TIKI CULTURE

Book Signing at the Mai Kai Tonight! Murder on Tiki Island, The Parrot Talks in Chocolate

Book signing by authors “Tiki” Chris Pinto and Everett Peacock

Tonight, Wednesday, January 4, 2012, 6pm-8pm

Mai Kai Polynesian Restaurant and Tiki Bar, Fort Lauderdale, FL

If you’re in South Florida this Wednesday, be sure to stop by The Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale and meet yours truly, Tiki Chris P. and Hawaii’s own Everett Peacock for our first book signing together!

It’s a rare treat to team up with Everett Peacock, author of the Parrot Talks series and other Hawaiian tales of fiction. I will be selling and signing paperback copies of the Tiki world’s official murder mystery, Murder on Tiki Island, along with my Wildwood Murder mystery Murder Behind the Closet Door, while Everett’s books will include The Parrot Talks in Chocolate, In the Middle of the World’s Most Wonderful of Oceans, Tiwaka Goes To Waikiki and Death by Facebook.

The Mai Kai is the world’s most famous, oldest-standing, unchanged and theerfore koolest original mid-century Tiki bar in the world. Built in 1956, it just celebrated its 55th anniversary as the Tiki world’s Mecca. Millions of people have made the pilgrimage to Fort Lauderdale, FL to pay tribute to this temple of Tiki, and have done so by imbibing strong, vintage-style tropical drinks, enjoying incredible exotic foods, watching the authentic hula dancers and ending the evening off with a trinket from the gift shop. Now, that gift shop includes works from today’s Tiki artists from all over the world. The newest addition is a collection of Tiki-related books, including those groovy tomes mentioned above.

Everett Peacock

Everett Peacock lives on the island of Maui, in the state of Hawaii, USA. His books have delighted thousands of people, telling tales of the Hawaiian Islands and their interesting inhabitants. His works range from the very lighthearted and uplifting The Parrot Talks in Chocolate, to the spooky paranormal mystery Death by Facebook. All of his works transcend our everyday existence, blending the metaphysical with human reality. His books consistently achieve five-star reviews on many book review sites…and I personally recommend them to anyone who digs Tiki, Hawaii, parrots or cocktails served in coconuts.

"Tiki" Chris Pinto, old-school style

I, Tiki Chris Pinto, live down here in sunny South Florida with my wife Colleen, just a few miles west of the sparkling beaches of Fort Lauderdale and the rum-soaked delights of the Mai Kai. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and my successes included several murder mystery stage plays, the 5-star rated novels Murder Behind the Closet Door and Murder on Tiki Island, and a collection of flash fiction entitled A Flash of Noir. Murder Under The Boards: The Atlantic City Murder Mystery is the novel that’s currently in the works, and will feature my recurring paranormal mystery theme along with my recurring flawed protagonist, Detective Bill Riggins. (For those of you who dig books by Stephen King and Mickey Spillane, you’ll flip for these titles).

Both Everett and I will have several books on hand for sale, and will also sign copies of books you’ve already purchased. Hell, we’ll even sign books we didn’t write. Why not!

Hope to see some of you kool kats and kittens at the Mai Kai tonight!

All of our books can be found on Amazon.com, in print and for Kindle, and for Nook. For more info visit StarDustMysteries.com.

-Tiki Chris P., reporting from the Molokai bar.

Early Autumn Cocktail Recipes: Your Weekend Tiki Bar Drink

Early Autumn Cocktail

While the rest of the country is getting that September chill, it’s 90° here in sunny south Florida!

Since it’s Early Autumn, I thought it would be kool to kick out the

Early Autumn Cocktail Recipe.

Early Autumn is also a very keen jazz standard, immortalized by the swinging saxes of Woody Herman’s Heard (see the video below). This is a great song to play while you mix this interesting cocktail:

Recipe for 8 servings

•    1 1/2 cups vodka
•    1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 5-6 lemons)
•    1/2 cup Galliano
•    1/4 cup honey liqueur (such as Barenjager)
•    flowering fresh thyme sprig, for garnish.

Combine in a large shaker or pitcher with ice, shake or stir briskly. Pour over the rocks into small tumblers, pony glasses or cordial glasses and garnish with a sprig of thyme.

