Gene Rains-exotica musician- info wanted

I have 3 Gene Rains LPs and I love them! can anyone shed light on this guy? I mean, you can't get much from the liner notes. Heck, there isn't even a copyright year on any of the LPs. I did see where a guy named Paul Conrad was his piano player. Is this the same Paul Conrad who did the "Exotic Paradise" LP? (the one with the tucan on the cover)

On 2004-03-31 09:49, mriddle wrote:
Is this the same Paul Conrad who did the "Exotic Paradise" LP? (the one with the tucan on the cover)

Is this the same Paul Conrad who was the political cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times? He's an accomplished pianist.

The first Rains LP "Lotus Land" lists Paul Conrad as the Piano player. I can't say for sure, but I doubt its the same guy.

How about the release years. The LPs don't have a year on them at all. Does anyone know when they were released? Is GR still alive?

I found a pristine copy of Gene Rains' "Lotus Land" this weekend! Ahh, what a great album!

Johntiki,
Yes, I must say that Lotus Land and Rains in the Tropics are 2 of my top favorite exotica LPs!

so can someone help me total Gene R's publications and don't tell me that there are only 3 please because the man is an amazing talent...i have lotus land (decca) another disc on vocalion..."call of the tropics"...and there is another disc on decca i think it's called "far across the sea"...this last one i don't have...but i will when it shows up on ebay again...

is THAT it? man i hate filling out a newly discovered artist's discography...

This site lists only 4 LPs.

interesting to me that there are NO publications of mr gene rains on CD today...how lame is that...guys like us that play records like these for the right people make the repressings of yesterday's magic happen today in a new format...thanky swanky from the bottom of my ears...i'll be on the look out for the other 2 known LPs on decca...and as soon as i can encode them i'll share them...

On 2004-06-07 22:39, Swanky wrote:
This site lists only 4 LPs.

I found a 5th LP listed on that site: Axel Stordahl
& Gene Rains: The Magic Islands Revisited; Decca DL-79096.

The Stordahl & Rains LP is a new one to me. I guess I've got a new title to search for now. As far as I have been able to find, there are NO Gene Rains albums on CD. But here are the titles

"Lotus Land" (I think is first recording)
"Far Across The Sea"
"Rains in the Tropics"
"Call of the Tropics" (greatest hits of songs on the first 3 LPs)
"Magic Islands Revisited" (w/ Alex Stordahl)

as far as I know, that's it!

if only we had a cover image for the 5th newly uncovered LP we'd be able to uncover an existing copy faster i am sure...so many LPs to flip through and so VERY LITTLE time with which to flip...(sigh)

glad to hear that there is another LP by this man!!!

I have that Axel Stordahl LP, lemme see if there is a Gene Rains credit...

YEp, there it is! I never noticed, and this is one of my favorite records! It's on the Hukilau site and on my latest CD heavily! I'll be...

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2004-06-08 10:47 ]

Would Martin Denny know anything about this guy? I'm sure what with them in the same musical line of business that it might be a delicate issue to bring up, but it would be cool to fill in the blanks on this artist.

As I recall, Alfred Apaka is credited with "discovering" Gene Rains. Any of Apaka's session men still alive? Relatives?

You Hawaiian TCer's, you stand on the edge of what I stood on 4 years ago when the only info on the web about Tiki Gardens was a collection of postcard folder images at the Imaginary World website. My journey of compiling info went beyond my wildest dreams.

The Quest for Gene Rains just might prove to be as unexpectedly rewarding. I bet there are photos of Gene Rains in concert sitting in someones drawer somewhere.

Let the quest be taken up!
TG
http://www.exotic-tiki-gardens.com

[ Edited by: tikigardener on 2004-06-08 22:52 ]

http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~pckg21c/music/music07/mu_rains.html

Image of the cover for Rains in the Tropics.

Same cover, with track listing.
http://www.kpr.ku.edu/retro/gallery/exotica/rains.htm

[ Edited by: TikiGardener on 2004-06-08 23:14 ]

TikiGardener,
I agree! There must be some information out there somewhere. There is a little bit of info on the back liner notes of the first release "Lotus Land". I'm at work right now, but I'll see if I can't gleen any info from that. I find the info on these exotica musicians fascinating. Its such a specialized genre that few LPs made it to CD, little is known about the remainders and even less seems to be known about many of the artists. I still can't find the release years for any of the Rains LPs, they simply aren't printed anywhere on the jackets or platters. I would like to create an exotica info database, but there is little out there. I guess this genre requires some good old fashioned detective work.

