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 October, 2005.
This Jack Skellington mug is just what the mad doctor ordered for Halloween-loving tikiphiles.
In a nod to classic tiki mugs, the vessel is double-faced, with a happy Jack on one side and an angry Jack on the other. It stands about 8 inches tall.
The best part is that it was on clearance for $6 at my local Disney store. Unfortunately, it’s not available online, so you’ll have to take a drive to the mall.
Of all the odd places in the world, the Tampa Bay area in Florida seems to be at the epicenter of a ukulele music resurgence.
Months in the making, The Crazed Mugs finally have their debut CD, My Mug Collection, ready for sale — and it’s a great one. Joining the Mugs on several songs are area favorites The Haole Kats (their CD was previously featured here) and on one track, jazz bass great Jeff Berlin. The CD is a mixture of Hawaiian, hapa haole, and ingenious originals. (The song My Mug Collection is a tongue-twising rundown of singer Pablus’ actual mug collection and the rums and mixers needed to fill them with drinks).
The 10-track CD sells for $10 and is available from their website.
Link | Play mp3 of My Mug Collection | Play mp3 of Pass A Smile Along | Thanks Pablus!
If you’re going to play surf music correctly, then you’re probably going to need a couple of things: a three single-coil pickup guitar, a tube amp with reverb and tremolo, and these tiki guitar picks from Dunlop.
There are six designs in total and are they’re available in .60mm, .73mm, and 1.0mm sizes. The six pack goes for around $2.99.
Purchase
Keith Emmons grew up in Hawaii and started collecting period hapa haole sheet music to remind him of his days on the islands.
He’s banded together with other collectors to create Hula Pages, an online gallery of sheet music covers spanning the years from 1872-1949. It’s an amazing look into Hawaiian culture (both real and as imagined by mainlanders) and graphic design trends over the decades.
Now that some version of Texas Hold ‘Em poker is officially the only type of show allowed on late night cable television and the game has become a national trend, it’s high time that a tiki-themed chip became available.
The folks at ePoker Deals have come to the rescue with a very nicely illustrated set of tiki poker chips in all the denominations you need to win big. But remember, there’s time enough for counting when the dealing’s done.
Buy at ePoker Deals and support Tiki Talk | Thanks Robert!
Bob Lizarraga is another member of the growing breed of artist who works in animation but moonlights in fine art. He’s done work for shows like Chalkzone and Freakazoid, but his Vegas and tiki-themed fine art projects are magnificent.
Bob has a website selling seven different tiki art prints, which are very affordable at less than $20 each.
Wayne Coombs’ tikis are all over Central Florida, either as decorations or for sale in theme parks like Universal Studios Orlando, Universal CityWalk, and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Located about an hour away from Orlando in Cocoa Beach (also home to surf shop icon Ron Jon’s), Wayne has been a prolific sculptor, working in the field for more than 25 years. Perhaps his most remarkable feat is that he’d been able to get his wares consistently carried in stores long before the pendulum of popularity finally swung back to tiki’s favor. (I can remember seeing his tikis for sale in Adventureland as far back as 1990.)
He, probably more than anyone else, is responsible for what is known as “The Florida Style” tiki carving, marked by exaggerated expressions and bright, colorful paint jobs. If you can’t make the trip to his studio on Cocoa Beach (which is open for sales and tours), you can visit online.
