Post #520257 by Baron von Tiki on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 12:40 AM

On 2010-02-05 09:05, Tam Tiki wrote:
"Its all about the marketing. And, it is a good thing to shower the Tiki mana on those who otherwise would be in the dark."

This brings up the philosophical/theological questions: does Tiki change the culture, or does culture change the Tiki? Can the two co-exist in harmony, or does one really need first to down a couple of mai tais in order to find such harmony? Are pirates, smugglers, buccaneers, and privateers really the same thing with differernt hats?

Such questions may plague humankind for ages to come...only the great Moai know for sure.

Pirate: A private criminal individual who engages in acts of robbery and/or criminal violence at sea.

Smuggler: One who traffics in illegal goods on land or sea. Does not necessarily engage in combat to make their gains.

Buccaneer: A shipboard crewman who specializes in hunting game during shore landings -- akin to a Marine.

Privateer: A private sailor operating under the authority of governmental letters of marque allowing attack (and plunder) of enemy vessels in times of conflict. Since they are operating under the authority of their government, privateers are technically not pirates. For example, the knight Sir Francis Drake was a privateer for the English crown.

and, for added measure,

Corsair: French word for 'privateer.' The Barbary pirates of north Africa were also called 'Turkish (i.e. Muslim) corsairs.'

Cultures (and sub-cultures) always change regardless of the agents of change. If they didn't, we Americans would still be wearing powdered wigs. And yet, right or wrong, the grognards within a community will still complain about change. For example, in the Goth community, the ElderGoths complain about the infusion of electronica into modern Goth music instead of it sounding closer to its punk roots.

But, as you can see from the various types of pirates, "The Devil's in the details" as the saying goes. . . especially if you get them wrong. Although I'm a newbie to Tiki, it seems that I'm already falling into the Purist camp despite my interest in Tiki hybrids like GothTiki.

From what little I've seen, the details aren't right in the new Trader Vic's Island Bar and Grill. It is merely a tropical themed Applebee's-style sports bar / casual dining establishment catering to (and marketed to) the Jimmy Buffet beach bum crowd. I think that's intentional. There are probably more casual Buffet beach bums than there are Tiki hobbyists and it's wise for TV's to want to expand their customer base and include them.

But, as someone else pointed out, Applebees (and Chili's, TGI Fridays, Bennigans, etc) are a dime-a-dozen. So, for me, the new TV's is crushingly mundane. There's no fantasy, elegance, or romance about it at all. And if Trader Vic's goes that way as a whole, they've lost me as a patron. By the same token, if Tiki culture goes in a similar direction, it's lost me as an adherent.

"I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect."
-Warren Zevon, "Werewolves of London"

[ Edited by: Baron von Tiki 2010-03-27 00:43 ]