TIKI CULTURE

Futurama TV Show uses Tiki Chris Pinto’s Car in Season 6 Episode 16!

Futurama's hot rod on top, my CUSTOM 53 Chevy hot rod with fins I designed myself on the bottom.

YES, it is true. The proof is in the photos! There is only ONE 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air in the WORLD with my custom-made shark fins, and it’s sitting in my garage. Now, another appears to exist 1000 years in the future.

Imagine my surprise while watching the new episode of Futurama last week, a show I’ve watched and dug since it first aired in 2000, when the “Tron” motorcycle cop/car chase scene so obviously used my own, custom designed hot rod as the car being chased! My jaw dropped, as you might have guessed. Good think I had it on TiVo so I could rewind it and watch over again to make sure I wasn’t nuts.

Futurama's car, and my 1953 Chevy, from the back. The fins are exactly the same. And I designed them.

It’s not just the fins…the overall look of the car is absolutely an early 1950’s GM vehicle, which is common in the show (Futurama was the name of the GM auto shows in the 50s, and also their shows at the World’s Fairs). Specifically it has the same rounded look as the 1954-54 Chevy, and even has a similar grill and side molding. But none of those cars had fins. In fact, all the GM cars of the 50s had fins that mimicked jet planes and rockets, never sharks, like these.

The front-side view of the Futurama Car, and my 1953 Chevy. Tell me they didn't copy mine! I dare ya.

Now, of course the cartoon car is highly stylized…for the cartoon. Plus it’s in “TRON” mode. But the similarities are unmistakable. I really can’t imagine anyone else in the world pairing these exact style sharkfins with what is absolutely an early 1950’s stylized Chevy. Sure, there’s is a 2-door, and, well, it’s a hovercar. But…

I’m actually very honored that they used my personal custom design in an episode. That puts my lil’ old 53 Chevy Star Dust right up there with The Warecar (The CAR), Christine, the Original Warecar (the original Batmobile) and the 59 Caddy hovercars that appear often in the show.

My '53 Chevy Hot Rod

If anyone from Hollywood sees this, please tell Mat Groenig thanks, and I’d really like a signed cell or photo of the cast as a thank you.

Check out my car’s website at 53ChevyHotRod.com, and see for yourself how close it is!

You can see the clip the car is featured in at Comedy Central.

-Tiki Chris Pinto reporting from the garage at Tiki Lounge Talk.

An old photo, me & my 1940 LaSalle

I came across this photo today. It’s a picture of me, pre-Tiki days, with my 1940 LaSalle. I was 13, the photo was taken in 1982.

How does a 13 year old kid get his hands on a then 40+ year old classic car? Well, my old man loved to buy and sell old cars. He’d get them cheap, fix them up, sometimes paint them, and sell them for a profit. Today this would be called being a “automotive enthusiast”. Back then we called it hustling cars for bread.

The short version of this story is that I had my own side business buying and selling go-karts, minibikes, even 1/4 midget racer and a Model T Ford midget car (like you see clowns drive in parades). In 1982, I traded the Model T for a real 1941 Dodge Luxury Liner sedan. Eventually I made my way into buying this 1940 LaSalle Sedan for $400…a barn find. My buddy Steve and I would pretend to drive it, actually dubbing it the “Air Car”, a car that could go from cruising the country highways of South Jersey to flying above the Pine Barrens. Well, this was before video games and internet so we had to be creative.

I traded this beauty for a 66 Olds Toronado, and eventually made my way up to the 1974 Caddy Eldorado Convertible I had a few years ago. I sold that and put the money into my 53 Chevy Hot Rod, which I’ve had since 1990.

The point of all this is that at 42 years old I still feel like the goofy kid in the photo, hanging out with vintage cars and never actually finishing any of them. And apparently I still pose the same way, too.

-Tiki Chris Reporting from the garage at Tiki Lounge Talk

53 Chevy in Primer

Memories of The Hukilau 2011, Ft. Lauderdale FL

The Hukilau 2011 was crazy, fun and swingin’, as you kats and kitties can imagine (or know for a fact if you were there). I promised a bunch of you that I’d post pix and stories…well, I had so much fun I didn’t take too many pix, but got a few. Plus a few good stories I remember, through the rum-induced haze.

