Tiki and Rat Pack?

So, as I mentioned in my intro email, I'm doing work on the Rat Pack, and I'm wondering if any tiki folks are also R.P. folks--what are the connections? What is appealing about the Rat Pack? (A lot of what I'm doing concerns nostalgia and retro stuff.) It would be really cool if anybody wanted to chat informally with me--I'm not trying to do a big fancy study or anything, as I'm trying to maintain my own position as a fan within the project. Anyway, thanks so much everybody, and hope to hear from some folks soon! Feel free to post or email [email protected]

The only connection I know about is that Sinatra's favorite drink was the Navy Grog. I forgot where I read this so I can't substantiate it.

Generally speaking, most fans of Polynesian Pop are into the Rat Pack through their love of lounge music and booze, and their appreciation of classic playboy style.

Ya know what I love are Sinatra's songs that give you that travellin' feeling, like "Come Fly With Me" and "Summer Wind". That's the connection for me.

Besides which, they were all cool. Recently saw a documentary on the Pack with lots of footage from their live shows (Sinatra/Martin/Davis). Man, those cats knew how to party!

:), emspace.

In my collection is a postcard of the Sands with Sammy as the headliner, and in the second room... Martin Denny. There's a connection. Dean vacationed in Hawaii, as did most of the stars in those days. But for those guys, the whole thing was just the current thing. Go to a luau, catch a band at the Hawaiian Hilton. Nothing more than typical 50's and 60's life.

Hey Swanky! As history goes from the locals, members of the Rat Pack used to hang-out in the Cellar. Elvis was a regular at the pool and, evidently, Nancy Sinatra spent time at the pool as a young girl. Interestingly enough, a gentlemen who stayed with us two nights ago, is a friend of Nancy Sinatra's and used to work for her. He was in town working on an event at M Modern Gallery. We hope to get more history through this channel, soon. With any luck "Nancy" will be able to clarify and verify some old tales. I'll let you know what I learn.

CaseyJ, how amazing! If you dig up any neat stories, I'd love to talk to you more about a possible interview for my project! Let me know if you'd be interested.

Thanks from naughtykitty :)

NaughtyKitty:
Send me an email and I'll forward the current version of the Resort history, which mentions the celebs. The basement was a real celeb hangout, but we haven't been able to clarify many of the stories we've been told. In true PS style, most of the really good "stuff" that was going on was all done in a very "hushed" tone and mum was the word.

Kitty, have I got some great images for your report. We've had our share of tiki in the past here in Texas, but we're leaning heavily on Austin to carry the tiki torch these days.

Okay... there was a tiki bar opened up a few years back in Austin called "Ocean's 11", named after the original Rat Pack movie. What's the tie-in? Best I understood, the owner's mother was a back- up singer in Vegas back in the 50s and 60s and either worked with the Rat Pack, or was just a huge fan. The owner is, like you, into all things midcentury. So he decided to put it all together. Tikis and lounge singing. It was pretty well done. Had his own signature mug and live lounge music on the patio.

Sadly, he had a good vision, but apparently lacked business savvy. Basically couldn't keep up with the cost of doing business, paying taxes, or paying paychecks.

So Ocean's 11 closed for a while, but it was apparently bought out and has reopened in the same locale as "Headhunters", focusing more on the tiki theme alone.

Now for the pictures. A fantastic custom signage/sculpture shop in Austin called Blue Genie created these black-light tikis for Ocean's 11. You'll LOVE the Rat Pack tie-in's here. Just brilliant. I've inquired about these tikis from Blue Genie... apparently they're still in the new place.

http://www.bluegenieart.com/oceans11/oceans11.html

Enjoy! Email me if you have other questions. You need to post your report here when you're done!

Reever, in fact, I used those pictures in a paper that I wrote! Thanks for your comments; you've got more information than I did. Ocean's 11 is becoming a key figure in my work--it's a perfect tie-in!

Hey naughtykitty,

I'm a huge fan of the rat pack, particularly Dean Martin. "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" was the song my husband and I chose for the first dance at our wedding.

