Who Is Better at Introducing Tiki to the Mainstream Tommy Bahama or Target? - General Tiki

TS Tom Slick Tiki Socialite The Beaches of South Bay, SoCal Joined: Aug 26, 2005 Posts: 1093	TS Tom Slick Posted posted on Mon, Feb 18, 2008 11:44 PM Wow...I also didn't take the post in a serious matter, but to be truthful, I've seen the arguement before here and no matter what, nobody ever wins...EVER. Its like a debate about what religion is right and what religion is wrong. I can say that anything "Authentic" tiki(however that maybe today) is long gone in the terms of polypop. Everything today stems from something of the past, regardless. There is no more "progress" to be made so to speak in the "classic" polypop world. How could there be? It existed in the states post war and continued into the 60s where it stopped. I would ante up Svens guess at the "Jimmy Buffettization" as the devolution of polypop as we know it today, and take it back to the Beatles, The Doors, Vietnam and LSD. After that, everything got fugged up! And in alot of instances, alot of Tiki Bars unexpectedly turned into dope shooting galleries almost overnight. Anyhow, I personally see it silly for anyone to get red in the face over polypop. Sven did a remarkable job of taking us back in time with wonderful images of times gone by, which only a sliver of what is in his books still exists today. I consider him an authority on Tiki Pop Culture and a historian of the same. With that said, What this community should be moving towards is: A. Having Fun while learning about everything tiki, and B. Positive solutions to preserve what little "Authenticity" is left. Join up LOCAL preservation societys/ModComs/Historic Commitees and make a difference, even if it is to only save one cherished location/landmark. Afterall, you "shouldn't" have the right to complain if you did nothing positive to help your local preservationist's efforts. All the while, embracing the Modern Tiki artists like the "Shags","Boskos","Dereks" and such. These artists (who all kick ass, including the masses of artists not named due to time/space constraints) have borrowed tiki and continue to give it back to the world in their own eyes. Shag=Hanna Barbera-ish, Bosko=Witco-ish, Derek=Jay Ward-ish, And with all the "evolving" in the world of tiki and art, some things will be forced to devolve due to changing trends. A cup afterall, can only hold so much water before it runs over. Lastly, to have a pure version, you have to have watered down version, in order to have some basis on what to compare it to. Ying And Yang, I guess......

Wow...I also didn't take the post in a serious matter, but to be truthful, I've seen the arguement before here and no matter what, nobody ever wins...EVER. Its like a debate about what religion is right and what religion is wrong. I can say that anything "Authentic" tiki(however that maybe today) is long gone in the terms of polypop.

Everything today stems from something of the past, regardless. There is no more "progress" to be made so to speak in the "classic" polypop world. How could there be? It existed in the states post war and continued into the 60s where it stopped. I would ante up Svens guess at the "Jimmy Buffettization" as the devolution of polypop as we know it today, and take it back to the Beatles, The Doors, Vietnam and LSD. After that, everything got fugged up! And in alot of instances, alot of Tiki Bars unexpectedly turned into dope shooting galleries almost overnight.

Anyhow, I personally see it silly for anyone to get red in the face over polypop. Sven did a remarkable job of taking us back in time with wonderful images of times gone by, which only a sliver of what is in his books still exists today. I consider him an authority on Tiki Pop Culture and a historian of the same. With that said, What this community should be moving towards is:
A. Having Fun while learning about everything tiki, and
B. Positive solutions to preserve what little "Authenticity" is left. Join up LOCAL preservation societys/ModComs/Historic Commitees and make a difference, even if it is to only save one cherished location/landmark. Afterall, you "shouldn't" have the right to complain if you did nothing positive to help your local preservationist's efforts.
All the while, embracing the Modern Tiki artists like the "Shags","Boskos","Dereks" and such. These artists (who all kick ass, including the masses of artists not named due to time/space constraints) have borrowed tiki and continue to give it back to the world in their own eyes. Shag=Hanna Barbera-ish, Bosko=Witco-ish, Derek=Jay Ward-ish, And with all the "evolving" in the world of tiki and art, some things will be forced to devolve due to changing trends. A cup afterall, can only hold so much water before it runs over. Lastly, to have a pure version, you have to have watered down version, in order to have some basis on what to compare it to. Ying And Yang, I guess......

Post #362078 by Tom Slick on Mon, Feb 18, 2008 11:44 PM