Post #133261 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Dec 29, 2004 11:35 PM

Yeah, they thought TIKI STYLE was a better name than TIKI ICON, I personally would have preferred the word play of Tiki/Ikon (I-Kon Tiki), but alas, here it is, the Reader’s Digest version of the Book of Tiki, also referred to as
Lil’ Book of Tiki, SON of BOOK OF TIKI!, Mini Tiki (not Mini Me), Tiki Travelers Companion, the little red book of Tiki, Pocketiki, the...(got any more?)

As I mentioned before, this is a $9.99 pocket version of the big book, edited down and newly laid out by me. Since I did not get paid much for doing this, out of principle I added no new images (and no new text). I also made sure that the cover stayed the same so people would not mistake it for a new book by me. But I enlarged and resituated a lot of images that I liked in the big book and felt were represented too small, like the only authentic photo of the first Palm tree in California and the Fresno Tropicana place mat rendering. A few enlargements, like the Papeete Room at the Dallas Ports of Call came out a bit grainy, but in general I am very happy with the look and feel of this little ditty, it’s quite pretty. Would have made a nice x-mas present if they could have gotten it here A LITTLE EARLIER!

And now my mea culpa: For above mentioned reasons, I simply cut out some chapters, dropped the captions, and shortened the text when space restrictions made it necessary. I did not want to be bothered with rewriting text. Once I held the first copy, I realized I made two bad mistakes, both for which Bamboo Ben will hate me (and Al, and Casey for one):

1.) I did not correct Eli Hedley’s name from Ely to Eli :(, and
2.) I should have noticed and rewritten the ending of the Motel chapter, because now it still reads:
“....The Palm Springs Tropics is the most elaborate, although the “Reef” bar has recently been renovated in the Mexican motif. (Ouch!) Hopefully the rediscovery of Palm Springs as a hub of mid century modernism will aid the preservation of this rare Tiki Temple...”
which was true in 2000, but now is misleading and ignores the splendid, free job Ben and Al did at the Reef. I beg forgiveness, guys, wish I would have caught that before.

Another faux pas: I enlarged the Aku Aku apartments photo so all could better appreciate the sleek modern Moai in front, but only afterwards did I notice the picture (and the sign) were flipped. ARRGH!

One last anecdote from the book publishing world:
Taschen made a deal with OLD NAVY, who wants to sell the Tiki Ikon at their stores, plus some greeting cards (12 cards with 4 motifs from the BOT).
What irony though that I, Mr European free thinker nudist camp kid, was asked to supply alternative images for all frontal nudity pix to make the Old Navy copies family friendly. My pal Jeff Berry rightfully quipped “That proofs what B.S. their name is, would they really be Old Navy they would dig just that very stuff!” So soon (supposedly in March) you will see another version of "Tiki Style", with the same title but altered cover, and 9 new (and “decent”) images at your local hip bargain clothing retailer.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2005-01-12 17:12 ]