TIKI CULTURE

Space Escapades and More, Cheap on Amazon.com

The groovy kats and kittens at Amazon.com were nice enough to send me a little email blast with some swingin’ deals on swingin’ tunes.

Space Escapades, Les Baxter
CD, 24 New from $10.06

Quiet Village, Martin Denny
CD, 21 New from $8.87

Music for a
Bachelor’s Den Vol. 6,
The Best of Arthur Lyman
CD, 7 New from $6.75

Plus 325 results under the search “Exotica” starting at around six clams, including hard to find stuff by The Waitiki 7, and the ever-elusive Exotica album by Bananarama (wait, what? How did that get in here????)

At prices like these you can afford and extra $15 drink at the Mai Kai!

Of course these are CDs. Old-school Tikiphiles will insist on original vinyl, which is a little harder to come by and a little more expensive. Sometimes people tell me they get lucky finding some original 1950’s Denny or Baxter albums at thrift shops for a buck. Damn, hats off to you kids! I gotta say through all my years of searching through piles of moldy, dusty records, I’ve never gotten that lucky finding a great album. However…you can still catch a break on eBay now and then…

-Tiki Chris reporting from the record store down the street from Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, Florida

Happy Anniversary to Tiki Lounge Talk!

April marks the One Year Anniversary of Conversations at the Tiki Bar! Notice the shiny new header and the kool glowing background graphics? They’re just part of a month-long celebration of Tiki, Retro & Vintage fun.

In the coming weeks I’ll post lots of fun-stuff, from some of the first few posts to new and exciting concoctions. I’m also planning on adding a drink recipe page and an events page to give a little more usable info in addition to the general silliness that usually swings around here.

So sit back, take a sip of your Rusty Nail and enjoy Tiki Lounge Talk, the Tiki Blog for Tiki Culture & Tiki Lifestyle (whew that’s a load of Tikis, but I guess it will help with SEO!) in our second fantabulous year!

-Tiki Chris, reporting from Sunny South Florida

Living and Loving the Tiki Lifestyle

Sometimes you just have lay back and enjoy the good life. Yesterday, my buddy Mark (aka Tiki Tender) twittered a recipe for a drink called the Tiki Girl. A nice combo of rum and amaretto, this drink was very, very enjoyable, not sweet and sugary like you might think, but more complex like a real exotic cocktail should be.

So here’s what I did…Last night, with the parrots squwaking in the background and some Martin Denny on the hi-fi, I took his recipe (find it here at tikitender.com) and built it in a vintage glass at my Tiki Bar. (I still have the Christmas lights up on the bar so the whole thing was sort of surreal). The only ingredient I didn’t have was the garnish, but I did have a paper umbrella, so it was A-OK.

It’s the little things in life that can really make you smile. After a long couple of weeks at work, crazy money stuff, and dealing with a haunted Cadillac (long story), it was nice to sit down and relax with a kool Tiki Cocktail. After the second one, I didn’t have a care in the world!

Those who follow me on twitter can attest to the fact that these are pretty strong drinks, as can be seen from my twitter stream last night. Make sure you check out Mark’s site at tikitender.com, he’s got lots of fun stuff and great Tiki drink recipes!

Thanks again to all of you for tuning in to my little Tiki Blog. I really do dig writing about this stuff, and hope my goofy rants from the Tiki Bar give you a laugh, or at least a smile!

-Tiki Chris, AKA Mack, AKA Mr. Loving the Tiki Life!

Don’t Miss Tiki Oasis 9, Aug. 13-16, San Diego!

Time to take off, kats and kittens, hop in the jalopy and motor down to San Diego for the West Coast’s best party ever! According to their website, “Tiki Oasis is the largest and longest running Tiki Event on planet earth”. Well, if you’re into the Tiki scene, and can get to the west coast, you absolutely can’t miss Tiki Oasis, baby! There’s so much entertainment and events packed into this three-day Poly Carnivále that I can’t possibly list them all here. Here’s a splatter of just a few of the entertainers, to give you an idea of the diversity:

(For a full listing of Swingin’ Entertainment on the TO-9 Site click here)

The Blue Hawaiians

Event the Tiki Oasis website is kookie kool and fun. This is some of the original art by Derek Yaniger featured throughout.

