Room 130 at the Bahia Cabana

There is a place where wahinis dance, palm trees sway and the intoxicating music of a peddle steel floats over the waves. Tahiti? Bora Bora? No it's Room 130 at the Bahia Cabana, where the Ohana drank deeply of our time together on Friday after the fun at the Bahia Mar. Thanks to all for allowing Jungle Jim and I the pleasure of hosting such an epic gathering. Can we host another next year? Same room, same channel.

Special thanks to TJ, Josh, Joe, Pablus, Brian, and Charlie for allowing me to beat on my Aloha drums. The music was inspired (or did we just sound better to ourselves after several bottles of rum? :). You all rock & rule.

Karbora, thanks to you, we had the only room at the Bahia with a room damage charge. Now that's a party!!!!

Alice Berry, your voice was more beautiful than ever. And Brian really liked your dance moves.

Mr. Drasnin...your music will hold us for another year. Is there a Voodoo III in the works?

To Crazy Al--we brought your cooler, but missed you being the jockey in the hot tub. Bamboo Ben & Benzart--boo hoo,
where were you?

To everyone who made this year's Hukilau so special, your tiki spirit is contagious.

Mahalo & Aloha

Thanks YOU for your generous hosting of the party room this year.

It was THE place to be (after the official event activities of course).

Jennifer and Jim deserve a medal (or a few bottles of booze and one less broken window).

It was great. Great hosts! Great times!

Very gracious hosts/good friends. Now, I get to carve that piece of plywood, right? Thanks for the good times, Jim and Jennifer!

To Jim and Jen of the Jungle --

Whadda paahty... thank you soooooo much for hosting that.

For those who missed that after-party, you missed a really cool "event" of Hukilau. It was a total gas. Those kanes from Waitiki were there, which was very cool. Valerie had her way cool 1968 Engelhardt upright bass there, and Professah Hummingflowah gave everyone a lesson (really) in how to really (really) play the upright bass. Really.

We had tambourine, bodhran (Irish drum), bongos, shakers... and of course, ukuleles, guitar and steel.

Jim and The Mayor of Exotica later got in to a conch fight (it always comes down to that, doesn't it?), seeing who could blow conch longer. Hmmmmm.... somehow, that just doesn't sound right.... :o I think the girl in the blue bikini won. Next time though, we need two conch shells that aren't a tri-tone apart. The Devil's interval! A minor third would be nice... :)

There was GEN-U-INE moonshine with strawberries in the jar (looked like turnips or noses to me) that was surprisingly VERY smooth and tasty. All you needed was about 1/4 teaspoon though, as it was rated about 190 proof! Drink any more than that, and your liver would just plain fall out.

By the way, I apologize for being a hanger-on there at the end, and not leaving until, what...? 4:15am!? Charlie and I got into a pretty intense conversation about steel guitars, both pedal steel and it's Hawaiian lap cousin. By the way, youz guyz live up in Dade City (or nearby)? We gotta get together, you know, on the "outside." Send an email, and let us know what's up.

Thank you all again for your hospitality and hosting another great party.

Kanekila

Kanekila

[ Edited by: Kanekila 2007-06-19 14:12 ]

There is no better hotel than the Bahia Cabana. Where else can you get away with the things that happened this year, and have happened in the year's past. :wink:

The room/rooftop parties were always the highlight of the day. Thursday night was a hell of a kickoff to the weekend... Blackstrap Rum in the ocean and going to bed 3 am or later became the norm.

Thanks again Room 103 for bringing the days to completion... the next morning. :D

Mucho Mahalos to you and Jungle Jim for playing host to the best room party ever.

Thank you also for allowing me to turn your kitchen into a bar.

And thank you very much for the moonshine. Do you have more?

Kind words all. Is anybody else having trouble getting back to reality? Re-entry seems much harder this year than in years past. After all, it's 8am, and I haven't had a drink yet :)

Definately experiencing difficulty reincorporating into "normal" society. It's easy to get used to being surrounded by great people who all share a common interest or two: Tiki and Drinks.

And thanks indeed to the generous hosts! It didn't take long to find that 130 was the after-hours center of the Hukilau.

Let it not be said that I ran for Mayor of Exotica on a platform of lower taxes and less corruption. My platform is lower rum prices, less reality TV and more rights for Pandas!

[ Edited by: The Mayor Of Exotica 2007-06-20 05:50 ]

Hmmm, yeah. If someone could open up the right bar where these guys all gather nightly and play and have a good time and everyone has a great time and it becomes the place to be, man. Everyone gets paid to have a good time and the party never ends...

Well, I am starting to get rehydrated...

THIS is the Tampa Duet I was talking about... but I'd like to meet the TampaTikis as well.
We're building up quite a tiki arsenal over here on the REAL west coast. :wink:

Jim and Jen -

Thank you both SO much for your hospitality!! I was even happier with my room's location (approximately 15 feet from the hot tub) when it became apparent that it was also within crawling distance of Party Central, aka Room 130 (the East Coast's Room 135, no?).

Not that I, uh, crawled home on any night....- er, morning......

Until next year!!
alice b

I agree heartily with everyone who has posted above - mahalo for making this newcomer feel very welcome! Your hospitality and graciousness was much appreciated and I am lucky to have met so many fantastic people! Thank you also to whomever stuck my business card in the door (ha!) - I figured I could come in if that was the case :)

Thank you!
Suzanne

P.S. I also have some very dark video of some of the conch blowing contestants... if I can lighten it up enough to be able to discern who is who I'll try and get it posted :wink:

Hard to believe that Hukilau was just last week. It was difficult at best, to return to the harsh realities of the work-a-day world. Especially after experiencing the best of the Ohana spirit this year in the infamous room #130. It truly was the epicenter of Hukilau 2007. You would agree if you were there in person. Friday night was one of the all time after parties and it was just awesome to be in the midst of all of that positive energy. The Ohana vibe was unmistakable...like minded people sharing in the experience. Lots of them!

Not to be outdone by the conch blowing contest, I decided to add some dimension to the party and turn stuntwoman. Proving that just because I am operating with one arm does not mean I do not have any game. I was standing in the kitchen and next thing you know I opened up a breeze way to the outdoor terrace which only mildly alarmed the tikiphiles engaged in deep conversations and hi-jinx under the moonlight. Had I known this was the way things were going to go I would have accepted a swig of that moonshine! Jim and Jennifer were super cool about the incident (as they are about life) even though it was an unexpected hardship to get a window boarded up in the midst of all the activities. I have been discussing the payback with them since making their kitchen in to alfresco dining. Still in negotiations....but I will tell you that they did graciously and astoundingly allow me back in to #130 on Saturday night......but I was forbidden to stand near any walls or exits. Okay by me....I like hanging in the middle of what's happening.

It was great hanging with all the TCer's. I get such inspiration from all of you. And I do appreciate J&J opening up their space so we could all enjoy such a moment. Some more than others :)

Karbora

I think I'm still drunk a week later!

Great party Jim and Jennifer!

I knew I was in trouble when Jennifer put 4 or 5 kinds of rum into a bowl.

The next day was pure murder.

I loved playing with the Haole Kats, Pablus and bits of Waitiki until the early hours.

ahhhh, good times!