The New Tiki - Is it Tiki

Made in Bali. Your opinion?

There's too much brown.

...and there was I trying to find even just one Tiki element in the whole thing.....

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2022-09-26 23:58:14 ]

My opinion:

Always enjoy seeing that particular statue in the Tuileries. The whole thing is somewhat.....embarrasing?

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2022-09-27 17:32:44 ]

So funny about that mask you posted I went to a local tiki bar before it opened to try and sell them lights and he had like five of those on the bar and I said "Man are you going to use those?" he said no that somebody gave him those.

I told him get some Bosko's or Tiki Diablo carvings.

Well they were up when the place opened and are still up I think, No Bosko's, with all the other stuff in there they do kinda not be seen so much and that is good.

But I told people I thought that those masks suck and people acted like I was saying too much about it, and I did not go off really.

Well here's the thing it's like bit by bit we get used to the watering down of something and then the original idea is mostly lost altogether.

Those masks went up because they were cheap and did not cost that much.

So ya don't like that mask but what about freewheeling chicks on vespa scooters when did those become tiki?

I know that is a bit picky but it's kinda bubble gum tiki to me.

But hey bubble gum tiki does sell very well so that's the real benchmark isn't it.

Well, it has finally happened. The Tiki revival has grown to a size where there exists a whole spectrum of opinions about what it is. This is not to say that the opinions out there are all equally informed, or based on good taste. As with all of my favorite kinds of music, there is a point of origin, in which the visionaries who started a certain movement within music launched something truly remarkable. As time goes on, other people latch on and try to contribute. Some of those contributions advance the music, propelling it to greater heights. Many are, at best, lazy imitations, devoid of any of the original spark, and missing the point entirely.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that at least we know Tiki is here to stay, in one form or another. Of course, the bad thing is encountering some visions of Tiki that are at best embarrassing, or even downright insulting. All that means to me is that my own vision of what is good and bad is advanced enough to know the difference. And almost all of my friends have some form of the good in their homes. Mine only consists of my bar, my tiki mugs, a decent if modest rum collection, and the best Exotica I can find. That keeps me happy.

If the Aloha spirit is there, that's the bottom line. And I agree wholeheartedly that Tiki is about escapism, and creating or enjoying a bit of paradise, free from just about anything else. Surely, if we can't agree on much of anything else, we can at least agree to leave that behind and enjoy a fantastic cocktail, in an aloha shirt, in someone's vision of a Tiki paradise, bathed in some great Exotica.

"someone's vision of a Tiki paradise, bathed in some great Exotica."

At the bar I was talking about that has mostly gone too after say 5:00 they don't play Exotica, it's hip hop BS.

And the bands are not anything that is tiki or exotica related as well. Exotica is the first thing to go in the new version of a tiki bar.

Lots of Exotica on a Friday or Saturday night is a bit too sleepy for me as well, but the stuff they play at some of these places is just, I'm too old.

I think this says it all about the current Tiki scene.

And if you're wondering, the post was in relation to a clown mug based upon a painting by John Wayne Gacy.

[ Edited by swizzle on 2022-10-31 02:35:41 ]

Let's hope that tiki does NOT become party political.

And can I go to a halloween party as a tiki?

Can Tiki be a woman?

Or, would that require some cultural appropriation gymnastics?

get with it, don't you know gender is a social construct?

NOW I'M OFFENDED

All out of Bali....

And your Halloween costume sorted telescopes...

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2022-11-06 19:33:42 ]

I think that people who get in to Tiki want to include stuff in their bars or Tiki spaces that arent Tiki. It is after all quite expensive now and getting more so. I am guilty of this. I am a vet and I have a lot of memorabilia of my time in the forces that is in now way related to the Pacific. If anything more Tora Bora than Bora Bora. My wife likes it as my Man Junk as she calls it is no longer in the house. However I would never call it Tiki. Its not even Tiki adjacent - which I think you could say some of the Star Wars Shag and Geeky Tiki stuff could be accused of being. I make sure if people ask I diferenciate. In fact they are separated. I think we have to stop being so careful of stepping on egg shells here, if it isn't Tiki then its not. If you make it look tiki and try and incorperate it, then its Tiki Adjacent still not Tiki.

How can I be so blunt? Well lets use something completely iconic for arguments sake, take for an example a Ferrari, we all know what one looks like and what it represents. I cant go and stick a prancing horse on a Yugo and call it a ferrari, even though they are European vehicles. So how can you say "This is Tiki" when it isnt never has been and in no way had any roots in Tiki. It may seem fun at first but its watering down something that is quite novel and dear to peoples hearts.

Sven's graph looks simple but is far from it . it is a very well considered diagram. He has done this whilst trying to be inclusive of the new directions as well.