Here’s a slide show of my pix. I know they ain’t great, but some are fun. You’ll notice I didn’t take many photos of people. It’s because I’m a decent writer, but as a photographer I suck eggs!

Some stories:

I tried to see and do everything, but just couldn’t. One of my favorite parts was watching Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid and her pod of lovely swimmers performing at the Wreck Bar at the Yankee Clipper. We got there early and for the first time got a front row seat at the bar. What a show! She was joined by a few surprise guests in the water, too…including the Creature from the Black Lagoon and an airline pilot (from the Tikiyaki Orchestra). Kookie stuff. The Wreck Bar served a special drinks called the Fire Eating Mermaid, a pretty blue concoction garnished with a gummy fish. Afterwards we saw the mermaids outside at the pool as they got their pix taken with the crowd. We didn’t get our photo taken then (there were a zillion people there) but I do have this photo of them with and my book, Murder on Tiki Island…Marina is on the cover

Tiki Chris & Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid with her pod and my book, Murder on Tiki Island

Speaking of mermaids, there was a great presentation by my pals at Vintage Roadside. They traveled all the way from Portland, OR to bring us Aquarama: Girls Who Live Like Fish. They gave us the story of an aquatic show that flourished in the midwest through the 1960s, featuring vintage video, photos, recordings and even actual costumes worn by the performers. You could tell they put hours and hours of research and work into this project, bringing back a part of history that may otherwise have been forgotten. Marina was also there to help with the presentation, and dedicated one of her fish tails to the collection. Definitely a highlight of the event!

Another symposium was “Hawaii - Sailors, Sex and the Birth of Old School Tattoos” by Paul Roe, owner and head artist of Britishink Tattoos in Washington DC. This was an amazing look into the history of Tattoos in America, how the art evolved, and how the original styles influence the art today. I had the luck of sitting next to Paul at The Mai-Kai, and although the Jet Pilots and Mai Tais made the evening a little fuzzy, I remember him saying he’s done (I think) thousands of tattoos. Pretty sure that’s what he said. Anyway it was a fascinating presentation about a subject I know very little about, so it was very kool.

The Thursday night kick-off party was a blast. I don’t remember much of it, and we didn’t stay long because I had worked all day as Vendor Coordinator, but I remember fire, The Tikiyaki Orchestra, Meyers and Coke, a really good hamburger, a rum challenge and a lot of people in Hawaiian shirts.

Me, Tiki Chris, showing off a vintage tux

(I didn’t get any photos of these. I was having too much fun.)

Friday was a blur. Music, booze, helping Vendors with stuff, more booze, more music, The Tattoo symposium, The Wreck Bar, Grinder Nova, The Exotics, The Intoxicators, King Kukulele, more booze…you get the picture.

Saturday wasn’t as much of a blur but still blurry. I missed Beachbum Berry’s Rumposium, which was a letdown, due to a little bad planning on my part. But happy hour and the dinner show at the Mai Kai more than made up for it. I started out with a Jet Pilot (ker-razy strong drink, but I love it) and ended with a Mai Tai. The show was fantabulous as usual…they had a new announcer (Sonny retired after 400 years), a cute Aussie chick with a nice accent. The hula girls and the fire dancers were even better than I remember. King Kukulele started things off with his usual yucks and a few tunes, including The Hukilau Song…of which NOBODY knows all the words. Starts out ok, then kind of goes like…”We’re going to the Hukilau, where the mmmrrmmrm mrmrm mrm something Hukilau”…yeah.

Hukilau 2011 Mug cast in gold as a thanks for helping out

Colleen and I both got steaks from the Chinese ovens. These are prime cuts roasted over applewood. The Mai Kai has some of the best steaks I’ve ever had…so good that Colleen, who is 90% vegetarian, ate a New York Strip. I had the filet. She also got the Lobster bisque which she says is the best she ever tasted. We of course got appetizers…and those glorious drinks. For desert I got the Bananas Bengali, basically Bananas Foster served flaming tableside. The production they make of this rivals the show. Thank Tiki for 151 rum, huh?

