Denver Tiki - General info, events, etc.

If the snoai appears he will surley go on the cover of the upcoming issue of the newsletter. Five storms in five weeks, what a bitch. But we all have hellacious amounts of the white stuff in our yards just waiting for a creative sculpture.

Fink, a 10-12 foot monster in your yard would look great ringed with blazing tiki torches.

Zulu

Well done Zulu!

One can always count on the diehard!! I am booked on Tuesday until about noon, but after that, the snow tiki is going up. Anyone interested can come to the Fink's Shack to play in the snow. I have at least one helper and would love to have more.
The snow conditions should be perfect!

T.F. Hahahahahaha

With 52 inches of snow in town over the last 34 days, Tiki Fink deceided to make the best of it. I stopped by the shack yesterday afternoon to help him raise a Snoai from the miserable muck. Armed with snow shovels and a machette, we started building.

It begins.

Tiki Fink begins carving. Machettes work great for snow carving!

Tiki Fink and Zulumagoo posing with our 7' Snoai.

We got several comments from kids walking home from school, "WOW, that's cool!"

We take a break while we wait for the sun to go down so we can light the tiki torches.

The torches ablazing.

The Snoai of Cherry Street.

Premium work Gentlemen!

That's Rich!!!

Deadbolt rules! Death to those freaky shriners and thier evil plans.........
Saw Deadbolt about 10 years ago at the bluebird and have been hooked ever since. I will try to again....
And the Snoai......man that is very nice. Only in Colorado.....
And speaking of Colorado. There is a place in Dillon at Pug Ryans steakhouse, claiming to be the world's highest tiki bar! It sits on the lake at the marina. We will have to check it out soon. I guess the bar is only open in the summer.
Soon to be investigated.
Zulu and Fink rock.

Aloha All!

Just a brief reminder of something that may well be of interest. Dale, I know you are with me on this one. Deadbolt, the scariest band in the world.. March 10 / 11 @ Benders Tavern. There will be a preshow @ Tiki Fink's Shack for the Sunday gig. PM me if you want to join the festivities. This is a great Surfcreep band from San Diego.. Not to be missed.

T.F.

Finkster...........I cannot do a Sunday thing as that is above all else a Family day in the Sawin house and the babies need some "Daddys not in the garage and he's here to play with us!" day. Unbroken rule I made up and it works like magic.
But Saturday may just work and if'n I can I'll drag every loose necked greasey knuckled freak I can with me to the show.

"I'mmmmm goin' to Witchitaaaaaa........"

Just for a sampler of the scariest band in the world and to bring to thread back to a tiki theme I give you DEADBOLT; and "Tikiman!"

http://www.downinthelab.com/ra/tikiman%20faded.mp3

Fink.....I just checked with Benders and the shows are Fri and Sat night.....My friends band FRONTSIDE FIVE is opening up Sat night for Deadbolt. Thought you might want to know.

Thanks Dale!!!

Should be a hell of a weekend!

T.F.

Correction..

I got the Deadbolt dates off of The Deadbolt Myspace page.

The show dates according to Bender's Tavern are Fri / Sat 3/9-3/10 2007 @ 9:00 pm. Looks like the opening acts will kick ass as well!

Another little note. My Store, Total Beverage Westminster, has placed a fairly sizeable order with Tiki Farm for some mugs. New styles too! If we get good movement on these items we could bring in Holden's entire line as well as Muntiki and others!!! I will list all styles and more details when they come in. We also have a great selection of rums and mixers and are willing and able to order anything that you need if it is available in Colorado!

T.F.

i;m looking for a good bar with good tiki drinks in denver... ccan any one help?

i;m looking for a good bar with good tiki drinks in denver... can any one help? please send me a PM

Deadbolt reminder and update.

Deadbolt will be playing in Denver for two consecutive nights.

Friday March, 9th and Saturday March 10th.

This is some great fun!!!

