2nd Annual TX Tikiphile gathering @ Trader Vic's May 3rd, 2008!

Saturday, May 3rd. 2008, 6PM!!

That is the OFFICIAL date of the next big tikiphile gathering at Trader Vic's in Dallas, TX. One year after our last soiree, it's time to do it all over again. If you came last year, you'll remember what an insane time we had, and this year it should be even better!

We wanted to be sure everyone had enough time to plan ahead, which is why we're setting the date so far in advance. I've heard from several TC'ers from around the country during the last year telling me how much they want to check out Dallas Trader Vic's. Now’s your chance!

As of now, the plan is to limit our gathering to the bar area. It's easier to mingle and we can make as much noise as we want…AND you can order anything from the dinner menu you'd like. I'll list more details as I think of them.

For more info on Dallas Trader Vic’s check out this thread.

Want to join us? Post a response to this thread or send me a PM to be added to the list. I'll need a final head count by April 26th to secure our reservations in the bar area.

Here is the list of confirmed attendees which I'll be periodically updating.

Kenike + Mrs.
Benehune + Mrs.
Limbo Lizard & Monica
Mr.& Mrs. Bali_Dan + 1
Bernalicious & Tikiplex12
Mr. & Mrs. Tropical Icebergs
James S. (Kenike's friend...the guy that wore the kilt last year)
Dobrolic, Hulacat and Castlehune
Koitiki + guest

[ Edited by: kenike 2008-05-02 15:29 ]

I'm in! (again)

If GROG can swing it, then GROG try and make it. It all depends on work and being able to get time off.

I am in. I don't know about my "guest".

We had a great time, last year. Barring any serious, unforeseen conflict, Monica and I will be there.
Good idea to keep it in the bar. It's the Trader Vic's atmosphere that's important, anyway. I'd rather budget our money for special drinks with special people in a special setting. The food is great, but expensive, and not really so special, anymore, with the explosion of exotic restaurant choices.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-01-11 07:11 ]

On 2008-01-09 23:11, GROG wrote:
If GROG can swing it, then GROG try and make it. It all depends on work and being able to get time off.

Kenike would like to drink grog with GROG. Kenike has only heard legend of GROG.

Count me and the wife in!

I think the bar-only idea will be great!
We've done the fine dining table thing and it was great too. The trick will be our having enough space staked out in the bar.

Rugbymatt can be our bouncer.
"Sorry, no Hawaiian shirt (or dress), no entrance. Yeah, that means you, buddy - outta here!"

Well, I guess we can let him be a little more Aloha-spirity than that....

On 2008-01-28 14:39, Formikahini wrote:
The trick will be our having enough space staked out in the bar.

That should be taken care of. I've seen them reserve most of the bar for big parties in the past. They know we're coming and I told them to expect 50 people.

If anyone would like to have dinner in the dining room you'll have to make reservations.

Ok we've OFFICIALLY reserved a section of the bar...now if we can just get 50 people...

Bernalicious_the_Big_Kahuna and Tikiplex12 will be there!

On 2008-02-12 08:46, Bernalicious wrote:
Bernalicious_the_Big_Kahuna and Tikiplex12 will be there!

YAY!! Love to see more locals make themselves known.

On 2008-01-09 19:00, rugbymatt wrote:
I'm in! (again)

Dude, I don't know how you do it. Seriously, you log more tikimiles than anyone.

Do they have a card I need to get for those "tikimiles"?

Add another one to Mr and Mrs Bali Dan. My cousin lives about 5 minutes from Trader's Vic so she will come with us.

Well beings as anything North of Austin is Yankee, I might make a trip up north to Dallas just to see the decor. It is such a long drive from these parts.

Mustang Island Tiki

The Mai Tias are great and the train station is close...so please add both the Mrs. and I to the list.

Would love to be there, but it's looking bleak.

Aloha Everybody,

Glad to hear there's another Dallas gathering in the works. Count us in:

Dobrolic, Hulacat and Castlehune (Ted, Susan & Castle).

We had a great time last year, looking forward to the return. We were back at Trader Vic's/Dallas in November '07, the night after Thanksgiving. Hulacat's cousin and husband may join us at the May '08 gathering, we'll let you know.

For now, count us as three (3).

Dobrolic

[ Edited by: Dobrolic 2008-02-18 14:33 ]

On 2008-02-18 14:31, Dobrolic wrote:
We were back at Trader Vic's/Dallas in November '07, the night after Thanksgiving.

Too funny, Uncle John and I plus our spouses were there the next night.

Wow that would have been a cool holiday get together.
JuJu and I talked about how cool it would be to ring in the New Year at TV's.

