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Celebrating classic and modern Polynesian Pop

Tiki Central / Tiki Music / Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Post #367264 by Dr. Zarkov on Sun, Mar 16, 2008 1:54 PM

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My wife and I saw them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005 and fell in love with them. I have two of their CDs. I sure wish they would tour the states some time. Theirs is the only version of "McArthur Park" I've ever been able to listen to with enjoyment.

BTW, that year I had a Tiki lounge radio show on Festival FM, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's official radio station (I also had shows on Radio Free Burning Man in 2002 and 2003 as well, but that's another story).

The Brits working at the station thought I was the weirdest cat they'd ever seen, with my Aloha shirts, lei, straw hat with goggles affixed to the crown (if you've been to Burning Man, you know why the goggles. One DJ I was working with asked me on the air why I had goggles on my hat. I told him it was in case a sudden dust storm should arise. "But we don't have dust storms in Edinburgh, Dr. Zarkov," he said. "I was misinformed," I replied.)

The station manager, who was my age (mid 50s) loved my shows but the younger DJs had no conception of Tiki culture and thought my mixture of old jazz, Hawaiian music and Western swing was the equivalent of playing Glenn Miller on the air. Of course, their idea of hip, cutting-edge music was late '70s Fleetwod Mac, Dee-Lite from the early '90s, "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" and "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.