Post #409111 by Tangaroa-Ru on Sun, Sep 21, 2008 11:02 AM

Last night truly was a great night for Tiki. Between the amazing and well-deserved Squid retrospective (including a field guide for everyone!), the food, atmosphere, wonderful people and... The Tikiyaki Orchestra (who were AMAZING!)... well, I'm on sensory overload. Worth the scary drive down. (Yep, I'm the one whose car was one of EIGHT (!) that got its tire destroyed by a frickin' giant chunk of metal bouncing around the 405 (just before the Seal Beach exit). If you can't tell, I'm still a little traumatized. But I thank everyone who listened politely to my sob story when I FINALLY arrived, and Soccer Tiki and Whoohoo for putting a Mai Tai in my hand immediately. It worked wonders. Also, I think last night convinced Hassan Headhunter Patterson that "Californy is the place he oughta be" -- that's how impactful it was.

When I got home last night, I finally read Squid's "liner notes" in his field guide. Plus his lovely thank you message here in Tiki Central. I had NO idea, Squid, what a funny wordsman you are! (But just so you know, my name's spelled "Kari". I know, I know... it's Norwegian...).

Seeing all those mugs displayed together made me realize why I enjoy collecting them. Tiki mugs really are contemporary works of functional ceramic art. Whether they're massed-produced or limited editions, they are full of personality and, often, a lot of the personality of the sculptor. Sure, they may not be making some big artistic "high-brow" statement, but they do say "let's have fun". And I believe that's a worthy goal in art, too. Thank you, Squid! And thank you to everyone who helped put this evening together!