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 January, 2007.
Classical ukuleleist John King’s website, Ukulele Arcade, has a treasure-trove of information about the diminutive instrument, tracing its roots back to the Portuguese luthiers who originally built the instruments that made their way to Hawaii.
The site also sells reprints of turn-of-the-century ukulele method books that cover Hawaiian strums and melodies.
JAFO Tiki Tone guitars are hand-carved from solid blocks of wood so each is unique. There are four styles available, from a fairly standard strat-shape to the mask style shown here. Custom orders are gladly accepted.
Prices start at $300.00.
The tiki-filled but not very authentic Tiki Bob’s Cantina in the High Falls district of Rochester, New York, closed today after the state Liquor Authority canceled the owner’s liquor license. The state also imposed a $12,000 civil penalty on Tiki Bob’s, citing multiple underage drinking and other infractions dating from 2005-06.
Word is that the area is going to be redeveloped into 80-unit housing and residential center with construction starting in November of 2007.
Tiki-fanatics in the western New York area should keep and eye out for auctions or sales of the bar’s decorations in the upcoming months.
Read article at the democratandchronicle.com
Kick off the summer right with Kustom Kars and Tiki Bars. Events include:
This is the first event of the season for Wizzard Road Shows and the first Tiki Eyeball event. It promises to be a great weekender in the heartland of America. Great bands, vendors, rods and fun. Host Swanky is bringing a motley crew of carvers together to show their skilz and spread the gospel of tiki tothe masses. Expect a great room party with him and Basement Kahuna mixing up the cocktails. Lake Surfer is haulin his big and lovely sculptures down
and throwin it down artic north style.
More details to come. Explore this very out of the way, vintage tiki establishment, AND the Tiki Truck Stop.
Chris Holland, of the excellent B-movie site Stomp Tokyo sent this tantalizing photo along with a message:
On a recent trip to Vegas, I spotted this on a stroll through the Aladdin casino (the whole place is under lots of construction right now). Always nice to see a Trader Vic’s opening rather than closing!
I couldn’t agree more. Trader Vic’s is a great restaurant with fantastic food and drinks. Hopefully the location does well there.
Link to Flickr photo | Thanks Chris!
I’ve considered keeping beta fish in my clear-glass double-sided Polynesian Resort mugs, but the Aloha Tiki Aquarium looks like a much better solution.
The cylindrical aquarium is packaged inside a resin(?) tiki head that stands 24 inches tall and 13.5 inches around. The stock model comes equipped to sustain salt-water fish, but a fresh-water version is also available upon request.
$429
Note: The manufacturer has several other fantastic designs, including a couple that would look at home in Captain Nemo’s Nautilus.
Hawaii-based artist Tom Thordarson, who collaborated with Tiki Farm earlier this year on the “Hawaiian Idols” mug collection, has teamed up with the company again to create a new tiki mug shaped like a shrunken head.
The Jivaro Shrunken Head mug is based on the traditional practice of the Jivaro indians of the Andes Mountains, who shrunk and decorated the heads of their foes, placing them on bamboo rods for display to capture their opponent’s power. The mugs measure 6 3/4 inches high, hold 20 oz. of your favorite spirit, and are decorated with twine and beads — just like the real thing.
$18.95
Link to mug product page | Learn about the Jivaro at Wikipedia
