In the interest of the juicy stuff not getting too spread out, and so those who might need them can have easy acess, please post all pics from this year's fantabulous Hukilau here...And oh, what a Hukilau it was! Happy, Happy Kahuna...

[ Edited by: Basement Kahuna 2006-05-05 23:51 ]

Some pictures :

Humuhumu and hanford at the Wreck bar

The jab listening to Robert Drasnin

The Jab having some escargots at the Mai Kai

Mucho Kuddos to Tiki Kiliki and all who were intragal to gettin this wrapped up into what it was. Simply Amazing!

Some snaps from what Ben was talking about. In the Gardens alone, I took pics of every Tiki and Blossom and Wall covering. Wow!

Mahalo Ohana

Jeeze, I don't even know where to begin...

What an experience. As this was my very first real tiki event, I feel as though I've been officially baptized into tiki culture. I'm sure I'll think of more things to say later, so for now here's my favorite pic of the whole event. Tara of the Mai Kai preparing my Coffee Grog:

The Hukilau was awesome - I'm glad I was able to go to all of the days this year. I've posted some pictures from Friday and Saturday here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nicole_macarthur/album?.dir=fe24&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

I'll post pictures from the home bar tour later this week.

Aloha!

Here are two videos I shot with my Fuji digicam during the Robery Drasnin set. They are not the best, but for a digital camera, the video is pretty nice:

about 11mb:
http://www.tikihappy.net/video/drasnin01.wmv

about 26mb:
http://www.tikihappy.net/video/drasnin02.wmv

I have a lot more video on my camcorder, but it takes longer to deal with, lol. Enjoy!

• Jason

http://www.tikihappy.net
Code of the Moai Blog

Basement Kahuna worships at the Mai Kai altar.

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

The Intoxicators! had a blast at Hukilau 2005!
Thanks Tiki Kiliki, JT, Dames A'Flame, the Mai Kai staff, and the awesome bands, vendors, and personalities that we met and hung out with over the weekend...
anyway... enough talk... here's some photos...

Brian from the Intoxicators! with the Molokai bartenders

The Intoxicators! performing on Friday night with Dames A'Flame

The great Monkeyzuma

The Mai Kai dinner show on Saturday

Waitiki on Friday night

Pablus entertains the tikis Saturday night

I will be adding photos to The Intoxicators! website in the next few days. The address is http://www.theintoxicators.com

[ Edited by: tikigoob 2005-10-10 22:17 ]

I want to share my first Hukilau memory with you - but first I have to provide a little background.

My home tiki room contains a vintage stereo system, which can be seen in the photo below.

I also have a large LP collection in my basement, and I will bring up and rotate a small number of exotica LPs to play on this stereo. Most of these LPs are mediocre and some are so bad that I will play them only once before discarding, but for the most part I generally prefer the ambience of the vintage sound that the records provide. A few of my favorite LPs (i.e. Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, etc.) will be kept near the turntable in case friends come to visit, but the majority are kept alphabetized in shelves in the basement.

Before this year's Hukilau, I went to the basement to retrieve a few of my Yma Sumac covers for her to sign - I also checked under my exotica section under 'D' to see if I owned any Robert Drasnin LPs. I thought that I might perhaps have his 'Voodoo' LP filed there, but there was nothing there. I debated about buying a CD copy of Voodoo before the trip, so I could familiarize myself with the music, but decided to wait.

Advance to Hukilau - Friday afternoon when the bazaar doors open. I make it to the table where Jeff Central is selling the Gecko/Drasnin Voodoo mugs, and I notice that sitting on the table is a small stack of a LP titled 'Percussion Exotique.' I immediately recognize the cover graphics, as it is one of the few treasured LPs that I own and keep next to my tiki room stereo. For unknown reasons, I never really paid any attention to who the LP artist was. It is only then that I learn that 'Percussion Exotique' is a re-released version of Drasnin's 'Voodoo' LP, with a different cover graphic. I had been listening to Drasnin's Voodoo for years, and didn't even know it!

