The Old Fashioned

Truly old fashioned, this drink has roots that go back to the early 1800s when, according to some historians, the “cock tail” was a drink made with liquor, water, sugar and a few drops of bitters. It’s been said that the addition of citrus came during prohibition, to hide the taste of cheap booze.

The version that Don drinks was the cocktail that dominated swanky lounges and corner bars alike, a cool combination of rye whiskey, bitters and soda with citrus. This is the Old Fashioned that we’ve come to expect, and love. If you want an older version of the Old Fashioned, leave out the citrus and the soda.

Ingredients

1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 teaspoons water
1 strip lemon zest
1 small wedge orange
2 maraschino cherries
Ice, as needed
2 ounces rye (or Bourbon. Bourbon is a little sweeter. Canadian Club has a lot of rye, and works very well)
Club soda
Cherry for garnish

Don Draper pondering his favorite booze

Add the sugar cube to the bottom of an old fashioned glass, then add the water and bitters to it. Place the lemon zest, orange wedge and one cherry in the glass. Use a bar spoon to gently muddle the cube into the liquids so the sugar will begin to dissolve. (Note: Some people prefer to leave out the cherry). Use the back of the spoon to coat the bottom sides of the glass with the mixture. Throw a couple of cubes in the glass and top with bourbon and club soda and stir well. Top with a cherry and an orange slide on the rim.

There are tons of variations on the Old Fashioned. In fact, you can use any booze you want, with varying degrees of success. Of course, there even more modern Old Fashioneds…Recently on a trip to Sonoma, I had one made with “local Bourbon” (which isn’t really Bourbon if it’s made in California), and no cherry. It was very good, and the bartender took pride in making it.

So if you want to impress your vintage-diggin’ pals, or show a skirt that you know how to order a cocktail with plenty of pizzaz, memorize this recipe and make yourself an expert at throwing one together. You’ll have the chicks (or kats, whatever’s your thing) eating out of your hand.

-Tiki Chris P, Reporting from the Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, the interwebs’ favorite B-lounge for retro fun stuff and Tiki Talk.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

“Murder Me, Murder You,”

from 1983 staring Stacy Keach, Tanya Roberts, Don Stroud and Tom Atkins.

The 1980s were not known for the decade’s great Noir movies, and TV murder mysteries of the era were often some of the worst ever made. Consider this flick an exception. With a limited TV budget and Reagan-era censorship, Director Gary Nelson (a seasoned TV & Film director) managed to capture the true essence of Spillane’s style: dark and deadly serious, kept human by a few rays of sarcasm, a few laughs, and some hard liquor.

Stacy Keach as Mike Hammer

What makes this movie interesting to people like you and me is that it’s timeless. Mike Hammer is a 1950’s detective, living in the ’80s, driving a ‘66 Mustang and listening to music from the ’40s. He talks, dresses and acts like a Noir gumshoe (including Porkpie hat) while fighting off Punk rockers and spandex-wearing muscle-heads.  He carries his army issue .45 (named Betsy, just like in the books) and hangs out in a basement bar that only plays Swing on the Wurlitzer. Yet he’s got modern smarts, and although he runs into trouble with a whiny DA, he doesn’t think twice about beating the pulp out of some scumbags - and always gets away with it.

Velda

The Scene: The Art Director and locations manager did a bang-up job picking out “old” looking streets in New York. If it weren’t for the modern cars, this filrm would look like the outdoors were shot in the middle of the century. Don Stroud makes a grew Pat Chambers, Hammer’s friend and connection on the police force. And Tanya Roberts plays a fantastic Velda, sexy and sweet but tough underneath. Her ‘look’ is a lot more ’80s than you might expect, but it works - because Hammer is the only one really pulled from the past.

Ah yes, Hammer. Mike Hammer. Stacy Keach. Big, muscular, and already in his 40s when he shot these movies, Keach plays Hammer closer to the book than any other actor I’ve ever seen, including Spillane himself (No offense, Mickey). He perfectly combines the sarcastic, know-it-all detective with the dark, lonely and murderous killer that lurks beneath. That’s right, killer: In the books, Hammer admits to enjoying killing bad guys. He likes it. He looks forward to it. He admits (to himself) that he’s basically a serial killer who gets off on the thrill of watching someone (who deserves it) die, and found a way to do it legally. He does this very well, without the corniness or silliness that other actors just couldn’t leave alone.

Dark stuff.

Keach pulls it off like a champ. And the writing, although a little hokey at times (to be expected from an 80s TV movie, I think) really nails the character when it comes down to how Hammer would react to the given situations.

Hammer's old Mustang, What would expect him to drive, a Yugo?

What the movie is about:
Any movie that starts off with two hot chicks getting knocked off the road and crushed and burned to death in their car is going to keep you enthralled. Two female couriers, transporting an important briefcase (contents unknown) are murdered. Mike Hammer is subpoenaed when it turns out his ex-fiance (Chris) is connected to the courier agency (in fact, she is a partner). The big bomb is dropped when it’s revealed that this chick had Hammer’s daughter 19 years earlier. She of course never told him.