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I was thinking about a pre show at my place. My work schedule has made this impossible. I will, however be at both shows!! If you are reading this, you have no doubt seen my pic, so if I have not met you yet, do say hello if you make the very wise choice to go.

See ya there!

T.F.

Fink and I were talking about this last night and we are both planning on going to the show Friday night. Beforehand, we are going to meet up at the Twin Dragon Restaurant around 8 or 8:30 (3021 S. Broadway in Englewood) for a flaming volcano or a scorpion bowl. Feel free to stop by and join us, we'll be in the bar.

Zulu

I have heard rumblings about Tiki stuff at Big Lost. As many of you know, there are some gems among the junk there, like last years Enchanted Tiki Room style Pele Tiki. For my part, I am going to start looking and report back here with my findings. Any contributions to this effort would be super helpful.

T.F.

They have some junk in there again this year and they also have the Peles again. I saw this year's stuff about 3-4 weeks ago up in Westminster.

Zulu

Ditto..

I was at the Big Lost on 120th and Sheridan and that is what I saw. They did have a small bamboo resin fountain that could be pretty cool in the right spot $90. There was also a " Halogen Tiki Fountain " , no clue as to what it does or if it is cool at all, but again a smal fountain for a small spot.

T.F.

Dang Fink, I was hoping you hit the one on 80th and Sherridan...guess I'll have to go check it out and report back...

So what does everybody think of a little informal meet up at the Red Lantern (88th and Wads) sometime soon...It's edible Chinese and passible drinks, but they do serve in vintage orchids, and light their volcano bowls up!

and a little proof of flame:

Hell yes Helz......I'm in if'n the babies say daddy can go.

Did any of you cats make it to Deadbolt on the Saturday night or did ya get stabbed by the stage stripper outside after the show Friday night? I was there Saturday and was one happy ear bleeding camper right next to the stage.

But according to the drummer girl from 'Get three coffins ready'......the stripper next to the stage stole the whole show. Tell me more.

Helz - The Lantern sounds good, set up a time and Alissa and I are in. Dale, hope you and Amy can make it, it has been a while. Fink, can you swing your evening schedule so you and Randi can make it? Matterhorn, can you and Joyce make it?

Additionally, I got a note from Monty and Linda and they will be in Colorado Springs on Saturday April 28th and plan on hitting the Castaways that night. Who else wants to make the short drive down south? We had a great time last year when the group of us drove down. It is definitely worth the hour drive from Denver. Alissa and I will also be heading heading down that way.

Let's do both and start off the spring/summer with a bang. FYI there are several local tiki events in the works coming up this summer so keep your ears open. A quick preview of events includes another luau at Tiki Finks(Fink and I have briefly discussed, but I'll let him tell you all about it), a hosted tiki tour of Denver, a second installment of Tiki Fink Theater (the first one was a blast), a tribute to Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room hosted at the grand opening of the Kona Luanii, a possible Denver chop chop event (Helz and Dale, we could use your help with this one), a 'Night of Tiki' slideshow or two if I can find the right venue to host and of course the opening of 'The Hut'. Then finally, the Hukilau in Ft. Lauderdale and Tiki Oasis in San Diego (I am also heading to both events and HIGHLY recommend either, or better yet both). Lots happening this summer.

[ Edited by: ZuluMagoo 2007-04-09 23:02 ]

Dale, I was at both Deadbolt shows. Good times. Damn near took a week to fully recover. Helz, we would be down for the Lantern if the timing is right.

T.F.

Hey all- Joyce and I are up for anything. Just let us know date and time and we will try to make it. Zulu- let me know if you want help with the Enchanted Tiki Room celebration.

Nice! So I don't have a definite date nailed down yet, but I was thinking maybe the first/second week of May, maybe a Friday or Saturday (I don't know how available you'd be Fink).

I'll talk to the Wahine Zulu and see if we can swing going south with ya, I'm anxious to check the place out.

Matterhorn, I still have the Item for ya.

...Well, off to catch Pink Martini at the Paramount!