For a more involved, even more Autumny concoction, try this modern mixology take on the Early Autumn Cocktail (recipe from About.com):

•    1.5 oz. Bombay Sapphire infused with dried pear and apples (click for recipe)
•    1/2 oz. Lucid absinthe
•    1 oz. local apple cider
•    1/2 oz. pear brandy (Adam recommends: Massenez Williams Poire Brandy)
•    1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
•    2 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate bitters
•    Ginger beer
•    cinnamon stick for garnish
•    lemon peel for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes and shake it up. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice and garnish with a lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Wow, huh?

Here’s the song, Woody Herman featuring Stan Getz on sax.

Too Hot To Tiki?

Just a short musing…

While the rest of the country is looking forward to cooler fall weather, we here in South Florida are smack dab in the middle of hottest time of year. Our “summer” lasts long after Halloween is over, and “fall” is just a concept in our minds. The end of August means hot, humid days and rainy evenings are promised for at least another month.

Now don’t you cats & kitties get me wrong…I ain’t complaining. I love the heat and the screwy weather. It’s just that when it’s 85° at 9:00 o’clock at night, it’s not so nice to sit out on the lanai and drink booze at the outdoor Tiki bar. Unless of course you can jump in the pool.

-Tiki Chris P.

Dig the art of Tiki Tower at Arts in the Pines, Pembroke Pines, Florida this weekend

Visit us on Facebook! The Retro Tiki Lounge

Tiki Tower, The Tiki Art of Robert Jimenez will featured at South Florida’s Arts & Crafts Festival in the Pines art show this weekend. The show runs Saturday and Sunday, March 12 & 13 at City Center, 10300 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines. Robert’s art is the East Coast answer to the great Tiki artists of Cali and Hawaii.

His style is very kool, combining old-school Tikiness with a modern, SoFla edge. Originally from NY, the kat now lives here in sunny south Florida, swingin’ his groovy brush over many a hip canvas to bring us a plethora of ut-most art. Here are a few of his works, featuring some very hip monkeys, and even a swingin’ mermaid chick:

Encounter at the Cove

Last Call at TikilandiaThe Tiki God is Most Amused!

The Tiki God Commands You To Dance!

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the Gallery at Tiki Lounge Talk, the Tiki Bar lover’s guide to swingin’ music, kool art and fantabulous exotic cocktails. Can you dig it? I knew that you could!

Mod Miami Starts Today in Miami, Florida

Mod Miami, “The Swankadelic Weekend Experience for Modern Minds, Where Modernism Meets Mod” starts today (Thursday, March 3) on the historic MiMo (Miami Modern) Boulevard in Miami, Florida.

As the swingin’ website says, this weekend cocktail soiree is for hipsters, Tikiphiles, lounge lizards, ultra-mods, swanksters and other jetsetters…and if you’re reading this, you probably fall into one of those groups.

Mike Jones of Mod Miami, Mr. Swank himself.

Headed by Mr. Swank himself, Mike Jones (former owner of the ultra-futuramic Jetsetter Lounge in Lake Worth, FL, sadly part of history itself now) this four-day event promises lots of mid-century Miami style music, fashion, cocktails, parties and entertainment galore.

The lineup touts some of Tiki Lounge Talk’s favorite retro-tastic performers, including…

Marina the Fire-Eating Mermaid

• Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid
• The Intoxicators!
• Stolen Idols

and much more, including several DJs, live acts, a fashion show by Black Cat Bikinis, and The Superions featuring Fred Schneider of the B-52s. Yeah.

There’s also a walking tour of the MCM area surrounding the event’s headquarters, the New Yorker Boutique Hotel, a recently renovated, original MiMo motel on Biscayne Boulevard. (What the hell is a boutique hotel, you ask? It’s an old motel that’s been transformed into something a little cooler, dig?)

The New Yorker Boutique Hotel

“MiMo”, or Miami Modern, is a fairly recent term coined to fit the style of mid-century architecture and design that it so specific to South Florida. (Back in the old days we used to refer to it as Florida Deco, or Miami Deco). The style incorporates much of the mid-century modern styles popular in California and the shore towns of the north east (i.e., Wildwood, NJ) with Art Deco and Spanish influences. Let’s face it, nothing screams Deco or MCM like a pink hotel on the beach with palm trees and a turquoise ’56 T-bird in front, with Exotica music playing in the background and a beautiful chick in a sarong serving Zombies and Cuba Libres. You hip?

So if you’re in town this weekend, take the wheel of your automobile and swing on down to Mod Miami. I’ll see you kats and kittens there Saturday night.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the beach, across from a row of Art Deco hotels in Miami, Florida