Tiki Fonts

When I first joined this forum, I started a post asking for historical info on the various Fonts used during the golden age of Tiki...

The post was almost immediately locked by Basement Kahuna, and others seemed to be pretty pissed off that I dared to ask anything about Fonts..

oh sure, a few people directed me to expensive fonts sales companies that charge 40 bucks for a computer disc, but buying fonts was never what I was really looking to do...I just wanted info, where they got the names, who designed them, etc...

well, for anyone that may be interested, I came up with some information on the "flora dora NT" font that was used on so many album covers, hotels and carwashes while searching today...

This is a little blurb about an outstanding artists of the 50's/60's named Jim Flora: (and yes, on my original post last year, NO ONE directed me to any posts that concerned this guy, and not knowing his name, or that he even existed, did not know what to search for)

Anyway, for anyone not easily offended by fonts, this is an interesting little piece of info (and the guy has a great website WWW. JIMFLORA.com that shows examples of his art..and it is clearly a SHAG influence, IMHO:

James (Jim) Flora concocted dozens of diabolic and hallucinatory album cover illustrations, many for Columbia and RCA Victor jazz artists, in the 1940s and ‘50s. His designs pulsed with angular hepcats bearing funnel-tapered noses and shark-fin chins, who fingered cockeyed pianos and honked lollipop-hued horns. Yet Flora's wondrous, childlike exuberance was subverted by a sinister tinge of the grotesque. He wreaked havoc with the laws of physics, conjuring up flying musicians, levitating instruments, and wobbly dimensional perspectives. He also took liberties with human anatomy, evoking bonded bodies, mutant appendages, ghoulish skin tints, and misshapen heads. He was not averse to pigmenting Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa like bedspread patterns.

Wow - great site Mick - thanks for sharing it!

I love his style - really original stuff - colorful & fun.... Now - where do I get the flora dora NT font...?

Thanks for that info!
It takes a lot more than a font to offend me.

great research!! i'm adding that book to my amazon wish list (they dont have it in the library system).

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

I cant handle the fonts!

Someone block this post immediately!

My eyes! My Eyes!!

Now I have to go back to my padded room before something else sets me off!

AHHHHH! A computer!!!...

Why was the thread locked? Was it deemed kapu due to having been discussed to death already or what?

I'd like to know what the mods have to say for this one.

Can we get a link to the thread in question?

Aside from all that, thank you very much for the link. That is the kind of content I'd like to see more of, and I'm sorry you got shut down before.

Ahu

Very cool!

someone at Amazon seems to be on the ball; they have his book listed with a "buy it together with" a Tim Biskup book.

now someone please lock this topic already, sheesh!

-Z

Thanks for the heads up!!! Just ordered me a copy along with the Tim Biskup book. (excellent deal).
Later,
Spermy

I am glad you liked that information.

i am really into these classic fonts..fascinated really!

I wonder what the original artists were thinking? Why is it that as soon as I see one, I feel like reaching for a Martini and listening to Esquivel?

Another thing that's great about the older fonts; The fact that various letters were higher or lower on the page (I wish I could demonstrate what I mean) Look at the album cover for mancini's "hatari"..each letter of the word "hatari" is a different color, and not alligned properly, giving a kind of crazy, zany, haphazard effect that says "FUN"!!!!!

I came across the info by a roundabout way: I went to http://www.myfonts.com, typed in "50's and 60's fonts" in the search menu, and then found the ones I liked (by the way, they are ALL there) then, I searched on other sites for the info on the typeset "family" they came from...

As to why the post was locked back then, I still don't really know why!

i was new, and I found it to be very insulting when basement Kahuna arbitrarily said "Ok, this has been discussed before..topic locked" after about 8 responses!

I think BK was just trying to show everyone that he is large and in charge...and wanted to flex his moderator powers..

But what ticked me off was that the post was not racial, sexist, religious, political or even tasteless!

There was no need to lock it except to show off to the newbie!

Of course, I complained...and the chorus of mean answers from people like "susane" truly amazed me! I thought I had really touched a nerve! I felt like I had stumbled into a "clique" of people who did not want to get to know a newbie, and did not want to even let a newbie into the conversation! In effect, thats what having my post locked felt like..like I was being told to "shut up and be quiet while the adults talk".

I think it was stupid and ridiculous, and to this day, think BK is stupid and ridiculous, and should probably just stay in the basement, lest the world around him (or her) offend too much!

All I wanted to do was get some info, and talk to other people that might be equally dorky like me! Thankfully, Tiki Central is full of people who like me, want to know more about the golden age of tiki, futurism and lounge! The posts from people like Tangaroa and Satan's sin are always great..(in fact, those two should write some books on various subjects because I consider them total experts on all things "swanky"!!)

In the end, if you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself!

