Tiki Road Trip: Milwaukee (9/22), Atlanta (9/29) -- SEE PAGE 7

May, 2007.

• James T.

http://www.tydirium.net
Big Stone Head / Tiki Road Trip / Left Orbit Temple

[ Edited by: tikibars 2007-09-19 18:12 ]

Aloha friends!

Tiki Road Trip 2 is coming along nicely. The text was turned in to the editors at Santa Monica Press in January, they sliced and diced as nescessary in February and March, and now the graphic designer has it. It will be printed in May, and be in your hands by June.

There will be a number of book signings this summer, with the first of them being at Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 15.

Further events will be announced soon!

In addition to debuting Tiki Road Trip 2 at Hukilau, I'll be giving an hour-long presentation called "The Making of Tiki Road Trip 2 in Technicolor" that will include pictures, words, and music. Come with James on road trips across the United States, and even across Easter Island by Jeep.

Hukilau web site:

http://www.thehukilau.com/2007/

Tiki Road Trip 2 is available for pre-order NOW at:

http://www.tydirium.net/tiki/tikiroadtrip.html

Further book signings are expected to be announced soon!

Here's the official press release:

"About Tiki Road Trip 2:

Tiki Road Trip by James Teitelbaum was released in 2003 as a guidebook to the whens and wheres of all things Tiki. The book sent thousands of people on six continents to hundreds of destinations, where they all gleefully imbibed exotic rum drinks, chowed down on sumptuous feasts, reveled in (pop) cultural history, worshipped at the altar of Tiki, and attempted contact with the opposite sex (sometimes all of these things at once).

Inevitably, the information contained in the book fell a bit out of date over the next four years, and a great sadness was heard around the globe.

But there is hope!

Yes, every four years we have an olympics, a presidential election, and a Tiki Road Trip.

May of 2007, four years (and one month) after the debut of Tiki Road Trip, Santa Monica Press will bring you Tiki Road Trip: revised and expanded.

What's new in Tiki Road Trip II:

Your world-wide guide to Polynesian Pop!

Full update to the entire text, that moves recently closed places to the closed section, adds newly opened places, and offers more historical information on classic places. Almost every entry has been revised; most have been completely re-written.

The 2003 version of Tiki Road Trip paid homage to the classic Tiki bars. The new version still includes these locations, of course, but spotlights the new places, particularly the several dozen that have opened in the past four years. Where the 2003 edition was about the history of Tiki, the 2007 edition will lean towards the future of Tiki.

A few pesky factual errors and typos from the prior edition have been corrected.

More photos than before, with high quality room shots of new and classic locations, as well as graphics such as menus, postcards, matchbooks, and artifacts such as Tiki mugs and carvings.

Expanded drink recipes section, Hawaiian vocabulary, and glossary.

New design that makes it easier to find what you're looking for, and makes the divsion between existing places and closed places more clearly defined.

Larger International section, particularly spotlighting the booming Spain, England, and Germany Tiki scenes. Much larger Hawai'i section as well.

Shag has modified his cover art: play "spot-the-difference"!

Eighty (80) pages longer; same price as the 2003 edition!

What a deal!"

[ Edited by: tikibars 2007-04-26 12:40 ]

Bring it on.

Have you made any progress on finding a publisher for Big Stone Head?

On 2007-01-04 00:02, Paipo wrote:
Have you made any progress on finding a publisher for Big Stone Head?

That has been on the back burner for the past six months, as I get TRT II together. I have a few more leads with publishers that I will explore beginning in March of this year (after the design and editoiral work on TRT II is done). Last news on BSH is that Otto talked to some publishers for me back in October, but they didn't bite.

I'm on the edge of my seat...
Looking forward to it!
K.

YEE HAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I can't wait for this "new" edition James. It sounds GREAT!!!!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Awesome news TB. Can't wait for it.

My first dumb question of the day (more are bound to slip out): Is the cover shot of the book a book currently available or is it a mock up of what is to come? Thanks.

Awesome, can't wait fot the new edition James

I love the idea of each location with menus, postcards and the tiki mugs all in one. Can't wait for May. Is there any color pages?

Wait .... I still haven't visited all of the sites listed in the first book!