Additionally, I got a note from Monty and Linda and they will be in Colorado Springs on Saturday April 28th and plan on hitting the Castaways that night. Who else wants to make the short drive down south? We had a great time last year when the group of us drove down. It is definitely worth the hour drive from Denver. Alissa and I will also be heading heading down that way.*

Hi mates!

We are figuring about 6:30 Saturday. Does this work for anyone and everyone?

doc
a/k/a Linda

Alissa and I are planning on heading down to the Castaways on Sat night to meet up with Monty and Linda. Anyone else going? It takes one hour to get there from Park Meadows Mall. If anyone wants to carpool, we can meet at 5:15 in the parking lot of the mall and be at the Castaways by 6:30.

Set sail for the Castaways! Colorado's forgotten tiki paradise.

Zulu

Aloha everyone:

It looks like we won't be able to make this one due to my work schedule. Hope you all have a great time and take some pics!!!

T.F.

Hey,

Rita gets back from Vegas tonight, so I'll see what she thinks, but I know we already had a kinda busy weekend of "Creating" planned...But if she's game, and not to run down from the trip, I'm all for it. Update coming soon.

(SOME SORT OF COMPUTER HICCUP)

[ Edited by: HelzTiki 2007-04-26 14:30 ]

I've posted this in music, but wanted to put it in a more "local" forum too.

Denver band seeking percussion/drums for spaceage/tiki pop with a surf twist.

Instruments include bass guitar, guitar, saxophone, melodic theremin, and vibraphone.

Goal is to come up with some originals, while performing some covers; I'd like to see us twist up some of the covers in weird ways and also perform some lesser-known pieces in the genre.

There's got to be someone out there...

How was the trip to The Castaways??? Do tell?

T.F.

We had a low turnout this time around. I attribute that to the fact that this outing requires driving down and back to Colorado Springs. At least I hope that is the reason for the low turnout, not waining interest in tiki now that Boyd's has been closed for some time now.

The folks at the Castaways have changed a few things since we were there last. Comments about the new Castaways:

THE GOOD:

• The interior decor (the private tiki hut, lamps, captain's table, lobby waterfall, etc.) is still in place and looks good.

• They still sell limited amounts of gift shop items in the lobby.

• They are still serving their tropical drinks in tiki mugs (and have added a new pirate head mug).

• The cheesy piano player is still there on Sat. nights (the World Famous Tom Boyle, who the hell is that?).

THE BAD:

• The restaurant has been renamed and is now called 'The Pirates of the Castaways'.

• The music in the restaurant was all over the board. I can recall hearing the Bee Gees, Johnny Mathis, Linda Rondstat, and STYX. It was wierd.

• The music in the lobby next to the waterfall was nautical/pirate (at least the few minutes I listened to it).

• The food was NOT GOOD this time around. I thought my two previous visits were pretty tasty.

• The drinks were bad. We got there early so we waited in the bar and ordered a round. The bar tender had no idea what was in the drinks we ordered and just added some rum and fruit juices as she thought may be apprpriate. I ordered a Suffering Bastard, it was frothy and pink and tasted like Kool Aid with three times the amount of sugar. Very dissapointing.

• The cool salad bar and associated theming has been removed. Now they bring out individual salads to your table.

THE UGLY:

• All the wait staff now wear pirates costumes (the cheesy kind, imagine a $9.99 pirate in a bag costume from Walmart at Halloween). They also wear skull and cross bones temporary tatoos on their faces (cheeks or forehead).

IN SUMMARY:

I now equate the new 'Pirates of the Castaways' to Casa Bonita. Nobody goes to Casa Bonita for the food (it's terrible), but is a fun place to visit if you have out of town guests or kids to entertain. The Castaways is like that. if you are local to Colorado Springs, I would not go there for a meal. However, traveling down from Denver on a rare occasion with like minded tikiphiles may make the trip worthwhile (as long as everyone knows what they are in for).

