Tiki Svengali Otto Von Stroheim and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at Tiki Oasis!

How many times must it be said: Tiki Oasis is the most fabulous event of its kind known to man. Four nights and three days of folks dressed in loud, wildly-colored flower shirts and skirts, sipping rum drinks, diggin’ groovy, mid-century tiki culture, boss music and each other. Hosted by our pals Otto and Baby Doe Von Stroheim, it is held every August at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Diego. Tiki Oasis is the biggest tiki show on earth. This year it was held on August 14, 15, 16 and 17 and it featured such great musical acts as Davie Allan & the Arrows; The Satin Chaps (from Portland, OR), who also backed the legendary bongo player Preston Epps; The El Vez Revue; The Martini Kings; The Standells and Love Revisted with Johnny Echols; among many others.

With the beatnik theme this year—officially Beat Tiki—Phast Phreddie’s poetry-with-a-beat group of the late eighties Phast ‘n’ Bulbous was asked to reform and perform. Phast has been to Tiki Oasis several times and often DJ’s, too—and it is always a gas. However, since he was scheduled to perform with Phast ‘n’ Bulbous, thus having to schlep his semi-trusty, getting’ rusty C-melody saxophone all the way to San Diego, he really didn’t want to have to lug around a box of old 45s, too. So he initially balked when Otto asked him to DJ the party at the Bali Hai Restaurant—a swingin’ tiki-themed eatery on Shelter Island in San Diego—on the first night of Tiki Oasis. Otto was insistent, though and suggested that he bring some of his own records for the Phastman to DJ with. Well, who can refuse that—certainly not Phast Phreddie!

As it turned out, His Phastness was able to tote a box of about 55 45s with him on the plane. Good thing, too. Whereas the indoor party is often a chill-out zone (while hot surf music is played on the nearby outdoor stage), this time many tiki enthusiasts felt uppity and wanted to dance. The records that Otto packed contained mostly beatnik records, jazz, exotica—some great things and some of them got played early in the set. But once the freaky tiki folk signaled they wanted a hotter beat, The Boog was able to provide it.

The beatnik theme necessitated the inclusion of like-themed records, and records containing bongos; also, jazz records: bebop, modern and mod. It is largely the latter style that got the excitable tiki folk dancing and carrying on. Among Otto’s records that the Phastman played were those by Herbie Mann, Les Baxter, Dave Brubeck and a few others that have been lost in the brain freeze caused by a virgin peña colada. One of the highlights of the evening was a gang of folk in a rumba line, kickin’ it up to “La Burbuja” by Leticia Estrada, a cumbia-flavored version of the theme to “The Blob!”

Around 11:30, an event manager informed Phast Phreddie that the party would end in ten minutes. He was down to his last couple of records, and, indeed, pulled out the Benny Poole record to play again! Everything worked out!

Here is a list of the records (the ones that he brought) played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the Lanai Bar in the Bali Hai on the opening night of Tiki Oasis 2014:

