Official Introductions Thread. New Members, Post your introduction here...

Mahalo! to so many that I met and re-met at TO8. I haven't been to Oasis since '03 when it was in Palm Springs. My how it's grown! I had a blast, I also had a blast at Huki Lau earlier this summer. Again, I was an attendee in the early days of Huki Lau, too; but being from New Orleans, my tiki fun got interrupted by some bad weather. I'm back! My name is Jeanne and I look forward to getting together again with all my rummy buddies again real soon.

Woo-HOO!!
Jeanne/Coconut Radio has FI-nally joined up!! 'Bout dang time, you fab chick!

CR has been my roommie at a number of events through the years. Lucky thing even used to go to the Bali H'ai in New Orleans :envy:

Glad you're here, chick!
F

Hello everyone.... NEW member alert!

Wanted to introduce myself.

My name is Kevin and I reside in beautiful Garbage Grove (Garden Grove) in Southern California. Always been a fan of Hawaiian music and Exotica, and of course Tiki decor.

I grew up in Pismo Beach and used to work at Trader Nicks back in the early to mid- 90's. Moved to So Cal in 97'. Upright bass playing is my occupation. I play in many rockabilly bands throughout the LA/OC counties. Also play in a 'labor of love' hawaiian/western swing/exotica band named Exotiki. Wish we could play more than we have, but everyone involved with the band are also working musicians and we can only pull off what we can. We mostly record and work out a huge set list.

Recognize (and know) some of the members on here already, and have been referred to join in on the fun of TC for awhile now, and now I'm finally getting around to it.

Anyways, thanks for having me here and I hope to have fun with all of you!

Cheers

Hello everyone! I guess this is the intro forum, so I'll make with the intro! My name's Matt Rios, I'm from San Diego, and I'm a tikiholic. I got into this crazy world about a year ago when two friends of mine fixed up their own little tiki hut. And after a few pina coladas, I discovered my love for the tiki. I just attended my first Tiki Oasis this year and was totally blown away. Besides tiki stuff, I'm way into monster movies, mexican luchador wrestlers, and comics. Allll right, that's enough from me. See ya around the boards!!

Hello to everyone, I am new here and maybe this is the right place to post my introduction. My name is Richard, I live in Pinson, Alabama.I have a love for the beach and anything outdoors. Boating is my passion, I like scuba diving, drawing, anything outdoors. Working in the fire service gives me time to be a little creative. I have always been interested in tikis and decided to try to carve one. The first attempt seemed OK and have since I have tried another one that was quickly claimed by my nephews. Looking to make new friends here and gather a lot of information and ideas to keep the art going.

I am sort of new, and I am looking to organize a houston chop, anyone who chops in the houston area let me know if you are interested, check out my work on MySpace.com/txtiki Thanks!

Hi everyone! I'm terribly excited to be here. I found you all through a Myspace (eek) of a jade carver that I really like, which led me to Paipo's (amazing by the way, totally amazing) myspace, which led me here. I have always been fascinated by Ploynesian culture, and thus the mighty tiki :) Some of the threads here are more information that I have ever been able to locate.

I guess a little about me is in order: I live in Las Vegas, NV, have a B.S. in Geology (me like rocks too) and do portraits in my spare time.

Well, its great to be here and nice to meet you all.

-Whitney

[ Edited by: Rock_Girl 2008-09-08 18:26 ]

Test test test... is this thing on?

Hi

Kalai Wa'a here, first-time poster, long time lurker. My main connection with Tiki is through Forbidden Island, Alameda, where my wahine Pele Nani and I are slowly conquering the Kill-Devil Club rum list. That, and I am builing an Hawai'ian outrigger sailing canoe, which should be pretty tiki-esque when it is done.

Cheers!

[ Edited by: Kālai Waʻa 2008-09-09 10:11 ]

On 2008-09-09 10:09, Kâlai Waʻa wrote:
Test test test... is this thing on?

Hi

Kalai Wa'a here, first-time poster, long time lurker. My main connection with Tiki is through Forbidden Island, Alameda, where my wahine Pele Nani and I are slowly conquering the Kill-Devil Club rum list. That, and I am builing an Hawai'ian outrigger sailing canoe, which should be pretty tiki-esque when it is done.

Cheers!

