The Enchanted Tiki Blog – events, mugs, music, merchandise, and more
Shagmart, Shag’s online store that sells his prints and other goodies, is having a 25% off all orders over $25 sale from now until February 12. The sale is also being honored at Sharmart’s out-of-print web store.
To take advantage of the offer, enter code MOVE25 at checkout.
Visit Shagmart | Visit shagmart.bigcartel.com
The Friki Tiki Garage Festival & Scooter Rally is a one day garage fuzz music festival smack dab in the middle of a 3- Day Scooter Rally.
Garage Festival Concert – Saturday, March 6
Scooter Rally Weekender – Friday, March 5 thru Sunday, March 7
Hosted by The Hut and overseen by the GIANT TIKI (Moai) Head sculpture on funky 4th Avenue in downtown Tucson. Even if you don’t have a scooter, you’ll love people watching, the music, and the atmosphere.
Events include:
Friki Tiki Garage Festival Brings to you, one night only:
Get the details at the Friki Tiki Festival website
Categories: Events.
Ukulele Picnic in Hawaii Committee announced that the 2nd Annual Ukulele Picnic in Hawaii will be held on Saturday February 13, 2010, at Kaka`ako Waterfront Park. Ukulele virtuosos and legends from Hawaii and Japan will perform on the hilltop stage overlooking Diamond Head, Honolulu Harbor, the ocean and mountains.
Performers from U.S. include the legendary Bill “Tappy” Tapia, Kumu ukulele Ohta-san, Herb Ohta Jr., Pali, Holunape, Manoa DNA, Joy, and the Roy Sakuma Ukulele School Super Keiki. Performers from Japan include Iwao, Kiyoshi Kobayashi & the Ukulele Orchestra of Japan, Sekiguchi Band featuring Kimiko Wakiyama.
Admission to the picnic is free. Along with the non stop main stage entertainment, exhibitors will show ukulele related exhibits and merchandise and food vendors will be selling ono food and drink. Parking is available and a free shuttle service will be provided from Waikiki. There will be inflatables for the kids and all are encouraged to bring beach mats for lawn seating. For the latest event information, please visit: http://www.ukulelepicnicinhawaii.org
Categories: Events.
Trader Vic’s restaurants are known for their decor, excellent service, wonderful drinks, and fine food. They’re also few and far between, sparingly spead out in major cities across the United States (and the rest of the world). Exclusivity isn’t always a bad thing, as the rise, overpopulation, and fall of themed restaurants like Planet Hollywood can attest, but the folks at Trader Vic’s have been trying to figure out new ways to bring the TV experience to a wider audience. Their “Mai Tai Bar” concept, selling only drinks and appetizers, has been successful in resort locations — now the company is taking on tropical-themed chain restaurants such as “Bahama Breeze” with a new concept restaurant, Trader Vic’s Island Bar & Grill.
Nestled away in Sarasota, Florida, just off I-75, this is not your father’s (or grandfater’s) Trader Vic’s: jackets and ties are no longer required to dine; shirts and shoes are the new minimum requirements. The exotically-tinged pork and fish entrees are exchanged for exotically-tinged pork and fish sandwiches, but the atmosphere and drinks are 100% classic Vic’s (or at least modern Vic’s). Which as a day-trading jailbird once said, is a good thing.
The decor: Trader Vic’s locations are known for having a high TiPSY (tikis per square yard) score, and the Island Bar & Grill is no exception. Whoever did the restaurant’s interior is well-schooled in modern tiki-ism: copies of Tiki Magazine are framed in the waiting area and a vintage August Holland “The Pearl of Wisdom” print is hung in the men’s restroom.
Although it’s not dripping in carvings like older Vic’s locations in Atlanta and California, tiki fans will easily recognize all the elements of tiki decor: glass floats, coconut husk animals, seashells, thach, those ceramic wall squares in Chinese restaurants (do they have an actual name?) and of course, carved tikis. These element are remixed in a contemporary way which I think will satisfy the purist in us all while attracting non-tiki fans as well. Also noteworthy are several nods to Florida, such as signs pointing to Jacksonville rather than other more exotic locals (probably not a bad idea to help keep the locals grounded).
I know someone will ask, and yes, they play Jimmy Buffet songs over the loudspeakers. But they also play a fair amont of exotica (I swear I heard Waitiki), hapa haoele, and Hawaiian music as well. Again, the idea seems to be to make the atmosphere “just exotic enough” to appeal to as wide as an audience as possible.
The drinks: it wouldn’t be a Trader Vic’s without great drinks and this location serves them up. The drink menu, at least for now, shows only a few of the restaurant’s signature drinks (Mai Tai, Navy Grog, Potted Parrot, Chi Chi, Scorpion, Rangoon Ruby, Kava Bowl, Tiki Bowl) but the bartender welcomed my “off the menu” orders of a Fog Cutter and Menehuene Juice. There are also several Margaritas listed, Breezers, Martinis, flavored variations on the Mai Tai, and, gasp, beer.
The food: Since this is a casual-dining restaurant, don’t expect the usual Trader Vic’s fare. There’s still a lot to choose from and a few favorites have made it to the menu here, including the Asian Pot Stickers and Beef Cho Cho appetizers. There’s a wide variety of entrees: Sushi rolls, salads, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, steak, and fish dishes. Again, there’s a lot of non-exotic selections, but that means that there is something for everybody available. There is also a kid’s menu; all kid’s meals come with a fudge sundae, which made my son very happy.