Tiki Kiliki, aka Christie White, the organizer of the event made a few very nice speeches and thank yous at the dinner, including giving gold-cast Hukilau mugs to some of the people who helped with the event, including yours truly. That was nice

We hung out for a while at the Molokai bar at the Mai Kai, rapping with some new friends, and some old friends. It was too packed to get a drink so we wound up back at our room by around midnight. We were down for the count…but most of the clan didn’t quit until the wee small hours.

Colleen at The Mai Kai

Sunday was kool. Someone at The Mai Kai had been scrapbooking back in the late 60s all the way up until the mid 90s, and they opened up the archives for view…and I mean they let us open the scrap books and look through them. It was fantastic, photos and press clippings going way back. Someone even brought photos of the Mai Kai’s first celebrity bartender from the late 1950s. Amazing stuff.

One of the people I met during the event was Tricia who runs the gift shop at the Mai Kai. Three very kool things came out of this meeting…one, I got to meet a very groovy chick who was a lot of fun during the event, two she agreed to put my book in the Mai Kai’s gift shop (YEAH!!!!), and three I got a sneak peak at the separate building there which was damaged in Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and closed…they use it for storage now. In fact they have about 80 or so old chairs from the 1980s that they are selling to the public stored there. They don’t usually let people in the building…sadly, it’s been damaged pretty badly…so it was fun to see inside a part of this historic place that hadn’t been seen by many people in six years. Tricia has some excellent ideas on how to renovate the building that could certainly help the Mai Kai…hopefully they’ll be able to do something with it soon!

I missed the meet & greet with Dick Dale, unfortunately, because I had to fix Colleen’s Jeep (starter died). Hopefully he’ll be back next year.

I think that’s about it. Lemme tell ya, it went by way too fast. Next year I’m bringing a bunch of no-doze with me so I can do even more.

We decorated our room and had a bar set up

By the way…a note to all the vendors of this year’s event…this was my first time as Vendor Coordinator, and I’d just like to say thanks to everyone one of you who helped make this year’s event even more fun, especially my buddies Bob Ho (Tiki Hana), Robert Jimenez (Tiki Tower), Peter Janus (Tropiki), Tahiti Joe, Tiki Mon, Tiki Diablo, Tricia, Renee, Tom, John…oh hell, I can’t list everyone! You were all great…thanks again!

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from my lounge chair at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, home of Tiki Lounge Talk, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
PS - I hope I spelled everybody’s names right. This Sailor Jerry is not good to drink when typing!

Your Weekend Cocktail: The Stinger

Stinger, up

Not usually found on the Tiki Bar, this drink is complex, tasty, sophisticated and strong. It comes from the golden era of cocktails, when a drink in hand was as common as bottled water today. Hell, it even has a great name. Yet it hasn’t received much popularity in the past few years of retromania.

My drink of choice at Halloween and other special occasions,

The Stinger

remains one of my all time favorites. I first discovered this drink while working in a bar outside of Atlantic City, around 20 years ago. Someone asked me for a Couvossier and Creme de Menthe, and I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. The lead bartender was nice enough to educate me on the subject, and a favorite was born.

• 2 ounces Brandy or Cognac (I prefer Courvoisier)
• 1/2 to 3/4 ounce white crème de menthe

There are two ways to serve this drink, the classic chilled “up” in a cocktail glass, or on the rocks. Combine ingredients with ice in a shaker and shake until the shaker is frosty, then strain into a cocktail glass. No garnish needed. This is the more traditional, sophisticated after-dinner variety. As for me, I like my drinks cold. Pour ingredients over the rocks in a large glass and stir with a glass rod. The trick (and the fun) is to finish the cocktail before the ice melts too much. The combination of sugary mint and straight brandy will knock you pleasantly on your ass.

I might also add that this is a great drink to sip while listening to cool jazz, in a darkened basement club at one o’clock in the morning. Yeahhh.

By the way, go easy on the creme de menthe, adding a little at a time to taste. Add too much and you’ll feel like you’re drinking a candy cane.

