TIKI CULTURE

Halloween, Cartoons and Halloween Tiki Cocktail Recipes

Hey rockin’ daddy-O’s and krazy little mamas! Halloween is right around the corner…And this time of year I get so busy with decor and parties, I don’t have a lot of ticks left to write posts. So here are some kookie, fun vintage spooky videos and cocktail concoctions for the season of the witch, to get you through the next couple of days…

Betty Boop and Cab Calloway, Minnie The Moocher

Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Ghost of Stephen Foster

The Nightmare Before Christmas, Oogie Boogie’s Song

Tiki Cocktails Recipes for Halloween (and some spooky movies!)

The Original Zombie

Red Devil

Red Death

Pumpkin Martini

Frozen Zombie, Dracula’s Blood & The Michael Myers Halloween Cocktail

The Playboy Club Already Canceled; Pan Am Soars; International Exotic Cocktail Day Almost Here

"Two double Martinis, Jimmy...and whatever the lady wants."

Well, I guess my scathing review of the premier of The Playboy Club was on the mark. After only three episodes, the retro drama is off the air…So far NBC doesn’t even have plans to run off the remaining episodes in another time slot. Poor initial ratings and sharp viewer decline in the last two episodes (along with some squawking from a big-mouthed religious group who thinks Playboy is pornographic, ugh) caused the advertisers to jump ship. And without dough, there’s no show. Shame, since episode two was a thousand times better than episode one. Haven’t seen the third one yet.

Now…when you swing over to Pan Am, you can’t help but smile. They’ve really captured the era, and give people like us an hour a week to feel like we’re back in the days when you could get a real martini (in a real glass martini glass), complete with olives and pretty, smiling stewardess on an airplane.The story lines are solid and keep us interested, and peaks of vintage Cadillacs and Chryslers remind us of the days when the most elegant, luxurious and powerful cars were built in Detroit.

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Friday is International Exotic Cocktail Day!

At the Tiki Bar...

We’ve been waiting all year for Friday, October 7 just so we could drink a cool rum concoction! Ok, we didn’t wait. But what better way to pledge our allegiance to the Exotic Cocktail than to have a day dedicated to it? This Friday, raise a glass and toast your friends, family, boss, gardener, dog, whatever, wherever you are, whatever time you can make it. Celebrate International Exotic Cocktail Day with me, and show the world you’re a Tiki Drink Lover!

We’ll be celebrating at the famous Wreck Bar in Fort Lauderdale, watching Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid’s show through the portholes. Then it’s off to the Mai Kai for a nightcap. Hope to see some of you there!

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the Tiki Lounge

Dark ’n’ Stormy: Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail, and A Flash of Noir

The Dark 'n' Stormy

This weekend I’m officially announcing the latest tome to my collection of books, A Flash of Noir. To go with it, I needed a noir-style cocktail…and what could be more noir than a classic

Dark and Stormy

Trademarked by Gosling’s in Bermuda, the Dark & Stormy uses Gosling’s Black Seal dark rum and ginger beer. It was invented just after WWI, and was a favorite among American sailors who picked it up in the Caribbean. A strong and simple to make tropical drink, it is certainly at home on any Tiki bar.

•    2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum
•    3 oz ginger beer
•    lime wedge

Pour the dark rum over ice in a highball glass or Tiki mug, then add the ginger beer. Stir lightly with a glass rod and add the lime wedge for garnish. Don’t squeeze the whole lime wedge in…taste it first, and add a little at a time until it’s the way you dig it.

Annnd…fade to black, bring up sepia lights to

A Flash of Noir

Just before you mix your Dark and Stormy, get out your Kindle (or iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC) and go to A Flash of Noir at the Kindle store. There you can download my latest book, A Flash of Noir for only 99¢! By the time you finish mixing the drink, the download will be complete and you can begin to read while you sip.

A Flash of Noir - Kindle version

Yes, only 99¢

…for 30+ short, short stories, flash fiction, beatnik poetry and kool photos, all authored by yours truly, Tiki Chris Pinto (or as I’m known on my author page, Christopher Pinto). It’s jam-packed with kool 60-second reads full of gumshoe detectives, sultry dames, ghosts, murderers, and monsters. There’s even a story made entirely of song titles…see if you can find them all!

