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Post new topic Slide Guitar in the Movies
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Author Topic:  Slide Guitar in the Movies
Dwight Mark

 

From:
Denver, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2004 3:57 pm    
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I was just wondering if there's any movies out there that happens to have steel guitar in it. I can think of movies with bottleneck slide guitar either in the soundtrack or in the actual movie.

I'm hearing the dobro quite a bit in commercials lately. And then there's all of those little dobro breaks going into commercials of the World Poker Tour Series.

Actual playing in the movie:
Crossroads

Slide guitar in the soundtrack:
Midnight Run
Paris Texas
Jury Duty (Lindley's version of Mercury Blues)
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Ian McLatchie

 

From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2004 4:08 pm    
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Dwight: There are actually many, many films with a significant amount of steel playing in the soundtrack, and in some cases as part of the on-screen action too, from "Waikiki Wedding" down to the present day. I'll leave it to others to start listing them off. Since you refer to Lindley, I'll just mention one not terribly well known movie to which he contributed lots of beautiful Weissenborn playing:
"Indian Runner," the first film directed by Sean Penn.
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Gene Jones

 

From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2004 4:09 pm    
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..are you old enough to remember the "Looney Tunes" movie shorts?I have often wondered who played on those.

www.genejones.com
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Mike Simpson

 

From:
Gilbert, Arizona, USA
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2004 4:30 pm    
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Check out the steel playing on the current Sponge Bob cartoons, my son likes the cartoon and I like the music....

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Big Mike
http://www.blueswizards.net

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Mike D

 

From:
Phx, Az
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2004 8:38 pm    
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Freddie Tavares supposedly played the Looney Tunes intro 'Bwaaaaaa' line. Maybe he played other stuff for them too.

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Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.
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Jeff Au Hoy


From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2004 10:06 pm    
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While we're at it... who played steel on Spike Jones' Island of Lulu bit?
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Roger Shackelton

 

From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
Post  Posted 4 Oct 2004 12:46 am    
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There is some very beautiful steel playing in the movie, "Donavan's Reef". It stars John Wayne and Lee Marvin.

Roger
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Craig Prior

 

From:
National City, California, USA
Post  Posted 4 Oct 2004 3:01 pm    
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Mike Simpson wrote: "Check out the steel playing on the current Sponge Bob cartoons, my son likes the cartoon and I like the music...."

Mike, that's Gary Brandon, lately of the Vanduras and the Blue Hawaiians. Probably the most listened to steel player in American, and yet he isn't a household name. Yet.

I started watching Sponge Bob for the steel guitar, now I watch Sponge Bob for... alright, I'll admit it... for Sponge Bob. You gotta like the lil' guy!

Craig.

[This message was edited by Craig Prior on 04 October 2004 at 04:14 PM.]

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Dwight Mark

 

From:
Denver, Colorado, USA
Post  Posted 4 Oct 2004 7:39 pm    
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So does anyone know who does the little dobro intros and outros on the "World Poker Tour". Is it someone on this forum???

I was hoping I'd get some more obscure, but still available movies with Hawaiian steel players...

Thanks,

Dwight
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Clarence Wilson

 

From:
morgantown wv usa
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 4:06 am    
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Years ago, I watched a movie starring Eddy
Arnold. In one of the scenes, the band was riding along on horseback, with Eddy singing away. One of the members was Lil Roy Wiggins with a lap electric steel in front of him, ting-alinging away.
CEW

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Bob Stone


From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 5:30 am    
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Making a segue to TV...

How about Adventures in Paradise? I can't recall another show that had a steel guitar number for its theme song. http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/adventures-in-paradise.htm

The steel guitarist must have been Jerry Byrd, right?
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Bob Stone


From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 5:45 am    
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Oops...

The sample of the Adventures in Paradise theme here has no steel solo! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000GOU/ref=ase_thefiftieswebsit/102-3416948-6951357?v=glance&s=music

Does anyone with a good memory recall if there was a steel solo on the original TV shows? Or have I become confused by JB's recordings? The tune is certainly a natural for Hawaiian-style steel.