Chris dies in the courtroom in Hammer’s arms, and although it looks like a heart attack he knows it’s murder. That’s when the Hammer character from the book kicks in full swing, vowing to avenge her death by killing her killer. He also needs to track down his daughter, and embarks on a journey that takes him through his own past, the pornography business, corrupt businesses and a 1-2 punch ending that will have your head spinning.

Fun stuff: Look for Michelle Phillips (yes, THE Michelle Phillips) and a very young, very sexy Delta Burke with more hair than should be legal on a chick’s head. Also look for Lee Meredith (Ulla from “The Producers”) and Jonathan Banks (that guy who was in a million things and always looked like he was about to fall asleep).

Food & Booze:
This is an easy one. Hammer orders a “Police Special” which, apparently, is a bottle of Jack Daniels in a paper sack. So, yeah. As for food, this a New York movie. Throw together a couple of fat, corned beef sandwiches with slaw and Russian Dressing and a pickle.

Note: The Mike Hammer series and TV movies from the ’80s were great. In the 1990s, Keach revived the series which, I believe, went straight to video. Although still decent, the production value of the later series isn’t as good as the original. Watch the originals first. If you dig them, move on to the 90s episodes.

My Take: Although I was a young teenager when these movies came out, I was already a fan of Spillane, the Hammer novels, and wearing fedoras. Spillane’s writing and Keach’s portrayal of Mike Hammer would highly influence my first works of writing, including my scripts for Stardust Theater in the 90s. Hammer’s character would also influence the main character in my best-selling murder mysteries, “Murder on Tiki Island” and “Murder Behind the Closet Door”: Detective Bill Riggins.

I found a TV trailer from ‘83. This movie is second (around the 1:00 mark). Prepare to go back in time 30 years…

-Tiki Chris reporting from a basement bar with a 1939 Wurlitzer playing “Harlem Nocturn”.

Today’s post is just music. But not just any music - Exotica, the official music of the retro Tiki bar or lounge. Just play and enjoy.

.

Baia - Bill Perkins, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Martin Denny, Exotica, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Martin Denny, Quiet Village, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Les Baxter, Jungle Flower, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Martin Denny, Swamp Fire, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Authur Lyman, Caravan, Exotica Tiki Bar music

The Waikikis - Blue Hawaii, Hawaiian Music

Martin Denny - Hypnotique, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Les Baxter - Atlantis, Exotica Tiki Bar music

Les Baxter - Tropicanado, Exotica Tiki Bar music

The Lava Flow

is probably one of our favorites. With a great flavor and fun presentation, The Lava Flow is a cool treat on a steamy tropical night…or a cold winter night, if you crank up the heat and have a few palm plants by your indoor Tiki bar.

Ingredients:

•    1 oz. light rum
•    1 oz. coconut rum
•    2 oz. fresh or frozen strawberries
•    1 small banana
•    2 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
•    2 oz. coconut cream

Photo from http://www.youaremyfave.com/2012/06/page/2/

You’re going to want to make this in a clear glass, to show off the “flow”.

Blend the 2 rums and the strawberries in a blender until smooth. Pour into a tall (Collins or Hurricane) glass. Blend the banana,  coconut cream, and pineapple juice in blender with crushed ice until smooth. Pour this mixture into the glass with the rums very slowly and watch as the strawberry mixture oozes its way to the top along the sides of the glass creating the flowing lava effect. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and little umbrella, for maximum Tiki-liciousness.

Our “Tiki” Weekend…

While most of you are freezing your maracas off, here in South Florida the temperatures are in the 70s. That makes it the perfect time to go to the Miami Zoo. We’re heading down that way this weekend to check out the lions and gators, and of course some tropical birds and snakes. The zoo’s theme is jungle, and there are even a few (newish) Tikis posted around!

-Tiki Chris, reporting from the bar at Tiki Lounge Talk

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was the morning of Sunday, September 15th, 1963.

In New York City, a group of white ad execs had breakfast in a diner. They noticed a black family walk in, dressed for church. They thought it unusual for blacks to be in that part of town, but not unheard of. Everyone went back to eating breakfast without a second thought.

At the same time in Birmingham, Alabama, a white supremacist and  member of the local KKK planted a bomb under the steps of a church known to be a place where civil right leaders met. The bomb exploded at 10:22 am, murdering four teenage girls (Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14) and injuring 23 others. This bombing was in response to the attempted desegregation of Alabama.

Just a week before the bombing, Governor George Wallace, an outspoken segregationist, had told The New York Times that to stop integration Alabama needed a “few first-class funerals.”

After the bombing, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (among others) voiced their outrage. But Dr. King went beyond voicing outrage. He wired Wallace that “the blood of four little children … is on your hands. Your irresponsible and misguided actions have created in Birmingham and Alabama the atmosphere that has induced continued violence and now murder.”

It takes guts to stand up to a Governor, especially to accuse him of having a direct impact on the cause of four children’s murders. But that’s what Dr. King did. He fought. Not with his fists, not with guns or dynamite. He fought with the power of his words, and 50 years after that tragic event we still hear his voice. It doesn’t matter if we saw him live, on TV, or in a taped speech years after his death. His spirit and legacy live on.

Here’s last year’s post on Dr. Martin Luther King, including the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here’s a timeline of Dr. King’s accomplishments, courtesy of OnlineCollegeCourses.com.

-Tiki Chris for Tiki Lounge Talk