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| It's not very often you live in a neighborhood with a radio station in your own back yard. It may not matter to a lot of people as they are used to hearing stations coming in from the other side of town or, in today's case of limited locally produced shows, on the other side of the country. Another factor is if the station in question is either independent with actual people running the place or one of those satellite stations that run on computers that sound more creepier than Hal 2000. Westchester can easily claim the "independent neighborhood radio station" status with KXLU-FM that broadcasts from the Loyola Marymont University. The station's history goes back to the 20's and if you go to the LINK page and click the KXLU HISTORY page you'll find out more. (look, it's bad enough I'm pouring this personal shtick out here...) Despite the station's many years of service to the area, I wasn't hip to it until many years later as I was too busy listening to KHJ and KFI for my top 40 fix. Guess my ears weren't big enough yet, though listening to those early Dr. Demento shows did flex them enough. Around 1990, I was slowly beginning to pick up on things 'tiki'. Bumping into those strange and cool "tiki" buildings throughout my life had been building up in my sub-conscious were ready to spill out and I begun to take some picture of them. It was at the Second Time Around record store in Torrance where I saw my first Tiki records. Didn't know who Martin Denny was, but the lady on the cover (Sandy Warner) was a one serious babe! It wasn't until 1992 when the potholes of the road towards lounge/tiki knowledge were about to be filled in. I bumped into the radio schedule in the LA Weekly and it mentioned a radio show on KXLU-FM that was playing "tiki records" on Tuesday nights and it was called the 'Molotov Cocktail Hour'. I decided to tune in and check this deal out. I was sucked in instantly. Soon I began to learn many of those missing pieces of the BGM in my youth and learned more names like Esquivel, Friends Of Dean Martin, Raymond Scott, Karla Pandit, Julie London (another hot mama!!!) and so on. Add to the advent of small press and publications like the late and great 'Cool & Strange Music' Magazine, I was way over my head with this exciting vibrant sound. The shows hosts, Cyrano and Senor Amour, knew their material quite well and took its aesthetic and history seriously. They also had a lot of fun with the show, too. The recorded introduction that starts each show warns the listener that this was being broadcasted from the Mai Mai Room in Encino that is populated with Nancy Sinatra and Tom Jones in heat and an army of insanely drunk Shiners. Sometimes the banter between each set sounds like a funny and unintentional drunken Paul Shaffer impersonation contest. However, calling the program a 'lounge show' is too limited. The closest "format title" might be found in thier ad from an old KXLU program guide: "A finger poppin' tail-waggin' concoction of: Questionable Tastes, Nefarious Jazz, Exotica, Mysterious Electronics, Sultry Vocals & Latin Rhythms." Not exactly a simple description in today's highly homogenized and programmed radio, which is fine with them and the fans alike, like me. Considering the areas history with tiki apartment buildings and related urban culture (check interviews with Stuart Swezey & Brian King of Amok Books in the first Incredibly Strange Music book from Re/Search Books and their liner notes for Rhino Records 1990 'Best Of Martin Denny' CD for details), this little show seems to blend in quite well. Of course, the MCH wasn't the only show on the KXLU airwaves and not the only show I ended up listening to. Bomb Shelter with Uncle Tim (a more raw mix of old dusty vinyl than MCH), Headspace (ambient/trance), Surfwave (former surf show) and, if my nerves and eardrums can take it, Psychotechnics (nuttin' but noise, folks!). |
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| ABOVE: the MUCH hosts Cryano & Senor Amour (or is that the other way around, damn it) #3: the MCH t-shirt design. BELOW: a collection of printed schedule guides from the early 90's. |