So, for anyone who appreciated this post..your welcome!! Anyone offended? andate tutti va fan culo!!!

First, Mick: Your topic was locked. Welcome to the club, you’re not special because of this. Now get over it.

Second, Ku Ku Ahu, to sum up why the Font topic was locked:

When Mick first started playing music, I’m sure he made a lot of mistakes. Likewise, when BK first started moderating, he made some mistakes. His moderation style definitely changed over time; he got feedback from users and adjusted. I’m sure Mick has gotten better at music, too. These are people spending their own time to try and make something better. Not all of their attempts will be successful.

I really wish Mick would realize this and get over it all. I don’t think anyone is calling Mick a bumbling idiot today because he screwed up a song when he was first learning to play.

If there’s something more than that, like a personal grudge or expectations of an apology, I encourage Mick to take it up with BK directly rather than airing it here on the forums.

This is silly. No one cares.

~Hanford

PS I applaud BK for taking the responsibility upon himself to try and make TC a better place, even if some of those attempts backfired. I am still surprised at the small number of users who actually take the time to use the U-Moderate feature.

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2005-01-10 19:40 ]

On 2005-01-10 19:38, hanford_lemoore wrote:
I don’t think anyone is calling Mick a bumbling idiot today because he screwed up a song when he was first learning to play.

Well, no one besides Bong, but he means it in a loving & caring way...

Believe me, after 25 years of playing...I still am a bumbling, stumbling idiot....it never changes...and yes, Bong is really mean to me...pretty much all the time!!

I still think my original post was a good one though!! ha!

I will relate this one great story:

High school jazz band, 1979: we were learning a song with 5/4 time, and I just could not figure it out..so Mr. Weible, our band teacher, had the entire band jump up in the air on the ONE..to make an emphatic statement to me...it was humiliating, to say the least..but today, I CAN play 5/4 prefectly fine, and we use that time signature in all our Smokin Menehune tunes (at least when we are crocked, that is!)

Normally they should be 4/4, but what the hell, we like to be different!

On 2005-01-10 19:38, hanford_lemoore wrote:

Second, Ku Ku Ahu, to sum up why the Font topic was locked:

when BK first started moderating, he made some mistakes. His moderation style definitely changed over time; he got feedback from users and adjusted. I’m sure Mick has gotten better at music, too. These are people spending their own time to try and make something better. Not all of their attempts will be successful.

If there’s something more than that, like a personal grudge or expectations of an apology, I encourage Mick to take it up with BK directly rather than airing it here on the forums.

Hey man, I just wanted to know if I should avoid discussing fonts, that's all.

Additionally, it sounded from Mick's side of it that he got e-gang banged for posting a fonts thread and I figured we should get both sides of the story.

That's all, no issue here.

Kind of strange that this is a font thread and it's all jacked up now though.

Self fulfilling prophecy?

Ahu

But now I, a boat lost under the hair of coves, Hurled by the hurricane into the birdless ether, I, whose wreck, dead-drunk and sodden with water, neither Monitor nor Hanse ships Would have fished up...

-Arthur Rimbaud The Drunken Boat

[ Edited by: Ku Ku Ahu on 2005-01-11 08:41 ]

I'm open to checking out different fonts!...........

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar on 2005-01-11 09:23 ]

Dollar and Bunga..please PLEASE explain the pictures...

The top one is a funeral urn for ashes, and the bottom one is a stranded whale blowing off steam?

I just don't understand, and I so very much want to!

The Fonz picture really needs no explanation, as the picture says it all!

"I was w-w-w-w-w-w, I was w-w-w-w-w-w"

"can't you say the word 'wrong' Fonz?"

"whatsamatta Fonz? Ya don't like Liver?"

Hey Mick,
If you look in a thesarus, these are some other alternatives declared as a "font".
We're just havin fun.

Mormons have the biggest fonts of all!

Ah! THAT kind of font..as in baptismal font!!

Now I get it!

But now I am confused about the FONZ!

The Fonz, not "the Font"!!!!

The fonts...the Fonz.

Ahu

Sorry if I got a little worked up in my last post, my point is though that the locking of the topic amounted to a mistake.

I think the Font thread got merged with another one once I wrote the merge-topic tool, but I can't find mick's post.

Hmmm.

Hanford, I didn't read your post as being 'worked up" at all....besides, this is your house..out of all of us, I think you have the right to say whatever you want.

No worries.....locking the posts are actually mild compared to what happens at http://www.TALKBASS.COM....

Those people will kill you if you ask the wrong questions, respond rudely or are too opinionated!

On 2005-01-11 17:23, tiki mick wrote:

the posts are actually mild compared to what happens at http://www.TALKBASS.COM....

Those people will kill you if you ask the wrong questions, respond rudely or are too opinionated!

