How are you promoting Tiki?

I'm extremely glad to hear that.

Because that was the vibe I was getting. I'm glad I misread it.

Thanks for the quick response.

Thank you Hakalugi!

As you suggested, I did make a search and found this excerpt from Tiki Talk:

"Aloha!

Saturday, August 12 is International Tiki Day! A chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy some strong drinks and a little slice of the good life in your own hometown.

International Tiki Day is a real, fake holiday, in the tradition of Cinco De Mayo. Founded by Kevin Bullat, it takes place the second Saturday of August, and loosely commemorates the successful landing of Thor Heyerdahl ’s Kon-Tiki expedition on the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947."

I've included this because I want to make certain that all of my fellow "under 200's" are also aware.

With this date in mind, what better time could there be to get out there and encourage tiki awareness?

Any thoughts or ideas on how to celebrate or otherwise capitalize on this day?

On 2006-05-31 10:16, caerthe wrote:
Thank you Hakalugi!

As you suggested, I did make a search and found this excerpt from Tiki Talk:

"Aloha!

Saturday, August 12 is International Tiki Day! A chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy some strong drinks and a little slice of the good life in your own hometown.

International Tiki Day is a real, fake holiday, in the tradition of Cinco De Mayo. Founded by Kevin Bullat, it takes place the second Saturday of August, and loosely commemorates the successful landing of Thor Heyerdahl ’s Kon-Tiki expedition on the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947."

I've included this because I want to make certain that all of my fellow "under 200's" are also aware.

Oh man, the irony here is staggering! I can't wait to tell Bong that there is gonna be a drive to promote ITD to "newbies" on TC.

With this date in mind, what better time could there be to get out there and encourage tiki awareness?

I can scarcely imagine.

Any thoughts or ideas on how to celebrate or otherwise capitalize on this day?

Hmmm... What would be the perfect International Tiki Day event? How would we promote it?

Ahu

On 2006-05-31 10:23, KuKuAhu wrote:
irony

Now I wonder what kind of iron you're referring to here? Hmmm, maybe you're suggesting everyone should get more iron in their diets? Maybe you need to do your laundry?

Now here's something else I noticed

On 2006-05-31 10:23, KuKuAhu wrote:
staggering!

Wonder what he's staggering from? Too much Mai Tai, perhaps? Maybe the weight of his head is a little too much for his neck? Hmmmmm.

and finally....
On 2006-05-31 10:23, KuKuAhu wrote:

newbies

I never said that. I said "under 200's". I guess you do assume that a smaller number of posts does imply that someone is new to tiki. Thanks for the confirmation!

I can play the [snip] game to.

Grow up and make a point.

Well folks,

As much as I enjoy this rousing banter with Ahu. I've allowed this debate to override the intention of this thread and I'd like to get the conversation back on track for post 100.

How are you promoting or encouraging tiki awareness?

On 2006-05-31 10:33, caerthe wrote:

I can play the [snip] game to.

Well, yes but you aren't terribly good at it I'm afraid. Your inability to sharpen your prose to a point may explain your inability to penetrate the meaning of the written word much beyond a fundamental definition. But we digress...

Grow up and make a point.

Exhibit A.

You know, it appears that I'm going to have to just sit down and try to type out a simple outline that clearly defines my thought process as applied to this thread, so as to avoid any further confusion on your part. But that would be tedious and boring. So instead I think that spinning my earlier Star Trek reference into a tidy analogy would perhaps better clarify my point.

Ahem..

A man drops by the Trekie Central message forum and posts the following:

"Hi! I just saw my first episode of Star Trek and it was great. I want to get more involved in Star Trekery in a very big way. What would you all think would make the perfect Star Trek convention?"

..and then many users came on and offered helpful advice. They even tried to steer him in a safe path so that he would not make a huge financial blunder. One of the big questions that arose was, "Have you attended any Star Trek conventions before?"

"No, but I have promoted lots of other non-Star Trek events."

"Well, that's great that you have done promotional work. Many of us could use that sort of help with our events, and if you showed up you'd learn a lot, as we'd be more than happy to show you the ropes in the process. A fair trade, no?"

"No. I cannot attend any Star Trek conventions. Thanks though. So, what else would you like to see at a perfect Star Trek convention?"

And the long time Trekies kinda scratch their heads at this. "How can he possibly afford to throw a huge convention if he cannot/will not even attend one?"

