WAITIKI 7's West Coast Debut at Don's (Dec. 29-31, 2010)

[ Edited by: otto 2011-01-02 17:39 ]

Here're some pix I took at the Robert Drasnin show at Don's last night. What an incredible honor to see Mr. Drasnin in action, and Waitiki 7 sounded great under his direction.

[ Edited by: Tobor64 2010-12-31 11:19 ]

[ Edited by: tobor64 2010-12-31 12:39 ]

Here's a recap of Thursday's show...

The WAITIKI 7 and Robert Drasnin performing his seminal "Voodoo" in a historic Tiki palace serving Don Beach recipe Tropical cocktails ??

On Thursday night this was the indeed the center of the Tiki universe. :)

WAIKITI in addition to performing some of their original material and classics ("Left Arm of Buddha" live was great), added some of their own (or was it Mr. Drasnin's?) improvisation to several of the "Voodoo" classics.

The Master himself…

I really enjoyed the last set where vocalist Sherry Shaoling performed several Ethyl Asama songs…

Here's some snaps I got of Tiki Central members in attendance. I missed some people, there was a guy named Otto who I never saw before. He must be a newbie. :D

Left - mrsmiley & bigtikidude & Sabu the Coconut Boy, Right - mrsmiley & inkylouise

Left - UtopianDreem & Tiki Bird, Right - A frame

Left - hulihukilau & Tobor64, Right - King Bushwich the 33rd

Left - Dinah DeRosa & Luckydesigns aka Hula Girl "Spike", Right - TikiG

Left - Mr. J & Mrs. "Mr. J" (Sharon), Right - Tiki Sand & Tiki Mantis

Have a Happy Tiki New Year !! Be safe tonight.

Thanks for the photos Tobor64 & JOHN-O!!!
Wish we could have been there.

On 2010-12-31 13:09, Tonga Tom wrote:
Thanks for the photos Tobor64 & JOHN-O!!!
Wish we could have been there.

You weren't there? :o Nooo!! You and your camera + Sherry Shaoling would have been a 2010 Highlight.

Sorry Boris. :(

That's okay Tom, I didn't make it either. :(

just wow! so sorry I missed it.
Please more pics... videos?

WooHooo! Mahalo! Mahalo! Mahalo to Art, Delia, and Don's Ohana for hosting a Tiki-rrific New Year's

[ Edited by: WooHooWahine 2011-01-25 21:16 ]

Don The Beachcomber does it again, thank you Art for a great Tiki Bar to celebrate New Years, Delia for the best food in Town, and the DTB crew for great service. Also thank you WAITIKI 7 and special guests for 3 days of music. For New Years there was a special tiki mug given out at the VIP tables.img]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/10038/4d1f9145.jpg[/img]

Picture of Tiki Mug given out New Years at DTB.

Ok, so now I get it. All of the north bay tiki ohana went down there without me. I see how you guys are. I guess that someone had to go to Forbidden Island ;-P
Hope you guys had as good a time as the pix show. Have a great 2011.

Top shelf exotica! Waitiki was flawless and the enchanting bird calls by Lopaka Colon were beyond impressive. Congrats to Christine for winning the bird call contest and making our table proud. Mahalo for starting my 2011 with a smile and a small kine buzz.

The "missing moai mafia" formation:

Thanks to Art and Delia for making it all possible! Great food, awesome service and fantastic entertainment!!!

It was indeed an outstanding night (the DTB staff was amazing, especially the bartenders, and Waitiki was simply incredible) until the very end when about 5 or 6 of us were gathering our things in the Dagger Bar (it was just a little after two), the lights were up there was no booze to be seen and we were making our way to the door to go wait for our cabs that had been called about an hour earlier and not yet shown up.

Art Snyder made one last appearance in the bar. He looked at all of us and said, "You need to leave. I've spent too much time and money on this place for you people to mess it up for me." (Only "mess" wasn't the word that was used).

We were all quite stunned at his rude and unprofessional behavior. We went outside and as soon as the door closed the exterior lights were extinguished and we were left standing in a cold dark parking lot on the PCH waiting for our cabs.