This is great news. I am pleased that new tiki venues continue to be born, and hopefully the nation's (and world's) overall cumulative TiPSY rating total will continue to expand, rather than diminish. A second volume shows the general public that there really might be some legs to this thing called tiki.

Let the tiki revival continue!

I look forward to having the two volumes sitting side-by-side in my bookshelf.

Vern

Awesome! Can't wait for the book signing in Chicagoland!!!

On 2007-01-04 08:37, hiltiki wrote:
I love the idea of each location with menus, postcards and the tiki mugs all in one. Can't wait for May. Is there any color pages?

Oops, didn't mean to be unclear here - there are not (nescessarily) menus, AND postcards, AND mugs for every location. There would be no room for that, and even with the help of some of the biggest collectors here, I am not sure that anyone could assemble ALL of that! I just meant that there are more of these sorts of pictures in general than in the previous edition.

Santa Monica Press and I went back and forth about color, and they ultimately decided that it would drive the price of the book up higher than what the market would bear. So no color.

Also, since someone asked, the cover art seen above is final.

Can't wait to get mine!!!!

I am beYOND excited about this thing!!

Congrats for putting that baby to bed, jt!
The hours involved boggle my mind (and I've only been researching one stinkin' city!!)
F

I am looking forward to the new book. Don't feel bad about not having color....it is hard for some eyes to read off of colored pages. The white pages with black font will be much easier to read for some of us. The pictures sound fabulous and I luuuuv the cover. Come on May!!!!

Just in time for Green Bay?

Can't wait to get mine!

Should be cool - Thanks for makinit happen!

let me know when we need to the video version...

Are there going to be any maps?

Looks good James! I also am excited to add this installment to my collection. Quick question I have is did you happen to add a website directory of remaining open establishments to the revisement, or are you going to wait until TRT "tres-tiki"?

Maps, websites, color... all great ideas, along with DangerGirl's old suggestion that the book be laminated to survive messy bar encounters.

The problem here is space. As it is, the manuscript for this edition is so much longer than TRT I, and so much more info-packed, that the designer and editor are having a problem figuring out how to make it fit into the alotted page count.

I probably could have squeezed in web sites, but Dave over at http://www.konakai.com does such a great job of that, plus web sites change and come and go so fast, that I decided not to include them. My biggest sadness is how TRT I has become out-of-date, and I really want TRT II to last and be relevant for as long as possible... so web sites are probably not the best idea towards that end.

There actually were driving directions in TRT I, but they were axed by the editorial staff of Santa Monica Press. Maps are even better, but are a HUGE space-sucker.

One day, someone will give me a green light and budget to do an encyclopedia-sized ultra-TRT, but until then, the format remains more or less the same - but with newer info, more info, and more clearly laid out.

These are the realities of the publishing world, and are universal. Even Sven, for example, has often related tales of having to have had to lop two entire chapters off of the BOT at Taschen's demand!

I wonder how much Rick Steves has HIS travel books butchered?
:)

I'm waiting for the downloadable book of tiki that will fit in a hand held computer, complete with GPS and maps all loaded up. :) In the meantime, I will definitely be purchasing TRTII!
I'm so excited about this. I've gotten a lot of use out of the first one after stumbling upon it a couple years ago in the "Travel" section of a Borders. I had no idea what it was, but it was so intriguing. This was the first "tiki" book I owned-- long before I had a copy of the BOT (pretty hard to find), I had TRT.
I still use mine quite a bit, though it breaks my heart every time I get to the Columbus Ohio section, as I never made it to the Kahiki.
Thanks, James, for all your hard work in putting this together. I'm sure this book is going to be a great resource for many years to come. Hopefully it will have a longer lifespan than the first!
Cheers!

