![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Lounge Culture
![]() ![]() ![]() Cool jazz, martinis, old Las Vegas, the Rat Pack.They add up to lounge culture, which is experiencing a resurgence of late. Don't call it kitsch, because you'll only ruffle the feathers of the true aficionados. Instead, pop a disc onto the hi-fi, mix the exotic cocktail of your choice, and cruise onto the Web, where you'll find a surprising amount of goodies for the citizens of Cocktail Nation.
![]()
What, pray tell, is Space Age Bachelor Pad Music ? A short essay linked here attempts to define the movement. This site is the definitive starting point for lounge culture on the Web. Learn everything you need to know about Esquivel, the space age pop mastermind who started it all, then move on to Martin Denny and Ferrante and Teicher. You'll find sound files, an amazing gallery of exotic album covers (perfect candidates for background wallpaper), news on upcoming releases of interest, and tips on finding the original vinyl LPs. The pages aren't written in a snooty, exclusive style but rather with the flair of the zealot who welcomes you to the fold. We relished the pointers to radio shows and lounges of interest across the country and the top 20 discography for neophytes.
![]()
Combustible Edison, the brainchild of the mysterious duo of Miss Lily Banquette and The Millionaire, released I, Swinger in 1994 and is featured on the soundtrack of Four Rooms. Learn fun facts about the definitive Cocktail Nation band here, peruse a discography, print out The Millionaire's recipe for a cocktail called the Saturnalian Sling, and note the important fashion advice from Miss Tamara (the exclusive couturier to Combustible Edison), who invites you to send in questions. Read an interview with drummer Aaron Oppenheimer and log in regularly for updates from the band. Stay fabulous!
Lounge Los Angeles magazine has been documenting the lounge revolution since 1986. Its on-line version is chock-full of news and reviews of the L.A. lounge scene: where to eat, where to drink, where to lament the passing of great L.A. landmarks like the soon-to-be-demolished Chasen's. This is required reading for anyone living in or visiting Los Angeles, with a near-complete listing of tiki bars, piano bars, and other pertinent sites of interest. Lounge Los Angeles admirably stresses the need for preservation of historic modern buildings.
The Jazz Photography of Ray Avery is an on-line exhibition hosted by the University of California at Irvine for Ray Avery's jazz photography. Ray started photographing the West Coast jazz scene in the early 50s, and most of these photos are from that period. As you'd expect from an academic site, there's plenty of background, a biography, and a bibliography. The ties to lounge culture become obvious when you see the shot of Chet Baker in a Hawaiian shirt against a wall of bamboo. Once you've taken the tour, which includes audio samples, you can order books featuring Ray's photography and some rare Pacific Jazz CDs.
Ring-a-Ding Ding! is the central font of information about the Chairman of the Board. While it doesn't excel in showing nifty graphics, this no-nonsense site documents Frank Sinatra better than any other site. Get Ol' Blue Eyes' recipe for spaghetti sauce, learn what he really thinks about rock music, and get lyrics to many of the songs he popularized. You can also read articles, reviews, and interviews; learn about upcoming books and recordings; check out the FAQ file and mailing list; and download graphics.
MisterLUCKY resists the appellation 'zine, calling itself a "quarterly musical communique" celebrating jazz and Latin music and cocktails. The on-line version of this magazine features CD reviews (in which ratings are given in martini glasses rather than stars), a cocktail-of-the-quarter, and the last word on making the perfect martini. If you're interested in jazz, vocal, and world music, check this site out.
The Rat Pack is dedicated to the days before Vegas became a family theme park. You'll see a little more information here than at The Big Casino (see below), but it's mainly a grab bag of pictures and sound files of Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Angie Dickinson, and Frank Sinatra. Once you've run through those once or twice check out the "kool linx" to other sites.
The Roots of Lounge, based on a public radio documentary, concisely explains the origins of lounge music. It's studded along the way with pointers to relevant topics like hi-fi, Hawaii, beatniks, and jazz.
Swank-O-Rama is an admirable attempt to bring together the odds and ends that somehow in combination define lounge culture. This variety plate includes a definition of lounge music, a collection of some fabulous cocktail recipes, and some pointers to fashion sites and other places of interest. It's small, but interesting in its manifesto-like brashness: "Cast off your flannel shirts, burn your Nirvana CDs and pour out your pitchers of beer." Indeed!
Like the tiki lounge and the swanky casino, the great American motel threatens to fade away into obscurity. Motel Americana documents motels in (so far) Ohio and Florida for posterity. The tour guides have taken cool photographs of multicolored neon signs by moonlight and included pointers to other motel and travel pages.
The Big Casino concisely explains why Ocean's Eleven (the quintessential Rat Pack movie, shot in Vegas in 1960) is so cool: "Cocktails are imbibed and cigarettes are smoked with an air of great panache." That's lounge culture, in a nutshell. Unfortunately, other than some pictures and data on Ocean's Eleven, there's not much else of interest.
New Jack Web: Lounge Nation is Merlin Mann's annotated pointers to some lounge culture sites of interest.
Cocktail.Com features some drink recipes you might not have seen before, although considering the domain name, the listing should be considerably more complete.
While mostly of interest to bar owners, the on-line version of Nightclub & Bar Magazine features the Web's most comprehensive directory of clubs and bars.
![]()
Copyright (c) 1995 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. Internet Life and the Internet Life logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. |
![]() QUICK CLICK! Space Age Bachelor Pad Music Combustible Edison Lounge Los Angeles The Jazz Photography of Ray Avery Ring-a-Ding Ding! MisterLUCKY The Rat Pack The Roots of Lounge Swank-O-Rama Motel Americana The Big Casino New Jack Web: Lounge Nation Cocktail.Com Nightclub & Bar Magazine The Joy of Coffee Cyber Cafe The Trojan Room Coffee Machine |