• Al ‘Jazzbo’ Collins with Lou Stein at the piano–Little Red Riding Hood (A Grimm Fairy Tale for Hip Kids) (Brunswick)
• Kenny Clarke & His 52nd Street Boys–Oop-Bop Sh-Bam [from EP I Remember Bud Powell] (Int’l Records; Italy)
• Richard Pine–Beatnik Bill (Crystalette)
• Quincy Jones Orchestra–Harlem Drive/Rack ‘Em Up (Mercury)
• Babs Gonzalez–Cool Whalin’ #2 (JAB)
• Chilo Moran y su Conjunto–Oh Oh La-La (RCA Victor)
• Jack Costanzo and his Afro-Cuban Band–Chopsticks Mambo (G.N.P.)
• Slim Gaillard–Yep Roc Heresay (Era)
• The string bass of Charles Mingus with accompaniment–Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (Part I) (Atlantic)
• René Touzet and His Orchestra–El Loco Cha Cha (Amarren Al Loco) (G.N.P.)
• Bob McFadden and Dor–The Beat Generation (Brunswick)
• King Pleasure, vocal–Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid (Prestige)
• Cal Tjader–My Little Red Book (Skye)
• The Thelonious Monk Quartet–Bye-Ya (Columbia)
• Sal Mayo with Teo Macero and the Orch.–Cement Mixer (Put-Ti Put-Ti) (Columbia)
• The Coasters–Soul Pad (Date)
• Dizzy Gillespie–Good Bait (Philips)
• Les Elgart and His Orchestra–Voo Doo Drums (Columbia)
• Earl Grant–House of Bamboo (Decca)
• Xavier Cugat–Watermelon Man (Mercury)
• Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and His Clowns–Beatnik Blues (Ace)
• Jack Costanzo–I Got a Bongo (Liberty)
• Ninapinta and his Bongos and Congas–(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Decca)
• Tamiko Jones with Herbie Mann–Day Tripper (Atlantic)
• Cal Tjader–Soul Sauce (Gaucha Guaro) (Verve)
• Freddie McCoy–Summer in the City (Prestige)
• Jimmy Smith–Chain of Fools (Part I) (Verve)
• Woody Herman–I Can’t Get Next to You (Cadet)
• Mongo Santamaria–I Got You (I Feel Good) (Columbia)
• James Brown & the Famous Flames–Bring It Up (King)
• Hully Gully Boys–Yabba (Amy)
• Lou Christie–Guitars and Bongos (Colpix)
• Frankie Brent–Bangin’ on the Bongo (Cameo)
• The Chanters–Bongo Bongo (M-G-M)
• Preston Epps–Afro Mania (Jo-Jo)
• Grupo Santa Cecilia–Africa Bump (Orfeon)
• Dave Bartholomew–Shrimp & Gumbo (Imperial)
• Ramsey Lewis Trio–The ‘In’ Crowd (Argo)
• The Jazz Crusaders featuring Joe Sample on piano–Uptight (Everything’s Alright) (Pacific Jazz)
• Gatemouth Brown–Summertime (Cue)
• Bob Thiele and his New Happy Times Orch. with Gabor Szabo–Light My Fire (Impulse)
• Leticia Estrada–La Burbuja (Musart; Mexico)
• Mongo Santamaria–Cold Sweat (Columbia)
• Perez Prado y su Orquesta–Mambo de King Kong (Infopesa; Peru)
• Preston Epps–B’wana Bongos (Donna)
• Gabor Szabo–The Beat Goes On (Impulse)
• Dick Hyman and ‘The Group’–Respect (Command)
• Herbie Mann–Philly Dog (Atlantic)
• Ramsey Lewis–Ain’t That Peculiar (Cadet)
• Billy Larkin and the Delegates–Hold on, I’m Comin’ (World Pacific)
• Benny Poole–Pearl Baby Pearl (Solid Hit)
• Preston Epps–Bongo Boogie (Majesty)
• Neal Scott; The Fortunes; Sam Pruitt and His Orchestra–Go Bohemian (Clown)

None of these records are for sale.

 More photos of Beat Tiki fun…click on them and they will magically Big-O-Fi!

Nancy “Jeannie” Gardner swings at the Bali Hai–first night of Tiki Oasis!

Davie Allan and the Arrows rock at Tiki Oasis!

Preston Epps discusses his life as a bongo player with Duke Weiss at Tiki Oasis!

The Unclaimed supply garage rock gold at Tiki Oasis!

The Devil-Ettes supply sublimely choreographed routines at Tiki Oasis!

The Little Richards played a room party that was too packed to get a good photo of them!

Tony from The Martini Kings and Paul from Phast ‘n’ Bulbous supply bop for King Kukulele at Tiki Oasis!

El Vez exhibits exquisite form at Tiki Oasis!

The Boog visits DJ Howie Pyro as he swings poolside at Tiki Oasis!

Baby Doe Stroheim Go-Go dances for Preston Epps at Tiki Oasis!

Connie T Empress, The Empress of Soul and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at the DYNAGROOVE!

On Friday August 8, a very special DYNAGROOVE took place at Teddy’s Bar & Grill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Our pal Kiki Lenoue rounded up a bunch of our friends to celebrate the birthday of one of our inspirations: The Empress of Soul, Connie T Empress. It was really her birthday on the second, but who cares when it can be celebrated with such fabulousness at the DYNAGROOVE!