Congratulations, James! I'm sure it's going to sell like hotcakes. It would be neat if demand becomes great enough to justify regional tiki guides, giving you the room you'd need to go hogwild.

looks great!! however, if you want to save room for more info and pics of bars, then ditch the section on drinks and hawaiian vocab.....let's face it, grog log is the source we mainly use for drinks and there are dozens of books about hawaiian language......if you had the room, great!! i would say include all that, but if you are coming up short, get rid of those sections...i would rather have more info about the places as opposed to how to speak hawaiian and more rehash of drink recipes......tiki road trip is the source to go to to learn about and locate tiki places.....i feel you should focus more on that......yes, i see the relevance to having the other sections but, why use up valuable page space on yet another zombie recipe....I think more photos of places will really add to the book and enchance it further as a reference source, for now and future tiki enthusiasts...we can get drink recipes and hawaiian vocab from a 100 other sources.........just my 2 cents. as usual.

Good advice, Tipsy. Your comments do make sense.

In fact, the drink recipe section in the 2003 TRT was put there at the urging of the publisher. Way back in 2002, I wasn't quite the master mixologist yet, so I enlisted the help of The Jab to help me get some of the recipes together.

NOW, however, mixology is one of my fave parts of the Tiki experience, and in the past five years my skills have increased a LOT (if I may say so myself). So for TRT II, I will be sort of bummed if the new and improved recipes section gets axed! But yah, the Beachbum's books, and classic Vic's tomes definitely trump my lil' Pisco recipes...

The justification for the Hawiian vocabulary is because a lot of the words are used in the text of the book, so having the vocab lesson is good for us haoles to look up the words we don't understand.

We'll see what happens - hopefully the designer can squeeze it ALL in... all 109,491 words of it!

Someone should write the 'Un-Tiki Roadtrip' book, which would give the location and review of every lame-ass tiki-wannabee, tiki bar in the entire country.

If you owned a tiki establishment that served a mai-tai that was either bright red in color, or looked and tasted as if it were a marketing promotion device from the Kool-Aid company, then your place would be listed in the book. If your tiki establishment were inspired by the garish colors found in your typical Party Store chain establishment, then you would end up in the book. If your place never booked an authentic sounding Hawaiian band or a Hula dance troupe, but instead every weekend hired bands and DJs that would play only Top-40, wedding reception mainstream type music, then you would be listed in this book. If you owned a tiki bar that sold ten times as many Budweisers than mai-tais, and the total length of neon tubes in your beer promotion signs was ten times more than the total length of the bamboo reeds used as decor, then you would be listed in this book.

And since this is the modern age, each copy of the 'Un-Tiki Roadtrip' could come with a garish tiki bumper sticker, which would have a small electronic chip embedded within, which would regualrly emit an electronic signal. The un-tiki people would place these on their cars. Each Tiki Central member would have an antidote electronic device, which we would keep in our own cars, which would give loud yelps if it were ever to enter a parking lot where three or more of the Un-tiki vehicles with bumper stickers were located. Then us true-tiki types could drive by an unexpected tiki place, be seduced by the flashing tiki sign outside begging us to stop, but be warned off by the yelping that this was likely a poor place to visit.

If there is a downfall to the above plan, it is how to counteract against the massive confluence of thousands of cars parked within a Jimmy Buffet concert parking lot. Such a massive conglomeration of electronic chips may overload the entire country's electrical grid, if not cause the earth to be knocked off its axis of magnetic rotation and planetary revolution.

Well, the above scenario may really be too advanced for today's technology. But the purpose of this message is to show an alternative, and help us appreciate the current and soon to be updated Tiki Road Trip books. Simply keep a copy within your car, or use it as a reference before you travel, and you will soon find your way to the best tiki locations within the country and world, and thus enhance your overall sense of true tiki awareness and tiki enjoyment.

Vern

[i]On 2007-01-03 23:43, tikibars wrote:
Pre-order information and signing dates are TBA.

As much as I liked the last LA signing at Wacko/Soap Factory,
can the next LA signing be at a more appropriate location?

Vern:
Terrifying!!

I'd like to share with you all (I think I've already told tikibars) a tale of the power of TRT.
I got a phone call years ago from my friend Fleeman (the owner of the FAB Jeep art car called "Electrolux," which he had at the last Exotica). He was calling from the road - literally. He was driving on the highway somewhere in the Midwest and he'd seen a billboard for the Tiki Truckstop!
"So I figured you would likely know, Alice; is it worth stopping at the Tiki Truckstop? It's the next exit and I need to know if it's worth getting off the highway for!"

