Post #234340 by Basement Kahuna on Sat, May 27, 2006 11:30 PM

Seriously, if you ask me ( my advice: don't:) ) just enjoying it old school is the best way. People will find it through osmosis if they are really interested in the nitty gritty. Either they dig it or they don't. The whole business with "Promoting Tiki" does have slight hint of a Jehova's Witness ring to me. In the old days of the Tiki revival (yes, I said it, but I saw it) there definitely was more of a solid undercurrent of urban archeology, preservation, and genuine interest in where all this came from and how to keep it pure and real as a genre. Everybody into it at least had the Book Of Tiki. Then Party City and Big Lots started selling Tikis. Then Old Navy started faking vintage Aloha shirts. Enter the "Wow...fck yeah! I don't really know fer Tiki but I know's a party...whoooow!!" crowd. Then a lot of people started to interpret Tiki culture by the "party hearty and who cares about the rest" standard instead of the "party and celebrate and learn about and preserve a true thing of beauty" standard. Lots more good talk story in the latter than in the former. There's a big mana difference when looking at a drunken dolt at a frat party with a crap drink in some big, goofy mask with a Fez and a cigar dancing around in flip flops (That sort of parrothead witch doctor conventioneer meets Jeff Spicoli thing that the chain stores have going on) versus staring in awe at the sheer majesty and class of the Mai Kai or a well preserved Trader Vic's for the first time, or gasping for breath as you lay eyes on an Imperial Luau tiki or Mr. Bali Hai or an Ed Crissman work of art. It's like visiting a Pac Sun store versus visiting the Sistine Chapel. No comparison. But at the root that's why it clicks out so much right now. There's nothing like the real thing. Old Coke versus new Coke. I thing as long as you keep it core and keep enjoying it as we all know it can be, eventually the shtty formula will get phased out and the classic will stand. Vic and Don and Steve and the Thornton Brothers had it right the first time. 72 years proves it. They wrote the Tiki Constitution in my book. It brought the people and gave them joy then, and it still does. (All opinions here, folks, and only opinions, and everybody knows I'm opinionated).