Tiki Drink for the Weekend: The Sweet Caroline

Ok, I know I’m a little slow on the draw this week for your Tiki Drink Recipe. Sometimes part of living the Tiki Lifestyle means sleeping until 2pm for no reason.

I made this one up, but I’m sure I’m not the first to mix these ingredients together. I call it a Sweet Caroline. It’s got a nice sweet taste, with citrus kick. Kind of like this girl named Caroline I used to know.

1 oz Midori
1 oz Amaretto
1 oz Sour Mix
Fill with Orange Juice

Pour over ice in a large glass and stir. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry. Pretty simple, very tasty! The sugars seem to make the booze hit your head faster than you’d think, so be careful with this one, kids.

-Tiki Chris reporting from under the table at Tiki Lounge Talk

A Lazy Saturday in South Florida, by Tiki Chris

Sometimes in Florida, in the summer, it’s just too darned hot to do anything. Today we got up at two in the afternoon. Believe that? Krrr-azy.

I had a whole day of fun stuff planned. But all I accomplished was starting up the 53 Chevy, and buying limes, mint and 10 Cane rum to make Mojitos. Of course I was too lazy to make the Mojitos, so they’re on deck for tomorrow.

You kids know I don’t usually write about silly stuff like doin’ nothin’. But this was such a relazy day I just had to do something of interest, hence this post. So, to make it interesting, here’s a joke, and a funny photo of a kitten.

The Joke:

A sea captain walks into a bar. He has a ship’s wheel attached to his belt. The bartender says, “Hey, ain’t that kind of annoying?” The captain says, “Arrg, yeah, it’s drivin’ me nuts.”

The photo:

Tropical Storm may squash weekend plans in Cocoa Beach

If you follow me on Twitter or The Retro Tiki Lounge on Facebook, you’ve probably heard we’ve been planning a trip to the Space Coast, Cocoa Beach for this weekend. It’s been an up-and-down/on-and-off-and-back-on-again krazy kind of plan. We were originally going to swing up to Orlando (with a stop in Cocoa) on a work/trip, but the work part got canceled. We managed to rescue the Cocoa Beach part of the trip, but several events in the last week (flat tire, sudden influx of rescue puppies and kittens, dates moved on paying gigs with the little lady, etc etc) have severely screwed things up.

As of yesterday, we were all set up for a cruise up to Cocao today. Then this goofy Tropical storm, which is all the way down in the Caribbean, decided to fling itself into a big mess of rain clouds and shot some rain all the way up the East Coast of Florida. So as of now, 10:30 am on Friday, here in Fort Lauderdale is a big soggy wreck of a day, and our sources north tell us Cocoa Beach isn’t much different.

One thing you should know about Florida: The best stuff to do is outdoors. Even the Tiki Bars are all either open-air, on the water (Like Islamorada) or have great tropical gardens (like the Mai Kai). So zipping around in the rain is maximum dullsville.

Cocoa Beach is full of kool old ’50s motels and Tiki-ness. It’s like you can’t get drunk and fall over without hitting a Tiki. There are great Tiki Carvers up there, and lots of fun beachy stuff. And the plan was to take lots of pix and post a report on this seaside Tiki lovers’ getaway. But I’m afraid this TS-Bonnie is going to squash the plans on this foray into vintage-meets-neo tiki culture. It’s no fun driving three hours on I-95 in buckets of rain, even in the sleek little Cruiser with the aquatreds, especially if it’s to spend most of the time sitting in the motel room waiting for the rain to stop. So, we’ll see how it plays out today. If Bonnie bows out by tonight, we’ll swing up tomorrow instead of today. If not, this weekend will be a great time to catch up on some writing.

More to come…

Later Gators.

-Tiki Chris, soaking wet and not packed yet, reporting from under the overhang of the lanai at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar. Tiki Lounge Talk, The Tiki Culture Blog for Hep Kats and Swingin’ Kittens.

Weekend Cocktails at the Tiki Bar: The Frozen Summer Slush

This recipe first caught my eye because I thought it said “Frozen Summer Lush”, which would have completely described a chick I knew back in my college days. Anyhoo, I thought we’d go for a thirst-quencher during this blazing hot summer weather. (Sorry to you people down-under where it’s winter).

