Post #402262 by congawa on Tue, Aug 19, 2008 12:04 PM

Wife-hine Christine and I had a blast! This was our first Oasis since the last Palm Springs one in '05--somehow conflicts/schedules didn't work out for the first two at the Hanalei--so needless to say the increased growth/scale of the whole thing (plus having rooms at the hotel, which we didn't in '05) blew our minds (in a very good way)...we were shocked, shocked, to discover that gambling was going on in Casablanca, and we'd been missing out!

It was great seeing some old friends and acquaintances, making some new ones, and living the whole experience. Lee, thanks for your part in bringing Robert Drasnin the attention he has long deserved. All the music was great all weekend (both groups and dj's), but the Drasnin orchestra performance was a particularly amazing event, worth of the Hollywood Bowl--but even more worthy of Tiki Oasis! And thanks to all the artisans, vendors, room hosts and decorators, and -- well, everyone!

It seems to be reaching out to the local community as well, as far as curious non-Tiki subculture people checking things out serendipitously. On Saturday night, my pal Edwin and I both opted to accessorize with fezzes, haberdashery-wise, and a lady introduced herself at one point who said "I don't know much about this tiki stuff, so why does everyone have fezzes?" Truthfully not knowing a logical answer ourselves (and I hope there isn't one), we responded the only way we could: "Why not?"

Brent