As you may know, The Empress was the den mother of the Empire State Soul Club—New York City’s first soul club, which held forth from the mid eighties to the mid nineties. When DYNAGROOVE (and BOOGALOO BAG) host Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus first came to New York in 1992, he went to an Empire State Soul Club event that December and was greatly impressed. He then attended whenever he could. The Empress was always there, looking fabulous in her tiara and playing fabulous records. So it was a special pleasure for The Boog to be the host (of sorts) for her birthday party. After the traditional singing of “Happy Birthday to You,” The Boog played the most excellent Impressions record, “The Woman’s Got Soul.” The Empress also agreed to play a few records that night, kicking it off in an appropriate manner with “Soul Girl” by Jeanie and the Darlings on Volt. All hail The Empress!!!

Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Sheila B swing at the DYNAGROOVE!

However, none of this should eclipse the shine that belongs to the official guest DJ of the evening: Sheila B—who is a world-renown collector of girl group records. She had heavy involvement with one of the greatest CD reissue box-sets of all time: One Kiss Can Lead to Another – Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found, a four CD compilation of some of the finest and sublimest girl group records ever made, all packaged in hat box. Usually when she DJs out, she plays some of the fantastic records from this collection. So it was particularly special for the DYNAGROOVE when she actually played some records by men!! Miss Sheila B is a class act and we hope to get her back to the DYNAGROOVE again real soon.

For his part, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus admits to having been swayed to play more soul records and more records by female singers than usual (especially later in the evening), as the following list of the records he played can attest:

