Hot Lava (a.k.a "How Bowers") plays baritone ukulele and sings with America's best tiki music band, The Crazed Mugs. He lives in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and son. Contact
You are currently browsing the Tiki Talk weblog archives for September, 2005.
With only a month left until Halloween, it might be time to start shopping for a costume. Why would you want to be a Power Ranger or Wiggle when you can go out in this Tropical Tiki Drink costume? It’s guaranteed to attract tikiphiles and drunks alike.
$48.99 from BuyCostumes.com. 50 gallons of Mai Tai mix not included.
Kent Markam is a scuba enthusiast that sells plans for James Bond-like scuba vehicles that you can make yourself. He also has a set for an inexpensively-made, yet attractive, basic DIY tiki bar.
It’s supposed to take a couple of weekends to put together and is made from about $150 in materials—3 sheets of plywood, some 1×2 and 2×2 lumber, a dozen bamboo poles, and some wallpaper and stain.
The plans (with instructions) run $20 with shipping.
Jenny Hart’s Sublime Stitching is a website selling (dare I say it) cool embroidery patterns. It seems Jenny liked to embroider but tired of endless patterns of cute bunnies, so she used her incredible powers for good.
She has a very nice set of tiki embroidery patterns — just the thing for custom-made cocktail napkins or thong panties.
Martin Denny may very well be the king of Exotica — his version of Les Baxter’s Quiet Village replaced Baxter’s sappy stings with thick piano chords and birdcalls and ended up riding the pop charts to #4 in 1959. According to Denny, the song was responsible for a minor baby-boom at that time. (No wonder Pee-Wee swiped the opening riff for his Playhouse show back in the 80s.)
The Temple of Denny at Vik’s Lounge lays out the history of Denny’s musical career with anecdotes, a discography, and lots of extras, including a look at his ‘cover girl,’ Sandy Warner.
Oceania Postcards and Picture Galleries is a treasure trove of historical and modern images of polynesian life, including landscapes, primitive art, tikis, and non-worksafe topless wahinees.
Images are divided in categories and topics for easy navigation, including images by island.
Tiki fanatics from all over the Southeast will be gathering for a celebration of Polynesian Pop at Trader Vic’s Atlanta in the Downtown Hilton tonight, as part of the monthly “Tiki Torch Nights” program.
Trader Vic’s is celebrating their 70th Anniversary and the 60th Anniversary of the preferred cocktail of the islands, the Original Mai Tai, created by “Trader Vic” Victor Burgeron himself. Enjoy all the Mai Tai’s you want for the low price of $4.50 each!
Contact Trader Vic’s Atlanta directly at 404-659-2000 for directions. If you have questions on Tiki Torch Nights email Tiki Kiliki directly at tiki_kiliki@tikikiliki.com
Ron M’s Planet Xtabay, “from the sunny shores of Western Australia, slightly east of Java and west of Krakatoa” is a fine mp3 blog featuring downloads from a variety of space age pop styles, which naturally includes exotica.
Recent postings includes classic albums from The Three Suns, Esquivel, and Quiet Village composer Les Baxter.