Now, he has every right to not want to get shut down for having people in his bar past the legal hours, but there were many ways Art could have handled this situation and he chose just about the worst one. Especially after we had all spent several hundreds of dollars in his restaurant over the course of the evening on mugs, cocktails and tips for his staff.

Certainly none of us would ever want anything bad to happen to DTB or Art, but I have to say that to show such utter disrespect for the very people who support him and to behave so unprofessionally, was an unfortunate end to what had been an outstanding evening.

Perhaps, it was just a fluke, or Art was just tired, but unfortunately for me the result is that I'll never set foot in DTB again and certainly won't recommend it to anyone else. There are far too many great Tiki places in LA where you are treated politely and respectfully for me to spend my money or suggest that others spend theirs in a place with an owner who clearly is not about the Ohana.

Strange...you are not the first person I've heard say "I will never set foot in DTB again....". I'm guessing you also won't be the last. Very sad, but you reap what you sow.

Bummer of a situation, but I've had nothing but good experiences there.

Guys, don't be such sissies, that is just old school talk. Art is from another time. Trader Vic was one cantankerous bastard if he felt like it, too, and so were many entrepreneurs of that generation. We cannot venerate their memory and not accept their incongruities.

Mind you, this is just the off-the-cuff reaction of someone who feels somewhere in between the generations, a positivist curmudgeon of sorts. And who wasn't there. :D

I have had the pleasure of knowing Art and Delia Snyder for the past 2 years. My wife and I have attended many events at DTB, each time that we visit Don's , it only gets better. The food is always top notch, the drinks are the best, and constant improvements to the restaurant. I see Art going around greeting and sitting down and talking to all his guest. There is nothing but OHANA at DTB. Art and Delia spend numerous
hours 7 days a week to make Don's a place for Tiki people, special occasions,families and children.

There is always entertainment, hawaiian shows, music, comedy, and top notch bands(WAITIKI 7 with special guests). My wife and I attended New Years 2010, the food, drinks, service, and Waitiki were perfect. I can only say positive things about Art, Delia and DTB. It is a place in HB I am proud to take my family and friends.

I must say that I'm surprised by the reactions to Ski's post. How dare someone have a bad experience at a Tiki establishment and then have the audacity to express it here on TC!!

I find it hard to buy that bad behavior could be somehow overlooked because Vic Bergeron and Donn Beach were rough around the edges in their heyday. Art and company are in the hospitality business; plain and simple. Joe Banks is absolutely correct; I know first hand and I will leave it at that.

DTB does have great drinks and good food. But that's not the issue here. The issue is that one of our own ohana had a bad experience--not an unfortunate experience--a bad experience. They were turned off enough to consider not patronizing the place again. That should be of concern to all, not that they had the gall to state it.

You want this legendary vintage tiki restaurant/ bar to close again? Then keep up with the nagtive, public posts about a rare situation that occured. Otherwise, I would direct concerns or grievances via email directly to the source. I've had nothing but good experiences with Art and his staff.

Im not excusing what happened that night, but you dont need to broadcast it (I've seen the same negative post on yelp, facebook, and a blog). If you want to kill off an already struggling business and help to take away one of our favorite local tiki bars, keep it up.

And the flaming begins.

Nobody wants to see that place close or see the DTB brand go away. I',m afraid I didn't see the rules that state TC is only for posting fuzzy feel good things.

...just saying...

Marty Lush follows no rules. Marty Lush is the rule.

LoL.

No Lucky, you're not "...just saying..", you're jumping on someone else for "just saying."

Best I remember these are the photos from my missing post last week from the December 30 show. I think I reported about all the TC folks that came out and something about drinking Zombies. It was truly special to hear the sound the WAITIKI 7 and Robert Drasnin created in that setting.

On 2011-01-03 13:15, bigbrotiki wrote:
Guys, don't be such sissies, that is just old school talk. Art is from another time. Trader Vic was one cantankerous bastard if he felt like it, too, and so were many entrepreneurs of that generation. We cannot venerate their memory and not accept their incongruities.

