes. Pat WAS one of the 50's/60's beach boys, and our band currently plays all the songs from that era. In fact, I periodically ask Pat to remember the "novelty" songs he and his tanned and muscular friends used to sing for the pretty tourist girls. He has some awesome stories to tell....Pat was there in Waikiki during the very heyday of the Hawaiian Beach boys. The "scene" may be long gone, but there are bands like ours that are still playing the music at least.

Very nice job. Would love to see/hear some of those interviews.

PS - I spy Barbi Benton! :D

Very cool subject indeed. And while those day's are pretty much all long gone, there are still a few of us trying to preserve a little bit of the old day's in our attitudes, actions and music. It can still be found in miniscule amounts, but you have to know where to look.

Rabbit Kekai is still alive and can be seen on most day's around the beach in Waikiki.

Hope more folks check out your link....I've watched it 5 times now....good stuff!

For those that can't wait for more I recommend the 2001 documentary: Waikiki In The Wake Of Dreams . It has some interviews and footage of the beach boys. Also the 2006 documentary: Honolulu 100 Years In The Making . Don't remember if there is anything on the beach boys in that one.....I'll have to watch it again.

I lived in Waikiki in the early 90's a half block from the Duke statue and used to surf the warm waters of Queens, 3's, Rock Piles, Canoes, on a daily basis with a smile and never took one minute for granted. I would see Rabbit and the new breed of beach boys and the aloha they would show to tourists fresh off the plane from Kansas and they would take surfing lessons and catch their first wave of their life and would experience the meaning of the word stoke. I can only imagine the days of Waikiki before all the high rises and Gucci stores lined Kalakaua avenue and the simplicity of the lifestyle. The Duke was a true ambassador of aloha and will forever remain important to Hawaii's history. I was there vacationing for New Years 2008 after staying on Maui for Christmas and must say the development that is viewed as "progress" in Waikiki is a little overwhelming and disheartening, alot of the mom and pop places have been replaced by Nike Towns and strip malls. Waikiki will always be a part of me, my experiences and nose rides i reflect on quite often, but with change comes new perspectives and for me those were my good old days.

Aloha nui loa

Amen!!

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.

Try check out these sites for the best in Hawaiian music, with steel guitar - http://www.hsga.org - http://www.hwnsge.5u.com
Other than this, you'll have to really know who and where, and most will be private parties.

BC DaDa...This sounds like a great book.

Even tho Waikiki is now like Hollywood on the beach, I still really love it there. Maybe because my first time there was in 05', but in my opinion, you can still feel the mana of the place...you just have to look for the old remnants. One thing that will never change is the beauty of that beach, and there are still tons of people surfing longboards out there, so seeing the famous crescent of the beach with Diamond Head in the distance with people surfing longboards is still a classic site.

There's nothing like swimming at Waikiki beach during sunset with the view of Diamond head on your left...the first time I looked over and saw it while swimming in that ocean was magical.

I look forward to your book and docu.

Do you have your TIKIYAKI ORCHESTRA CD YET ?
http://www.tikiyakiorchestra.com

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2008-05-30 11:41 ]

Thanks for sharing BC-a real pleasure to watch. I look forward to the book and seeing the rest of film.

The Waikiki Beachboys to me will always symbolize the former greatness of Waikiki and what Aloha looks, sounds and feels like. Their exploits are known the world over and will remain an enduring symbol of Waikiki's good old days. I also think of them as something of a metaphor for following your bliss.

Wow great footage, I came across a little "flaw" at about 4:08, there is a close up of Barbie Benton...I don't think she was even a "twinkle in her fathers eye" in the 20's.
Other than that, what am I saying? WITH THAT it's great!

Very well done. Nice video and your narration is great. :)

On 2008-06-01 04:47, bananabobs wrote:
I came across a little "flaw" at about 4:08, there is a close up of Barbie Benton

Hmmm. Didn't I already say that? :wink:

Barbie Benton anytime anywhere as much as possible is OK by me!

On 2008-06-01 20:27, msteeln wrote:
Barbie Benton anytime anywhere as much as possible is OK by me!

Then in that case, assuming you don't already have it, you should pick up Playboy After Dark: Vol. 2. The 3rd disc in that set contains the complete luau episode so you can watch a very young Ms. Benton walk around in a sarong for an hour. That's where that brief clip of her came from.

On 2008-06-01 15:55, GatorRob wrote:

On 2008-06-01 04:47, bananabobs wrote:
I came across a little "flaw" at about 4:08, there is a close up of Barbie Benton

Hmmm. Didn't I already say that? :wink:

Damn! I thought I was so clever! I missed that on your post. Sorry about that!

I should and I will, GR, thanx!

While getting my daily fill of Barbie, I found some that included Grand Funk Railroad, lip-syncing, but what the hey - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ZqcRwC_sU

Hi Guys,

Sorry I've been away from the board for so long. Life just catches up with you sometimes.

Anyway, the clip is from a Playboy After Dark luau special, and indeed includes playmate Barbie Benton. The reason for that is that the song-clip being used behind it is a Don Ho beachboy song from the mid-'60s. I tried to make it flow from the 1920s to the '60s, in that there were two or three generations of Waikiki Beachboys, all affecting one another, and the younger generation being mentored by the old-timers.

The first generation, as I see it, includes:

Steamboat Bill Diamond
The Kahanamoku brothers
Hirum Anahu
John P. Kaupiko
Blue Makua Sr.
Dudie Miller
Pua Kealoha

The second geration, which many still see as being first generation, just slightly younger, would include:

Charlie Amalu
Splash and Freckles Lyons
Chick Daniels
Panama Dave Baptiste
Gene Tarzen Smith
Kalakaua Aylett
Squeeze Kamana
Blue Makua Jr.
Rabbit Kekai
Jimmy Hakuole

The third generation, which were the young guys from the '50s and '60s... still surf instructors and beachside musicians, included:

Kui Lee
Don Ho
Zulu
Harry Sonoda
Sam Kapu
Gabby and Harry Makalena
Moe Keale
Mud Werner

There are plenty of beachboys missing in these lists... just a general overview of the characters. Many of them recorded singles and albums. Both generations are covered in their own chapters in my book, "Pop Surf Culture." Of course, the first two lists that I wrote are combined in "Pop Surf Culture" as the first generation of Waikiki Beachboys. The '60s beachboys are written about in their own chapter. I hope that isn't confusing.

Brian, I am looking forward to further excavations of local pop mythology in your thorough vein. The original beach boys are an important source of the Polynesian pop myth of Waikiki that has not been tapped into yet, just like the world of the island/mainland Polynesian floor show performers.
With you encyclopedic knowledge of the L.A. Beat scene, I wonder if you can ad anything to the "Mystery Photo 1959 Tiki Bar" (in S.F.) thread?

Brian, you did such a great job with this film, it was so good that both my husband and I want to go back to Waikiki Beach right away.

For those of you that have a connection with Waikiki and remember a simpler less populated time, this article will bum you out. The strip mall on the beach keeps expanding and stripping away at all the unique nooks and crannies that gave it character. Do they want to completely obliterate any sense of nostalgia, and humanity in Waikiki? But i guess it is what it is and change is always constant, but im still going to bitch about it.

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20080924_Market_Place_to_be_revamped.html

[ Edited by: Mongoloid 2008-09-24 09:23 ]