[ Edited by: Kâlai Waʻa 2008-09-09 10:11 ]

Welcome to Tiki Central! I look forward to meeting (if we haven't already) and you joining Princess P, Tikitastic, Iniquitiki, and me on the Kill-Devil Club Shelf of Immortals!

This is my first post here ....it seems this whole culture is bigger than I thought,or is it that this is THE place for its fans? Regardless ,thank you to those that have taken the time to add their art and information so a new on the block ( er head on the block) can learn a thing or two!
I just started to carve my first tiki and soon it will become an obsession ( this is true) ,so I hope to share my work soon .....well , thanks again !

Instead of lurking I thought it was time I introduced myself.

I lived in Florida for all but the last 2 years of my life where I now reside in Northern California. I have loved and collected tiki/Hawaiian items off and on since my Grandmother gave me a menehune rubber doll from one of her many trips to Hawaii -and that had to be close to 18 years ago!

I have a rather large (for me anyways) collection and have had great succes hunting down tiki since moving here. I frequent the Forbidden Island quite often (let's say I am a zombie drinks best friend!) and love the people who I have crossed paths with since I have relocated to the West Coast.

I will be sure to start posting many of my tiki finds on the forum because I love to share my scores as much as I love checking out what others have found. You all provide a heap of knowledge and I have learned a lot from just reading what everyone writes/discusses.

Seems like a great group of interesting people and I look forward to getting to know you all!

Mahalo!

hey guys,

though its not my first post i never really introduced myself. im glad to be here to indulge my tiki side of life.

Aloha---

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hello! My name is Mary and I have been to two events through Tiki Central(1st Annual Tiki Crawl & Squid: A Retrospective/Tikiyaki Orchestra) and have enjoyed myself immensely!

It was nice to see some people I met at the Tiki Crawl(Hi Eric O. & Jeff--the nice man who saved my place in line at the buffet/Kona) at the Squid event, and speaking of Squid, it was nice to finally meet you! My husband and I enjoyed talking with you!

Hope to see more of you at the Crazy Al event @ the Bahooka/Rosemead on October 18th.

Mahalo,
Mary

[ Edited by: Malia Mai-Tai 2008-09-21 15:13 ]

[ Edited by: Malia Mai-Tai 2008-10-26 12:36 ]

[ Edited by: Malia Mai-Tai 2008-10-27 12:15 ]

first post here,
gotta say thank you to everyone that makes this forum possible,and I hope to be able to contribute in some way in the future ....
did a search and the name TIKIVILLE was opened so I figured it should be me !
I just started to throw my straw hat in the carving and creating pile so as soon as I get a computer that I can save photos to post I will share my work....
Like ...Thanks!

Aloha Tiki Central,

I've been lurking on this site for a few months. Finally joined. :) I've been a California beach boy my whole life.

Polynesia is in my blood, so to speak with my grandfather and his twin brother were Polynesian entertainers "back then". I followed, somewhat, in their foot steps as an entertainer, too.

Moving from a condo to a ranch, last May, I finally have room for my dream tiki bar, et al. Looking foward to learning more from this site.

Aloha,

Deke Kahala

Grandfather and Uncle Ken

Me, Deke, in the middle, with then-short hair :)

Hi all,

I'm a brand new member. I currently live in Boulder City, Nevada (just outside Las Vegas). I work as a freelance computer animator and author.

I've always had an appreciation for all things Tiki, but never really pursued a deeper interest until recently. It all changed this summer when I decided to redo my home office in a Tiki theme. As I was doing research, I came across Tiki Central and was hooked. I had no idea that so many people had such a deep fondness, and vast knowledge of, all things Tiki.

Tiki Central is full of such great creativity, both past and present, that I've been inpsired to take up slip casting to make my own mugs. I'll post photos of my first attempt very shortly in the Other Crafts forum.

Happy to be here!

I'm glad to have found a place online to hang with fellow tikiphiles. I don't personally know any and being from New Jersey - there's not a whole lotta tiki fun going on here either. I have a nice collection which my husband tolerates with amusement. Nice to meet you all & I'm happy to be here!

Hello. My name is Keith. I'm 37 and live in NC. I'll be honest in that I don't know as much about Tiki as I would like. I'm here to learn about all things Tiki. I've posted here in the past. Lately I've just been lurking when I have time. The daily grind keeps me busy and stressed out. Plus if I'm online, I'm usually over at MySpace or blogging. I look forward to being here. Cheers!