Bottoms up!

-Tiki Chris P., reporting from the Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, your hot spot for cool cars, Tiki bars and movie stars.

Great Movie Idea: The Story of Ella Fitzgerald

Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald

I wish I lived in Hollywood. Hollywood CA, not FL…where I work…because there’s no one in the movie biz that does anything in Hollywood, FL. I’ve had a theater company, wrote a dozen plays, and have had a few really good ideas for flicks…but not a damned connection anywhere.

So here’s my beef: Hollywood has been churning out some really good flicks lately, but most of them are either re-hashes of old ideas (Avatar) or out-right remakes (Gone in 60 Seconds), plus a couple sequels made 20 years too late (Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull Thingy, Tron II). All good movies, but not really very original. Well, maybe the Crystal Skull movie. Maybe that one was a little too original.

Anyway, it seems that new ideas are at an all time low, except for those wonderful film makers who are lucky enough to get their indy films produced…and we all know 99% of the time, they (unfortunately) go no where. If only I had the ear of a big-shot movie producer (with some brains) for just a few minutes…

Ella Fitzgerald: Girl Singer

This wouldn’t be a documentary. This would be the story of how Ella first got hired by Chick Webb, back when she was just a kid. Web’s band was starting to lose popularity (his was the in-house orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in NYC), and he sent out word for a “pretty girl singer” to front the band. This was a fairly desperate plea, considering the kat was extremely ill, knew he didn’t have long to live, and didn’t want to buy the farm as a failed bandleader.

Ella, Girl Singer

His manager, I think, found Ella singing in a talent show. Supposedly she had never sung in public before, and floored this guy. He brought her right over to Web, who proceeded to throw a fit (Ella was not the prettiest kid on the block…in fact, her looks were kind of…well, he didn’t dig her). But the other guy talked him into letting Ella audition, and Webb realized they had struck gold. And they did…in fact, Ella became the star that Webb never could on his own, and he died (at the young age of 30), from what I’ve read, pretty happy with his girl singer. Hell, the guy even adopted the 17 year old girl singer! Ella actually took over Web’s band, and had it for years before the turn of times forced her to go solo.

Benny Goodman, King of Swing

Along side this story you have the story of Benny Goodman, Chick Web’s nemesis. Goodman, being a well-to-do white guy, found it (relatively) easy to gain exposure and popularity compared to Webb…and get this…using the same charts by Fletcher Henderson that Webb used. Exactly the same. You could do that back then. Goodman favorites like Stompin’ at the Savoy, Don’t Be That Way and Blue Lou were first done by Webb’s orchestra, same arrangements, but with a somewhat different swing. That’s Jazz, baby. Anyway, Goodman’s band was the first that Billie Holiday recorded with (in 1933), produced by probably the major name of the big band era (that no one has ever heard of), John Hammond. You’ve got to remember what a big deal it was for a “white” band to play “black” music in 1933, let alone have a black woman record with them. Those records were banned in a lot of places in the South. And Goodman’s band refused to play anywhere that wouldn’t welcome his black sidemen, such as Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, and of course Holiday. Kats like Goodman did more to advance civil rights in the 30s than most people can imagine. Oh, and Peggy Lee was also singing with Goodman in the ’30s…a lot of people don’t know that, huh?

Chick Webb, King of the Savoy

You see this movie taking shape? Paths cross…Ella, Goodman, Webb, Holiday, Hammond, Wilson, Glenn Miller, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw…and sidemen like Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, Gene Krupa and Roy Elridge, Charlie Parker and Ray Anthony who went on to define the styles of Jazz, laying the groundwork for swingin’ kats like Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie. Man, I’d pay for popcorn and a ticket to watch that flick! Wouldn’t you?

Lady Day

So if there are any big-shot movie producers out there who read Tiki Lounge Talk, please let me know if you dig the idea. We’ll draw up the standard ‘rich and famous’ contract.

-Tiki Chris P., reporting from the writer’s lounge

PS: I riff on the licorice stick, so I’ll be happy to play Benny Goodman. Call my agent. We’ll do lunch. And stuff.