The Martini Kings

King Kukulele in the Friki Tikis

Tana the Tattooed Lady

The Swank Bastards

Sultry Savage Burlesque

The SHOCKWAVES

and about a dozen more! Holy Toledo what a line-up! Plus guest speakers, Exotic Cocktail experts, and the Tiki Oasis Marketplace featuring some of the hottest retro and Poly-Pop stuff you can find, from Tommy Bahama and Tiki Farm to Tiki tOny, Vintage Roadside and Fez-O-Rama!

(For a full listing of kool vendors on the TO-9 Site, click here)

Unfortunately yours truly won’t be able to jet-set over to Cali for this primo party, but I’ve got it on the calendar for next year, without a doubt! Friday & Saturday Tickets are still available, and so are tickets for some of the symposiums so check out the Tiki Oasis website before it’s too late!

http://www.tikioasis.com/

How To Have The Perfect Atomic Age Cocktail Party

Ah, the ‘50s, a time of diverse cultures, Rock ‘n Roll and Jazz living side by side, greasers and swingers intermingled in the same cities. While the rock ‘n rollers were drinking Pabst and dancing to Bill Haley and the Comets, the cool crowd…the jetsetters…the swingers…were sipping Manhattans, dressed in evening gowns and sharp tailored suits, dancing cheek to cheek to Ole Blue Eyes and Nat King Cole, or just conversing with Stan Getz or Martin Denny in the background. Here’s how to throw a cocktail party, hi-ball style…

The cocktail party. Suave, continental, the utmost.

Today’s cocktail parties are but a remnant of the original, sophisticated gatherings that grew up in the ‘20s and ‘30s and reached mature perfection in the ‘50s. The music is different, the dress code is much less formal, and even the drinks are…just not the same.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, does it? With a little imagination and a few bucks, anyone can reach back to 50 years ago and pull the elegance and glamour of a real cocktail party into the present.

The Mood
“The best way to wreck a party is to turn on the lights”. Atmosphere is everything, and before you buy your first bottle of Cointreau or open your first pack of swizzle sticks, you’ve got to get the mood right. Dig this: Mood = Lighting. Simple as that.

To create the proper atmosphere, you need the proper setting, and the most important part of that setting is the lighting. Experiment a few evenings before the party with different light combinations. Keep the lights low. A good rule is people, after their eyes adjust, should be able to read their watches, but have to get close to see the color of the eyes of the person in front of them. This makes for a much more intimate, social mood. Avoid direct overhead lights, unless you have a dimmer. A small light at the bar to see the bottles is good, as long as it doesn’t stream out and glare into the room. Colored bulbs can do wonders; blues and greens are very nice, and create a mysterious, vintage feel. Reds tend to make everything look like a bordello, so unless that’s the look you going for, shy away from red. Candles can create a nice effect, but remember two things: First, too many candles can create too much light, actually spoiling the mood, and second, in the Atomic Age, candles were considered quaint (or antiquated)…A true Atom Age party would use the keenest and most up-to-date electronics, even for lighting (which also means if you have special effect lighting, such as ultraviolet or image projection lights, using them sparingly can help create a retro atmosphere). A very cool effect is to have colored bulbs low to the floor, behind furniture shining up, to give it a sort of “glow” in the background. And of course, a lava lamp can’t hurt…http://www.spencersonline.com/decor_lighting_lava-lamps/. Oh, and by the way, the perfect time to start a cocktail party is 8:30pm. Not 8, not 9. Expect many of your guests to arrive at exactly 10:10.

The Dress Code
An essential part of the perfect cocktail party is what your guests look like. Let’s face it, jeans and sweatshirts just won’t cut it. You can be as formal or informal as you like, but whatever you decide, insist your guests dress the part. It will probably be difficult and annoying to your guests to have the wear evening clothes, ties, etc. But they should at the very least dress as well as they would for a wedding. Dresses for the ladies, sport coats for the men. If you’d like, get them excited about dressing the part by having a ‘best dressed’ contest with the winner getting a bottle of champagne.