I ran to my trusty copy of Tiki Road Trip, looked it up, and ran back to the phone. "Keep on driving, my friend! TRT says its TiPSY factor is zero. No tiki in the joint!"
And so he passed up the exit. What teamwork! Like a GPS for tiki, he called me; just make a call and find out the low-down on every tiki establishment in the US! But I had to give full credit to James and his team of researchers.

And Fleeman will be getting his own copy of TRT2 from me in May.

Congrats Sir! I look forward to adding this updating edition to my tiki library. Look forward to further works from you.

On 2007-01-06 01:41, christiki295 wrote:
As much as I liked the last LA signing at Wacko/Soap Factory,
can the next LA signing be at a more appropriate location?

I'm not even going to begin thinking about locations until April-ish, but I am definitely open for suggestions.

Vern, your idea cracks me up.
Who knew that too much Buffet might threaten the stablity of the entire planet?

[i]On 2007-01-06 18:53, tikibars wrote:

I'm not even going to begin thinking about locations until April-ish, but I am definitely open for suggestions.

Tikibars, I don't think anyone could give you a suggestion that is not already in your book.

Spotted online! TRT 2nd edition with a 5/31 release date...at of all places:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5436886
(by way of explanation - I got a giftcard and was looking to use it, so just typed TIKI into their search engine to see what would come up)

James - can you let us know if that publication date is set, and beyond that - what method of purchase would best benefit you & your efforts?

Cheers,
Rupe

And just to clarify -- this is an update of the first book and not a second volume with completely different entries, right?

Yes, and yes.

From what I know,
in some cases, updates needed to be made (places closed, got more tiki, got less tiki, etc.)

In other cases, mistakes were made and are now corrected AND whole new places opened and needed new entries :)

I cannot WAIT!
F

On 2007-01-05 14:44, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
looks great!! however, if you want to save room for more info and pics of bars, then ditch the section on drinks and hawaiian vocab.....let's face it, grog log is the source we mainly use for drinks and there are dozens of books about hawaiian language......if you had the room, great!! i would say include all that, but if you are coming up short, get rid of those sections...i would rather have more info about the places as opposed to how to speak hawaiian and more rehash of drink recipes......tiki road trip is the source to go to to learn about and locate tiki places.....i feel you should focus more on that......yes, i see the relevance to having the other sections but, why use up valuable page space on yet another zombie recipe....I think more photos of places will really add to the book and enchance it further as a reference source, for now and future tiki enthusiasts...we can get drink recipes and hawaiian vocab from a 100 other sources.........just my 2 cents. as usual.

I think an important thing to remember is that any company that is going to publish a book like this isn't publishing it just for the members of one internet forum. This book is probably going to be picked up by lots of people who just think it sounds interesting when they're strolling through Barnes & Noble or whatever.

Also, folks who are joining this community but may not know of things like the Grog Log or other sources of information might really appreciate having the other content as well. If we want to bring Tiki back and do it right, wouldn't it be better to get the newbies off on the right foot with some of the very content you're suggesting he omit?

On 2007-02-12 09:52, arriano wrote:
And just to clarify -- this is an update of the first book and not a second volume with completely different entries, right?

Well, yes and no.

It is an update of the first book, yes, but I have basically re-written it, top to bottom, so even the old entries are freshened up.

I was very concerned that people who got the first one would still feel that the second one was worth getting. So I crammed a lot of new info in there, as much as I was allowed to. There are a LOT of newly-opened places listed and a LOT of classic places that have come to light since 2002 that are now included.

The release date posted above is accurate, as far as I know.

The best way to get the book (thanks for asking) is to buy it from me in person, either at a signing (I'll be figuring those out in April), or from my web site.

http://www.tydirium.net/tiki/tikiroadtrip.html

I remember mentioning this somewhere a few years ago, but essentialy if you get it from me directly, I make about $6 (immediately), but if you buy it in a store, I get about 44 cents (paid by royalty check as much as a year after the purchase).

So you can see what MY preference is!

[ Edited by: tikibars 2007-04-26 12:55 ]

I hope you fixed one thing: The Platters were a Mercury recording group from the 50's--not a Motown group from the 60's!

Looking forward to it.

I only hope someone proofs this one before it goes to press.

