Robert Drasnin / Heather Watts event at La Luz de Jesus August 22

For those of you who might not be making it to Tiki Oasis - or if you want to have a chance to hang with Bob and Heather in Los Angeles, please join us. We should do drinks at Tiki Ti or Bigfoot after!!!

Robert Drasnin signs “Voodoo,” “Voodoo II” and a special limited “Voodoo” 7” picture disc La Luz de Jesus Gallery with artist Heather Watts

Friday, August 22, 2008, 6 - 8 pm
La Luz de Jesus
4633 Hollywood Bl.
Los Angeles California 90027
(323) 666-7667

http://laluzdejesus.com

photo by James T. from the Voodoo II Myspace page

Drasnin deserves a solid spot in the history of exotica for his 1959 album, “Voodoo” (also released with a different cover as “Percussion Exotique”), which exemplifies the genre as well as the best of Martin Denny or Les Baxter. Following its release, in fact, he was hired to arrange Denny's “Latin Village” album. Raised in Los Angeles, Drasnin started as an alto sax player, working with Tommy Dorsey, Les Brown, and other big bands. He later switched to flute and performed with small combos, including Red Norvo's. After the early 1950s, he worked primarily as a studio musician and arranger. He did graduate work in composition at UCLA in the mid-1950s and became an associate conductor of the UCLA Symphony. He eventually became musical director for CBS television, where he scored such shows as "Lost in Space" and "The Wild, Wild West." He and Gerald Fried handled most of the scoring work on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." after Lalo Schifrin left. Drasnin also scored the films "The Hot Angel," "Picture Mommy Dead," "Ride the Whirlwind," and "The Kremlin Letter." He currently teaches film music composition at UCLA and has been rediscovered with the new revival of exotica.

In 2007, Drasnin collaborated with archivist and arranger Skip Heller and X drummer D.J. Bonebrake (on vibes) to record “Voodoo II” (released the same year by Dionysus) in the same style as “Voodoo”. Drasnin has been playing selections from both discs at various festivals around the country and in Europe with members of local symphony orchestras. During the weekend of August 15-16, Drasnin will be performing his exotic sounds live at the 8th annual Tiki Oasis festival in San Diego.

A 7” picture disc (limited edition of 525 pieces) with one song from each of Drasnin’s “Voodoo” releases and featuring artwork by Shag on one side and Heather Watts on the other is being released in August of 2008 by Dionysus Records. Both CDs and the picture disc will available for purchase and signing. Canadian artist Heather Watts will be at this event to sign the picture disc 45.

Lee, are there pictures of the 7" disc?

Sorry...my bad.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29408&forum=12

Hey gang,
Skip Heller and Robert Drasnin will be playing a few tunes at La Luz!

We also want to plan on hanging out, maybe Tiki Ti afterwards. I want to bring Heather Watts to the Redwood Bar downtown sometime later like after 10 or 11 pm.

See you there!!!!

I wish I could make it!

Heather, have a great time!

My husband and I collect picture LPs, we'll definitely have to buy one of these beauties.

We have a going away party at the Bigfoot Lodge that night, but I will definitely get my butt over to La Luz for this first!
What a great combination of talents!

FUN! :)

Wish I could go! Have fun you guys!

Suzanne

On 2008-08-21 01:01, atomikitty wrote:
We have a going away party at the Bigfoot Lodge that night, but I will definitely get my butt over to La Luz for this first!
What a great combination of talents!

FUN! :)

I look forward to seeing you and Adam again!!! Always actually!
:)

Oh my Tiki Gods! This is gonna be awesome! I'm so there!

Thanks guys!

I just spoke to the guys at Team Tiki T-shirts and we will have my t-shirts & tanks there (the ones with the tiki canoe image on them). So if you missed out at Oasis you have another chance to get 'em before they go back into the vault! :wink:

Looking forward to seeing some of you again tonight (and making my second visit to Tiki Ti after to sample a few more drinks!)

Heather

PS: Tikiwahine!!!! It's been WAY too long!

Great evening!

(Thanks WooHoo for coming through with the great pix!)

Wow, that looked like fun. Sorry we missed it. I had my Heather Watts t-shirt from Oasis ready to wear!

Unfortunately spent the night in the emergency room with my Mom.

She had a foo-foo drink accident (really, I am not kidding). For those of you who have never received a Friday night post foo-foo drink email, on Fridays Scott makes awesome fresh fruit cocktails to go with dinner. My mom headed home (she lives in another house on our property) tripped over the barrier keeping out the feral kitten in the yard, slammed her hand carrying her drink on the counter and broke the base of the glass, driving the shards of glass into her hand. Yuck!

Oh well, I guess we'll have to get her plastic to drink from now!

Jen

Jen, sorry to hear about your mom. Might be time to get the wheel barrel out for those trips back to the homestead. I wish her a speedy recovery!
Had a great time at La Luz. Thanks to Lee for putting this picture vinyl out, a great idea, and for putting together the event. It was truly a pleasure to meet Mr. Drasnin, not only for his contribution to exotica, but to meet one of the gentlemen behind the sound of Mission:Impossible. It was lovely to chat with Heather, who is so down to earth and a fellow fanatic for PNG.
Truly a night to remember

Looks like a great time, wanted to go but was just too pooped to.
did ya'll go to tiki ti after?
;-(

Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2008-08-23 14:18, bigtikidude wrote:
Looks like a great time, wanted to go but was just too pooped to.
did ya'll go to tiki ti after?
;-(
Jeff(bigtikidude)

Yes, people went to the Tiki Ti before/after

[ Edited by: WooHooWahine 2008-08-25 18:52 ]

Thanks Woohoo,
wanted to go so bad,
but after tiki oais, my wallet is hurting.
ha ha.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2008-08-23 09:52, Skinny Dog wrote:
Wow, that looked like fun. Sorry we missed it. I had my Heather Watts t-shirt from Oasis ready to wear!

Unfortunately spent the night in the emergency room with my Mom.

She had a foo-foo drink accident (really, I am not kidding). For those of you who have never received a Friday night post foo-foo drink email, on Fridays Scott makes awesome fresh fruit cocktails to go with dinner. My mom headed home (she lives in another house on our property) tripped over the barrier keeping out the feral kitten in the yard, slammed her hand carrying her drink on the counter and broke the base of the glass, driving the shards of glass into her hand. Yuck!

Oh well, I guess we'll have to get her plastic to drink from now!

Jen

Dear Jen and Scott,

Sorry to hear about your mom. Let us know how she is doing and send her love from TC peeps!

On behalf of Bob, Heather, La Luz de Jesus and myself, I want to thank EVERYONE for making it out to this event...!!!

And that comes complete with ginormous hugs!

:)

L