[ Edited by: Keith 2008-11-18 09:44 ]

Hello there!

My name is Liana (points for creative username =P), I am 19 and live in the city of Brisbane in Australia. I've been lurking tiki central for some time now and figured I might as well make myself known. I've been into tiki for a while now, but have always loved anything influenced by the Islands for as long as I can remember. I have especially loved reading all of the 'how to' threads, so much in fact that they've influenced me to venture out on my own tiki mug making escapade.. hopefully I'll have something to show for it soon =D ... I am a drama student and studying education, I have a healthy obsession for Brian Setzer, I also collect pez dispensers.. I suppose I should stop before this turns into some kind of novel.. I look forward to getting to know you all!

Liana

On 2008-10-13 01:19, Liana wrote:
My name is Liana (points for creative username =P), I am 19 and live in the city of Brisbane in Australia.

Hey Liana! Welcome to TC :D Jeeeez, why are all the other Aussie TCers in bloody QLD? :lol: (for the rest of you, she's not too far from marcus' place, when he's in the country :D ) There's a handful of Aussies on here, I like to think we keep our own :wink: looking forward to hearing more from ya, Hewey :D

On 2008-10-13 03:57, hewey wrote:

On 2008-10-13 01:19, Liana wrote:
My name is Liana (points for creative username =P), I am 19 and live in the city of Brisbane in Australia.

Hey Liana! Welcome to TC :D Jeeeez, why are all the other Aussie TCers in bloody QLD? :lol: (for the rest of you, she's not too far from marcus' place, when he's in the country :D ) There's a handful of Aussies on here, I like to think we keep our own :wink: looking forward to hearing more from ya, Hewey :D

Hey Hewey! Thanks for the welcome!! Well I've been looking around and most of the Aussies I see on here are from NSW.. maybe I'm not looking hard enough =P ..

Liana.

Not sure how this works exactly? My first time to POST anything... ANYWHERE! But I wanted to get on a site where I could talk about Fred, the South Pacific, Easter Island and my mysterious, nagging fascination with all this... ever since I was a kid, one of the first books I ever read was Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. Well, I finally did it. The fact is, as a designer, I always wanted to sculpt an Aku-Aku Statue from Easter Island. I made up a 28" tall Aku-Aku statue to put in my garden... and to make a long story short, "Fred the Aku" is now being produced. If you go to http://www.youtube.com and type in "first freds" you can see him being born! And if you go to http://www.fredtheaku.com you can see my website! Remember in Close Encounters when Richard Dreyfuss kept making that mountain out of mashed potatoes?... well that's how I felt when I was sculpting Fred! Not sure whether I was going crazy or not. Heaven knows, everyone that knows what I'm doing thinks I'm NUTS!

[ Edited by: raf dog 2008-10-13 07:28 ]

Aloha! I only just got here, my name is Lois and I live in London. The ‚201‘ is cause I was born on 20th of January in case anyone was wondering :wink:
So yeah, I’ve only just stumbeled across this forum after becoming interested and googling ‚tiki‘. I can’t wait to meet everyone and I am really looking forward to all the interesting tiki threads, posts and discussions. In England it seems very hard to find anything at all about Tiki.
Cheers!

Hello to Tiki Central! I'm Lauri and I live in the Cincinnati area.
I'm new here but not new to tiki. I've been into it since a trip to Trader Vic's and other lesser tiki bar/restaurants as a kid in Washington State. I've spent a lot of time in Hawaii and at the Mai Kai and most recently checked out Tiki Terrace in Chicago with my boyfriend, who introduced me to this site. I collect mugs and pretty much anything tiki I can get my hands on. Can't wait to go to the new Trader Vic's soon in Chicago too!

Liana, WELCOME to Tiki Central, Glad to have another Aussie on board. Nice Shouting with you and Hewey this morning! Enjoy.

...sha-boing-boing-BOING! Heya, Detroit tiki-maven, here-lurked around for so long, figured I might as well hang out with the rest of you cats..cheers!

Hope im not posting this twice, nice to find this place, heres my tiki bar, always kickin fri and sat night "Live a good life 5 days a week"

Hey Liana, its great to see another fellow pez collector (are we called pezheads?) We'll have to put our noodles together and come up with a tiki-styled one.

On 2008-10-15 11:44, Easter Island Elvis wrote:
Hey Liana, its great to see another fellow pez collector (are we called pezheads?) We'll have to put our noodles together and come up with a tiki-styled one.

