Post #305190 by Dr.TikiMojo on Wed, May 9, 2007 2:07 PM

On 2007-02-06 08:56, Psycho Tiki D wrote:

I believe there are “six degrees of separation” between those who truly get it to those who don’t
care about it at all.

Degree six: People who completely despise tiki. These individuals see the genre as “junk culture”, a throwaway, trash object with little, if any, artistic value. This would also include puritanical fanatics that view tiki as a taboo and anti-religious cult.

Psycho Tiki D (I know I am in the first degree).

Mahalo for starting this thread PTD!

Fun read!
On the "Six Degrees" idea...my wife bought this book for laughs called, "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAD TASTE - A Celebration of American Pop Culture at it's Most Joyfully Outrageous"....I consider myself to be a pretty classy guy so imagine what it's like to find so many things that you think are or were cool "Bad Taste", (according to somebody).
Here are some examples from the book:
BEER! -What the Hell was the author smoking! I LOVE beer! Especially hand crafted micro-brews. I live near the wine country and have family in the biz....there's a joke in these parts, "How can you spot the wine makers in a fancy, crowded restaurant? There all the ones drinking BEER!"

BREASTS, ENORMOUS What sort of person would bash the ever glorious BOOB? Granted to quote the movie Weird Science, "Anything more than a handful and your risking a sprained tongue!" But in "Bad Taste"? I guess if someone is going out and spending money to have them enlarged to the size of a pair of parked VW Beetles THEN I could understand....besides, I'm not into the "fake" thing anyhow....like most men I'm just happy to have a booby in hand no matter how big or how small! :P

CADILLACS We're talkin' the Classics here guys! The Big, boats with their wonderful fins and lines! WHAT? Well, need I say more about the "tastes" of the author?

HAWAIIAN SHIRTS, LEOPARD SKIN PRINT, POLYNESIAN FOOD, (here as an example of the "bad taste" they show the famous post card from the Mai Kai of the hot, exotic lady holding a flaming Mai Kai Bowl), SPAM, SURF & TURF, TATTOOS, VELVET PAINTINGS To name just a few....well, folks all I know is that it's FUN and I like the people who also like it!

Well, this is how it works with my family and friends......first after about 6 months after my re-birth into Tiki fanatic I finally realized that I had my father to thank! He was spinnin' the Martin Denny, Robert Drasnin tunes when I was a kid, he had Tiki masks hanging in our garden near his Koi pond. Then we moved, tastes changed, I forgot....then it dawned on me and I called him up and we talked for hours and had a great laugh. He doesn't have any Tiki around now but he DOES get it! :wink:
My best friend, also not into Tiki but when it comes to gifts he remembers and trys. Last Christmas he gave me one of those blue plastic Tiki Lamps with the fake flame in the mouth and the Moai Head tishue box, (not my stlye but a very nice try), a great friend! :D

As to other relatives I don't leave room for error......a gift question might be answered like this..."Tiki Mug, go to munktiki.com , page 3, Medium Moai $24.00" and maybe even include the item number....yea, not much surprise but I'm too old with WAY TOO MUCH JUNK AND KNICK KNACKS around the house for surprises!

On people who don't get it:
Last year we decided to be vendors at the Tiki Beach Festival in Long Beach. When I asked what their annual attendance was over the 3 day long event I was told around 150,000 PEOPLE...WOW! If we only sold to 10% of the people we would make BANK! What I wasn't told was that the event takes place on an OPEN, PUBLIC beach...those people are roller skating by, jogging by, bicycling by, walking by, roller blading by....the key word here is "by" NOT "buy"! :evil:
We spent 3 days explaining non-stop "what these items were","what is Tiki" so on and so forth....all of the sales, (and trades) were pretty much made between the different artists and vendors!
We came away from that one about a $1,000 bucks in the hole! :(