The Music

Let’s be Frank…this is a ‘50s cocktail party. Stick to the right kind of music. Since you have a couple of decades and several styles to choose from, it would be incredibly cool and mix a few together…Sinatra, Nat Cole and Billy Holiday, Lester Young, Stan Getz and Miles Davis, Martin Denny, Esquivel and Charlie Parker. The “Ultra Lounge Series” of CDs covers a lot of the tiki-inspired music of the era, real bachelor pad stuff. The Peter Gunn soundtrack has a lot of great cuts too. Don’t play anything corny like Percy Faith or Lawrence Welk, and stay away from Rock ‘n Roll, even the old stuff. The music is for background only, or slow dancing, and if anyone complains, call them an uptight square and hand them another drink. http://www.ultralounge.com/

Turn off the Tube
Remember, TV was not the center of attention in the Atom Age. The TV would never be on at a cocktail party. If you absolutely must have the tube on, consider playing DVDs of old movies or TV shows, such as The Malteze Falcon, The Peter Gunn series, Bell, Book & Candle, etc.

The Bar
You can’t force your guests to drink Side Cars and Singapore Slings, but you can try! Look up three or four old school drink recipes, and get familiar with making them. When your guests ask for the usual vodka and cranberry, offer them Vodka Collins instead. Or a Tahitian Sunset. Or maybe a Stinger. But don’t be too pushy…if they really want that Crown and Diet, let them have it. After all, they’re your guests, and you want them to have fun.

It’s a good idea to try to find out ahead of time what people will be drinking. I’ve found the best bar set up consists of a lot of vodka, one Crown, one Jack, one Captain, one tequila and a bunch of fruit juices, plus coke, diet coke, seven up and a bottle of seltzer. If people ask if they can bring something, I tell them they don’t have to but (whatever you’re lacking) would be great. And I never buy beer…someone will always bring it, and if not, someone will go get it. Just make sure you have a couple 5 lb bags of ice. Oh, and a few lemons, limes, and cherries should be enough to get you through the night, unless you’re incredibly detailed about your garnishes. Then go the whole route with cocktail onions, olives, oranges, pineapple, etc.
Someone once gave me a great book with cocktail recipes: The Great Tiki Drink Book. Found one here: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Tiki-Drink-Book/dp/1580084052

The Food
The fare served at a cocktail party can vary from simple snax to extravagant hors d’oeuvres. Just remember, once the party starts, the last thing you’re going to want to do is cook. Plan a menu ahead, taking into account the number of guests, the time of year, and the occasion itself. Stay away from anything soupy or glorpy…no chili, stew, or beef-a-roni, kids. If it needs a fork or spoon, forget it.

No matter what the occasion, you’ll want simple finger foods that can be made in advance. Cocktail wieners are a sure-fire hit. Cheeses cut into one inch cubes, arranged with crackers and pepperoni is always popular. Frozen mini quiches are quick and easy to make, too. Put several small bowls of chips, dip, and nuts around the different rooms. If you’re having an informal friend and family affair, onion dips, mini hot dogs, or a large (6’ or longer) sub cut into small pieces is acceptable, but if you’re having a sort of “singles” get-together, stay away from anything with onion, garlic, etc. Don’t serve anything that can spill easily, and never…NEVER…serve anything out of a can (Except canned fruits or fruit cocktail).

A chocolate fondue fountain is a nice modern touch that seems old fashioned, too. They’re inexpensive and easy to use. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16035785

Conversation Pieces

Don’t underestimate the power of a good old fashioned conversation piece. In the ‘50s, this could have been anything from a piece of avant-garde art, to an antique cigarette box, to a rare book. Today things aren’t too much different…art of any kind, particularly originals, will always catch people’s attention. Antiques today can also include collectibles from the late 20th century, including ‘50s bar memorabilia (I have a few goodies myself that always get a laugh, including VIP matchbooks…Very Important Places…gag advertising matchbook covers denoting various brothels, flophouses, sailor saloons and other funny establishments). And If you don’t have art or collectibles, you still don’t have to go out of your way to find interesting things. Have an old photo album with you in your younger days? Bring it out. Play a musical instrument? Put it on display. Even a few Playboy magazines placed on the coffee table, in the right company, can be a fun way to spice up the Tiki talk. Of course there are some of you who just don’t have anything “conversationally”. When all else fails, hire a stripper to jump out of a cake. Need ideas? http://ebay.com, search “retro”

And Now, The Party

The mood is set, the lights are low, a Les Baxter arrangement is lilting out of the hi-fi, a pitcher of cold Martinis sits on the Tiki Bar, and you look sharp as a tack in your white tux or black evening gown. The first guests have just rung the doorbell. The time has arrived. Sip your Martini, take a deep breath, and get ready to have gas, baby!

I’m gone…catch you cats on the flip side…