• Charlie Parker–Now’s the Time (Columbia; UK)
• Clyde Dickerson and the Tear Drops–Cool Weekend (Eastern)
• Stu Phllips presents The Golden Gate Strings–I’m a Believer (Epic)
• Ornette Coleman–Una Muy Bonita Part 1 (Atlantic)
• Donovan–Preachin’ Love (Epic)
• The Jim Conley Combo–Nite-Lite Slop (Dempsey)
• The Music of David Seville–Almost Good (Liberty)
• Byron Lee and the Dragonaires–Slow Run (JAD)
• The Stylistics–People Make the World Go Round (Avco)
• Road Runners–Every Man for Himself (Funk Prophecy)
• Slim Smith–Ain’t Too Proud to Beg (Jaguar; Jamaica)
• The Soulful Strings–Groovin’ [from EP Groovin’ With The Soulful Strings] (Cadet)
• The Zombies–Walking in the Sun [from EP The Zombies at Work (n’ Play)] (Big Beat; UK)
• Gerald Wilson Orchestra–California Soul (Pacific Jazz)
• Harvey Mandel–Wade in the Water Part I (Philips)
• Willie Hobbs–Do Your Own Thing (Seventy 7)
• Massie Patterson & Lord Zebedee–Shimmy Like a Lady [from EP The Calypso Carnival] (Columbia)
• Peter Duchin–Light My Fire (Decca)
• The Cha Cha Rhythm Boys–Son Dos Luceros (Fiesta)
• Lincoln Chase with Billy Mure’s Medicine Men–Deep in the Jungle (Part I) (Spalsh)
• Susan Barrett–It’s No Secret (RCA Victor)
• Frankie Love–First Star (Loma)
• The Jazz Tribe–Wa-Pa-Cha (Little Star)
• The Mighty Confuser with Claude ‘Fats’ Greene Orch.–Space Man Glenn (Cab)
• Letta Mbulu–Aredze (Capitol)
• James Darren–(Let’s Worry About) Tomorrow, Tomorrow (Warner Bros.)
• Les Sultans–Je T’aime Bien (Jeunesse Franco; Canada)
• Pete Jolly–A Sign of the Times (Columbia)
• Lee Dorsey–Why Wait Until Tomorrow (Amy)
• Jacob Miller–Shakey Girl (Joe Gibbs Record Globe; Jamaica)
• The Soul Providers–Soul Jasper (Desco)
• The Casper Trio–The Beat Goes On (Casper)
• Etta James–Two Sides (To Every Story) (Argo)
• B.J. Baker–Anywhere (Decca)
• Miss LaVelle–Run to You (Duke)
• The Hornets–Seven Days to Tahiti (Columbia)
• Ramsey Lewis–Soul Man (Cadet)
• Chris Clark–Don’t Be Too Long (V.I.P.)
• Barbara Feldon–99 (RCA Victor)
• The Ventures–Ginza Lights (Dolton)
• Bobby Emmons–Mack the Knife (Hi)
• Prince Buster and His All Stars–Get Ready (Part I) (Prince Buster; Jamaica)
• Frank Armstrong and the Stingers–Stuffed Peppers (Modern)
• Emy Jackson–Don’t Break My Heart (CBS; Japan)
• The Impressions–Woman’s Got Soul (ABC-Paramount)
• The Platters–Shing-A-Ling-A-Loo (Musicor)
• The Five Blobs–The Blob (Columbia)
• Russell Evans and the Nite Hawks–The Bold (Atco)
• The Isley Brothers–Don’t Give It Away (T-Neck)
• Mike Sharpe–Funky Serenade (Liberty)
• Kenny Hamber–Show Me Your Monkey (De Jac)
• Hermanas Benitez–El Monkey (Discophon; Spain)
• Sugar Boy–Jock-A-Mo (Checker)
• Sir Issac and the Do-Dads–The Big Dipper (Volt)
• Earl Lett Quartet–Do the Thing (Wild)
• Chuck Bernard–Hobo Flats (Maverick)
• Toots & Maytals–I Can’t Believe (Starapple; Jamaica)
• The Vibrettes–Humpty Dump pt. 1 (Lujon)
• The X-Citers Unlimted–Soul to Billie Joe (ABC)
• Tony Roman–Mustang Sally (Canusa; Canada)
• Ernie K-Doe–A Certain Girl (Minit)
• Sam & Dave–I Thank You (Stax)
• Rhetta Hughes–You’re Doing With Her–When It Should Be Me (Tetragrammaton)
• The Realistics–What’cha Gonna Do (Loma)
• The Gladiators–Girl Don’t Make Me Wait (Direction; UK)
• Samantha Jones–Ford Leads the Way (Ford; UK)
• Miss Ursela Walker–The Javelin Beat (American Motors)
• Joe Tex–I Wanna Be Free (Dial)
• Bobby Byrd–Gonna Need My Lovin’ (Smash)
• Los Valldemosa–Mendocino (Phiips; Spain)
• Sylvie Vartan–De Ma Vie (Rescue Me) (RCA Victor; France)
• The Rev-Lons–It’s Gonna Happen Some Day (Reprise)
• The Third Rail–The Shape of Things to Come (Epic)
• The Wild Ones–Aozora No Arukagiri (Capitol; Japan)
• The Animals–Baby Let Me Take You Home (M-G-M)
• Fats Domino–Have You Seen My Baby? (Reprise)
• Ramsey Lewis–Ain’t That Peculiar (Cadet)
• Ella Fitzgerals–Sunshine of Your Love (Prestige)
• La Lupe–Down on Me (Roulette)
• Carmen Rivero y Su Conjunto–Pata Pata (Discos Columbia)
• Vicki Anderson–Baby Don’t You Know (King)
• Bar-Kays–Knucklehead (Volt)
• The Impressions–Check Out Your Mind (Curtom)
• Jimmy McGriff–Let’s Stay Together (Groove Merchant)
• Arthur Lyman–Afro Blues (HiFi)

None of these records are for sale!  Photos by Nancy Gardner.

Do the Limbo, baby!!

Our pal and superfine DJ Josh Styles is often involved with some pretty exciting events—many generated by The Man himself. For the second or third year in a row, he has been asked to make something fabulous happen following the Dick Dale performance at the Brooklyn Bowl. On August 2, he did just that. Not only did he round up some cool DJs, but he got Anna Copa Cabanna to Go-Go dance, he put a grass skirt on the DJ booth, threw a bunch of beach balls out on the dance floor (do the kick-ball, baby!) and got horror film maker Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Brain Damage) to MC a limbo contest! Plus, there were prizes and surprises galore! And he called it Surf City!

The great Dick Dale did his show, displaying his incendiary guitar playing and ending with his signature theme, “Miserlou.” It took a while to get the DJ booth set up, but once it was, WHAM, Surf City was in full blown non-stop Go-Go mode, with DJs Drew Redmond (Finger Lickin’ Fridays), Mike Hunchback (Screeching Weasel), Mr. Styles (of course) and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, blasting rockin’ trash all night long. Mr. Redmond played his usual trash (that is to say, the wild and rockin’ stuff!) and Mr. Styles played some excellent beach-summer-surf-car-themed songs (“I Live for the Sun” has got to be one of the greatest records of all time!), leaving Mr. Hunchback and The Boog to whip the crowd into a frenzy with some hot guitar-driven surf instrumentals.

Apparently, The Boog has become the go-to guy for limbo dance parties, as he was called upon to play calypso records during the limbo dance contest held at Surf City! Let Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus play calypso records at YOUR next limbo dance party!!! Call him today!

Mike Hunchback swings with another hot surf instrumental at Surf City!

Sophie Thunder, Frank Henenlotter and Josh Styles swing at Surf City!

DJ Ratta won a cool Ventures record in the Limbo Contest at Surf City!

Drew Redmond and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at Surf City.

Click on the photos and they will Big-O-Fi!

Here’s a list of all the 45s played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus:

• The Astronauts–Baja (RCA Victor)
• Sandy Nelson–Pipeline (Imperial)
• Yuzo Kayama–Black Sand Beach (Toshiba; Japan)
• The Dave Clark Five–On the Move (Epic)
• Guitar Ramblers–Surf Beat (Columbia)
• The Arrows featuring Davie Allan–Moon Dawg ’65 (Tower)
• The Music City Five–Wipe Out (Hit)
• The Chiefs–Tom Tom (Valiant)
• Ronny Kae–Swinging Drums (LEO)
• Billy & the King Bees–Susie Q (Volt)
• The Revels with Barbara Adkins–Church Key (Impact)
• The Avantis–Wax ’Em Down (Chancellor)
• Curtis Knight & the Squires–Hornet’s Nest (RSVP)
• Dick Dale and the Del-Tones–Mr. Eliminator (Capitol)
• The Ventures–Escape (Liberty; Japan)
• The Gee Cees–Buzz Saw Twist (Crest)
• Jimmy Gordon–Buzzzzzz (Challenge)
• Kookie Joe–Kookie Limbo (Nermel)
• Telco Recording Orch.–Madam Dracula (Telco; West Indies)
• Lord Funny–Soul Chick (Antillana)
• The Eloise Trio–Chi Chi Merengue (Decca)
• The Charmer with Johnny McCleverty Calypso Boys–Back to Back, Belly to Belly (Monogram)
• Lord Superior with ‘Fats’ Greene Orch.–Calypso Twist (Cab)
• ‘Fats’ Greene featuring Pritchard–Green Bananas No. 2 (Camille)
• The Roemans–Misirlou (ABC-Paramount)
• The Ventures–Comin’ Home Baby (Dolton)
• The Rondels–Back Beat No. 1 (Amy)
• The Turtlenecks–Vibrations (Audio Fidelity)
• The Surfaris–Wipe Out (Dot)
• The Rondels–110 Lbs. of Drums (Amy)
• Davie Allan and the Arrows–U.F.O. (Tower)
• Los Belking’s–Setima Patrulla (Virrey; Peru)
• Gene ‘The Draggin’ King’ Moles–Burning Rubber (Challenge)
• Cecil Moore and the Notes–Diamond Back (Atco)
• The Road Runners–Road Runnah (Felsted)
• The Lively Ones–Surf Rider (Del-Fi)
• The Hollywood Tornadoes–The Gremmie (Part I) (Aertaun)
• Freddy King–Sen-Sa-Shun (Federal)
• The Young Ones–Sour Grapes (Columbia)

None of these records are for sale.