Advance to Friday evening, as Robert Drasnin and his assembled orchestra are about to start playing. A brief introduction is made, and then Drasnin starts conducting the first song -- and my heart melts with recognition. I know this song!! I am familiar with this song!! Those notes have emerged from my tiki room stereo speakers dozens of times, and I am now hearing them being played live, with the actual composer there in front of me. I wasn't quite prepared for this - I knew exotic music would be performed by this orchestra, but I didn't expect that I would be so familiar with most all of the music. It was truly one of the most emotional live musical performances that I have experienced.

Understand that for most of his musical career, Robert Drasnin was either a supporting musician for somebody else's band, or a composer for television and movie orchestras who rarely had the opportunity to perform in front of a live audiences. The audience during the entire performance was very quiet, very respectful

Here are a few pictures from that Drasnin performance, starting with one that shows Tiki Central's Formikahini singing

A closeup of Robert Drasnin playing

And here he is, nearly 45 years after composing the original Voodoo composition, finally receiving a well deserved standing ovation for his work.

A wider shot - James Teitelbaum is standing in the shadows under the bright light (to the left of the man in white), and Tiki Kiliki is in the white dress. To the right of Tiki Kiliki, with hands raised in the air, is Hanford. The leftmost musician in the image, with the dreadlocks (if you zoomed in you would see a BIG smile) is Robert Drasnin's 18 year old grandson, who flew in from Washington state to play percussion for this concert.

I heard it mentioned several times that Robert Drasnin considered this moment to be one of the definite highlights of his life.

Hukilau memories don't get much better than this.

Vern

Alas, I have washed back up upon my own shore here in Georgia; I'll probably "come to" tomorrow and get my photos posted..this was one of the best times ever.

As earlier promised, here's a couple pics of the cool Official Hukilau 2005 Merchandise

These, of course, are the Collins Glasses that feature the artwork from the event...(I put a piece of white paper in the glass to better show the printing, the glasses are clear).

and, Drum Roll please....

The Hukilau 2005 Scorpion Bowl. These pics don't do much to give it a scale, but I was told that it is a smaller bowl that would hold approximately 30 oz. I think Holden said it best here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16740&forum=4&vpost=190932

Thanks again to everyone for everything that made this event such a wonderful experience!!

• Helz

excellent photos ikitnrev of the Drasnin performance. I was lucky enough to sit front row center for the show… simply awesome.

Memories of the Hukilau… from Drasnin with Alice and Waitiki to meeting Yma and Bunny to Safari’s advice on how to finish off my tiki room to the always amazing Mai Kai… wow. Unfortunately I missed Charles Phoenix’s show due to &@%$# airline cancellations and delays but the rest of the event surely made up for it. It was a pleasure to meet some of the tiki central crowd. I want to thank Swanky for the mix and Steve Kyle for the short stack of musical goodness at the swap. My offering of White Goddess was meager but I hope some of you got to grab a copy. Also thanks to South Seas for the excellent “Forbidden Island” DVD. Great shots of “Marty” Denny at Trader Vic’s and more underwater SCUBA scenes than any human should ever be allowed to see. The after-hours parties were great… from I, Zombie’s daiquiris to whoever you were dancing on the coffee table.. I could have stayed until room service hauled me out. It was great to meet and talk with Waitiki… you guys, your band is incredible. Fortunately for me I live only a couple of hours from Boston … onkonkulukú! Last but not least, it was very nice to meet you Formikahini. Your performance with Drasnin was vocal exotica at its best. I just closed my eyes and let the sounds take me off to some little island in the South Seas… ahhhhhmazing. We do have to do something about the vodka and ginger ales though, when we meet again please ask me to make you a Demerara Dry Float.

Thanks to my crowd, I,Zombie & Carol, Krog of 7 with concubine and my wife Lovey for making every second enjoyable. Thanks again to Christy, James and to everyone who brought the Hukilau to life… it was sensational. By the way, where can I buy tickets for Hukilau 2006?