And still others wonder, "Wow. The guy asks for help and touts his credentials which would be useful to us, but he does not seem to want anything other than to bleed us for what amounts to marketing info. How odd. Oh well."

And then they all generally move along and let it be what it is. They happily return to the shows they love.

Then one day a new thread appears..

"What are you doing to promote Star Trek?"

And it talks about how he promotes the show to non-fans via renting some VHS casettes and hosting home viewings.

And it is that same guy. And now many of them are wondering why hardcore Star Trek fans, who have several websites, books, companies, events (which he has no interest in apparently), and organizations devoted to the subject, should need to be "promoting Star Trek" to the public.

So they ask. And the response they get is essentially as follows:

"You should reread my question."

And now the guy who spent six months of last year trying to get Leonard Nemoy to appear at his local convention calls the guy who organized the entertainment because he is puzzled as to what this new guy is going for here. Especially in light of his last big thread, they wonder if this new thread does not essentially read as, "What have you done for Star Trek lately?"

So one of them mentions the idea of "support" as opposed to "promote" and suggests that many of them have been supporting it all along and for a very long time. Annoyed a bit he asks, "Where were you when we started?" A fair quesion he thinks. After all, when one considers that the forum itself is built by and frequented by heavy supporters, it would seem that the "marketing effort" is doing just fine, or else this guy would never have found them in the first place.

Once again this is met with resistance and misunderstanding.. just like that other older thread...

Eh, I am bored with this now. You know the rest. But to answer your original question so that you might keep us all on track:

"What am I doing to promote tiki?"

Why that's easy. I am drawing attention to this fine thread.

Ahu

Ahu,
Many thanks for that post.

Pea

since ahu is too modest to mention it, i'll say that he has (along with several other very dedicated people) established and is continuing to be a motive part of a 3-day summer tiki event in columbus, ohio that has drawn plenty of internet and more traditional media attention. besides which it's a f'n blast :) if a person were to be attentive to events mentioned on this board and others they might know what he has been doing. :D

thats KICK ASS that National Tiki Day is August 12--ONE DAY after my birthday!! (me and Joe Jackson--strangely enough). Lets just make it August 11th for me; I'm taking the day off anyway...maybe I'll carve a tiki; DEFINITELY having rum too!

I'm still confused.

There seems to be something personal going on here.

I'm going to assume there is and bow out.

I went back and read KuKuAhu's first post on this thread, and besides his obvious annoyance with the whole thread, he seemed to then suggest people respond to the thread, almost exactly the way they HAD been before this debate.

So again, the Star trek story leads me to assume there's something personal or at least some sort of personal history here that I'm not in on.

I just hope I didn't contribute to the craziness here too much.

I'm still confused, but probably happy to be so.

I'm going to continue promoting, or suggesting, or whatever word fits. :)

On 2006-05-29 00:36, PoisonIvy wrote:
... As I have seen here, a reasonable question can turn into an all out "who's who." Who cares. (?) I believe, as with most threads here, you are dealing with ONE person who actually lives in Hawaii. I have never understood the rants from Ohio, Oakland, Florida or where ever these cats live who want to come out and proclaim their all holy devotion to tiki....it's a passionate pass-time, I have no doubt, but I do not understand the slamming of someone simply asking a question.
Maybe the people who are 2000 and 3000 miles away from the islands should pack up and dive into their passion....could be, will be, quite an eye-opener.
XXXOOO Ivy..

... in any case ... a good way to promote tiki (or, at least, another way) would be to have ultimate tiki fighting... "newbies" could then take on the "old-timers","johnny-cum-late-leez" versus the "tiki og's"...in a bamboo, reed and grass mat octagon... pay per view on tc... commercial breaks (bamboo ben, tiki-2-u, tiki farm, etc.)... the hottest tiki chicks strutting 'round the ring (of course, conveniently dropping the round cards, bending over and pickin' 'em up)... all the good stuff...

... then, there would be the nascar "tiki 500"...

On 2006-05-31 12:41, The Granite Tiki wrote:
So again, the Star trek story leads me to assume there's something personal or at least some sort of personal history here that I'm not in on.

i think it was an "analogy" :)

On 2006-05-31 12:41, The Granite Tiki wrote:
he seemed to then suggest people respond to the thread, almost exactly the way they HAD been before this debate.

True, there were a few that fit what I simply stated as what I'd like to see as a response. I suppose I was implying that this would be the limit of what I'd liked to have seen upon reading the responses, and that it would have soundly ended the thread if it were true. Nothing more than that was meant or implied. Perhaps I might have worded it in a clearer manner. Or I should have followed my instincts and buzzed off. Probably the latter.

