Post #479466 by Hazel Chaz on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 10:52 PM

Michael and Theresa Contos found these tiki coolers, and he used colorful model paints to decorate them festively. Michael remembered us from AniZona earlier this year.

People were ready to start partying again Saturday afternoon. Up in Frankie's Tiki Room party, Thee Swank Bastards were performing, complete with hula hoop dancer in front.

Vixiana was in the party room where all they had left were Captain Morgan and Coca-Cola, and Buffalo Sweat. Given the choice, take the first one.

Saturday evening, down on the lawn, the Devil-ettes were dancing on stage. I couldn't quite get all nine of them in the same shot. I didn't know there was a dance that goes along to "Tequila" -- now I know better.

Later on, in one of the ballrooms, the Devil-ettes were showing a movie and talking and handing out leis. I took a lei from "The Knockout" and moved on.

Saturday night was the last night to party. A number of rooms were open for "after parties" meaning after the music and burlesque show is over for the night. So they opened at 10:00 pm or so. (In sci-fi or anime convention terms, think "after the masquerade.")

At the Smuggler's Cove party I met Rebecca Cate and Martin Cate.

"The Preacher's Daughter" was drinking that night with her friends.

Mieko Sunbury recognized me from last year -- and I think she's the one who also saw me two weeks ago at Costume College.

Rex the Impossible has a glass eye, making for an unusual eye-patch.

Tangaroa-Ru had a party, on the ground floor, that I'd wanted to check out, and I'm glad I did -- she was serving up Mai Tai Jell-O. Tasty stuff. I signed the guestbook giving her my own recipes for Margarita Jell-O and Pina Colada Jell-O (which aren't quite as strong as her recipes).

At the Zen Tiki Lounge party, I ran into Pumpkin Zen, and "John the Boyfriend" -- you can see here his shirt almost blends into the wallpaper. Some parties had festive wallcoverings, and this was one of them, complete with some black velvet paintings elsewhere in the room. They were pouring two drinks here, one "sweet" and one "sour."

Meanwhile, Trader Tom had made his own hibiscus syrup, and was making "Hibiscus Hula" drinks in free souvenir "Don Ho" glasses.

I ran into Not-a-bitch Ginger and Sabu the Coconut Boy, who were enjoying the festivies in (I believe) Frankie's Tiki Room.

Upstairs, the line for the Pajama Party stretched halfway down the balcony, full of people in their PJs waiting to get in.

I wasn't dressed the part, so I gave it a miss after snapping a few shots of the line.

Overheard when Tana the Tattooed Lady got onto the elevator, and some of the little kids were looking up at her in wonder: "It's okay, I'm a mermaid."

Ukulele player on the elevator. I didn't get everyone's names, especially for my elevator shots. Can someone help me out, please?

When I headed back towards my room, someone was bringing a surfboard onto the elevator. I decided to wait for the next one.

You wouldn't think you could lose track of a tiki this big, but for several hours Sunday morning, this tiki chair was sitting in the Motel 6 elevator.

On Sunday, I took a look at the newly-built ballrooms at the Crowne Plaza. They haven't finished getting the access ramp ready, so if you're on wheels you'll need to go around to the other side. They also haven't added any new tiki decorations.

Dixie Von Trixie was in the indoor dealers room with the "Wear it Again Sam" booth.

King Kukulele was on the phone, and had swapped shirts with Otto. Kukulele is the convention's toastmaster. "Otto Von Stroheim" is the chair of the whole convention.

Otto had Kukulele's shirt, because he wanted to look sharp for an interview. I didn't catch the name of the photographer or the interviewer.

And shortly after that I ran out of battery juice. Rather than fish a fresh set of out my luggage, we opted to head for home.