TIKI CULTURE

“Murder Under The Boards: The Atlantic City Paranormal Mystery” by Christopher Pinto now available!

Murder Under The Boards by Christopher Pinto now available

ATTENTION MID-CENTURY NOIR MYSTERY LOVERS!

It’s here: The third novel in the Detective Bill Riggins series, “Murder Under The Boards: The Atlantic City Paranormal Mystery” by author Christopher Pinto (that’s me) is now available in print and for Kindle download at Amazon.com!

For those of you who follow my books, you’ll be thrilled by this new supernatural noir adventure featuring our intrepid NYC cop, Lieutenant Detective Bill Riggins. In this book, which takes place in 1957 with flashbacks to the 20s and flash-forwards to 1982, Riggins finds himself staying at the world famous Marlborough-Blenheim hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. It’s only a matter of hours before he encounters a ghostly apparition in his room…and finds out one of his best friends from childhood has been murdered in cold blood under the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Fast cars, cool jazz, hot dames, steamy summer nights,  a serial killer, a secret network and more ghosts than Hackney’s has lobsters, “Murder Under The Boards” is the perfect book for people who dig the mid-century scene. From the world famous Steel Pier to Lucy the Margate Elephant, this book is packed with cool and fun stuff from Atlantic City’s colorful past.

Available through Amazon.com for Kindle for only $3.99, this 300-page book will keep you guessing till the last sentence! Print version also available to Tiki Lounge Talk readers at a 10% discount. Visit www.StarDustMysteries.com for more details and buying options.

Huge Tiki Party in Fort Lauderdale - Benefit for Preston Weber - Jr. World FireKnife Champion

Preston Weber performing his FireKnife routine.

If you’re in the Fort Lauderdale area on Sunday, April 28, swing by the 5-Points Lounge for a very special Tiki fundraiser.

Dubbed the “Sunday Aloha Fun-Raiser”, proceeds from this show put on by Polynesian Proud Productions will benefit Preston Weber, 14 year-old Jr. World FireKnife Champion and Fort Lauderdale local. Preston will be flying out to Hawaii in May to defend his title, and this fundraiser is to help him get there.

The event will feature Polynesian music, live Tahitian drumming of Uhi Api, PolyProud performance, beautiful Hula, RONIN TAIKO (Featuring Marina The Fire Eating Mermaid drumming), special guest performers, $5 Hawaiian Plate Lunch sponsored by the NEW Florida Hawaiian Civic Association, island treats by way of Kauai, from DelaCruz Delights and Onolicious Cakes by Kathleen.

This event is open to the public, and any donations at the door are greatly appreciated. There will also be raffles and prizes, so throw on your best Aloha shirt and swing down to the 5-Points Lounge, 2608 South Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, Fl. There is Free parking in back of building.

5-Points is located at the KREEPY TIKI PLAZA, “Home of South Florida’s only 20ft. Hula Girl landmark”. Kreepy Tiki Tattoo is a very kool place for vintage & Tiki lovers. They are not only kool kats and kittens who ink some very impressive tattoos, they also carry some vintage clothing and goodies, and have Tiki-esque art by local artists including one of my favorites, De Tiki.

PRESTON WEBER has been performing since he was 10 years old at the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale. He won his first Jr. World FireKnife Championship at 11 (2010), then skipped a year to audition for America’s Got Talent where he placed 49th out of 100,000 auditioned acts. Preston won his 2nd Jr World Championship title at 13 (2012). He is now 14 and looking for his third win! Congratulations and best of luck to Preston…break a leg!

-Tiki Chris P, Tiki Lounge Talk

MAD MEN Season 6 Premiers Tonight, April 6

Are you ready for MAD MEN?

Wow…we’ve been waiting and waiting, and finally it’s here: MAD MEN Season six, where we (may or may not) find out whether Don has been faithful to Megan, where Peggy ends up, and how the agency goes on in the wake of Lane’s departure.

But what we’re really looking at is this poster.

Man, does this thing WREAK of late 60s-into=the=70s style or what? I feel this is an omen…actually a blatant sign that the MAD MEN that we’ve loved for the last several years is done. We’re in a new era, moving away from thin ties and bachelor pad music and easy chicks who waited on men as pretty servants, to the era of social unrest, acid rock, outrageous fashion and liberated women.

Assuming this season kicks off in 1967 (or possible 68), we’ll probably see longer hair on the men, shorter hair on the women and the widening of ties and lapels that will eventually look like men are wearing paisley bibs. This is a different part of American pop history and culture…innocence gone, tailfins on cars gone, jazz and big bands gone. It’s the era where “good” music is defined as music that sounds good when you’re high, when putting curse words in movies makes them “hip”, and when teenagers lived like there was no tomorrow because, it was factual, with the draft and the Vietnam war, there very well might not have been.