Ahu

Yes, I know it was an analogy.

But it seemed to be describing circumstances that went way beyond this thread, that's all I was saying.

And remember, you can't have an analogy without anal! :)

What am I doing to promote Tiki?

My living room, dining room, and entire backyard is dedicated to Tiki.

With as many classic artifacts from the 50s and 60s as I can purchase.

I'm planning many get togethers, some small, some large, in which I'll be playing all the classic hapa haole and exotica on vinyl to my guests. In hopes that they'll dig it as much as I will and maybe buy the rum more often! :wink:

Hey Ahu!
Didn't know you knew Cleo and Zach!
Please tell them howdy for me!
Pea

On 2006-05-31 13:14, sweetpea wrote:
Hey Ahu!
Didn't know you knew Cleo and Zach!
Please tell them howdy for me!
Pea

Happy to! I gotta call them soon here anyway.

Ahu

I took the subject question at surface value, not as a guilt trip. "Promoting" sounds odd to me too, but I don't have a problem with the question, and in fact some of the answers in here were interesting.

As soon as someone starts talking about "established caretakers of the flame" and all that, I can't believe we're still talking about tikis! Likewise with saying that the subject question bears extreme scrutiny. Huh? I don't think it bears extreme anything.

I haven't done much that could be considered promoting tiki other than some outdated webpages and telling some friends about stuff I dig once in a while. But I sure do appreciate the efforts of people like Otto, Sven, Hanford, JT, Duke, Humu, Martiki, Kiliki, and on and on! Maybe in their cases, promoting tiki is more of a byproduct than a primary motivation, whereas the subject question sort of makes promoting sound like the end goal. It also feels a little like too much talking about doing something rather than just doing it, and all that talk is kind of a buzzkill in any escapist pastime. But still, for someone who has this kind of question, I think of TC as just the place to take it, so I don't get the brouhaha, and indignation even.

-Randy

Well well Ahu,

I made my attempt for us to both "live long and prosper", but apparently you don't want that. In fact, it turns out, that you've been wanting to debate an entirely different thread.

Poor boy. Couldn't stick to the subject at hand. Well the nice thing is that there's now medicine for that problem.

Well thanks to your insightful Trekkie analogy, I now know what you want to talk about.

Tell me this. Since you've made it very clear that one must have a certain level of specialized tiki experience (is there a tiki black belt or merit badge perhaps?) or permission from on-high in order to ask questions, who gave the first Trekkie or Tiki event coordinators the permission to hold the first events?

I've got time.

Please, take a minute if you must.

Sorry, your time is up.

The answer is-Nobody.

These people had a passion, thought they could do something about it, closed their ears to the nay-sayers and did it. Furthermore, most probably didn't have much skill at event coordinating to begin with. They simply built something and improved it with every new event, while gaining experience along the way.

Good for them and I mean that sincerely.

Now I've come along, see a need in my own community and have begun to ask questions. Is that wrong? Nope. Apparently to you, but not really. Did many of the now established Trekkie or Tiki event coordinators travel all over the country before creating their own events? Probably a few, y'know the "Jonny Come Lately's", but more than likely not the true pioneers, also known as "trekkers" by some. Did they ask questions of their peers? Probably not a lot at first. Time was needed to create a pool of experience to draw from, in addition for these peers to discover and connect with one another. Most were also probably too busy with their own respective projects and probably didn't have the time or the $ for travel. At least not at first, I think. Creating events takes a lot of energy and time, I know this from extensive experience.

They took what they did know, shot from the hip and built something great. So now, as the years have passed, they've become the establishment. Some have remembered their roots and understand the organic nature of both the culture and their business while others have either become used to telling their customers what they want or have just become too tired to entertain new ideas or try new things. Along I come and, because of my background, begin to ask questions of the public on what they want to see in a tiki event or how they encourage tiki awareness. Essentially, I've been simply asking what do the people think, what do they want and what they are doing to keep tiki alive and growing.

Apparently, at least from some of my experiences on this list, I've done a very bad thing.

