Waitiki interview on KFAI

Hi all,

Just a heads up that on this Friday morning (11/11/05) on my radio program Jet Set Planet I'll be airing a phone interview with Waitiki I did a couple weeks after their appearance at Hukilau 2005.

I'll post the usual info under the topic New Radio Program Jet Set Planet, after the show. Check http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16537&forum=11&21 for info on how to listen.

THE SHOW IS ARCHIVED FOR UP TO TWO WEEKS, SO THE INTERVIEW WILL BE AVAILABLE THRU NOVEMBER 24th 2005 AT
http://www.kfai.org/kfai2/audarch.htm (scoll down to Jet Set Planet) or directly at http://helix.kfai.org/ramgen/replay/jetset-1.rm

Thought I should alert you separately, however, since I know a lot of TCers will want to hear it.

Mahalo

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2005-11-13 15:06 ]

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2005-11-13 15:07 ]

that same day, Waitki will be live in the studio at WNTI, on the Flaming Ukulele Radio Hour. i'll announce the stream of the show, as always.

also, jason tagg from http://www.ukuleledisco.com will be taping segments for his manhattan neighborhood network tv show, and for his website.

a good day for waitiki, and tiki consciousness, or unconsciousness, as the case may be.

Sounds like November 11th is shaping up to be National Waitiki Day!

The village elders are very proud!

I, Z

Okonkuluku!!!!!!

Hey Glen & Uke Jackson - just wanted to thank you both for all of your support of our music and for inviting us on to your respective radio programs. Damn I am excited!

Aloha
-Randy =)

Also - FYI, we are promoting both of your shows via the WAITIKI website. Check out the WAITIKI Radio page. Thanks again!

thanks, randy! that's cool. there's even an email link.

glen, thanks for elevating me to village elder status. i shall try to uphold my end.

uke on!!

[ Edited by: uke jackson 2005-11-10 15:44 ]

Excellent Jet Set Planet with Waitiki interview. I especially enjoyed the serendipitous Brazilian bird call story and the "we play music like the following" promo cd. Thanks Glen and Waitiki... Okonkuluku!

WAITIKI RULES THE AIRWAVES (or the Webwaves, at least) OF AMERICA!!!

I got to work this morning and tuned in, immediately, to KFAI to hear the latest Jet Set Planet and, especially, the Waitiki interview. It was (and still is!!!) a Tremendous Program in every way. The Waitiki interview was/is much more involved than I had expected and was/is SO COOL!

And now I just got finished listening, LIVE, to Waitiki on the Flaming Uke! Was that Astonishment that I heard in Uke Jackson's voice as he asked Abe how long he'd been playing Uke and got told "Two Years?" I dunno. There was so much Astonishment in my ears at the moment that I couldn't hear too good...

[ Edited by: Traitor Vic 2005-11-11 23:06 ]

Hey Glen,

Where is that live cut of Denny's "Black Orchid" from? Thanks.

-Randy

On 2005-11-11 13:58, Traitor Vic wrote:
WAITIKI RULES THE AIRWAVES (or the Webwaves, at least) OF AMERICA!!!

And now I just got finished listening, LIVE, to Waitiki on the Flaming Uke! Was that Astonishment that I heard in Uke Jackson's voice as he asked Abe how long he'd been playing Uke and got told "Two Years?" I dunno. There was so much Astonishment in my ears at the moment that I couldn't hear too good...

Hey Vic,

Yup, Abe's been playing uke about two years now. He started April 2003, and made his first concert appearance as a frontman/uke player/vocalist just nine days later, when our pre-WAITIKI band The Mongooses were the featured entertainers for the Boston University Hawaii Cultural Association's annual Hawaiian-Style Lu'au.

I can't remember if we chatted on Uke Jackson's show about why he started playing uke... Basically it was because I couldn't cut it as the Mongoose's uke player, and Abe was trying to explain a particular rhythm he wanted me to strum, but I couldn't get it ... So I asked him to try demonstrate for me on the uke, and not only did he do it, but it sounded really natural -- and he'd never touched a uke really, before that. Long story short, I convinced him to keep the uke for the night and maybe see if he could work up a few tunes. He ended up learning a whole set worth of tunes (including two famous uke show pieces, Jake Shimabukuro's "Tokada" and the Ka'au Crater Boyz "Guava Jam") in just a matter of days. The rest, as they say, is history. We recorded our first album (with Abe on ukulele) "Akamai Brain Collective" just three months later.

Thanks again for listening!

Hey Professah,

That Martin Denny version of Black Orchid comes from an LP called "Martin Denny in Person – Recorded Live at Duke Kahanamoku’s in Honolulu." on Liberty.

