On this date in 2007, KTRK consumer affairs reporter Marvin Zindler died of pancreatic cancer.
Zindler, of course, is forever linked with the Chicken Ranch, as his series of exposés on the brothel directly led to its closure. And for that reason, many people (mostly men) who are old enough to remember curse his name. Despite being a self-admitted egomaniac, he was a powerful champion of the downtrodden in his lifetime, and did a tremendous amount of good. Where the Chicken Ranch was concerned, he let his lust for fame and the spotlight get the better of him, and this allowed people with a vendetta against the Chicken Ranch to manipulate him from a distance. Zindler was a person who firmly believed in his own righteous infallibility, and once it became clear the vast organized crime conspiracy behind the Chicken Ranch's operation did not exist, well, Zindler doubled down on the conspiracy angle rather than admitting he'd been duped. He went to his grave insisting on criminal conspiracy and corruption, although he was never able to prove any of his claims.
Despite this, nobody could argue Zindler wasn't committed to his job. He accomplished a tremendous amount of good throughout his career, championing the downtrodden and exposing slum lords, unscrupulous car salesmen and all manner of predators exploiting people who had neither the money nor power to fight back. But they had Zindler on their side. Despite constant pain from the cancer destroying him, Zindler insisted on delivering his famed restaurant report from his hospital bed on July 20. It proved to be his final report. Just over a week later, he was dead. His passing in 2007 directly inspired me to seek out information on the "true" story of what happened with the Chicken Ranch, and when I learned that no such history book existed, I researched and wrote Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse. So in truth, Marvin Zindler is responsible for my book.
Bear with me here for a bit. I remember back in the early 80s watching the Darrin McGavin film "Zero to Sixty" on Showtime. In my memory, I recall the soundtrack blaring Laura Branigan's hit "Gloria" every time McGavin and his teenage sidekick chase after the elusive Joan Collins in her Trans-Am. But a quick check online tells me the movie came out in 1978, whereas Branigan's hit didn't come out until 1982. Even Umberto Tozzi's original Italian version wasn't recorded until 1979, so my memory has got to be subjecting me to the Mandela Effect, right?
Except that as I'm wasting time looking all this stuff up for a film I haven't seen or even thought about in more than 35 years, I discover the name of Joan Collins' character is... Gloria. What!? That can't just be coincidence, can it? Was there a version of this film re-scored for pay cable channels that inserted Branigan's hit? Because really, the song--talking about people chasing Gloria, finding her number, figuring out her alias, that all ties in crazy tight with the Collins character, almost so that the song could've been written specifically for the film. Weird.
So, here's Branigan's no-frills original video for the song. And for good measure, the YouTube link to "Zero to Sixty" is right below. If you watch, you can easily tell where my memory inserts "Gloria" during the chase scenes. I gotta say, it's odd watching the film without that song playing in those spots, because it completely clashes with my memory.
I fell in love with Cynthia Erivo in Bad Times at the El Royale for her stunning performance and magnificent voice. She's go a new single out, "The Good," that puts her vocals front and center where they belong.
I liked Michael Nesmith's work with the Monkees, but never really followed his solo output. I'm thinking that may be an oversight on my part. The video for "Cruisin'" is surreal and trippy as all get-out, and the song itself would be right at home on a Frank Zappa record, or maybe covered by Warren Zevon. What more could anyone want?
Episode 29 of A Moment of Tiki is now live on the YouTubes! This time out I walk viewers through a build of a faux lava accent wall. I spent the bulk of last summer building out this project in the Lagoon, and it was more of a time-consuming than I'd anticipated. Editing all the footage taken over the course of several months proved a challenge unto itself.
Still, this is a vision I had way back when I started this whole crazy home tiki bar build project, drawing on the "transition" motif popular in tiki as well as mid century modern design elements in the stonework. The wall is lava, folks! How very Mid Century Modern of me! This should've been a simple, straightforward project, but finding artificial lava façade in the continental U.S. is far, far more challenging that one would imagine.
Do you find these kinds of tutorials helpful? Interesting? A waste of bandwidth? Let me know what you think! Don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel on YouTube--doing so makes it easier for other viewers to find it!
Now Playing: Josephine Premice Caribe: Josephine Premice Sings Calypso Chicken Ranch Central
This is a little complicated. Eden Ahbez was a proto-hippie who lived under the big HOLLYWOOD sign in the Los Angeles area in the 1950s. He also wrote songs, including "Nature Boy," which was a hit for Nat King Cole. Ahbez recorded an album of beat poetry and exotica, "Eden's Island." It did not do well, and he subsequently abandoned plans for a follow-up. Thing is, he left behind a lot of unrecorded music when he died. The Swedish exotica group Ìxtahuele has gone through Ahbez's archive and recorded those never-before-heard tracks for the ablum "Dharmaland" to be released later this year. "Mana" is the first finished track they've released, and it sounds outstanding with the haunting vocals of Kadhja Bonet. The video is fascinating as well, considering the male actor has an uncanny resemblance to the late Ahbez. How much of this is due to makeup and how much comes down to a fluke of genetics is irrelevant. This is a fitting tribute to the eccentric composer.
I'm not going to lie, folks, I'm excited about this one! In this episode of A Moment of Tiki, we get a first look at Hugman's Oasis, a brand-spanking new tiki bar on San Antonio's famed River Walk. It opens for business Friday, May 7. I, along with Secrets By Miss Lisa, were some of the fortunate guests invited to their soft opening on April 29. They didn't have a full menu and there were still some kinks to be worked out, so I'm holding off on a more formal review for a month or so to allow them to find their groove. But until then, we have this cool sneak peek!
Way back in November of 2018, the San Antonio Heron ran a short story about developer Chris Hill planning to open a tiki bar in the 1890s Witte Building on the San Antonio River Walk. Then in February 2019, they ran another story about the city approving gas-fired tiki torches for the exterior. Wow! Can you imagine how enthused I was? Two years, six months and a global pandemic later, Hugman's Oasis is the first full-fledged tiki space to open in San Antonio since Polynesian Gardens operated in the shadow of the Tower of the Americas during the 1968 HemisFair World's Fair. And it's the first to offer a full menu of tiki cocktails--back in 1968 it was still illegal to serve mixed drinks in Texas! So come along with me for a tour of the space, some interviews and a whole lot of eye candy in episode 28 of A Moment of Tiki:
