Post #611225 by pablus on Sat, Oct 22, 2011 9:49 AM

Mahalo.

Here are some of the liner notes from the crazedmugs.com website, in case you don't feel like clicking over there. Just a little of the "back story" of one of my favorites on the album.

Everyone on Tiki Central will understand it, of course, since we've lived it all together. But it's still a decent read and a nice memory.

Back in 2004, I was fortunate enough to personally meet Martin and Rebecca, two tiki aficionados who lived in a small apartment near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. What I saw there was a little disturbing really, if you think about it. Martin had taken the, I guess it was the second bedroom, and turned it into "The Foggy Grotto." This was a multi-layered tropical bar which had two or three stools, some bamboo, tiny lights, leopard pattern stuff and a rum collection that was pretty remarkable. We had a few cocktails together that he masterfully mixed up and we talked for a while about what we wanted to do when we grew up. His vision was to open a Tiki Bar.

Fast forward a few years and put a few bartending notches in Martin's belt, such as Trader Vic's San Francisco during its short lived resurrection, and I start hearing rumors of a new partnership going into Alameda with Conga Lounge owners, the Thanos Brothers. It was Martin's dream coming true. Forbidden Island was soon born (with the help of Bamboo Ben) and I was freaking out wanting to get there.

I was enthusiastically gushing to my wife about an upcoming business trip (yes, I have those) to San Francisco and "One of these days, I'm gonna find Forbidden Island," just sort of blurted out. I sort of liked it and just went with it. My personal favorite line "I’ve lowered my sails, 'cross the mast the wind is sighing. Only drifters are welcome on that shore," helped paint a picture of what the bar used to be before Team Martin/Thanos got in there and recreated it. It used to be kind of a "locals only"-sort of wonderfully dingy dive bar. I love those places personally. There's always a story to listen to - some a bit frightening - but always entertaining. Anyway, I wanted to pay a little homage to the old bar's clientele; being drifters resigned to their fate and how they now could find a home here on this beautiful island in a cosmopolitan area.

Oh yeah, we had an awesome time there. It was great to see some old friends and meet some new ones and get to play in the outside lounge area with my favorite uke player, Steven Strauss. I can’t wait to go back.