Post #449581 by bigbrotiki on Sat, Apr 25, 2009 8:41 AM

That certainly is a good point, Kate, but the brunt of the article is wasting a lot of ink based on the completely wrong premise that I and others (who are these others?, I seem to be the only one who is vocal about this, really) would not allow anything other than Tiki as decor in Tiki bars!....!!!?

I am surprised Duke falls prey to this confusion, too, and spends a double page discussing it from that mistaken viewpoint (in the new EXCELLENT issue of Tiki Magazine, I might ad...and Jim, pencil me in for the new Tikiyaki mug, that's a killer!), writing as if I or anybody out there would want to EXCLUDE all sorts of items from the classic Tiki environment.

I will try to AGAIN make my very simple point with the very example at hand. Here are three photos from Dukes article which are not Tikis, but which he shows as examples of items that belong into a Tiki Bar, which I absolutely agree with:

A Papua New Guinea drum mug

a Hula Girl nodder

a coconut mug

All very nice examples of Polynesian pop, and fitting acoutrements in any Tiki bar.
Does anybody seriously think I (or "others") would want to exclude Hula girls, coconuts, drums and all kinds of South Seas and nautical decor from the Tiki esthetic?

Here is what I DO have a problem with:

a Tiki mug

a Tiki nodder

a Tiki mug

...now some will say "but who in their right mind mind would say that!", but it happens all the time. Much more "out there", than here on TC. It is understandable, it may be inevitable, but it is in no way acceptable to me as the person who has defined the genre, and in a community that specializes in collecting and promoting it.