2 months to go!

Out-of-towners: make your travel plans now!!

Writer's strike is over, so GROG back at work.
More than likely GROG not make it to Dallas for this event.
Darnitall.

A little more than a month to go...

Currently there are 22 people confirmed. Not quite the 50 I told Trader Vic's to expect but I know a lot of people can't commit to anything so far in advance. It is important that I can at least give them an idea a week or two in advance. Lot's of people have company parties etc. in the bar area and TV should'nt reserve so much of the bar for us if they don't have to.

Also, just to be clear, this is not limited to members of Tiki Central. I know there are some lurkers out there who are interested in joining us but not keen on joining a web forum in order to do so. Tiki Central is our central meeting point, so this is where I post the announcements. You can always email me directly: dhaberkernatgmail.com if you'd like.

Looking forward to seeing some folks I haven't seen for a year & meeting some new ones!

[ Edited by: Kenike 2008-03-26 19:02 ]

I'm thinking of ways to plan for this...I'll let you know if I can get out there. My GF isn't really into tiki (I know...it's a little painful for me), but perhaps I can convince my brother to take a trip out there with me :)

Julie and I have had the bag packed since New Years day!
We have been waiting for May!

Too bad there's not more tiki in Dallas...we could make it a weekend thing instead of just one night at TV. Maybe we should do 2 nights at TV...

On 2008-04-08 14:40, Kenike wrote:
Too bad there's not more tiki in Dallas...we could make it a weekend thing instead of just one night at TV. Maybe we should do 2 nights at TV...

That's what I did last year. FYI - my plans to attend this years gathering are looking kinda shakey at the moment. (insert sad look of despair here)

Well I got you all beat on excuses :wink:

Don't worry about not being able to make it if you can't. It looks like that due to a drunk driver, we might be able to come. Yes a drunk driver. How so Unkle John? Well we are in Lubbock visitin' family and staying the night (I work here) and about 11pm lastnight some drunk SOB decided to customize my car and make it a sub-compact. Yup the trunk is now in the back seat. No worries, no one as in the car, it was parked. He fled the scene but didn't get far b/c he messed his practically brand new truck enough to make it leak fluids. We follwed the trail and took down the license plate and had the cops come out.

I'm not happy and then I am... I didn't like that car, but I do need to get around. Looks like I'll be driving the truck to and from work. Yay.
I'll give an update and post a few pics this weekend when I somehow get home.

Texas Tikiphiles Unite!

[ Edited by: Unkle John 2008-04-11 06:27 ]

Yikes! Uncle John and Rugbymatt, do what you can do & keep us posted. Can't wait to see the pics!

Yeah, double yikes, Unk. Really glad ya'll weren't in the car.

Speaking of making a longer weekend of it, maybe some folks would like to come out to the marina, where we keep the "Leaky Tiki", our tiki-theme houseboat. If conditions are OK, we could take 'er out for a cocktail cruise, or anchor by the beach and swim/float around a bit.
We'll be 'refreshing' the decorations in the next few weeks for a decorated boat parade. I'll try to get some pics up, soon.
Anyway, let me know if anyone has any interest in the idea.

Houseboat? Did you mention the houseboat last year? How many people can it hold? On second thought, with a name like "Leaky Tiki" maybe it's best we don't try to find out :lol:

We'll have to add it to our events list when we officially make this an annual event.

Pics please!

Fortunately, the name isn't an accurate a description of its condition.
As you know, the "Tiki" was the name of Adam Troy's (Gardner McKay) schooner, in the Adventures in Paradise series, back in the early 60's. It's referred to as the "leaky Tiki", in a song by 'he whose name must not be mentioned on this site'.
A houseboat is a bit less romantic and evocative than a sailing ship, but that's what we got.
I'll try to get some new pics up, soon.

Also, might as well mention...
I was the commodore of our boat club, last year. The last event of the season is the Commodore's Ball, a formal/semi- dress event. I chose a tiki theme (of course). It was held at the Shriner's hall, in Garland (some of our members are Shriners, so we get a good deal on the room). I tried to create a tiki-lounge effect, including some dancers. Anyways, here's some links to what happened:
Commodore's Ball description
More pictures of the event
Not exactly Trader Vic's, but I did try to draw some inspiration from there.

One of my projects, last year, was to redesign the website, which I still am maintaining, this year.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-04-12 07:58 ]

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-05-28 06:23 ]

OK, here's a few in-the-slip pics I took of the Christmas decorations, after the Lighted Boat Parade. I'll be re-doing the cane fence around the upper deck, and refreshing the grass skirting around the front rail, before the next parade in May.

