Tiki Oasis V memories - California Events

H Humuhumu Member San Francisco Joined: Aug 22, 2002 Posts: 3691	H Humuhumu Posted posted on Mon, May 9, 2005 3:44 PM It's amazing to me the way that each major tiki event I attend is a more heartwarming and truly fantastic experience than the last. I've wondered how it can be so, but the Tiki Central 'ohana simply is continuing to grow both closer and larger as time goes by. I feel deeply honored and fortunate to be part of it. This was a very special weekend to me -- all of the tiki events are etched cleanly in my memory (okay, so some of the parts are fuzzy), but this Tiki Oasis was really a different experience for me in several wonderful ways. I'd like to give a very special thanks to Otto and Baby Doe for their years of dedication to spreading the love for Polynesian Pop. Think of the last time you were in charge of coordinating a handful of people for a simple dinner or get-together, or the dread you felt when the check and pile of bills and credit cards somehow made its way in front of you, leaving you to figure out the tally -- now imagine doing that on the scale of several hundred people over several days, with entertainers, vendors, and scads and scads of alcohol. Yikes. Otto and Baby Doe, being busy folks with jobs & family like most of us have to deal with, commit massive chunks of time out of every year to make this happen for us. Frankly, it's amazing. I couldn't do it. And I thank my lucky stars that we Otto & Baby Doe can. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The Room Crawl was a fabulous idea, and it worked really well. I love that anyone who wanted it had the opportunity to shine in the host spotlight for a little bit, and that there were ample opportunities to come together and meet more TCers. The drinks were fantastic all around. I was disappointed to miss some of the room parties (Friday in particular was dedicated to sleeping for me). I'd also like to thank everyone who came out to participate the Aloha Wear Release to the Wild, especially Al & Shelley and Martin & Rebecca, who donated some of their own items into the collection. I can't tell you how it thrills me to see the look on someone's face when a lovely vintage item fits juuuuust right. It's always a kick for me to see the dresses out in the wild on a lovely wahine, where they belong. On Thursday night, I was presented with the most humbling and astounding gift -- Floratina had commissioned Crazy Al to create a special tiki necklace for me, which he carved out of mahogany. He was selling replicas of the original at Oasis and calling them "The Humuhumu." I was gobsmacked. Deeply, deeply touched. It's gorgeous and I love it, thank you so very, very much! Room 135 was, as ever, a fantastic cavalcade of socializing and music. Al & Shelley were wonderful hosts as ever, and also opened their suite up for others to host out of at several points through the weekend. It is incredibly generous of Al & Shelley to let 135 be a home base of sorts. 135 lives on! I'd like to thank all of the attendees to the scheduled Friday night party AND the unscheduled Saturday night party in Room 230. We LOVED being able to play host, and we especially love that everyone played nice and nothing got broken or lifted. Well, Lane lifted me now that I think about it, but he did put me back. I've spoken with mig, and he's quite bummed he didn't make it, and was also bummed to hear that the bear was a no-show. Frankly, I think it's all a bit fishy and coincidental -- I have a feeling we might see a few wee gorilla-ish bears and bear-ish gorillas at next year's Oasis. By far, the biggest treat for me this weekend was being able to share it all with someone very special to me, someone I love very much. For many people this weekend, this was their first time meeting Hanford Lemoore. Hanford is an amazing man; I adore him, and I felt incredibly happy to be by his side through the weekend at his first Tiki Oasis. I know it meant a lot to Hanford to get to see the Tiki Central community in action in a very new way. Thank you also to those who had our backs when things took a brief turn for the creepy on Saturday night. Mahalo nui loa to everyone for being such a big and thoroughly positive part of my life. Critiki - Hundreds of tiki bars, Polynesian restaurants, and other sites of interest to the tiki traveller, collector or urban archaeologist [ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2005-05-09 15:50 ]

It's amazing to me the way that each major tiki event I attend is a more heartwarming and truly fantastic experience than the last. I've wondered how it can be so, but the Tiki Central 'ohana simply is continuing to grow both closer and larger as time goes by. I feel deeply honored and fortunate to be part of it. This was a very special weekend to me -- all of the tiki events are etched cleanly in my memory (okay, so some of the parts are fuzzy), but this Tiki Oasis was really a different experience for me in several wonderful ways.

I'd like to give a very special thanks to Otto and Baby Doe for their years of dedication to spreading the love for Polynesian Pop. Think of the last time you were in charge of coordinating a handful of people for a simple dinner or get-together, or the dread you felt when the check and pile of bills and credit cards somehow made its way in front of you, leaving you to figure out the tally -- now imagine doing that on the scale of several hundred people over several days, with entertainers, vendors, and scads and scads of alcohol. Yikes. Otto and Baby Doe, being busy folks with jobs & family like most of us have to deal with, commit massive chunks of time out of every year to make this happen for us. Frankly, it's amazing. I couldn't do it. And I thank my lucky stars that we Otto & Baby Doe can. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Room Crawl was a fabulous idea, and it worked really well. I love that anyone who wanted it had the opportunity to shine in the host spotlight for a little bit, and that there were ample opportunities to come together and meet more TCers. The drinks were fantastic all around. I was disappointed to miss some of the room parties (Friday in particular was dedicated to sleeping for me). I'd also like to thank everyone who came out to participate the Aloha Wear Release to the Wild, especially Al & Shelley and Martin & Rebecca, who donated some of their own items into the collection. I can't tell you how it thrills me to see the look on someone's face when a lovely vintage item fits juuuuust right. It's always a kick for me to see the dresses out in the wild on a lovely wahine, where they belong.

On Thursday night, I was presented with the most humbling and astounding gift -- Floratina had commissioned Crazy Al to create a special tiki necklace for me, which he carved out of mahogany. He was selling replicas of the original at Oasis and calling them "The Humuhumu." I was gobsmacked. Deeply, deeply touched. It's gorgeous and I love it, thank you so very, very much!

Room 135 was, as ever, a fantastic cavalcade of socializing and music. Al & Shelley were wonderful hosts as ever, and also opened their suite up for others to host out of at several points through the weekend. It is incredibly generous of Al & Shelley to let 135 be a home base of sorts. 135 lives on!

I'd like to thank all of the attendees to the scheduled Friday night party AND the unscheduled Saturday night party in Room 230. We LOVED being able to play host, and we especially love that everyone played nice and nothing got broken or lifted. Well, Lane lifted me now that I think about it, but he did put me back.

I've spoken with mig, and he's quite bummed he didn't make it, and was also bummed to hear that the bear was a no-show. Frankly, I think it's all a bit fishy and coincidental -- I have a feeling we might see a few wee gorilla-ish bears and bear-ish gorillas at next year's Oasis.

By far, the biggest treat for me this weekend was being able to share it all with someone very special to me, someone I love very much. For many people this weekend, this was their first time meeting Hanford Lemoore. Hanford is an amazing man; I adore him, and I felt incredibly happy to be by his side through the weekend at his first Tiki Oasis. I know it meant a lot to Hanford to get to see the Tiki Central community in action in a very new way. Thank you also to those who had our backs when things took a brief turn for the creepy on Saturday night.

Mahalo nui loa to everyone for being such a big and thoroughly positive part of my life.

Critiki - Hundreds of tiki bars, Polynesian restaurants, and other sites of interest to the tiki traveller, collector or urban archaeologist

[ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2005-05-09 15:50 ]

Post #157455 by Humuhumu on Mon, May 9, 2005 3:44 PM