I appreciate that Jonny-Dollar has informed us all that you're an intricate part in a new major Tiki event in Ohio. Makes a lot more sense to me why you and the same gang of names have been posting to my threads. I say gang because that's what is happening, isn't it? I somehow hurt the feelings of one of your pals. He came crawling back to your little troupe, with the "owee" I gave him (quite unintentionally, I might add) and now your group has an axe to grind with me. Not one you want to address privately either. Nosiree, intimidation is the key here, so make it as public as possible. The more trouncing of people who ask questions and challenge perceptions, the less work for you in the long run. But now I'm speaking with the leader of this little gang, aren't I?

The hired hands didn't get me or deter me, so now the boss has come out to take his shot. Only the boss has nothing better than Star Trek analogies, sexual fantasies about Madonna (not to mention her teeth) and childish insults about who was first in line. Pathetic. When it comes down to it, you're nothing more than an angry old man, waving his fists at the cars for moving so fast and screaming out against progress.

A bit of advice, to you and your company Ahu. Don't dis enthusiasm and progress, it only points out how much of a stick in the mud you are and what you're willing to do in order to keep your particular vision THE only vision.

Regarding this thread. I'm also glad you're drawing so much attention to it. It's nice to know that people will now have an excellent idea of some of the kind of minds that are involved in this Ohio event. Nice also that people can see, through these posts, exactly what atmosphere they'll experience when they visit your little shin-dig. I guess if you're really into the "it's always easier to be told what to think and how to act than to figure it out for yourself and learn from others" scene, it's gonna be groovy. I, for one, am not into that scene and when I do make it to a tiki event, one that I don't create myself, I think I'll shoot for something a little more fun.

Mahalo to you and your ilk Ahu.

You're old news to me.

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"
-Walt Disney

[ Edited by: caerthe 2006-05-31 15:26 ]

On 2006-05-31 14:18, aquarj wrote:
...too much talking about doing something rather than just doing it, and all that talk is kind of a buzzkill in any escapist pastime.

Very well put!

In fact, I'd like to elaborate on this dynamic with the following ten points:

(Just kidding.)

Hey RJ!
Don't downplay your DJ efforts.
Remember that night at the Conga with the theremin player doing that horrible rendition of "tequila?"
What a blast. "Otto's Forbidden Island..."

Anyway, I'm not indignant and I don't think anyone is really.

Here's the deal... for me anyway:

This whole freaking website is a compendium of how people are "promoting tiki."
An unabridged encyclopedia for those who are willing to do the search.
Page upon page of carvings and sales and parties and bars and wares and music and ideas.

It's kind of ... no, it's a very superflous question and it just bugged me a little, personally, that caerthe, who seems like a perfectly reasonable and likeable person, would try to boil down this huge effort on all of our parts that was put together through hours of hours of research and hard work and liver trauma.

So although I'm not kvetching or verkelmpting over the thread, I do want to make fun of it a little.

The chasm between this threadlet and the body of work represented here at TC is similar to the difference between a Martiki created Captain's Grog and a lukewarm Bacardi and Diet Coke.

I think... I'm just guessing here... that this is the same thing that's bugging Kuku and a few others.

You want to know how we're promoting tiki?

http://www.tikicentral.com/search.php

On 2006-05-31 15:25, pablus wrote:
verkelmpting

I had to research this word. I think it's verklempt, not verkelmpt, and it's an adjective, not a verb, thus cannot be rendered in the progressive. From dictionary.com:
**
verklempt
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: overcome with emotion; clenched; also written ferklempt
Etymology: Yiddish
**

Thanks for prompting me to learn a new word today. This is not in common usage around here, but maybe I'll do my part to change that over time.

[ Edited by: Thomas 2006-05-31 15:44 ]

heh-heh.

Not much goin' on in Mojave ehh, Thomas? :wink:

verklempt is an adjective but verklempting is a verb... as of today.
That's the dynamic of proper yiddish.

(btw, Ahu's not an old man, it's just that his liver has lived 5 lives and it makes his voice creak).

On 2006-05-31 15:20, caerthe wrote:

... waving his fists at the cars... moving so fast...

... see, nascar "tiki 500" will be the next big thing... you could have tiki "koozies", caps, banners, t-shirts (printed on beefy-ts or Gildan 2000s)... the infield could be all tiki booths with trinkets and the various bric-a-brac and the infield bars would serve only to those willing to cross the track (during the race) to get to the restrooms... a tiki mobile, not unlike the oscar meyer hot dog mobile, could be the pace car...

Pablus, it's a good thing you are available when I get out of sorts. Thanks man. You put it way better than I could have.

Caerthe, I just kinda scanned your last post. I'm not gonna take the time to really read it and pick it all apart. But it looks like what I'd expect. A lot of crazy talk, some ranting, and a whole lot of you not understanding anything I've said here or why I said it.

