Post #696653 by tiki mick on Fri, Oct 18, 2013 11:07 AM

WD, I am right with you.

I would be ok with the addition of all these other elements to "tiki", if it were not for the fact that in today's scene, they now occupy a position of primacy, pushing far more authentic items (be it artifacts, drinks, decor or music) to the "pay no mind" list.

Tiki farm is capable of awesome work. I have a few of the original mugs. Good stuff. I admit, (though I have a lot of friends here that would disagree with me), that I really don't care for the addition of low-brow, punk, rock, kar kulture, or any of that other stuff.

For me, I always found the original idea and concept of tiki, as it was in the 50/60/70s to be cool enough without expanding or watering down the concept to make it more acceptable to the masses.

I know this has nothing to do with mugs, but if you are going to expand on tiki or try to modernize it, I think it's better to go the way of the new Tonga Hut in palm springs, or this new "Ventiki" place. I am not against anything new, but i prefer when things are "In the spirit of" the original concept of tiki.

And this is real important....I find a lot of this supposed tiki stuff (be it mugs or music) to be first rate, very creative, and made with obvious passion and care....I just find the relation to tiki is far too nebulous.

really, are people that bored with the original concept of tiki? Isn't that why the orginal tiki died in the first place?

in 1964, times were a changing...youth culture took over, and that youth culture deeply resented the themes of the Eisenhower and Nixon generation. Rock was suddenly cool and hip, where it was Jazz before. Tiki bars and restaurants became something your nerdy parents were into.

There is even a scene in "Jailhouse rock" where Elvis gets all flustered when someone at a hip hollywood party asks his opinion on Dave brubeck...classic, and really shows the divide.

You may disagree with me. In fact, seems like most of tiki central has always disagreed with me..but I love the original concept of tiki. I don;t need skull mugs or hot rods...(though I actually like both)