I had the Luau Pulled Pork Sandwich and my wife ordered the Grilled Tuna Ciabatta. Both sandwiches were excellent — and gigantic! Every order comes with a choice of sides: I recommend the Sweet Potato Fries. For desert we split the amazingly-good Maui Pineapple Chips, which are fried slices of pineapple covered in caramel served with a side of coconut-flavored ice cream.
The swag: One of the highlights of my visit to any Trader Vic’s is taking home a souvenir mug or two to add to my collection. Merchandise is on the way, but not available yet. Expect mugs, shirts, and syrups. I’ll update this post with details once they arrives.
The verdict: this concept is going to be a winner. Trader Vic’s Island Bar & Grill strikes a wonderful balance between the exotic and the ordinary, clearly by design. Tiki fans will find plenty to love and can bring friends, parents, and even grandparents with them assured that everyone will leave happy. Woe be to my parents, who live less than 10 minutes away from the one and only (so far) Sarasota location, who will now be forced to make bi-monthly trips to the restaurant with my family.
The only challenge this restaurant will face is the location. While easily accessible off the highway, the building is tucked behind a series of much larger structures. It’s going to take a fair bit of advertising to get the word out. I hope, for my sake, they do. I’m looking forward to never having to set foot in the Bahi Hut again.
351 N. Cattlemen Road, Sarasota, Fl 34232 | Phone: (941) 378-3900 | map
Visit the Trader Vic’s Island Bar and Grill website | Download the menu | Download the kid’s menu
Categories: Bars & Restaurants.
Cocoanut Riot is a fun-looking physics-based puzzle game where the native protagonist throws coconut bombs to blow up bamboo rods and tikis in order to score points. 30 levels of ever-increasing difficulty should make the game’s value last.
$.99
Buy Coconut Riot at 
| Learn more about Coconut Riot at the SupportWare website
Categories: iPhone-iPod Touch.
Jake Shimabukuro and Takamine have teamed up with the Music Is Good Medicine organization to create an affordable, yet high-quality ukulele in the hopes that children can be encouraged to put their energies towards making music instead of less socially-positive pastimes.
Music Is Good Medicine (MIGM), a non-profit organization whose mission is to use the power of music to heal, influence and inspire people, is working to make the ukulele available to children all over the world through its “4 Strings 4 Kids” program. By serving as a positive force in their lives, the new “MIGM Ukulele” can steer children away from drugs, violence, and other negative influences encouraging them to pursue their dreams.
The organization is funded through ukulele sales several different ways: part of the proceeds of individual sales go to the organization, people can purchase instruments outright to be donated to a student, or corporations can purchase ukuleles in bulk for donation to schools.
If nothing else, this may be a great opportunity for beginning and intermediate players to get a professionally-crafted instrument at a great price. Here’s the instrument’s specs:
Jake’s Key Points:
At this time, pricing has not been set. The organization, however, is taking reservations for delivery in the summer of 2010.
Read more about the Music Is Good Medicine Program at musicisgoodmedicine.org | Preorder the MIGM Ukulele at Jakeshimabukuro’s online store
Categories: News.
On January 24, 2010, Kala Koa Entertainment will present the highly anticipated 3rd Annual Southern California Slack Key Festival at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The 2010 lineup features Cyril Pahinui (son of Gabby Pahinui) performing with the Pahinui Hawaiian Band (Sonny Lim, Kunia Galdeira, Peter Moon Jr), musical legend Ledward Kaapana, GRAMMY winner Jeff Peterson, Guitar magazine Guitar Superstar finalist Makana, “Weird” Al Yankovic guitarist and Hawaii Music award winner Jim “Kimo” West and one of the islandsʼ favorite entertainer, John Cruz. Local Southern California hula halau will also participate.
The Festival — the first one of its kind anywhere outside Hawaii — set a major milestone for Hawaiian music events on the mainland when it debuted in 2008 and has already garnered a huge loyal following – creating, cultivating, and renewing interest in Hawaii and its music.
Win a Trip to Hawaii in the “Spirit of Aloha” Benefit Drawing
Most people know that the Hawaiian word “Aloha” can mean both “hello” and “goodbye”, but did you know, it can also mean love, affection, compassion, mercy, sympathy, pity, kindness or grace? It is in this “Spirit of Aloha” that the Festival will hold its benefit drawing, the proceeds of which will help raise funds for the Museum of Making Music and the California Acoustic Music Project to assist in their outreach endeavors.
Entrants need not purchase a ticket to the Festival to be able to enter the drawing. Prizes include a Taylor Guitar, a private catered luau, dinner for two at the new Trader Vicʼs at L.A. LIVE and the Grand Prize: roundtrip and first class hotel accommodations for two (plus an island activities package) to the Hawaii island. Details can be found at http://spiritofalohadrawing.com/.
Come Early for the Island Marketplace
From 11am – 5pm, the Courtyard and Main Lobby of the Performing Arts Center will be transformed into the Island Marketplace Winter Arts and Craft Fair. Free admission.
Vendors include:
Ono Hawaiian Food!
In the Art Gallery
Live Entertainment
Le Polynesia
Categories: Events.