That's fine. Predictable, but fine. You lost your cool there, and it shows. I'll let ya get on with your "thing" whatever the hell it is.

But here's the point I will address.. I don't like you. I don't like your attitude here on this forum. I don't like the way you ask but don't listen. I don't like how you treat people here like they are here for your amusement only.

This has absolutlely nothing to do with "bosses or hired hands". I honestly have zero idea what you are talking about there, so you can turn off the paranoia and take off your foil hat. There is no conspiracy.

Just me.

I think your thread here is f*cking stupid. For pretty much the reasons Pablus just stated. I also thought you were acting like a grade A douchebag on your last big thread. So I took issue with this one and you got snooty. End of drama.

Now go take your meds and then go to bed. Daddy has cars to shake his fists at.

Ahu

Regardless of all our respective takes on what 'tiki' is and if it should be pushed....
bottom line is;
it's an escape from our stressful wordaday world and it is a relaxing casual lifestyle. so let's chill.. with a maitai a lil more and argue a little less.
ho'omanawanui!

I finally find agreement with your words.

Well spoken!

Thanks to the recent posts of pablus and me, this thread has caused the number of search results on TC for the keyword, "yiddish" to increase by fully 33 1/3 %.

... Yeah, kind of a slow day here.

if you don't knock it off, I'm gonna pull this thread over to the side of the road, then you'll really be sorry.

Whew! I'm not confused anymore!

For what it's worth, I think you're all great even when you're yelling at eachother.

Passionate people on the fringe tend to scream at eachother now and then.

I can see what Pablus said about this thread being a bit superfluous, but it once again reminded me how much I love this site!

I hope I'm not looked down upon out there for liking a thread that is basically a one stop microcosm of the whole site. I can see how some veterans could find it silly. But be patient with those of us who still may be a bit wet behind the ears. (I'm only speaking for myself of course)

I'll pray for all disagreeing parties here to bury all hatchets some day while clinking Mai-Tai glasses. Meanwhile, I'm going to get a head start...

WO! That was my hundredth post!!! Please drink to my tripple digitdom!

[ Edited by: The Granite Tiki 2006-05-31 23:31 ]

Caerthe,
if you want to help "promote" tiki may I suggest that you try digging up something interesting for Savage Renewal, or adding some tidbit of information to an already started thread.

That would go along way, I'm sure, in helping out all of us, and I'll bet you no one will tell you off.
Please don't think that I'm bitching at you, I think you started the thread cause you really wanted to know how to get the word out. I think this would be a capitol idea.
E

I'll pray for all disagreeing parties here to bury all hatchets

I hope that hatchet Is buried in a tiki while carving!

... you could promote tiki by planting tikis in public parks and creating a "live" tiki board game... players would be wrapped up in tiki duct tape and would have to "worm" their way to each tiki to capture a tiki flag with their teeth... the one with the most tiki flags (and the fewest broken teeth) would be the winner... free beer for all who play (and/or spectate)...

Exotica95 and alohabros,

Exotica, I did conduct a search prior to beginning the thread. However, your suggestion is good, so I'll go back and take a look.

aloha,

In a strange way, I like your idea. Not exactly the worm part, but the tikis quietly planted in public parks idea. Almost has a "random act of kindness" feel to it. Enough of these start showing up across the country, people are going to start taking notice. It would be labor and materials intensive for those willing, but the final product would definitely be intriguing.

On 2006-06-01 18:00, caerthe wrote:

...It would be labor and materials intensive for those willing...

... various molds, cast concrete & eps foam (bead variety), cheap exterior latex paints, a shovel, post hole digger, pickup truck and you're in tall cotton...

.... with the molds you could "cast-away" every night for two straight weeks... a bumper crop of tiki totems'n'whatcha-ma-call-its... fedex the molds to the next village or town... let 'em rock n' roll for a few weeks, then on to the next one... ya know, someone could convert a tennis court into a life-sized tiki chess board (put the tikis on wheels, of course)...

... don't forget about the tiki ultimate fighting pay-per-view... chicks, tikis n' beer...

... sublime...

I think it would be very difficult to "promote" the concept of tiki, but you certainly can make it more accessible to people.

I'd be willing to guess that the majority of us had childhood brushes with tiki that have been floating around in the back of our heads along with a thousand other pieces of pop culture competing for our attention. Occasionally you'd meet like minded people to discuss and foster the interest. Now thanks to the Internet, there's a place like Tiki Central filled to the brim with people willing to share opinions, ideas, and history.

