Post #617998 by MadDogMike on Tue, Dec 20, 2011 2:59 PM

I think is it becoming harder to be a "hardcore tiki purist" because those activities are harder to pursue; urban archeology is so much more difficult because places have either been destroyed or discovered and documented. New major finds are now very exciting but also very rare. Collecting is more difficult because we have made it so since people recognize the value of tiki artifacts and they'll sell them on eBay to the highest bidder rather than give them to a thrift store. Traditional tiki art is hard too, you either have to re-hash old themes or you incorporate new themes and risk not being traditional faux Polynesian. We have some great examples of new home tiki bars but that is an expensive hobby, and one that your spouse has to embrace also. The events seem to flourish, but those need financial backing to continue and the only way to do that is to include a broader audience (hence the burlesque, rockabilly, etc) It is a Catch 22 challenge to be able to introduce new ideas and welcome new people without watering down the old culture. Frankly, I belive it will be a difficult challenge, an organization has to grow or it will die - tiki culture cannot long exist in a vacuum unless it's in a museum.

PS - I do know there is a cycle of activity on TC and that this time of year is historically slow, I take comfort in that.