Dang, JuJu and I are going to try our best to be there. It's been a while since I've been on the water. I miss it bad.

I see a tikiphied booze cruise in our future.

The event you put together looks like it was fun...never heard of the "Texas Hawaiian Dancers." Were they any good?

They were lots better than I really expected. Very good audience rapport, very quick to play off peoples remarks (we had a fun-loving and slightly rowdy crowd). Everyone enjoyed the show.
It was $200/dancer for the 1 hour show. We had two, so $400.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-04-14 14:10 ]

On 2008-04-11 09:47, Limbo Lizard wrote:
Yeah, double yikes, Unk. Really glad ya'll weren't in the car.

Speaking of making a longer weekend of it, maybe some folks would like to come out to the marina, where we keep the "Leaky Tiki", our tiki-theme houseboat. If conditions are OK, we could take 'er out for a cocktail cruise, or anchor by the beach and swim/float around a bit.
We'll be 'refreshing' the decorations in the next few weeks for a decorated boat parade. I'll try to get some pics up, soon.
Anyway, let me know if anyone has any interest in the idea.

Are you thinking about Saturday or Sunday? Oh, what time would you want to depart, and how long does it take to get there from the Palomar?

Honestly, I haven't really thought it out. I could use some feedback to help evolve a plan.
If Saturday, we'd have to be done in plenty of time for everyone to get ready to be at TVs at 6:00pm.
Sunday, we'd have to be done in time for out-of-towners to catch flights or start the drive home.
Also, remember that it's rather weather dependent. Very windy or raining isn't good for going out. As for swimming or floating, I'll have to see if the water's warm enough, as time gets closer. It's usually later in May, before the water's comfortable.

Another option is to have a party at/on the boat, at the marina, but not take it out. Our boat is in the very end slip on our dock, so we have a great view out over the lake, especially from the upper deck. We could accomodate more people, since we could spill out onto the dock. We have a paddle boat that people could take out for a mini-cruise. We've had several parties like that, setting up tables on the dock, and it's worked out great. And, of course, folks can come and go whenever they need to. I'll try to get a few pics that show what it's like, down there.

If he's got some free time, maybe Kenike (and Kenike Wahine) can come by some weekend before May 3, have some cocktails and something off the grill, and help me brainstorm how we ought to do this. And maybe even plan some get-togethers on the lake for later this summer.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-04-16 12:11 ]

Pardon the slow response as I have been quite ill...

We'll be busy the next couple of weekends so won't be able to visit before May 3rd. We can discuss future plans possibly on that day.

If anyone is going to be at Trader Vic's on Friday May 2nd I might be able to swing that sans the wahine.

Ok so two weeks to go...I really hope everyone who say they're coming can make it. Looks like about 20 people.

Looks like I'll be able to make it. Count me in too!

Great News!
The insurance company is moving prety fast to make us happy. Looks like we might have a good chance for being there!

On 2008-04-18 16:46, Koitiki wrote:
Looks like I'll be able to make it. Count me in too!

Excellent!

On 2008-04-18 18:15, Unkle John wrote:
Great News!
The insurance company is moving prety fast to make us happy. Looks like we might have a good chance for being there!

Double excellent! Should be a great evening.

Rugbymatt, howzit looking??

Rugbymatt, howzit looking??

Not good my friends, not good. I will be there in spirit if not in body!

My wife is not coming, and I still need to get reservations. Put me down as one.

A week and a day to go...

I sent a PM to everyone who is/might be coming with some facts and figures plus my contact info.

See everyone next Saturday!

There's a chance (a rotten, stinky one) that I may not be able to come this year :(
(Rugbymatt, you too? Noooooo!)

I have a difficult project for school each time this year and ordinarily I have a 2 week and 3 day turnaround - and I barely get it done. This year, ONE week and 3 days. It may not happen, even if i do sacrifice the TX Tiki Gathering.

But I am SO trying!

And my +1 (who is also unfortunately a maybe) is Brittanie, the beautiful wife of the fabulous Kilikopela, whom few of the TX Ohana have met. The 2 of them have moved back home from a couple of years in Korea. He's now working offshore Nigeria one month on, one month off. One month on again starts tomorrow :(

So Brit and I hope to be there! Kenike, I'll let you know ASAP so you can know numbers-wise.
Formikahini

I'm so pissed that I can't make it. We'll be in Dallas to visit family the very next weekend. I tried to reschedule our trip, but to no avail. So, I guess I'll be sipping mai tais at Vic's one week late.

Y'all have fun!

[ Edited by: BrickHorn 2008-04-28 11:14 ]