I started http://tikitalk.astropad.com over six months ago as a fun project for me that would give the world bite-sized pieces of tiki to chew on (TC is like a warehouse-sized buffet for the first-time visitor—very overwhelming). Since then, I've had nearly 15,000 unique visitors, the vast majority of which have come from Internet searches, mainly Google.

People are actively looking for tiki, and they're having a hard time finding it. The interest is there, and places like TC and events like Hukilau do a great job of transitioning people from the pure "party mindset" to taking a deeper interest in the culture.

People are actively looking for tiki, and they're having a hard time finding it...

Forgive me finally joing in this thread just to disagree but if you Google "tiki" you'll find Tiki Central on your fifth link (as of a minute ago). Then there's all the tiki you can need (for life!). Nice job with your site, tho'.

I think you both have good points, but I think there's a general miss perception as to how internet savy the majority of the public really is. The local chapter of another organization I'm a part of, consists primarily of intelligent, progressive and financially stable families and individuals (from the their mid-teens to over 65). Yet when a poll was conducted to determine the feasibility of continuing the paper version of the monthly newsletter, only 35% of the 500+ members had reliable access to a computer. Those who neither owned their own computer or had regular access to a system that allowed internet surfing (non-business or loosely regulated business systems) greatly outweighed the online membership. This was very surprising to the online community, as it was under the impression that the opposite would be the case. Of course this was an isolated example, your mileage may vary. smile

What I'm getting at is though TC and Tiki Talk are excellent electronic means of discovering or connecting with the Tiki community, it's likely that there are thousands of potential tiki enthusiasts out there who may not discover or connect with this community, simply because they aren't online. Events like Oasis and Hukilau are great in the social event aspect, but if you don't live in a tiki event host city , catch the press on the event or happen to stop by the event, then your chances of finding this community are probably as improbable.

[ Edited by: caerthe 2006-06-07 22:34 ]

Caerthe ~ You need to take a trip out here to Californitiki. I think you'll find what u r looking for :) If you participate you'll learn all about Tiki and Tiki Central :)

WooHoo!

**
intelligent, progressive and financially stable families and individuals
**

The usage of this word, "progressive" is a great mystery to me. It often leaves me wondering if I mightn't be "regressive." But no, that's not it either. I think the use of such aggressive, dualistic labels is something worth leaving behind.

Then again, so might be this thread, interesting comments though it did elicit in its time.

Then again, so might be this thread, interesting comments though it did elicit in its time.

I enjoyed "talk like a pirate day",,,
but if this is "talk like Yoda day", I think I'll pass.

**
if this is "talk like Yoda day", I think I'll pass
**

Aw, come on, give it a try! It's "progressive"!

No, you're right, a pretty convoluted sentence, and in a grouchy post to boot. Oh well.

I'd have to agree with some of the above members in saying that you gotta be careful what you wish for!
Tiki is a way of escape from the McDonalds/Gap/Winners/Subway/etc shopping-mall sameness a lot of us are forced to see/work with every day. Having a Maori in every window or front lawn would seem to be the antithesis of joining in a community like TC and others.

I remember back in the early punk days wishing the same thing for that scene, then shortly after having the shows loused up by "normal" people starting fights and mocking those of us there in the first place for looking different. (And it just dawned on me that this thread mirrors a great hunk of discourse that went on in punk fanzine letters pages in the 1980's!) They were there because of a greater exposure of a subculture with "outsider" (tho' I'd say elevated) tastes, and soon after you get a homogenized version of the original vibrant scene. Just imagine everyone in town wearing the same mass-produced K-Mart Hawaiian-style button-ups! Yuk!
I say let the lowest common denominator ramble about in their hummers and Hilfeger's and never know the true joy of Tikidom...

Then again...
Promoting tiki gets "closeted" tikiphiles to get in touch with the rest of us, contribute artwork, etc. (and where would I be right now?) so excuse me while I contradict myself!
(And I gotta learn how to post smilies on this thing!)

Cool thoughts, twitch, and also a cool entry under "interests" in your profile:

**
collecting society's lowbrow leftovers
**

Boy can I ever relate to that...

The word "progressive" was meant to imply people who feel comfortable using current and new technology.

My post was off-topic and rude. Still, thanks for the clarification.

you could save hundreds with progressive insurance.