By the way, I remember a fiddler (but not his name) in the campground at a fiddlers convention who played the theme music from any TV show anyone could request. This was back in the '80s. A dubious musical achievement.
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John Pelz

 

From:
Kettering, Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 6:03 am    
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Quote:
who played steel on Spike Jones' Island of Lulu bit?

That was Dick "Red" Morgan, who also played for a time in Alvino Rey's band.
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Bob Stone


From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 6:07 am    
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Well, of course, the answer is on the Web.
The original Adventures in Paradise theme music was all violins playing the lead.

You can hear the whole thing here (and learn no end of trivia too):
http://capitainetroy.free.fr/eng/details.html
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Brandin


From:
Newport Beach CA. USA
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 8:36 am    
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There was a film out a few years ago called
'The Tao of Steve'. Toward the end you can
hear the Blue Hawaiians playing 'Martini Five-0'.

GB
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Bruce Clarke

 

From:
Spain
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 10:53 am    
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In the Hawaiian segment of "Flirtation walk" a Dick Powell 1930's movie, Sol Hoopi plays on the soundtrack, and I have read that he played on a lot of the old Charlie Chan movies.Plenty of steel also in "Song of the islands" the Betty Grable movie. I bought a video of this a couple of years ago, and one of her best songs has been has been edited out, for reasons unknown.
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Bruce Clarke

 

From:
Spain
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 10:59 am    
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Just remembered "Sweet Dreams" and "Coal Miner's daughter" the life story movies about Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn respectively.
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David Yannuzzi

 

From:
Pomona , New York, USA
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 12:16 pm    
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-Greg Leiz plays Moana Chimes in the Paul Thomas Anderson Movie "Punch Drunk Love"
-The South Park Movie Has Some Pedal Steel(not sure who)
-South Park TV show always has Dobro
-King of The Hill ussually has some Pedal steel and Dobro

[This message was edited by David Yannuzzi on 05 October 2004 at 01:17 PM.]

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Ian McLatchie

 

From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
Post  Posted 5 Oct 2004 2:32 pm    
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"I was hoping I'd get some more obscure, but still available movies with Hawaiian steel players..."

Not so obscure, but certainly available: "From Here to Eternity."
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Bill Brummett

 

From:
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Post  Posted 6 Oct 2004 11:06 am    
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I don't have a list, but I do know that over the years Herbie Remington has done steel work for many movies and for a lot of TV commercials.
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Mike Neer


From:
NJ
Post  Posted 6 Oct 2004 11:12 am    
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Passion Fish has some pretty nice slide (I don't think steel, but I can't remember) by Duke Levine. Movie's not great though.
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Steinar Gregertsen


From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 6 Oct 2004 11:18 am    
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I would love to make a movie to The Vanduras' "In The Dark" album.......

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com


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George Keoki Lake


From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
Post  Posted 6 Oct 2004 11:20 am    
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John...In the Spike Jones recording of Hawaiian War Chant, Morgan did a great job making that steel guitar sound as though it were falling apart, strings breaking, etc. Very convincing! What a crazy rendition that was ! Like everything Spike and the boys did, it was all well planned and performed by super musicians. I doubt there will ever be another "Spike Jones"... the way the world is today, we could sure use him !
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George Keoki Lake


From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
Post  Posted 6 Oct 2004 11:30 am    
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There was a real old b/w movie which featured Keamoku Lewis and his Hawaiians. If my memory serves me, it might have been called Bird of Paradise...(or some such title.) Keamoku played acoustic steel throughout the movie. It was all about a beautiful princess who fell in love with a handsome prince from a neighboring island. Big Daddy put up quite a fuss objecting however love won out in the end when the prince stole the lovely princess away on his outrigger canoe. It was so touching...(sob! sob!) Keamoku's acoustic steel guitar playing was beautiful
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Brad Bechtel


From:
San Francisco, CA
Post  Posted 6 Oct 2004 12:20 pm    
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Here's an earlier discussion on the same topic. I couldn't find any references to Kealoku Lewis, but did see a Louis Kealoku listed on Victor Orthographic recordings. Could this be the same person?
Lorene Ruymar's book on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar has a pretty complete steel guitar movie listing.

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