In The News...
(updated 3/4/2005)
WAITIKI
- From the Boston Globe, 4 March 2005
Waitiki is different from other bands ... by all accounts it's one of two ensembles
in the world that still performs exotica, which was named after a 1957 album
by Martin Denny and is best described -- and not well at all -- as an island-flavored
blend of drums, marimbas, birdcalls, and woodwinds. Or that Waitiki shows
have been known to include kung fu and watermelons. The members of the Boston-based
ensemble are on a mission to create a Polynesian experience that goes beyond
the ears. Formed in 2003 by Randy Wong, a bassist, and drummer
Abe Lagrimas Jr., who moved to Boston to study, respectively, at the New
England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, Waitiki wants to transport
an audience as far away from Boston (or Pittsburgh or Newport) as they can
get without buying a plane ticket.
Read Joan
Anderman's full article at boston.com or
download the pdf here.
- From the Boston Herald, 4 March 2005
Here's a combination that will melt the icicles
in any New Englander's brain: Polynesian drums, grass-skirted singers, groovy
rhythms courtesy of lounge music hero Juan Garcia Esquivel, and the tiki-torch
exclamation point - a full tropical drink list. That should thaw visitors
to the Lizard Lounge tonight when the 19-piece Waitiki Orchestrotica performs
the exotica music of Hawaii and the "space-age bachelor pad'" sounds of Esquivel
... Waitiki got its start two years ago after Hawaii natives-turned-Boston
transplants Randy Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr. decided to form
a band that would update one of the island's most famous musical exports: the
bright, breezy sound that got its name from Martin
Denny's album "Exotica" ...
Read Bob
Young's full article or download the pdf here.
- From the Boston Globe, 5 March 2004
"...And if you need something more
exotic, the group Waitiki offers a night of traditional
Hawaiian music mixed with jazz at the Lizard Lounge tomorrow." Read
more in Rock
Picks by Steve Morse.
- From The Lowell Sun, 3 February 2004
“...Hawaii is big on the spirit of “ho’okipa” (to
entertain)...The high-energy WAITIKI Band was afire with irresistible music,
the hibachis merrily cooked away with exotic delicacies and the drinks table
offered gorgeous refreshers... Randy Wong and Abe Lagrimas
in lava lava outfits guided the Waitiki crew with lots of ukuleles, gongs,
African percussion and Hawaiian exotica, added to bass, saxophone and vibes.
They were a huge success...”
- From The Honolulu Weekly, 1 October 2003
“...Forty-four years since Martin Denny hit No. 1 on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart for 13 weeks (he remains the only Hawai’i-based musician
to climb that high) with the iconic album Quiet Village, he’s still
influencing people. The degrees of separation are few. The late Arthur
Lyman, that other earl of exotica, got his start in Denny’s band.
Now a Lyman protégé, Randy Wong, is the
cofounder and bassist of WAITIKI, a band spreading the tenets of tiki in
Boston where Wong is getting his master’s in arts education at Harvard.
His bandmate is wunderkind drummer Abe Lagrimas, a Waipahu boy who performed
with Don Tiki before moving to Boston to attend the Berklee College of
Music....” Full
story available at www.honoluluweekly.com
- Read
about my memories of Exotica's legendary vibraphonist, Arthur Lyman at www.arthurlyman.com.
Akamai Brain Collective Articles & CD
Reviews!
- From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 5 March 2004
"The
Akamai Brain Collective consists of three former islanders now studying music
in New England. Abe Lagrimas Jr. plays most of the instruments and handles
the vocals, Randy Wong is the bassist and Eric Lagrimas is the engineer/
producer, but adds a few music tracks as well. All three write, and their
work suggests that they grew up listening to Pure Heart, Audy Kimura, Martin
Denny, Ohta-san, Daniel Ho and possibly Chopin as well..." Read
more in John Berger's Island Mele column ...
- From the Honolulu Advertiser, 15 February 2004
"Three Island pals went to
Boston to college to study music — but
also jammed on the side. The Akamai Brain Collective is one of the results,
a collaboration of Abe Lagrimas, Eric Lagrimas and Randy Wong. The music
is original, with obvious Island riffs ('ukulele, guitar, bongos, marimbas),
with reflections of Island life ("Pineapple Bug," "Island
Smile") that can be visualized even without words. One vocal, "Miles," is
one of those yearnings from across the sea, delivered with tenderness ..." Read
more in Wayne
Harada's Island Sounds column ...
- From AA Rising, February 2004 issue
"...Musically, the album is a fun toe-tapping
group of songs ... the listener may have to pick and
choose favorites but there is something for everyone to choose. " Read
more at the AA Rising
website.
- From the Boston Herald, 03 February 2004
"Tropical Trio: Clad in Hawaiian shirts, the
Akamai Brain Collective's Eric Lagrimas, Abraham Lagrimas Jr. and Randy Wong
played jazz fusion at 'Go Hawaiian on Family Day' at the American Textile History
Museum in Lowell." Check out the PDF here!
(2.2MB)
FEATURE
ARTICLE: "Beethoven By Day, Tiki By Night"
- From The Appian, 27 October
2003
"While many at the Harvard Graduate School
of Education (HGSE) see their future careers taking place within a school
building as teachers or administrators, Randy Wong sees himself on stage.
This laid-back, 22 year-old Hawaii-born student in the Arts and Education
program wants to play the classical bass, discovering ways to learn and
teach through music..." Read
more at www.theappian.org
or download a .pdf version [68kb].
OTHER:
- From the Iolani Bulletin, Spring 2004
"Randy Wong has just released the CD Akamai
Brain Collective with
partners Eric Lagrimas and Abe Lagrimas Jr. Randy received a Bachelor of Music
degree from New England Conservatory of Music..." Read
more here, in a pdf version of this document.
- From the Iolani Bulletin, Winter 2004
"Randy Wong graduated
with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in
Boston, Massachusetts, last spring with a
degree in classical double bass performance.
Since then, he's been keeping himself busy
with numerous performance and recording
projects, including the trio AKAMAI BRAIN
COLLECTIVE (ABC), a progressive
Hawaiian jam band releasing its first CD in
early December, and WAITIKI, a Bostonbased
exotica show band in the style of Don
Tiki and Martin Denny..." Read
more here, in a pdf version of this document.
- From The Appian, 27 October 2003
"Two students in the Arts in Education program, Tonja King and Randy
Wong, offered a performance piece consisting of an original vocal
and musical arrangement. Wong played the oboe [sic] in accompaniment to King's
spoken and musical rendition ... Randy played to Tonja's vocal renditions
with a mixture of jazz-influenced improvisations and several classical musical
references ..." Read at www.theappian.org,
or download a PDF here.
All original compositions © by their
respective owners.
To contact me (Randy Wong), e-mail
me directly.