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Tiki Central / General Tiki / Beware, more tiki going mainstream!

Post #165341 by christiki295 on Sun, Jun 12, 2005 4:03 PM

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I like to say that popular culture is cyclical; what I mean is that cultural icons like to reassert themselves periodically in almost completely predictable patterns. Every few years, the mainstream becomes aware of a small group of people preserving a largely forgotten trend, fad, or lifestyle, which is then scooped up, repackaged, and sold in a new incarnation to the modern-day consumer.

Those of us who are interested in any of the myriad niches of middle 20th century culture have watched this happen several times over: witness the rockabilly revival in the early 1980’s, the ska revivals in both the late 1970’s and early 1990’s, and the swing revival of the mid-late 1990’s.

Now that the Derby is hosting tiki themed Wednesday evenings, does that mean Tiki has eclipsed Swing in mainstream popularity?

As I recall (although my perspective is dated) the Derby is (was?) the LA home to Swing.

[ Edited by: christiki295 on 2005-06-12 16:04 ]