Haha yes, Pezheads! :P I have seen a tiki styled Pez but it was a fantasy Pez, meaning someone altered an existing dispenser to look like a tiki.. still cool though :)

And this tiki inspired Pez (and lego) art :P

Liana.

Actually I collect PEZ as well...I have well over 1,000 of them little buggers. They did make a tiki like item--it was kinda like a Jungle "survival" kit with a tiki topper. Here is a pic from online I found since I don't have any of my own collection.

I think they came in 3 colors.

The tiki is the top part. (Sorry for posting this under the introductions thread. I just wanted to let the other Pezheads know!)

[ Edited by: leleliz 2008-10-17 14:35 ]

[ Edited by: leleliz 2008-10-17 14:37 ]

I guess I'm a new member:

Me-Joe Collins
Age-32
Location-Close to Tiki-Ti/Sliverlake
Work-Lush/office arsehole

Went to Kelbo's when I was 15 and have been into tiki ever since. WOrk is giving me a descent pay knowadays and I can afford to start a collection.

Mahalo, my name is Pat and i'm from Holland, Europe. I got bitten by the Tiki bug about 15 years ago.
Being into drawing and painting i guess i saw my first Tikis in Juxtapoz by artists like The Pizz, Mark Ryden, Robert Williams and of course Shag. When i opened my kustom bicycle shop i decided my counter could use some decoration and carve two Tikis for it. But the real carving started when i built a Dyno roadster into a rat rod bike with a Tiki shifter and some Tiki ornaments.
So here's some pics of that. Hope u like it and i will post some paintings and carvings in the future.

[ Edited by: Grapa-RuHa 2008-10-21 11:57 ]

Hello My Name's Mike. I am a rummy.

I grew up in Palm Springs where my family used to go to Don the Beachcombers and the to the Luau in L.A.

I always had fond memories of that, and I'd pick up tiki mugs in later years when I'd see them at thrift stores. I was a fan of Exotica music (as well as punk rock and garage rock), but I didn't really know of any kind of Tiki community till I moved to San Francisco and started going to Otto's tiki events at the Chameleon. There's a brief cheezy interview with me and my ex roomate Dulcinea in Tiki News #12 about my tiki tattoos.
Anyways, my favorite tiki drink are Trader Vic's "Suffering Bastard" and Tiki Ti's "Ray's Mistake". Favorite bands are the Kinks and The Ramones.

been lurking on and off here forever. My ex roomate Coco Joe talked me into finally joining. And Aloha to my old pal Alii Tiki!

greetings!
Mike

New member here. Marty from Cambridge, MA. I love all things Tiki, but especially the drinks. I work for a wine importer by day, and got into cocktails a couple years ago. It's a short stumble from there to rum to Jeff Berry...to this board, I guess!

I have a blog (address under my signature), which is a nice distraction from the work part of my computer time.

Looking forward to participating in this board.

Ciao,

Aloha! I'm the Suburban Beachbum, who sometimes goes by Arlo.

I've always been into the beach lifestyle thing.This past summer I got hitched and the wife and I went to Hawai'i where I got into the Mai Tai, Blue Hawai'i, and other things tiki.

Recently picked up Beachbum Berry's "Grog Log" and I'm ready to start mxing!

Looking forward to being part of the fun around here.

Aloha
What a wonderful world you have here, I had no idea the Tiki world existed!!!
Glad I stumbled across this place, I was doin a search for "The Hukilau Song" to play on my Ukulele and was sent here, good thing.
I didn't even know I was "Tiki", I have always liked the Hapa-Haole/Lounge/Surf music (the parents listened to it, I grew up in the 60's/70's) wore the print shirts and mixed the cocktails, now I know why.... I am a closet "Tiki", Now I can come out!!!!

Hi there:

I had a friend who made a mai tai for me last week. As I didn't want to go through the trouble of making one myself with so many ingredients, I sought one that is already made.

That's where I found the Bacardi Mai Tai, already blended. As I didn't think that it could add up to the mai tais made in Hawaii and the one that my friend made for me, I wasn't surprised to see a couple of posts that not complimentary towards the Bacardi version.

Maybe Bev and More might have something else.

greetings all, my names Leigh & I'm from Australia, I found this site while looking for inspiration for a Tiki murral for the back of my lockup trailer, the trailer is matt black with bright green rims & whitewalls. ( no time or money ATM for a real hotrod so the trailer got a makeover)I also have a hard wood log to carve into a tiki, it's halfway cleaned up ATM no real carving started yet. I'm also half way through building a bamboo/grass hut dog kennel( does anyone else have to many projects on at once?LOL) I've always been aware of Tiki but didn't realize how popular they are. love the site & cant wait to have all my projects finnished so I can show you all. bye for now, Chippieleigh.
Flames & Tiki to come

Welcome Leigh!! You'll find lots of help and inspiration on TC, can't wait to see the things you are planning on making :) Hey, have you been to the Hula Bula tiki bar in Perth?.. I've only seen one photo of it and I do believe it's probably the best 'looking' tiki bar in Australia.. now all I need to do is go there! :P

Liana.

Hi all!!
Im now here and im from Maryland - US.
Is anybody else here from Mayland?
My dream is once to live in Paradies - That would be wonderfull!

On 2008-10-29 13:18, william5419 wrote:
Hi there:

I had a friend who made a mai tai for me last week. As I didn't want to go through the trouble of making one myself with so many ingredients, I sought one that is already made.

That's where I found the Bacardi Mai Tai, already blended. As I didn't think that it could add up to the mai tais made in Hawaii and the one that my friend made for me, I wasn't surprised to see a couple of posts that not complimentary towards the Bacardi version.

Maybe Bev and More might have something else.

Don't count on it. Mai Tais should be built( properly without deviation) from the ground up EVERY TIME...

Tiki greetings from Scotland!!

Been a consumer of rum-based cocktails for twenty years and only recently discovered the origins of most of my favourites are Tiki!

British Tiki is, as far as I can tell, pretty rare, so my mug collection has been amassed via ebay paying ridiculous shipping charges - but a vintage vessel improves the imbibing no end!

Currently planning the conversion of a small room at home into a Tiki hut and determined to end up with an outdoor Tiki bar at some point - despite the Scottish weather.

Also recently discovered that commuting to Edinburgh in the rain with Exotica playing the headphones does wonders for improving the mood and generally bringing a ray of sunshine to my corner of the world.

Aloha!

[ Edited by: tallcmp 2008-11-02 15:50 ]

Hey Leigh, good to see another Aussie tiki head on here! As liana said, the hula bula looks awesome, you should definitely check it out mate :D Cant wait to see you art, and that trailer!

Not exactly new to the site, posted a few times a few years ago but several computers ago, several different emails ago & can't recall my old screen name.

So here we are again.
My name is Steve- I'm an old fart who's into cars & collecting. Lately my collecting tastes have gone towards PNG stuff but I still look for an occasional mug if it catches my eye. My other big interest is my car- a 32 Ford Roadster complete w/ traditional flames.

Many here probably know my brother- Bongofury

Greetings All!

My name is James, and I'm a musician here in Texas. I've lurked here for a good while, and finally decided to come out of the shadows! My introduction to Tiki came about at a young age going to the old Spanish Galleon restaurant(sadly, long gone)here in Houston and listening to music with my grandparents. I'm happy to come across a group of fellow enthusiasts, and am looking forward to chatting with you!

New here,Neil from Westland,MI. and St.Petersburg Fl.been lurking for awhile. Started carving in May in Florida, collect Hawaiiana and old Florida souvenirs. I'll try to post some pics. when I figure out how too. Bye for now.

On 2008-10-21 11:50, Grapa-RuHa wrote:
Mahalo, my name is Pat and i'm from Holland, Europe. I got bitten by the Tiki bug

Hi Pat, Awesome bikes, great web site too, Welcome!

On 2008-11-02 15:49, tallcmp wrote:
Tiki greetings from Scotland!!
Also recently discovered that commuting to Edinburgh in the rain with Exotica playing the headphones does wonders for improving the mood and generally bringing a ray of sunshine to my corner of the world.
Aloha!

Welcome to a fellow Scot, I also listen to Exocita to help my commute along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu to bring a wee ray of light to my...wait, plenty of light here but you know what I mean.
I'm a MacMillan, we have a active clan in Southern California, mostly listen to some pipes, eat meat pies and dream of the walking along the Lochs.
Slàinte maith, h-uile latha, na chi 'snach fhaic!
Stephyn Asa Arundel MacMillan-Andrews

Hi! i am new here so, just wanted to say Bula!