I too would be curious to see if any TC'ers out there in Hawaii can dig up anything on Rains.
Mark

let's face it...rains came to light late in history for Decca...they'd been pressing vinyl for 30+ possibly 40 years when these records were published...they just got sloppy and lazy...being that hawaiian music was so popular early on in the last century maybe they had made the assumtion that hawaiian tunes such as these were a thing of the past...

to me the rains group is much less of a hook riddled sound that that of the wonderful martin denny group or the like ...rains is WAY more relaxed (is that possible?) and more subtle...quiter in many ways...his records are obviously not populating sales bins like the baxter denny and lyman pressings are...he must not have seen the success that these staple groups did and most likely went into exotica before them as a pioneer and passed sadly unnoticed save for his contemporaries and people like us...it might be up to us fellow listeners to deduce what we can from what is left...near to nothing in so far as liner notes go...if we give it time (a relative term indeed) something will present itself...

all i can say to you is this...i have my eyes on the ebay community and the next rains record i DON'T have that pops up for auction will be mine...this i solemnly swear! you have been warned but know this also ...i'll share the treasures that lie in the grooves of this future record of mine in the form of mp3s

I've got 'Far Across the Sea' and 'Lotus Land' if anyone wants to trade CDR's of them for other exotica...

OK, here is some info I gathered from the back of the LP covers for Gene Rains:

LOTUS LAND:
"...it was the late Alfred Apaka who discovered the Rains group in some obscure bar in Honolulu and signed them for the big build-up in the famous Shell Bar of the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki. We (Decca records) happened to be there in Septeber of '59 on a recording junket...Alfred insisted that we listen to Gene and his quartet."
PERSONNEL: Gene Rains-Vibes, Paul Conrad-paino, Archie Grant-bass & flute, Allen Watanabe-percussion. Arrangements by Rains & Conrad (I think this is the same Paul Conrad who recorded a solo album called "Exotic Paradise" with the tucan bird on the cover)

The way I understand it; the Hawaiian Village is where Apaka was the music director. Apaka was also the one who hired Martin Denny's band (with Arthur Lyman) to play at the Village. Henry J. Kaiser was the owner of the Hawaiin Village where he built the "aluminum dome". Which is where the Arthur Lyman band recorded some of their albums.

i picked up that "Magic Islands Revisited" (w/ Alex Stordahl) today and it is pretty damn splendid...

while scouring my local high end record store here in LA i found 2 copies of Lotus Land...if anyone wants one i can give you the contact info to the place that has them on the shelf...it's so worth getting...gene rains first record and it's nice!

so if rains first made it onto wax in 59 then when was M Denny's first record date...anybody know off the top of their head?

Kooche, that image in your sig needs to be a mug. Hey Holden! I'd buy two!
TG

haha!
MUNKTIKI is the MAN for me when it comes to mug making! thanks for suggesting that you'd love a couple of these mugs...don't be surprised if it happens in time!

You make that puppy, I'm buyin'!

a chichi would taste good in one of these...then again a chichi is what it is...i could slurp one off of a truck stop bathroom floor and it'd be heaven!

Koochie,
I checked out that record store this weekend. I must say, I was impressed with the amount of records they had; stacked so high up, I couldn't even read the spines. It seems like the place you have to go in already knowing what you're looking for.

yeah it's a good idea to know what you want before you go into ANY record store...that way they can show you the section of the library that you want to scour...did you score that gene rains LP???

Actually I have a copy of the Lotus Land, I'm looking for the "Far Across the Sea" LP. And now that I just learned of its existance, I'm looking for the Alex Stordahl & Gene Rains LP too.

not sure if they have another copy but i picked up an alex s record there with a gene rains credit..."Magic Islands Revisited" mentioned in this thread previously...fantasitic record though there is more orchestration in it than on the other LPs...

already killed the whole circut here in la looking for gene rains stuff...atomic has squat...aron's has zilch....nobody has anything...i even hit the pasadena city college record swap ...NADA! the waiting game begins!!!

can't believe that there isn't a new find of this man's on ebay yet....the time is RIPE for a bidding war is it not???

Indeed!

Next time you're out Pasadena way, we should hook up. The hospitality of our courtyard is open to you. It is a little quite space that almost no one who walks in Old Towne knows exists. Sadly no Tikis, as it is shared with the other occupants of our building. But if I crank Mr Rains on the stereo, a little temporal shift occurs.
TG

Just picked up the Stordahl/Rains LP! Can't wait to get it home and give it a listen!!!!!! Woo Hoo

Just a quick note on the "Magic Island Revisited" album. Gene only plays between the songs of Alex. Sound odd? I thought so too, but the liner notes explain that in order for the listener to "stay"..."in the Magic Islands uninterrupted", Gene's music would come in to serve as a "beautiful bridge" between Alex's interpretations. These bridges last only a few seconds.

For my taste, Alex is a bit stringy and syrupy on "M.I.R." and I much prefer Gene's own "Lotus Land". But if you find "M.I.R." for a buck or two somewhere it's worth picking up for the pages of pictures included with the liner notes.

i just won a gene rains record on ebay for $12!