Aloha

Chief Lapu Lapu
(formally Quincy)

Our drinks arrive at the amazing Mai Kai

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZNWbRm0cuXEg

Deja vu.. Haven't I seen all of this in one place before?

Anyway, here's Smiley freaking us out with the scary hungarian muppet minstrel painting.

And here's the location of the growing FOM Hukilau gallery with little video snips as well:

http://www.fraternalorderofmoai.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=56

Ahu

On 2005-10-11 12:56, KuKuAhu wrote:
Deja vu.. Haven't I seen all of this in one place before?
Ahu
You missed the expression "all the photos". As with the past two year's Hukilau threads, the general thread will crowd soon with text and you'll have to dig for the photos if that's what you mainly wish to see. This just makes it easier and more fun. Trust me. I would never steer you wrong. Aloha!...BK

Anybody have some nice pictures of the interior Mai Kai decor? My #%$@! batteries died while I was taking the garden tour.

Click HERE for better look.

I liked the R-71 mug tiki--

Click HERE for better look.

The ocean was just beautiful, crystal clear for ten feet down, like you see in those ads for vacations in the Carribean. We spent at least six hours in the ocean. Pure and theraputic. Just great.

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 16:57 ]

Just a few shot’s for now of some of the people that happened to wonder into our arms.......I wish we had photos of all of them, because there's certainly more than this, believe me......

Mr. "Benzart" and his beautiful wife Mrs. "Sherry". What an awesome couple. Thank you very much for this pic.

Mr. & Mrs. "Mctiki" – We had a great time with you guys obviously. Thanks for everything. Surf's up!

Mr. "Tiki Pug" – Thank's to your whole clan for all the support. Absolutely wonderful people! Love the "tat".

Another of "Tiki Pug's" Crew, Peggy! Thanks.

Mr. & Mrs. "Neptune Tiki" – Our local Jax/Neptune Beach neighbors! Great to see you two again, especially here. We really enjoyed your company. Thanks:)

"Mctiki" – "Tiki G." – "Unga Bunga" – "Lake Surfer" - Too much fun, what more can I say....

"Poly Pop" - We thought you were the most fun person there! You kept us laughingall weekend. Thanks for all the chuckles. Hope to see next year bro'. Hey, where's that "thing"? You know what I'm talking about........

Our vending neighbor "Mr. Mike". Opening the "Jetsetter Lounge" in Lake Worth, FL. Thanks Mike for a swanky time!

"Kreepy Tiki" - These guys were fun and "real". We loved’em. Thanks you two for all the good vibe.

Ok., The "Kreepy Tiki Crew" trying to put a hurtin’ on me Friday night. I think they succeeded...See bottle in pics. Does that say "Absinthe"? Who says vending has to be all work and no play!

Good stuff. Took my breath away that’s for sure….."LIT ME UP"!!!

Here's Trish manning shop on Saturday. What a big help she always is, and good at it too. Her good looks and great smile doesn't hurt much either;) "Tiki T."

"Tiki Kiliki" -What a gal! Christie thank you for all your help. You did a fantastic job this year. It was a pleasure working with you. Looking forward to next year.

"Christie" - "Yma Sumac" & Little Ole' me at the MaiKai. What an Honor this was. Thank's Christie:)

My wahine Trish & I. We had such a great time meeting so many people. Thanks to everyone for all of your support. You know who you are. We will be back next year vending again, that's for sure. Oh yeah, the Mai Kai. What an awesome place. "Watch out for the Barrels though"......ouch.

We want to thank everyone for a Huki of a time. HIGH FIVE EVERYONE!!!!! It was good to see everyone and meet new tiki friends. Until next year, the 50th Anniversary.

http://www.biffinc.com/Hukilau2005/Hukilau2005.html

[ Edited by: biffachu 2005-10-26 16:25 ]

Great fotos!