I found this same recipe on several sites so I don’t know who to give credit to for inventing it. Apparently many people are making this claim. Then again, I recently saw a T-shirt company who was claiming to have brought Tiki Culture to southern California. Recently. Like, uh, dood, get your head out of your

As for me, I think I’ll say I brought Tiki Culture to South Florida. I’ve tried this claim on twitter and got wildly mild support. So yeah, ME, I did it. Not the guys at the Mai Kai, not the Mermaids at the wreck bar, not Elvis in Clambake, lil ole me has created the Tiki Ferver in South Florida. There.

Huh? The drink? What drink? Oh yeah, the recipe. Sorry, already knocked back a few.

The Frozen Summer Lush.
Eh, Slush.

How to concoct it:

Put the seven cups of water in a saucepan, and boil it up. Throw in the sugar and stir it in until dissolved; set aside to cool.

Now put the teabags in two cups of (more) boiling water, and let steep until the bags scream “let me out!”. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar water, tea, lemonade concentrate and orange juice concentrate. Take a sip of gin from the bottle. If it tastes good, Stir in gin. Take another sip just to be double sure.

Put the mixture in a freezer container and freeze overnight. To serve, scoop some into a tall, kool glass, and fill it up with club soda. mmmmmm. good stuff.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the frrreeezer at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, home of Tiki Lounge Talk, the Tiki Life & Tiki Culture Blog for jetsetter kats and cream-puff kittens.

Michael Bublé - The New Bobby Darrin?

Michael Buble

The kid from Canada, Michael Bublé (Pronounced ‘booble’ at the Tiki bar) has been swingin’ it up on the scene for a few years now…you’ve probably heard his tunes somewhere, at the mall, in Starbucks, in Canada, or on TV. He dresses vintage, looks like he stepped out of the early ’60s, can croon in the style of Dino and Frank and is just as laid back singing an R&B or corny modern pop tune. The kids like him, the grays like him, and the swingin’ kats and kittens in between like him.

Sound familiar?
Remember a kid named Bobby Darrin?

In the ’50s Bobby Darrin made a big splash with hits across the charts, from swingin’ tunes like Mack the Knife and Beyond the Sea to Rock ’n’ Roll hits like Splish Splash. One of the original “crossover” singers of pop music, anything Darrin touched (for most of his career) turned to gold.

Bobby Darrin’s Mack the Knife vs. Michael Bublé’s Mack the Knife

Bobby Darrin

Bobby had class, he had style, he knew when to throw around a joke and knew when to get serious and not goon up the act.

We retro kats are always looking for someone to fill the openings left by the Rat Packers, Jazz giants and kids like Darrin. We’ve got Harry Conick, Jr. who fits nicely into the crooner slot. We’ve got chicks like Diana Krall who can sing and swing with the best of them and show them a thing or two. Even Natalie Cole has done her part to keep the old fires burning. So what about this Booble kid?

Requirements: In order to really, truly swing with the big boys you’ve got to have the main ingredients for the swinger’s cocktail.

1. Real Talent
2. A smooth, kool style.
3. Must be a hit with the ladies.
4. Must be funny, in an easy, off-the-cuff way.
5. Gotta look the part and look good doing it.
6. Gotta live the part.
7. Have to find that perfect blend of swinging the standards while maintaining that oh-so-important originality.
8. Gotta have a hat.

I’m not so sure about the hat, but I think the kid has many of the requirements needed to be accepted into the retro crowd. I’ve seen him sing live on SNL (not lip syncing) and he sounded good. He was also in a skit and was pretty damned funny, better than I expected. The only thing that will keep this kat from attaining Sinatra-esque status is his choice in songs. For every standard he croons, he adds some new, popbage (pop+garbage=popbage) to his act. Sure, that’s what he has to do to bring in the bigger crowds, get the kids’ attention, make the big bucks. I understand completely…Hell, I’d play a few crap tunes on the tenor if it made me the clams to be able to play the stuff I want, too. But you won’t catch me at a Booble concert, ’cause I just ain’t hip to the neo-jive the kat lays down for the 13-year-olds.

Michael Booble

So the real question is, does he have the style?
Of course no one could take Bobby’s place. But some kats come close. I’ll ask you kids…yay or neigh on Booble? Can he really pull it off? Does he make the cut as a real, happinin’ retro-swinger, or is he just another pop music kid trying to be slick and falling short?

You at least have to give the kid credit for getting this famous on 60-year-old songs in the age of hip-hop fever and pop-tart mania.

Comments welcome, let’s hear what you have to say.