I remember mentioning this somewhere a few years ago, but essentialy if you get it from me directly, I make about $6 (immediately), but if you buy it in a store, I get about 44 cents (paid by royalty check as much as a year after the purchase). So you can see what MY preference is!

Thanks for letting us know that. I'd much rather it go to you. Amazon makes enough profit from me already.

On 2007-02-13 09:05, pappythesailor wrote:
I hope you fixed one thing: The Platters were a Mercury recording group from the 50's--not a Motown group from the 60's!

Either way - their singer is out of work again, since Bali Hai in Santiago has closed.
:(

On 2007-02-13 12:40, tikibars wrote:
.......since Bali Hai in Santiago has closed.
:(

Noooooo! Since WHEN !? Arrrgh, and I did not get to document it on film.....that place was great...only a year ago it was still open and hopping!!!

Not to derail the topic, but here are some digi pics from it that my sister sent me:

It had complete Polynesian floor shows, its own mugs, the whole nine yards...

I am bummed. Why do I not have unlimited time and resources to jet all over the world to record these places for Tiki history before they disappear... I go cry now... :(

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-02-13 16:40 ]

TRT 2 update:

I am finishing final proofs and corrections today and tomorrow.

The design looks great - it was done by Amy at Future Studio, whos previous project was Sven's new book!

The new book is 360 pages long (old one was 286), and the cover price will remain the same. Due to be sent to the printers on Monday, which means that a release date of May 31 is still likely.

Please see my first post on page 1 of this thread for all the details (updated today), including info on the book's public debut at Hukilau.

Mahalo nui once again to everyone who has supported TRT 1 and 2 and made this adventure possible.

See ya'all at Hukilau!

Just looked at the Wal-Mart page that Rupe linked to...

They have a few errors... the page count is 360, not 312.

The publisher is Santa Monica Press - the DISTRIBUTOR is Independent Pub Group.

And remember, for those of you (without Wal Mart gift cards!), ordering through my site helps me out, while ordering through Wal-mart just ruins America! :wink:
http://www.tydirium.net/tiki/tikiroadtrip.html

ordering through Wal-mart just ruins America!

Hear! Hear!

Stop the Presses!

Hi James,
Is it too late to include the closing of the Beverly Hills Trader Vic's in TRT2?

On 2007-02-12 13:39, Kilty McTiki wrote:

On 2007-01-05 14:44, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
looks great!! however, if you want to save room for more info and pics of bars, then ditch the section on drinks and hawaiian vocab.....let's face it, grog log is the source we mainly use for drinks and there are dozens of books about hawaiian language......if you had the room, great!! i would say include all that, but if you are coming up short, get rid of those sections...i would rather have more info about the places as opposed to how to speak hawaiian and more rehash of drink recipes......tiki road trip is the source to go to to learn about and locate tiki places.....i feel you should focus more on that......yes, i see the relevance to having the other sections but, why use up valuable page space on yet another zombie recipe....I think more photos of places will really add to the book and enchance it further as a reference source, for now and future tiki enthusiasts...we can get drink recipes and hawaiian vocab from a 100 other sources.........just my 2 cents. as usual.

I think an important thing to remember is that any company that is going to publish a book like this isn't publishing it just for the members of one internet forum. This book is probably going to be picked up by lots of people who just think it sounds interesting when they're strolling through Barnes & Noble or whatever.

Also, folks who are joining this community but may not know of things like the Grog Log or other sources of information might really appreciate having the other content as well. If we want to bring Tiki back and do it right, wouldn't it be better to get the newbies off on the right foot with some of the very content you're suggesting he omit?

.....did you not read my post carefully?? I said if you are pressed for room in the book, don't put that stuff in..and furthermore, if newbies don't know about grog log and other sources...maybe they should get off their fat asses and start finding out about it and other sources...do we have to spoon feed every new individual that comes along the same ol' crap..?? cripes!! get with it!! part of the enjoyment of this is finding out stuff on your own, but you have to be self motivated...not sit around waiting for others to show you the way.

Does somebody need a hug? Or is this just misplaced Bears fan anger?

TipsyMac, any word on tiki doings in Chicago this spring/summer?