Hollywood Sign, late 1960s. Yes, this really happened.

Boo hoo. It’s a drag, but the show has to progress. It’s how it’s always been, jumping a year or two each season. Hell, it started in 1959…the figurative “beginning of the end” of the mid-century pop era. But we’ll watch, and we’ll love it, even if Don sports a mustache, sideburns and a green velour sport jacket. Remember, this is the era where “Midnight Cowboy” one best picture, even with an X rating. The era when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy where gunned down. The era when Nixon became president, and Jimmy Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner on his electric guitar. Frank Sinatra and Elvis both made “comebacks”. Crime in New York was at an all time high, poverty was crushing our cities, Fort Lauderdale was known for Spring Break arrests and Miami was mainly a retirement community. The “Hollywood” sign was in grave decay, and no one cared. And we were only a few years away from Disco.

Ah, what a time.

Oh, and about that poster: Doesn’t it remind you of some of the old TV Guide covers from 40+ years ago? It should, it’s been created by 75-year-old illustrator Brian Sanders, who created a lot of advertising artwork from the era.

MAD MEN season six premiers tonight, April 7, 9pm/8 c. on AMC.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the Television viewing room at Tiki Lounge Talk

Rum Swizzle - Your Weekend Tiki Bar Cocktail Recipe

Rum Swizzle

As the saying goes, Thank God It’s Friday. Been a long week here in paradise, getting up early for some annoying thing called “work”, dealing with insane clients, formatting by newest book and feeling sorry for Wahini Colleen, who got attacked by a deranged pussycat (she actually got some pretty deep scratches on her face and head, but she’ll be ok).

If anyone needs a belt this weekend, it’s me. So I looked around for a cool recipe, and didn’t have to search far to find

The Rum Swizzle

Bermuda’s official national cocktail.

This drink is not only tasty, it’s easy to make and has enough ingredients in it to fully appreciate the fun of making a real cocktail. It’s also the kind of drink you can spruce up with lots of garnish, including the old standbys pineapple, lemon, orange, and cherry. Or go crazy and add candied fruit and a hunk of sugar cane. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have a nice cabana chair facing the ocean when you’re ready to drink this one down.

4 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
 (has to be Gosling’s to be official)

4 oz. amber rum

2 oz. triple sec

5 oz. pineapple juice

5 oz. 
Orange juice

Juice of two fresh lemons

2 oz. Falernum

4 dashes bitters

Throw everything into a shaker and shake it up until it’s nice a frothy. Strain into a hurricane glass and garnish. This drink should not be served over the rocks and definitely not with crushed ice. You don’t want to water this down.

Aloha!

-Tiki Chris reporting from the Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, everybody’s favorite Blounge for conversing over exotic cocktails.

Vintage Cocktail Recipe: Negroni (Campari)

You may have noticed I refrained from delving into the myriad cocktail concoctions that have sprung up in the last few years in response to St. Patrick’s day. Although Medori Martinis and Baily’s-laced White Russians might be “St. Paddy’s” for some, for me unless you’re drinking Irish Whisky, Guinness or green-tinted beer, you’re not doing it right.

That aside, I felt I owed my readers a true Vintage cocktail recipe. So this week we’re featuring Campari, with its most famous cocktail, Negroni.

The story of the Negroni (by most accounts) dates back to the 1920s, when Count Cammillo Negroni ordered an Americano (Campari, Vermouth and Soda) with Gin in place of the fizzy stuff, at Caffe Casoni in Florence, Italy. The stronger drink caught on, and became a favorite of Continentals and Americanos alike.

Campari on its own is bitter, and I personally don’t have a taste for it. But mixed up the right way, you’ve got a very good, old-style drink that will instantly remind you of what things were like before flavored vodkas ruined everything.

NEGRONI

• 1 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 1/2 oz Campari
• 1 1/2 oz gin
• Orange slice or twist for garnish

Negroni

Build in a large rocks glass or Old Fashioned glass with ice cubes, starting with the Campari, then the Vermouth, then the gin. Give it a couple of stirs with a glass rod and add the orange slice. Can also be shaken with ice and strained into a cocktail glass.

Here’s the recipe for The Americano:

• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• Club soda
• Orange slice for garnish

Build in a large rocks glass or Old Fashioned glass with ice cubes, starting with the Campari, then the Vermouth, and give it a quick stir. Top off with soda, garnish with orange. This can also be built in a highball glass with more soda.

You can squeeze a little extra orange in either, to taste.

Cent’ Anni!

-Tiki Chris reporting from the Palazzo, where they speak Italian at the Tiki Bar.