Tiki Bong Fan Club

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say ’beware doll, you’re bound to fall’
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You’ve gone to the finest school all right, miss lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it
You said you’d never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain’t no good
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They’re drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you’d better lift your diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

p.s. I got this fortune cookie last night.

No matter how twisted his posts are, he's got Hawaiiana and Tiki down to a fine art. Ask Bob and Leroy @ Oceanic Arts what it was really like back in the day. Maybe 05 will bring us back to the future.

My God Ben! Do you realize what your innocent tinkering has done? Your fortune cookie has provided me with the lucky numbers to complete my equation that will enable me to generate 50,000 gigawatts and take me...BACK TO THE FUTURE! 1968 Newport Pop Festival, here I come.

Amnesty for Tiki Bong!
Why he got kicked out anyway?!?!?! somebody tell me please! Send me a PM if it's tapu!

He was kicked out for his own good. Tiki Central was consuming his life. Now he's carefree and happy again and living with a family on a seaweed farm off the coast of California.

Mahalo to JUAN-O the library keeper for directing me to this thread:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=11449&forum=1&start=0
Interesting read for everyone...
Tiki_Bong, the proverbial "That guy" JAJA!
I would still like to know what was his "last sin" oh boy, some people never learn (and sometimes that's why I love them)
Imagine "The return of Tiki_Bong" that would be cool, maybe not, like releasing Loki, or the Kraken, or Doomsday or... you get the idea.
And what about that "John Doe Tiki" he got deleted too... JAJA!
Oh boy, oh boy...
Truth is I don't support random meanness... Even if it's funny.
Aloha or die!

Ark Ark!

Some people are gone but also forgotten....but despair not, Senor Zeta...if you ever manage to find your way into these waters, you can always check out either the Smoking Menehunes, or the Hula Girls, and you will not only see Tiki Bong in person, but also Lucas Vigor.

Thanks Lucas! When are you coming to Mexico? I bet you could sell out some concerts here! seriously! I know some places that would love to have you.
Me in California? I went there years ago... I will go back soon, but this time I want to stay for sometime and really get to know the place.

Pic taken 7-16-06 (4 years ago today!) at the OC Beach Burn (Which has, by the way, since been merged with International Tiki Day, a tradition that Bong started in 2002 (2003?) that still continues today!)

BONGs rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin's pretty cool too!
:wink:

CowaBONGa Man!

"if I see you floatin' down the gutter, I'll buy you a bottle of wine"

• Captain Beefheart (1969)

If I see you at Tiki Oasis 10, I'll buy you a Suffering Bastard!...so, ya got that goin' fer ya.

Hope to see ya there Kevin (or at the next Menehunes show)

Card carryin' member.

*Bong, the son of Swedish immigrant parents, grew up on a farm in Poplar, Wisconsin as one of nine children. He became interested in aircraft at an early age and was a keen model builder.

He began studying at Superior State Teachers College in 1938. While there, Bong enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program and also took private flying lessons. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. One of his flight instructors was Capt. Barry Goldwater (later Senator from Arizona and unsuccessful 1964 presidential candidate). Bong's ability as a fighter pilot was recognized at training in northern California. He received his wings and commission as a second lieutenant on January 9, 1942, and became a gunnery instructor.

Bong's first operational assignment was to the 49th Fighter Squadron (FS), 14th Fighter Group at Hamilton Field, California, where he transitioned into the twin-engine P-38 Lightning.

On June 12, 1942, Bong flew very low over ("buzzed") a house in nearby San Anselmo, the home of a pilot who had just been married. He was cited and temporarily grounded for breaking flying rules, along with three other P-38 pilots who had looped around the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day.

For looping the Golden Gate Bridge, for flying at low level down Market Street in San Francisco and for blowing the clothes off of an Oakland woman's clothesline, Bong was reprimanded by General George C. Kenney, commanding officer of the Fourth Air Force, who told him, "If you didn't want to fly down Market Street, I wouldn't have you in my Air Force, but you are not to do it any more and I mean what I say." Kenney later wrote: "We needed kids like this lad."

In all subsequent accounts, Bong denied flying under the Golden Gate Bridge. Nevertheless, Bong was still grounded when the rest of his group was sent without him to England in July 1942. Bong then transferred to another Hamilton Field unit, 84th Fighter Squadron of the 78th Fighter Group. From there Bong was sent to the Southwest Pacific Area.

On September 10, 1942, Lt. Bong was assigned to the 9th Fighter Squadron (aka "Flying Knights"), 49th Fighter Group, based at Darwin, Australia. While the squadron waited for delivery of the scarce Lockheed P-38s, Bong and other 9th FS pilots flew missions with the 39th FS, 35th Fighter Group, based in Port Moresby, New Guinea, to gain combat experience. On December 27, 1942, Bong claimed his initial aerial victory, shooting down a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" and an Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" over Buna (during the Battle of Buna-Gona). For this action Bong was awarded the Silver Star.

In March 1943 Bong returned to the 49th FG, now at Schwimmer Field near Port Moresby, New Guinea. On July 26, 1943, Bong shot down four Japanese fighters over Lae, an accomplishment that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross. While on leave to the United States in November and December 1943, Bong met Marge Vattendahl at a Superior State Teachers' College Homecoming event and began dating her. After returning to the Southwest Pacific in January 1944, he named his P-38 "Marge" and adorned the nose with her photo. By April 1944, Captain Bong had shot down 27 Japanese aircraft, surpassing Eddie Rickenbacker's American record of 26 credited victories in World War I.

After another leave in the U.S. in May 1944, Major Bong returned to New Guinea in September. Though assigned to the V Fighter Command staff and not required to fly combat missions, Bong continued flying from Tacloban, Leyte, during the Philippines campaign, increasing his official air-to-air victory total to 40 by December. Upon the recommendation of Far East Air Force commander General George Kenney, Bong received the Medal of Honor from General Douglas MacArthur in a special ceremony in December 1944.

Bong's Medal of Honor citation states that he flew combat missions despite his status as an "instructor", which was one of his duties as standardization officer for V Fighter Command. His rank of major would have qualified him for a squadron command, but he always flew as a flight (four-plane) or element (two-plane) leader.

In January 1945, General Kenney sent America's ace of aces home for good. Bong married Marge and participated in numerous PR activities, such as promoting the sale of war bonds.

Ironically, Bong considered his gunnery accuracy to be poor, so he compensated by getting as close to his targets as possible to make sure he hit them. In some cases he flew through the debris of exploding enemy aircraft, and on one occasion actually collided with his target, which he claimed as a "probable" victory.

Bong was killed in 1945 while testing a P-80A similar to this one...

On August 6, 1945, the plane's primary fuel pump malfunctioned during takeoff on the acceptance flight of P-80A 44-85048. Bong either forgot to switch to the auxiliary fuel pump, or for some reason was unable to do so. Bong cleared away from the aircraft, but was too low for his parachute to deploy. The plane crashed into a narrow field at Oxnard St & Satsuma Ave, North Hollywood. His death was front-page news across the country, sharing space with the first news of the bombing of Hiroshima.

At the time of the crash, Bong had accumulated four hours and fifteen minutes of flight time (totaling 12 flights) in the P-80. The I-16 fuel pump was a later addition to the plane (after an earlier fatal crash) and Bong himself was quoted by Captain Ray Crawford (another P-80 test/acceptance flight pilot who flew the day Bong was killed) as saying that he had forgotten to turn on the I-16 pump on an earlier flight.

Bong is buried in a Poplar, