Hukilau Atlanta: It's getting better all the time..

Awesome 10 foot high smoke spitting flaming Tikis freshly made and schlepped from Florida by Wayne Coombs and wife flanked the stage at the Echo Lounge last night. New Tiki mugs by a saint, and a dazzling array of different Idols by the Creepy Tiki kids cluttered the venue. The bands were rad, the crowd was posessed by the spirit of Tiki, proving that paganism is close to the Southern heart.

Let the rum flow at Trader Vic's tonight!

I am so glad that you are reporting on an event while it is underway - a revolutionary move! I thought I was going to have to wait until Monday to read anything about the Hulilau. I am envious and wish I was there.

So, who is there, anyway?

How bout Pay Per View next year!! Or at least a live video feed. That would be coooool!

I love Atlanta, Atlanta loves Tiki. Last night over 350 Aloha garbed Polynesiacs filled the vast expanse of perhaps the largest Trader Vic's still around, a true Tiki Temple worth a pilgramage. The willing Wahines and Kanes absorbed the Wisdom of Witco while imbibing expert potions and listening to the exotic sounds of local and traveled serenaders.
See y'all at the Drive In tonight.

I've met tiki bob, weirduncletiki and a couple of the new tiki central folks whose handles elude me at the moment - the retro, tiki and tattoo crowd in atlanta is really having a blast and i'm sure there be a few new tiki central members because of it...
Friday night was a sold out extravaganza and a production like no other... there's lots of pics and video too, we'll put it on the website... Last night Trader Vic's reached fire capacity limit and had to turn away disappointed tikiphiles who later found there way in via an unused street entrance... UberEasy, King Kukulele and The He'e Amakuas were all MASSIVE hits, and all were new to most of the crowd..
There were 2 reporters from birmingham and Hukilau will be getting feature articles in a couple of publications there...
Tonight the drive in will be packed with tailgating tiki nuts http://www.starlightdrivein.com

Since this is an internet group, I think in the future it would be cool if there was a computer kiosk (read: somebody's laptop) set up at these events whenever possible where members could post to a live on-site thread with their observations. Waiting for Hukilau reports to trickle is driving me crazy!

On 2002-07-21 13:33, floratina wrote:
I think in the future it would be cool if there was a computer kiosk (read: somebody's laptop) set up at these events

A little off-topic, but this has been attempted twice:

Firstly was the first Tiki Crawl where I brought a webcam, a laptop, and a wireless modem... but I couldn't get a good connection in the middle of the Tonga room so it didn't go over too well :(

Secondly we did it for Shutterfly's Tiki Cube party and Exotica band The Fishermen performance. We didn't get sound working but we did have the video going (but with all the activity it crashed tikicentral.com!). And we had chat applications going all nite!

I think this is always a great thing to try and set up for Tiki gigs!

~Hanford

oh, kaluageoff was here for friday thru saturday and had to leave this morning... his first time at atlanta tv's - he'll have to report his impressions...

I've had 2 close calls here so far, hopefully no more - but on Friday after wayne had spend hours putting up his amazing set (those massive tiki's sven is talking about were over 20 feet) he went back to the hilton to change and comeback.. they went through 3 taxi drivers, none of whom could find the echo lounge even though it's the most popular venue right in the east altanta entertainment area... i had to go pick him up like 20 mintues away and they missed the first 1.5hrs of the show...

And then I ended up having to use a big tablecloth for sven's screen last night... never having tied a huge tablecloth to bamboo poles before it was a little stressful doing it in front of an audience.. .and then the thing fell down halfway through the lecture... argh!

y'all should have seen the manager at tv's... we warned him all along how big the crowd was going to be but I don't think he really believed us - they had an extra cash bar set up in the back in addition to the main bar in the front, but were still wildly understaffed for the crowd...
i met tons of people who were having tv's drinks for the first time and were amazed (also a little gunshy of the prices) - hopefully tv's will be getting a larger folling in atlanta because of this... it's always been my worry that they'd close because the place is always empty - being in the basement of the hilton in a downtown highrise area where this is no nightlife plus their utter lack of self-promotion means that Hukilau had the odd task of informing many atlantans about the existence of their own trader vic's!

This just in: Thunderstorms threaten the outdoor screening of ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU! Will THE PENETRATORS be unable to perform on top of the concession stand out of fear of being struck by lightning? Will I share a car with exotic Glampyra and Caluu, or end up on the backseat with ...KING KUKULELE !!?
...More tomorrow

Hanford - perhaps something as low-tech as a Tiki Central thread that participants can post to from a laptop that is connected to a port in the wall is doable...

It could be too difficult to get a phone line in a restaurant, though.

Maybe it will be most approprate at events like the Oasis where we are all encamped together at a motel like Caliente where there are computer ports in every room and a satellite modem poolside will have little interference. I remember the Tiki Cube party and so wanted to be able to see the action on the webcam.