"rains in the tropics" is anyone here guilty of selling this bad boy to me???

either way...BONUS!

Kooche,
Great find. I have that LP too. IT is one of my top favorite Exotica albums and a cool cover too. Enjoy!
Mark

rains in the tropics is available once more ... i am just listening to my newly aquired copy and it is SO good...highly recommened!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=306&item=4028163234&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

HOLY CRAP!!! Look at this auction $76.00 for "Far Across The Sea"?!?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=306&item=4702030847&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

And theres another copy up wit a starting bid of twenty five cents!

Tiki Gardener
http://www.exotic-tiki-gardens.com

The link to the tracklist for "Rains in the Tropics" is dead.

Could somebody supply the track list?

Thanks

Gene Rains "Rains in the Tropics"

Side 1:

1. Bancock Cock Fight
2. Tiki
3. Song for Delilah
4. Mapuana
5. Soshu Night Serenade
6. Off Shore

Side 2:
7. Shadow of Love
8. Lonely Winter
9. I Will Always Love You (no, not the Whitney Houston one)
10. Flamingo
11. Shangri-la
12. Jasmine and Jade

and I must say, this is one of my top faviorite LPs!!!

[ Edited by: Digitiki 2005-08-16 20:32 ]

Mark (Digitiki), it is an understatement to say the archival information on Gene Rains is scarce. It looks like almost everything about him on the internet is from the same source, probably you (e.g., Wikipedia cites Tiki Central and the original contributor was a Yavaz, the name of your former Latin band, an unlikely coincidence).

I found a sprinkling of Gene Rains live performance articles (ads) in the 1960s from newspaper archives. The earliest...

The Chicago Tribune June 12, 1960

A review by Will Leonard of The Chicago Tribune dated June 19, 1960 observed that “The Polynesian Village has a relaxed, easy going show in the traditional style, with the Kent Ghirard dancers undulating, the Gene Rains quartet syncopating, and Kenny Black’s orchestra cooperating. The Ghirard girls, playing a return, operate with split bamboos, feathered gourds, imaginary canoes, black light, and nimble torsos. Danny Kaleikini sings the good old ‘Hawaiian War Chant,’ two grass skirted beef trust gals called the Tu-Tus do a heavy footed hula, and the melodies of the 50th state fill the air... Coming August 1: Arthur Lyman and his group...”

The Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, where Gene Rains performed, is beautifully explored in this Tiki Central thread by Sabu and other TC contributors... http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=34213&forum=2&start=0

The next seems an unlikely location for a Gene Rains performance...

The Southeast Missourian December 12, 1962

The Colony Club was located in East Cape Girardeau, Illinois, hardly my idea of a tiki Mecca. One article on Midwest illegal gambling (“Before there was Vegas there was the Midwest”) cited the Colony Club. It was one of about six or seven night clubs in the area that could afford to bring in big name performers because of the business in the back of the club. Apparently, the Purple Crackle was the most famous, opening its doors in 1939: “Legends like Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Woody Herman made the Crackle a preferred stop on the Memphis-St. Louis-Chicago circuit.” For more reading on this, there are some interesting stories here: http://midwestillegals.webs.com/illinoisstories.htm

The original Colony Club was destroyed by a fire in 1959, according to this blog post by Fred Lynch at http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/36282/...

“G.D. Fronabarger shot this picture of the fire that destroyed the Colony Club between McClure and East Cape Girardeau, Ill. on June 8, 1959. The story was published in the Southeast Missourian that afternoon.

Fire Destroys Colony Club; Owner Jumps to Safety

Southern Illinois' most plush nightspot, the Colony Club, located 4 miles east of Cape Girardeau at the junction of Highways 146 and 3, was destroyed by fire thought to have originated in the kitchen about 6 a.m. today. The loss to the main buildings housing the dining room, and adjacent buildings was estimated to be over $150,000 by observers. Damaged was reported to be partly covered by insurance.”

The place was rebuilt and it was in the new Colony Club that Gene Rains performed.

The final item was from a Los Angeles Times review by Elmer Pasta dated November 14, 1969 that reads in part “Buddy Fo, in a kind of budding Don Ho follow-up, has brought into Hop Louis’s Latitude 20 in Torrance an able troupe of colorful musicians and dancers to further prove to Mainlanders that ‘the old can live with the new’... The revue contained an even sample of Hawaii past and present... Well-practiced backup group for the entire show consisted of Henry Allen, guitarist-arranger; Gene Rains, vibes-organ; Eddie Kam, bass; and Harry Chang, drums... The lush tropical setting of the Latitude 20 is perfect atmosphere for this kind of fine family entertainment...”

Tiki-Kate started a Tiki Central thread on Latitude 20 here: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32581&forum=2

-Tom

Tom,
AMAZING!! Wow, that is some serious secret agent work there! At last we can see that Rains was popular enough to play on the main land. This has got to be a rare find!!!!