Zulu

Damn, jumping on the bandwagon...so hopefully after all the movie stuff dies down they can knock the crap off and get back to doing what they COULD do best....

And my appologies for not being able to make it, Rita was to cashed out (Physically...not so much monetarily) from her Vegas trip, so we just layed low.

I'd still like to get toghether soon, maybe next week at the Lantern?

Hey All!

Just curious. Anybody have any new news on The Hut or when and if they plan to open?

T.F.

Funny Fink, I was just getting curious about that myself...

And on another note, I wanted to see what everyone's schedule looks like this Friday to meet up at the Red Lantern for some drinks and bad (ok, not terrible) Chinese food...Rita and I were thinking around 7:30.

Let me know if you need directions, and it'd be great to see you guys and kinda get back in the swing of things again...

The ever so lovely wahine and I can make it Friday night.

Very strong possibility we can make it.

T.F.

We will plan on heading up that way.

Zulu

Great!!!!

I'm gettin' jazzed to see everyone tonight!!!

• Helz

See yall in a few!

T.F.

Hey there!

Looking at how long it has taken for The Hut not to get open has me pondering some alternatives. We could really use a gathering place ASAP. I pose this question. Why don't we put our collective resources together and start a private club?

Think about it!!!!!!

T.F.

Hey T.F. -

I'm sort of new to Tiki Central (I joined last year but forgot all of my info - brilliant) and saw your post. While I'm new here, I'm certainly not new to the world of tiki. Anywho, I've been dreaming of opening a honest-to-goodness Tiki Bar here in Denver for years now, and well, to put it bluntly, I have neither the cojones to leave my job nor the financial resources. Which brings me back to your post!

I would love to be a part of any kind of facility/club/bar whatever that you and fellow Denver tikiphiles collaborate on.

Denver needs a good Tiki spot!

Cool reply!

Basically what I had in mind is looking into the legal aspects of operating a private club in the C&C of Denver. Unless I am mistaken, it is a little easier to set up a private club than it is a bar or public establishment. Since the principal members would be responsible for creating such a club, there would not be any specific time line or opening date, therefore the establishmnet could be built and decorated as time and money allows. It would require leasing a space and then the construction could ensue. Eventually you could develop a fairly sizeable membership with fees and while this would not have to be a fantastically profitable venture, you could hire a permanant staff, and walla... A cool gathering place is born.

Just a thought.

T.F.

Hello again T.F. -

This sounds like a great idea! I would've never thought of the private club angle, though it seems very smart - that way you don't have quite as much to lose if it doesn't work out.

Keep us Denverites posted on any moves to make it a reality - I am totally on board!

You may want to look into the advantages of becomig a "not for profit" organization with a mission to "promote polynesian pop-culture" or even real polynesian culture (probably more legit this way). It can get you tax breaks, etc. if done right. I know some rugby clubs that are 501(c)3 organizations. Worth looking into anyway.

Man Fink....its a great idea....everywhere I go I'm lookin' at storefronts, old gas stations and the warehouses thinkin TIKI BAR. About two years ago my wife and I sat down and wrote it all out from the name to the look, bar menu, hours, money and the works.
And as it goes...almost the next day my little girl let us know the stork was bringing her in 9 months.
So the bar went on hold and the file is still stowed away.
But its so much more than a bar.....its just a friggin' place to go on the rare night out that isn't the dumbass Denver club scene. Ever since High Street speakeasy shut down my belief in Denver bars has hit an all time low.

So f--k yes.....sign me up as clubmember #1 or 2 or whatever. My $ and a full sized tiki are there. And I know a few of my buddies are in too.

My porch is open for an intro meeting to discuss this if'n all of us Denverites wants to explore it it.

Amen, brother!!

Wouldn't a storefront on South Broadway be perfect? When the DC Gallery closed, I almost jumped on the space because of their super cool leopard print carpet they had on the floor. But alas, I think a lame-o headshop or something wound up leasing it.

Sign me up, too - and I could also supply lots of vinyl!