I was so hoping it was a Fishing site. :(

High school jazz band, 1979: we were learning a song with 5/4 time, and I just could not figure it out

Mick: Take Five

(May the Font be with you)

[ Edited by: MaiTaiMafia on 2005-01-14 00:24 ]

Hanford, a suggestion for the "U moderate" feature. Maybe there could be an unlock topic option. Obviously, mods would have the final say over whether or not the topic is in fact unlocked.

Actually, it wasn't "take 5" which is probably about the most famous odd-time song ever.

Rush, Led Zeppelin, king Crimson, Yes and ELP had some songs in odd time signatures as well that were heard on the radio a lot at one time.

We were playing charts by Niel Hefti, designed specifically for high school and college jazz bands, and that was one of them. it was a bossanova. There were also some 7/4 pieces as well. All very difficult at the time.

On 2005-01-14 10:59, tiki mick wrote:

Rush, Led Zeppelin, king Crimson, Yes and ELP had some songs in odd time signatures as well that were heard on the radio a lot at one time.

Jethro Tull has tons of songs in odd time signatures, 'Living in the Past' being the most famous. With their newer stuff it's almost hard to find a song that doesn't have some quirkiness to it. I'm a HUGE Tull fan!

what kind of fonts do jethro tull use? :)

On 2005-01-14 14:09, Johnny Dollar wrote:
what kind of fonts do jethro tull use? :)

Ok, I deserved that. :blush:

It's funny how threads morph sometimes.

Just so you know, my favorite font is Staccato222 BT.

The most famous "rock" song in an odd time sig:

"Money" by Pink Floyd (7/4)

Know what you mean Mick- was doing the same jaz band stuff in HS back then - I was a drummer so it was especially challenging- I was EXPECTED to know how to play these things!!!

I look back with great fondness on my high school jazz band years. I liked that we got to back up the chorus when they did the annual "Broadway Review"..guys and dolls, stuff like that!!

I played a lot of stand-up bass back then, and all the rockabilly guys would hang around the band room at lunch and watch me play it.

I actually ended up playing the stand-up even more then electric...that's why to this day, the puny electric feels like a toy to me, and I can play a million notes a second. On the upright, it's more like two!

Our drummer was a cool cat..he could play damn near anything...the only weak link was the guitarist who was stuck on the blues, and really did not understand chromatic jazz, and the piano player who was stuck in some wierd supertramp groove-thang!

I learned a lot back then. George Weibel was the MAN! The coolest band intructor in the world...looked like Father Guido Sarducci from SNL, and dressed like a gangster..ALL the time!!

You and I share very similar experiences... Guys and Dolls - HAH! We did that too, except I was actually in the cast - a buddy of mine played drums.

Do you still play much? My father was a stand-up player - in fact, his Kay is on display at the College of the Desert in Palm Springs (it's been there for about 25 years- but I don't know if it's still there).

Band directors, like any instructor/teacher/professor, make all the difference in the world. I had a mediocre one for my first two years and then an awesome one in my last two. Her really challenged us - gave us cool arrangements of stuff (many he wrote himself) and really expanded our experience. The highlight of which was a gig my senior year at the Anaheim convention center performing in front of about 10,000 people. When you have the attention of 10,000 people focused on you- it's terrifying and exhilarating. Ahh, those were the days.

Our band instructor had a warped sense of humor,if we fouled up the big band charts, he would say (with much disgust in his voice of course) "get out the Disco Charts now" and then we would have to play "do you like pina coladas?" "on broadway" and "alive again"..sometimes the theme from "rocky" just for an extra dose of pure evil!

Yes, I still play: I am a semi-proffessional, playing with Tiki Bong's (A great steel player, by the way) group, the Smokin Menehunes. I also play with a jazz group occasionally, and am doing various recording gigs around town. We will more then likely be at Tiki Oasis.

So, I'm a graphic designer and typo-phillic font whore. As such, I love to search out all the wonky little foundries that are actually producing quality fonts; particularly retro/historic fonts of any age. Aside from House, FontDiner and Mr. Retro (awesome examples though they be)what are some other foundries/type designers you guys have found (or historic typefaces you've tracked down the name and designer for) that you like to use?

Yeah Tiki Mick, nice link to an awesome font. I too share your affinity for that type of font. In high school, I did not play stage or jazz band. I was in hard rock bands. As a drummer, I had to learn odd signatures the hard way. Once I learned to read charts, it got better but internally I had to feel it. Reading it just didn't do it justice. Eventually I got it. I guess I'm slow that way.
Anyway, I dig the link and that font. I am glad you brought it up because when I saw the Flora site, I felt a bunch of memories flood back from early days of thumbing through my mom's albums and what I actually saw and didn't really appreciate then. I guess mom was cooler than I thought.
Tiki Slob