Refreshing!

Rich in dextrose!

Ultra-Lounge Presents: Mondo Exotica

     Imagine sitting in a tiki-themed bar on some exotic beach.  The palm trees sway intoxicatingly in the warm, balmy breeze.  You order a cocktail and light the palm oil candle at your table.  Somewhere close, an exotic bird answers the call of the wild...  It's called "Exotica", and it arrived with the soldiers returning home from WWII.  Suddenly in the 50's everyone everywhere had a taste for the exotic, the mysterious.  Themed restaurants like Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber's started popping up everywhere, and a musical genre was born consisting primarily of music that we sophisticated Americans thought music from Polynesia, Southeast Asia, and Hawaii would or should sound like, although in reality it was complete and total fantasy.  Still, it caught on like wildfire, and with artists like Martin Denny and Les Baxter releasing classic albums like "Exotica" and "Ritual of the Savage", by 1960 the exotica craze was in full swing.  The genre would last until the late 60s and  the Vietnam War, and then would become a forgotten part of musical history.

     Exotica, like swing, experienced a white-hot comeback in the 1990's.  Re-surfacing as "lounge" music, suddenly this long forgotten musical genre was discovered again.  In 1996, along with the Swing Revival, Capitol Records put out the definitive (in my opinion) collection of "lounge" music- "Ultra-Lounge".  Starting with "Mondo Exotica", the collection would brilliantly cover not only exotica, but swing, jazz, space-age pop, mambo... you name it.  Packed with fantastically fun information on the origins of each genre and fabulous photos, the CD sets are amazing time capsules- it's music so original and weird that you can't help but gasp in delight.  I was immediately hooked and within 3 months had the first 22 in the series.

     "Mondo Exotica" is pure mood and atmoshphere.  It's music that requires candlelight and imagination.  This is coolness at its coolest.  You're immediately transported to a dark, smoky Polynesian lounge, or possibly some other faraway land.  Throw in a dash of adventure, romance, and intrigue and what!  Instant action.  These CD's even come with at least 2 different cocktail recipes in each booklet!  Full of classic exotica, it's an extra-ordinary album for the times when Top 40 just won't do.  And the sound quality is nothing short of astonishing.  Mysterious, evocative, sultry, and campy, it's simply some of the coolest music ever recorded.  I know I keep saying "cool" alot, but after listening to this CD you'll understand.  No luau is complete without this playing in the background, so light the tiki torches and pour yourself a Zombie.  You are in for a trip...

RETRO PULP ART GALLERY #1

     There's just something fascinating about the classic pulp magazines and stories. Pulp ran the gamut of many different genres- detective/mystery, gangster, sci-fi, western, even horror.  I love the lurid art featured on the covers, which usually ranged from erotic and exploitative to sensational.  The artwork usually featured half-dressed women in danger and distress, usually being held at gunpoint by some psycho thug on a dark street corner.  In these wonderful images, the city is always dark, dangerous, and exciting.  It's seedy and grimy.  It's alive- full of tough talking broads and hard knocking thugs, hardass detectives and molls on the run.  Danger lurks around every corner...

 

Sway by Julie London

     And it's always time for some Julie London...

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly by Leroy Holmes

     So as I mentioned, I just got back from the desert.  The mood is still lingering.  There's just something cool about the desert.  I dig it.  And me being me, I kept expecting to see Clint Eastwood around every cactus.  This song seems appropriate.

The Pancake Diner

     Hey kids- just got back from vacation.  It was a lovely jaunt through New Mexico and Arizona, and we had the best breakfast I think I've ever had at the Pancake Diner, adjacent to our room in lovely Las Cruses, New Mexico.  It was a total 50s time capsule, and so fun I felt compelled to share with.  Hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Something Stupid Like I Love You by Frank and Nancy Sinatra

     Spending four weeks at the #1 spot on the Billboard top 100 chart, "Something Stupid Like I Love You" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra became Frank's second gold single.  It was also a first of sorts, as it was the only time a father/daughter act scored a #1 single in America.  This song would go on to be recorded many times by other artists, but this is the definitive version.

A 7 Up Christmas

Christmas Time Is Here

     Nothing evokes  Christmas memories like Vince Guaraldi's magical and wonderful score to the holiday chestnut "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  This was Christmas to me, and it hasn't lost one bit of its charm .  It simply wouldn't be Christmas without Charlie Brown, and that's all I have to say about it.

Fallen Angel

     Tonight on the Late Show is the excellent film-noir "Fallen Angel", directed by Otto Preminger.  Although it wasn't a hit upon its initial release in 1945, it is now rightly considered a true noir classic that looks simply smashing on DVD today.  It stars hunky Dana Andrews (in maybe his finest performance...), Alice Faye, and Linda Darnell, and tells the tale of a drifter named Eric Stanton who gets off a bus in a small California town and falls in love with a sultry waitress named Stella.  Before long, Eric is madly in love with the saucy Stella, and desperate to get money to marry her,winds up marrying another woman, (Alice Face) with plans to swindle her and take the money.  But of course, something goes wrong in typical noir fashion and before you know it, you've got yourself totally immersed in a wonderful little mystery that snaps and crackles right along perfectly.

     This is film-noir at its finest and under-appreciated.  There's something very alluring about this movie.  It's got atmosphere you could cut with a knife, excellent acting, a rather intriguing plot, and excellent cinematography and lighting.  This was Otto Preminger's follow-up to his hugely successful "Laura", and this film is primarily remembered as the last film Alice Faye would make for another 20 years or so, as she was so angered at her screen time cut in favor of the more sexual Linda Darnell.  But it's an underrated noir that deserves a better reputation, if you ask me.  It moves along briskly and I found myself totally lost in it. It's stylish and sexy and although not quite as good as "Laura", it's still well worth a look.  It's a nice little mystery that really strings you along while watching.  It's a great way to spend a rainy afternoon with nothing else to do.