It's got an interesting line up of songs, with an emphasis on more "Hawaiian stuff"

Rain
Hilo March
Hawaiian Wedding Song
Volga Boatman
Black Orchid
Pretty Maui Girl
Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai
Lei Aloha Lei Makamae
On the Beach at Waikiki
Ol' Man River

Nice little record (though it needs a thorough cleaning!)

I'm putting together next's week show as I type, so, Professah I'll pick another cut off the LP and play it next week.

I, Z

p.s. (after a quick review of the LP) wow "Pretty Maui Girl" it is. Plus a nice intro from Duke's MC.

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2005-11-13 14:30 ]

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2005-11-13 14:40 ]

On 2005-11-13 14:27, I, Zombie wrote:
Hey Professah,

That Martin Denny version of Black Orchid comes from an LP called "Martin Denny in Person – Recorded Live at Duke Kahanamoku’s in Honolulu." on Liberty.

It's got an interesting line up of songs, with an emphasis on more "Hawaiian stuff"

Ah, and of that "Hawaiian stuff," I see that you specifically mean, of da hapa-haole kine...

Seems to me that that falls in line with what appears to be Denny's performance tradition: Sets that consist of 1-2 choice exotica standards (i.e. Black Orchid, Quiet Village, Tiki, Firecrackers) + a couple jazz standards (i.e. caravan, night in tunisia, girl from ipanema) + what-i-call-a-"soundscape" (i.e. congo train, burma train, cobra, harbor lights, port au prince, manhattan) + a bunch of hapa-haole songs (i.e. hawaiian wedding song, keep your eyes on the hands, hawaiian war chant, pretty maui girl, on the beach at waikiki, etc.). My belief is that he probably approached construction of his setlists this way, so that to cater to as wide a group of audience as possible?

Actually, if we do view this method as his reason for tune selection, then I wonder, to what extent the (Mainland) public's perception of Hawaii and its music has stayed constant from Denny's time until now? -- because still to this day, Hawaiian music popular to Hawaii audiences is very different than that enjoyed by Mainland audiences. For example, that the hapa-haole tunes I mentioned earlier tend to be more appreciated in the retrospective/nostalgic/sentimental dimensions in Hawaii, but by Mainland audiences, seem (at least by me) to have a much greater "mainstream" appreciation, by those who listen to Hawaiian music. Where as artists back home like the Brothers Cazimero, Ka'au Crater Boys, Keahiwai, Hapa, Hawaiian Style Band, etc. that are really really popular, tend to have very little exposure and/or appreciation by Mainland listeners of Hawaiian music.

Examples of artists who enjoy geographic/boundary-crossing status would be Jake Shimabukuro (woo-hoo!!) and Bruddah IZ (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole).

Maybe I should start a separate thread for this... Anyway, just wanted to respond to Glen's post. Thanks!

-Randy

On 2005-11-13 16:03, professahhummingflowah wrote:

My belief is that he probably approached construction of his setlists this way, so that to cater to as wide a group of audience as possible?

Professah, I think your right on with your thoughts on Denny's approach to his set lists. No doubt he tried to cover a lot of ground, especially since I would imagine his audiences (at least in the late 50s and 60s) consisted of a lot of tourists from the mainland, who kinda expected to hear "hawaiian" songs along with the exotica and jazz.

And it's kinda consistent for Liberty to put out a live LP regardless of the fact it didn't contain a lot of his hits. I mean when you think of a live lp, you usually get the hits, right? But Liberty really milked the Denny phenomena as much as it could as far as I can tell, and probably didn't even think about that. Which isn't to say the record is bad -- by no means. But again, I'm not sure if Liberty cared. It had something a little bit different, with Denny's name on it, so they went for it.
It's that sort of approach to Denny that no doubt led to the "ghosted" LPs later in Denny's career at Liberty, when other artists played the music but the albums got released as Martin Denny records.

But hey, who's complaining...

I, Z

Nope, no complaints here! Just pure speculation. I agree. In fact, the "Baked Alaska" album is a recorded live set, and contains the same formula for success. And Abe & I really dug hearing the Black Orchid take you played - the only other version we've had access to is the one off the Capitol double disc set, which splices two versions into one long track (which is the one abe based the waitiki arrangement off of).

On 2005-11-13 19:22, I, Zombie wrote:

It's that sort of approach to Denny that no doubt led to the "ghosted" LPs later in Denny's career at Liberty, when other artists played the music but the albums got released as Martin Denny records.

Not to mention other musicians who probably would have never thought of making that sort of record, yet suddenly found themselves working (for a short time) in very differently creative situations. For example, Robert Drasnin. Or Morton Gould, and his album "Jungle Drums." Or, if you count the tune "Hawaiian War Chant," Ella Fitzgerald (!) ... Or even myself, for that matter.