WAITIKI would also like to mahalo-out to da Coconut Twins for entertaining everybody so much and for all their support and good vibes(raphones). Wickit pissah!

okonkuluku'!

Mr. Ho

From Chip and Andy--Mr Smiley, Shelley and Seth (the three S's) getting our groove on on the Mai Kai stage!

Those Creepy Tiki guys were creeping around with a camcorder on Fri. night. They came up behind my father without him knowing and stuck the camcorder right in his face. He didn't who they were or what to say he he said something like "I swear, she told me she was 18" and both guys fell over laughing. I'd love to get a copy af that!

Some pictures from the event!
Lee and me enjoying a drink before shopping.
Friday night! Show time!
Lots to spend money on.
What a show at the Mai Kai!
The Tiki garden at the Mai Kai was fantastic!

"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere!"

Well, this was my first Hukilau and it was a total blast. Lets start with a pic of me laying on the beach:

Yes, that's me flexing on the beach. Aren't I a handsome guy?

Here I am hanging out with Lake Surfer and his monsters. Aren't they cool? I got to chill in the leopard skinned booth. Very smooth ....

I got to sit front and center at Tiki Tony's booth too:

Here's a picture of Tiki Tony's customers oggling my perfectly chiseled body:

Got to the meet the ultra talented Derek Yaniger:

Here I am with Uber carver Mr. Benzart:

And the zany and wacky King Kukulele:

Do you dream of tiki??? I do:

That's Kick the Reverb on the left and Bongofury on the right. I got to hang out front and center on the DVD player... mmmmmmm.... it was very warm.....

That's Bongofury getting ready to "pucker up, buttercup.."

And man, was this guy Craaaaaazzzzzyyyyy:

Don't remember this guy's name but I did see him at Score's on Friday night...

And these pics were just the beginning.... On Saturday night, I piled in the car with Bongofury, Kick the Reverb, SugarCaddyDaddy, Poly Pop and Crazy Al and we painted the town..... got on stage at the Mai Kai too!

More pics to followwwwww......... sheeeeyah!

Too funny Cabana Boy, you crack me up! I'm still waiting...I know you were lingering around our booth alot. Can't wait for Trish to see these.......

G.

Tiki G - those tikis are badass.

When I saw them, I even said so...and got a laugh when I saw the name of the company. I have plans of going up to Tennasee in July...I'd love to drive by your place and buy another tiki on my way back home. I'll have plenty of room :) I'll be driving my hearse.

Btw, I was the one that got the tiki w/ the big pointy teeth and had to get it even if my husband didn't see it first. :)

Hey Cabana boy....man, you really got me good. I'm in the fourth picture down, on the right(yes, the wide guy with no hair). Man, i didnt realize you took my picture at all. I only saw you get Derek with that postcard...good shot.

Yes Kungfugimp, thanks for the post. I remember seeing you eyeing them for a while, then my girlfriend Trish said you stopped by while I was away. Sorry I missed the chance to speak with you. I'm glad you like them. Those two fangers are my favorites of that style thus far. Kinda different huh? I saw pictures of the hearse show in your album. Pretty rad cars there.

Thanks again for your support. Mind you don't stick yourself on those horns and fangs! Thanks for posting the pic too.......

Tiki G.

On 2005-10-12 11:31, Juno wrote:
Those Creepy Tiki guys were creeping around with a camcorder on Fri. night. They came up behind my father without him knowing and stuck the camcorder right in his face. He didn't who they were or what to say he he said something like "I swear, she told me she was 18" and both guys fell over laughing. I'd love to get a copy af that!

I was standing right behind him when that happened and I am pretty sure that's what (I thought) he said at the time. Too funny!

Deery

Here are some more of my pictures from the event. Enjoy

Let's give it up for the Intoxicators!

Hard at work, or hardly working? I bought one!

"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere!"

[ Edited by: Trader Rick 2005-10-13 09:33 ]

[ Edited by: Trader Rick 2005-10-13 09:39 ]