How sweet! I love that song, and Dino's performance of it in Ocean's 11 is so great. (I wish that I could have done something like that, but my husband is, sadly, not a Rat Pack fan.)

I've had to convert mine ... it was all Nirvana and Pearl Jam before I came along. We actually had a huge debate over whether our first song was going to be Dino's or one by Frank (he was voting for "The Best is Yet to Come", I like "The Tender Trap").

Aloha! Well, we have finally connected with Nancy Sinatra's REAL publicist and we are already benefitting from some memories and recollections. Hopefully, there will be some concrete "evidence" very soon!

Just this past weekend at a family gathering my mom and dad told me a story about my dad getting into a little scuffle with Mr. Sinatra in the parking lot of Don the Beachcombers probably in the late 50's. Apparently Frank cut my dad off and pleasentries were exchanged, along with some hand gestures. They both jumped out of thier cars. Unfortunately Frank was followed by three or four large friends and my dad was followed by my mom pulling on his arm and dragging him back into the car. I can't believe they never told me this story before.

The live portion of my cult movie show THRILLVILLE (www.thrillville.net) is a tribute to both the Rat Pack AND tiki (amongst other things), so there's a connection for ya. I "worship" the Holy Trinity of Frank, Dino and Sammy (my wife Monica, "The Tiki Goddess" hails Elvis as her King), and of course I also "worship" tiki. Shag once sent me a jpeg of a painting he did of the Summit, "Dial H For Hipster," it's on my web site on the Contact page (I don't know how to post it here, sorry - if someone else does, grab it off my site and please do so, it's too cool and totally suits the topic.)

We stayed in "The Rat Pack Room" at the Orbit In in Palm Springs for my 40th B-day a few months ago (www.orbitin.com, I think, it's on my links page anyway) - and my Rat Pack impersonator pally Robert Ensler (www.deanmartin.com) "roasted" me along with a bunch of other "pallies" at a swanky restaurant called the Atlas. Robert also married Monica and me at our Rat Pack themed wedding at Frank's Cal Neva Lodge in N. Taho a couple of years ago - as "Reverend Dino." Mariachis played Sinatra and Elvis tunes and "Ocean's 11" played in the background in the reception in the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Showroom. Tables and all the drinks at the open martini bar were named after the Rat Pack and associates (the Dean Martini, Sinatra-tini, Elvistini, Ann-Margetini, Marilyn Martini, ec).

The only time I ever (accidentally) got worldwide recognition for anything was when I launched a boycott of the egregious remake of "Ocean's 11: and actually pickted a movie theater! I did it as a lark (though I sincerely hated the remake) and thought only people who read my web site would know or give a damn about my opinion, but it started a media firestorm (we even starred in a French documentary on Vegas!) and I get hate mail to this very day? Why, I don't know.

So yea. You could say I dig the Rat Pack. Email me if you want know more stuff. Cheers.

Ah, so you're the famous boycotter! I believe I've got a Vegas newspaper article (by Mike Weatherford?) in my files about you!!! Thanks for your thoughts--I will definitely check out your site. My deadline is April for this project (my thesis) and since we've just moved I've slowed down on my research. Hoping to set up my office today (complete with Rat Pack memorabilia and a great martini light that I just got!) and be back to it very soon. Would you be interested in an interview at some point--one of my chapters is about Rat Pack nostalgia and its forms today. It's been interesting trying to balance my own personal affection for R.P./tiki, etc. and maintaining an "academic" distance . . .

"Infamous" boycotter is more like it. I'd be open to a little on-line interview but I don't really want to re-live that whole protest experience too deeply, it got pretty uncomfortable for a while; the worldwide response was WAY overblown in my estimation and often misconstrued by the media (and some of the public) as a publicity stunt FOR the remake (which I've since seen, and my worst fears were realized). Mike Weatherford is my good pal, a very very nice guy, too, and you should really check out his site (which is just an ad for his terrific book), http://www.cultvegas.com,) and contact him for your project, he knows a lot more about classic Vegas than I do (or anyone I know, for that matter). But I'd be happy to correspond with you - just email me at [email protected] - I'm already worried that by bringing this tired old subject up in public again I'm opening myself up to a another barrage of insults (I even got anonymous threats!?!, though I should say, most of the feedback was supportive, but even that struck me as odd), though I imagine these are safe waters for someone with my controversial (and ultimately meaningless) opinions. Still, I'd much rather communicate privately after this, so I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers!