From the book’s description: “From smokey bars in New York City to the tropical islands of the Florida keys, A Flash of Noir takes you for a spin through the seediest gin joints and darkest alleys. One minute you’re speeding down I-95 in a hot rod, the next you’re tasting cheap whiskey in a basement tap room where the women are heartless and the men are unforgiving. Gangsters, cops, private eyes, strippers, murderers, phantoms…plus a few comedy pieces to keep you from wanting to slit your wrists.”

A Flash of Noir - Print version coming soon. Cover model is Colleen Pinto.

Why only 99¢? Well, I can tell you it’s worth a lot more, entertainment-wise. But I’m hoping that a lot of you will give it a shot for a buck. If you dig it, I hope you’ll download one of my other books, Murder Behind the Closet Door: The Wildwood Paranormal Mystery or Murder on Tiki Island: A Noir Paranormal Mystery in the Florida Keys…and if you dig those, I hope you’ll tell your friends so they get em too. The idea is to become rich and famous. Ain’t that what most of us want?

I just realized…it’s beginning to thunder and lightning here at the Tiki Bar. Perfect for a Dark & Stormy!

– Tiki Chris reporting from the library at Tiki Lounge Talk, the Blounge for swingin’ retro kats and hip chicks.

Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail: My Blue Heaven

My Blue Heaven

Here’s a easy one to mix up quick at the Tiki bar. It looks pretty and the chicks really dig it.

My Blue Heaven

1 oz Silver Rum
1 oz Blue Curacao
1 oz Coconut Creme
2 oz Pineapple Juice

Easy method:
Put everything in a shaker and shake it up real nice with ice, until the shaker gets frosty. Pour it over the rocks in a Tiki mug and garnish with a piece of pineapple, and if you have it, a blueberry.

Difficult method:
Go to the music shop and buy a book on how to play saxophone. Learn to play the saxophone. Buy sheet music to My Blue Heaven, and record it with a couple of jazzing’ cats to a swing beat. Set up a record deal with a major jazz label and have the recording distributed. When it reaches the top of the charts, have it pressed in vinyl as a collector’s piece.

Buy a high end hi-fi turntable. Set it up at your Tiki Bar and put the record on. Follow directions above.

MMM, good stuff.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the bar at Tiki Lounge Talk

Spicy Piña Colada: Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail, and Cocktail Nation

How about something frozen on this hot, South Florida day?

As the Mai Tai is without question the quintessential Tiki Cocktail, the Piña Colada is without doubt the most famous and best-loved Tropical drink. Welcome anyplace on the globe where palm trees and thatch are present, the Piña Colada is at equally at home at the Tiki bar or on a Mexican playa.

From Shag’s Tiki Drink Deck, here is the

Spicy Piña Colada

1 1/2 oz. spiced rum (I prefer Sailor Jerry’s)
1 1/2 oz. creme de coconut
2 oz. pineapple juice
2 oz. pineapple chunks
splash of cream
151 rum

Blend everything except the 151 in a blender with ice until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass, top with about a tablespoon of 151 and garnish with a cherry, pineapple wedge, orange slice and a little umbrella. It’s nothing without the umbrella. Sit in your favorite deck chair pointed at the ocean and enjoy!

Shag's Tiki Drinks Deck

Cocktail Nation

So, as I riffed about in my last post, Koop Kooper of Cocktail Nation kindly interviewed me for my newest retro-tastic novel, Murder on Tiki Island. The vintage music podcast is now available at CocktailNation.net (click the link to listen now!) The show is, as always, great, kicking off with a Diana Krall tune and filled with great music and retro koolness. You can catch Koop’s podcast every week, with new-old tunes a’plenty.

For info on Murder on Tiki Island by Tiki Chris Pinto, visit the Star Dust Mysteries Publishing website at StardustMysteries.com.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the lanai at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, Florida