[ Edited by: floratina on 2002-07-21 19:48 ]

Hukilau (and Vics) was everything and much more than Wahine Marian and I ever expected... Beachcomber hats off to Swanky, Ford and Christie for the fantastic job they did organizing this event and much mahalo to Sven, King Kukulele, Dejie, Wayne & Becky Coombs, the gang from KreepyTiki and all the other artists and musicians who came to together and created a great vibe for all of us. It was a pleasure meet and share libabtions with one and all. To me, this weekend was like Woodstock for tikiphiles. There was always something happening with a very warm and friendly feeling among everyone -- whether tiki-informed or not -- and the only hassles I witnesses were those experienced by the overwhelmed staff at Vics (Hey, what are we going to do? I think we're running out of rum!) One question I asked alot was "how did you find out about this," and the variety of answers were fairly remarkable. Many people didn't know a thing about Tiki Central, but were interested to know how they could find out more about tiki culture, how we stayed connected and when the next gathering would be.
Sven started this topic commenting on the huge flamming and smoking tiki's Wayne Coombs brought from Coco Beach, Florda. Those babies were so unexpected and so awe-inspiring, they really set the mood for the weekend from the first minute we arrived at the Echo Lounge. I also take pride that they were made in Florida, a land far removed from the Pacific but rich in tiki cultural heritage. We ended up spending much time with Kilikopela(Chris) from Tampa and meet many other fine people from Florida for the first time which we hope to see again soon. We took two rolls of film, and will try to post some pictures in a few days. If anyone is in Ft. Lauderdale next Friday, please join us at the Wreck Bar in the Sheraton Yankee Clipper. We may also venture over to the Mai-Kai a bit later for a flamming beverage or two.

sounds great! I wish I could have been there (as I wish for just about every tiki event; I don't get out much :( )

Let us know when pics are up...

~Hanford

Well, first and foremost, I want to thank everyone involved for providing an event that was far beyond my expectations. Not that I had any doubt that the event would go off, I could just never have imagined how beautiful it would be. The first night was phenominal. As Kailuageoff said in one of the previous posts, the Wayne Coombs tikis blew me away and from that moment on I knew this event was going to knock my socks off. The bands were amazing, Torchy Taboo raised my pulse and the surroundings were unmatched. Fantastic.

Day 2 at Trader Vic's was wonderful, with an extremely intimate feel. I thought it was well done and my only regret is that I wasn't able to meet as many people as I would have liked. I was able to meet some really great people, however the majority of them were not from Tiki Central, just wonderful Tiki enthusiasts. (For those of you reading this wondering who the heck I am, I am the guy in the green shirt who was sitting next to the guy King Kukulele was making fun of for either being really tired, or extremely perverted!) We had to leave early, and with the way the King was kicking out the jokes, I knew we would prime target! :lol: His act was extremely funny though and I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer. I had to stick around the house today to go to a meeting, so I couldn't make it to the drive in. Besides, with so many great activities rolled into 2 days, I was plum tuckered out!

The bottom line is, everything was great! I can't say enought about it. I came home, lined up all of the memoriabilia I had bought and instantly craved more. I cannot wait until next year!

Thanks again for such a great event and I feel wonderful knowing that there are so many people here in the south that appreciate our obsession. You west-coasters can't have all of the fun, you know!

-Matt

Man I hope my pictures turn out.. .I got some amazing shots of the penetrators playing on the roof of the concession stand, including one with tikis in the foreground, and one with the grill of a 50's cadillac in the foreground...
Hukilau has its first feature article, it's in birmingham's most popular event website, fleabomb! Great work, I think it represents a good take on tiki: http://www.fleabomb.com/fbomb/articles.asp?ArticleID=89

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments! We are happy to say that the event was a success and it was due to all of the wonderful people that attended the events and shared their stories over the last 3 days! Hats off to you all too!

It has been exhausting but well worth it. Each day was filled with nervous anticipation that would disapear as soon as someone would let me know what a great time they were having. As Otto told me " I was willing to sacrifice my good time for those in attendance" saying this about the Tiki Oasis. I thought about that piece of advice the entire weekend. But, there was plenty of time for enjoyment!

There are so many people to thank but we will be doing that individually and privately. I would like to say thanks to all of those from Tiki Central that attended and introduced themselves. And thanks for all the feedback!

Mahalo,
Tiki Kiliki

Country Fried Hot Rod

[ Edited by: tiki_kiliki on 2002-07-22 08:26 ]

I have to tell my thoughts here. I was as blown away as everyone else. Please send me your pics everyone . I was so busy I didn't take enough and don't even recall what I did take.

Waynes stuff! Someone please post a pic here! They were about 10-15 feet tall, and 4 feet thick with fire in their eyes and mouth and smoke and bubbles. Tron and Garagantua were their names and that was their debut. Wayne was so great. He set a mood un equaled!

All that tiki! I have never seen so many tikis.

Trader Vic's had a line at both bars all night that was a good 20-30 deep. I think the complicated Vic's drinks make it slow going. But everyone was very patient and happy to wait.

Sven's presentation was a lot of fun. Really! A slideshow lecture that was fun!

So many people. So much stuff. I am still dazed. That could be from not having a chance to eat Friday and Saturday, or sleep more than 5 hours, and losing 3 pounds of water in the heat. Maybe.

But everyone had a great time and that was the point. We also had so many people eager to help in the future. Yeah!

I owe one huge apology though. We reached capacity at Trader Vic's and people were turned away and waiting in the lobby. Well, some of those people were the wonder folks from KeepyTiki! I was so upset that they didn't get to see the insides of Trader Vic's and hang out with everyone there. Really bums me out. But they were still happy and excited about the event and said they would be back next year.

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped. More specific thanks in the near future ont he site, etc. As I get pics, I'll post them too.

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2002-07-22 08:23 ]

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2002-07-22 08:37 ]