NuiNui 2--That is a great story! A friend of mine who grew up in Simi Valley reports going out to dinner with his parents when he was a little kid and seeing Dean Martin with a very young date. My friend, upon seeing this, commented, "That must be his daughter!" His parents quickly shushed him as Dino glared in their direction!

On 2003-07-19 11:29, thejab wrote:
Generally speaking, most fans of Polynesian Pop are into the Rat Pack through their love of lounge music and booze, and their appreciation of classic playboy style.

I would agree - if you go back to 1995 or so at the 2 cultures Rat Pack and Tiki were merged - there was (and possibly still is) a web group called the Exotica list and that group of folk are heavy collectors of lounge and exotica music - they collect martin Denney, Les Baxter, etc while collecting spy jazz music and various other type lounge music of the bygone era. Also, someone from that list wrote a big thesis on lounge music (which at that time would include exotica/tiki) which I read and used to have a copy of. I wrote about it in my column back when I wrote for a lounge fanzine called Organ and Bongos out of Seattle Washington - prior to my stint with Organ and Bongos which came out quarterly and was a small fanzine, I wrote for a punk zine called Flipside based here in L.A. I transitioned from writing about punk into writing and covering the lounge tiki scene in Flipside, then leaving Flipside and writing exclusively for Organ and Bongos (I quit writing a couple years later in order to concentrate on writing my masters thesis in urban geography) The lounge scene died due to over-exposure but the tiki stuff lived on - tiki parties still happened here and there here in L.A. One of the biggest party-throwers was a guy named Bobby who went on to open his own successful bar here in the L.A. area called The Bigfoot Lounge - he used to have some rad tiki parties at his old apartment back in those old days. The club is very successful - I'd say a mainstay of the punk/hipster/Silverlake club scene today - Lee Joseph deejays there on Saturday nights.

On 2003-08-11 16:45, Hanalei_Pirate wrote:

I wrote about it in my column back when I wrote for a lounge fanzine called Organ and Bongos out of Seattle Washington - prior to my stint with Organ and Bongos which came out quarterly and was a small fanzine, I wrote for a punk zine called Flipside based here in L.A.

What a coincidence! - I was just flipping through some old issues of Organ and Bongos recently and enjoying the pictures of home bars and coverage of the lounge scene in the mid 90s. I should post some of those pictures. One guy's tiki bar was Gilligan's Island themed and he had a bicycle powered blender for drinks! Don't worry Bigbro I won't post the picture of you and your ex.

A picture of yours truly was in an issue of Flipside for "punk day at Disneyland" when the Ventures played there. I still have a copy of it somewhere.

Before opening the Bigfoot Bobby had a coffee shop in the Santa Monica area called Cacao - it was a hip coffee shop with all tiki decor. He held a few tiki/art events there like the Lugnut Luau which featured the art of Von Franco, and his own, amongst others. The Bigfoot is more like (what I like to call it) a 1940s ski lodge. The idea came from places up in northern and Central California like in Monterey. I personally think of it as a 1940s ski lodge. He sold the coffee shop to develop the Bigfoot - I don't know who the buyer was or if it stayed tiki or what.

Hey, how is Russ (the publisher of Organs and Bongos) anyway, are you still in touch? I was just wondering about that guy - very nice cat. I used to run into him at Bay Area tiki/lounge events frequently (including at my pad.) Haven't seen him in a while, though. That was a swell mag, too.

On 2003-08-12 14:51, AquaZombie wrote:
Hey, how is Russ (the publisher of Organs and Bongos) anyway, are you still in touch? I was just wondering about that guy - very nice cat. I used to run into him at Bay Area tiki/lounge events frequently (including at my pad.) Haven't seen him in a while, though. That was a swell mag, too.

No, I lost touch with him a long time ago - don't even know if he still has the zine anymore. Those were fun days - he used to have some crazy parties up there in Seattle.

