The Root of Jimmy Buffet Bashing - Beyond Tiki

T tikijackalope Tiki Socialite KS/MO Joined: Oct 23, 2003 Posts: 835	T tikijackalope Posted posted on Sat, Dec 20, 2003 1:50 AM I think I understand the long-time tikiphiles' frustration with this although in my limited experience, sports bars vie with Buffetization. I visited my first tiki bar, Kon-Tiki in Tucson, several times during the fall. It was fine during the day in the early part of the week. Though not exotica, the music was subdued and the customers were engaged in quiet conversations. I enjoyed roaming around and shooting pics of the thickly tikified interior as if I were documenting the minutia of a lost civilization: loads of tikis (brightly painted, but tikis), that scary blue woman painting (the appeal of which I don't get), puffer fish, glass balls, aquariums, a stained-glass scene, nets, a huge ex-bird area that now houses a lizard, huts which compartmentalized the place and gave one a sense of moving from public to private spaces, tapa covering everything...I felt like Howard Carter in Tut's tomb, tiki-style. The manager was so taken with my interest that he gave me a tiki mug they planned to start serving drinks in soon. Toward the end of the week, evenings got rowdier, the TVs and music were turned up and yes, I'm sure I heard Buffet soundtracking the young men yelling to each other, though the TVs were as intrusive. I wish it'd had proper music to complete the classic effect; but on the other hand, it serves its patrons, stays in business and isn't "newly remodeled." As a result, tiki novices like me can be lured in by the magnificent sign and catch an echo of what once was. Did many bars morph from tiki to generic tropical to sports bar?

I think I understand the long-time tikiphiles' frustration with this although in my limited experience, sports bars vie with Buffetization. I visited my first tiki bar, Kon-Tiki in Tucson, several times during the fall. It was fine during the day in the early part of the week. Though not exotica, the music was subdued and the customers were engaged in quiet conversations.

I enjoyed roaming around and shooting pics of the thickly tikified interior as if I were documenting the minutia of a lost civilization: loads of tikis (brightly painted, but tikis), that scary blue woman painting (the appeal of which I don't get), puffer fish, glass balls, aquariums, a stained-glass scene, nets, a huge ex-bird area that now houses a lizard, huts which compartmentalized the place and gave one a sense of moving from public to private spaces, tapa covering everything...I felt like Howard Carter in Tut's tomb, tiki-style. The manager was so taken with my interest that he gave me a tiki mug they planned to start serving drinks in soon.

Toward the end of the week, evenings got rowdier, the TVs and music were turned up and yes, I'm sure I heard Buffet soundtracking the young men yelling to each other, though the TVs were as intrusive.

I wish it'd had proper music to complete the classic effect; but on the other hand, it serves its patrons, stays in business and isn't "newly remodeled." As a result, tiki novices like me can be lured in by the magnificent sign and catch an echo of what once was.

Did many bars morph from tiki to generic tropical to sports bar?

Post #65749 by tikijackalope on Sat, Dec 20, 2003 1:50 AM