Mind you, this is just the off-the-cuff reaction of someone who feels somewhere in between the generations, a positivist curmudgeon of sorts. And who wasn't there. :D

You are right Sven. I waited till now to post to see the responses. I have been to DTB and I have seen first hand the amount of time(24/7) and dedication that Art has put into bringing Don's Back. Never mind the amount of Money is takes. I have also heard what happened, I also heard that Art apologized to the whole group,If true, that should have been posted as well. if this is not true, my mistake.

I think to Sven's point, Art is old school and he was probably more mad at his Bar Manager then the customers. California is a hard ass state and will fine you or worse remove your license for the slightest infraction.

I am not saying I agree with what happened, I am saving, it was a matter among a few and a public post could hurt without all the info. If I had put that much money in a bar , got butt dialed at 2:30 am, almost 80 years old and found out I could have easily lost my bar license and everything my retirement money went too...... I might have been a bit angry too....

Just my .02 cents. I respect all the Ohana, I have always felt airing a private issue before discussing it helps no one and divides those on the sidelines. I thank Art for bringing something back that we needed, more Tiki Establishments....

Amy

[ Edited by: Queen Kamehameha 2011-01-13 13:01 ]

The only way to solve this dilemma is for me to invite Art to Tiki Caliente and treat him poorly.
I will personally knock on his door at 2:30 a.m. and call him names and mess up his hair,because that is how the Wildsville Man rolls.....

Now Dig that?

All families are disfunctional at times and everyone should have the right to state there own opinion,but only after they confront that person personally first......

As Someone who works this kind of gig I am sure it was a long night for Art. Trying to keep employees sober and doing there jobs when they want to be out with friends them selfs.Art probably misspoke and maybe would have fixed the problem if you called him directly.

or did you?

But it's 13 days later and even a specialist would say we should move on at this point

so says this specialist.

Rory "WILDSVILLE MAN" Snyder

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

[ Edited by: Wildsville man 2011-01-13 14:38 ]

pictures for New Years At DTB with the WaiTiki 7 .

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!

Thanks soooo much for coming out and supporting us. The pics everyone has posted are absolutely wonderful and we (the band) has had a great time reminiscing about the event thanks to all the outpouring of aloha...

I've put up some videos from the event on YouTube... go check'um, go!

Robert Drasnin & The WAITIKI 7 perform "In A Dorian Mode"

Robert Drasnin & The WAITIKI 7 perform "Hindara"

Sherry Shaoling Sings Ethel Azama with The WAITIKI 7

In addition if anyone has video taken with their iPhones, Droids, or what have you, PLEEEASE put it up on YouTube and tag it with Okonkuluku so we can find it. And let me know if you do!

Randy

One more video:

Robert Drasnin, Sherry Shaoling, and The WAITIKI 7 perform "You"

I've got some vids from Dec 29 too, but unfortunately nothing from NYE... anybody?

Wow! A month's gone by already? Damn!

It's about time I responded here cause while I was away from a personal computer for a few weeks I kept thinking on what I was going to post regarding my three nights of top-notch musical entertainment at DTB w/ Waitiki7...

...needless to say the band was in top form all three nights as I well expected. At times they levitated off the stage and into uncharted territory - exotica bliss. My heart to you, Waitiki7.

On the other hand I had the honor to hang out with the group away from the stage several different times during the course of four days and that's where I experienced the brilliance of these fine musicians under a different light. Each member of the Waitiki7 is blessed with musical talent (of course) but as people they absolutely shine with integrity and grace. Who else but they to allow a hanger-on such as myself to enjoy their company? For that I'm grateful. Thanks Waitiki7 for allowing me into your world for a few moments, I'll treasure those memories forever. Thank You.

For those who attended the shows I tip my hat for supporting the band and venue...
For those who missed it, well, you missed something special. Rest assured though, they'll come back to So. Cal!

PS: I found Art and his wife to be absolutely charming and accommodating too. Nothing but high praise from me in that respect.

Below are but a few pics I took while I was at the show(s):

Cheers! Waitiki7 - from an eternally loyal fan. G

THANKS TIKIG! & OKONKULUKUS TO YOU FROM BOSTON MAN!

Please post your photos to the Waitiki 7 Facebook Page!