On 2003-08-02 17:37, AquaZombie wrote:
I launched a boycott of the egregious remake of "Ocean's 11: and actually pickted a movie theater...and I get hate mail to this very day? Why, I don't know.

Maybe you should have picketed "Solaris"? Those dang George Clooney fans!

Wow, I remember watching the Dean Martin Show with my old man as a kid-even skipped going skiing to see it!

As far as a connection between the two-it's just all in the family, baby. How can like one and not the other?

AUGH Solaris! I actually sat through that one in the theater . . . apparently it was supposed to be very psychological--maybe it was over my head . . .

On 2003-08-02 17:37, AquaZombie wrote:
I launched a boycott of the egregious remake of "Ocean's 11:...

Me and my husband actually paid money to see it in the theatre when it came out - this is when I had adopted the philosophy that all the publicity for lounge music was a good thing, i.e, gives "us" legitimacy but this is a big change from a few years ago when as a writer for Flipside I decried the appearance of Doc Martin's being sold at the local Nordstroms.

Man, my movie picketing days are way behind me. We did it as a goof (though I was expressing a very real personal contempt for creatively bankrupt Hollywood and its plastic roster of forgettable "stars") but people took it WAY too seriously (by, amazingly, accusing ME of taking it way too seriously - my sense of humor is just our of sync with the mainstream). Still, it was a fun way to spend a Friday night - a lot more fun than actually watching that horrible rip-off too. I actually used to like and respect Soderbergh, though he started losing me with the derivative "the Limey" and really alienated me with "Traffic" (another lame remake, this time of a British TV miniseries, which I hear is great) and then his smug, patronizing insult to Rat Pack purism (he's not even a fan of the original O-11, and Julia Roberts actually dissed it repeatedly in talk shows, adding fuel to my little fire). The guy who owns the Parkway (I don't, contrary to popular belief, I'm just the programmer/publicist) actually booked the remake over my objections and it ran for a sold out month, though I also stuck the trailer for the original on it just to make a point and piss people off. The 25 year old projectionist had no idea there even was an original - the whole point of my original on-line objection. Anyway, "Solaris" only furthered Soderbergh's descent into unoriginal plagarism. I didn't bother with it - the best possible response to stuff you don't dig.

There are plenty of other remakes I object to personally, like the upcoming "Dawn of the Dead" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and other recent efforts like "Lost in Space" and "Wild Wild West" were equally egregious. I think a lot of people jumped on my bandwagon because I was making a statement against the Hollywood remake machine in general, and even those who mocked my stance now understand my frustration and resentment because their faves are being likewise butchered by the Tinsel Town money factory. I'll save my protests for my on-line column from now on (and in fact, it was only after I got all this attention that I decided I would actually have to physically picket a theater as promised, never thinking anyone beyond my small circle would give a damn what I thought about anything.)

Anyway, once again, the whole experience, ancient as it is, has led to some surprisingly productive exchanges, including my private emails with naughtykitty, whose thesis promises to be quite compelling and multi-layered. You go, girl.

Thanks, AquaZombie! It's nice to have this haven--department issues have been plaguing me and my project, so I've opted to not think about it academically for a few days and just get cracking on reading my new copy of Cult Vegas for fun!

Wild Wild West was the worst. I think that I actually saw that one in the theater, too. Are there any GOOD remakes out there? Oooh, fun new topic maybe!

we like to listen to both tiki stuff like martin denny/ arthur lyman and ratpack music wile soaking, hanging out in our Tiki bar/whirlpool-ex garage. but be careful with the ratpack/Tiki music mix. you will go from a reg martini to a Tiki tini wich is great but knocks you on your azz.

I love Shag's art that features the Rat Pack. I have a Shag original that has Sinatra and 3 Tiki's. I look at the painting and imagine walking in and sitting down next to the gal at the bar and buying us a couple of Mai Tai's. She invites me over to her swank pad and Frank comes over real upset like. I grab him by his jacket and say "don't lose your cool pal" and then I walk out with the lady on my arm and a cig dangling from my lips. Then my wife says "would you quit looking at that damn painting and go clean the bathroom".....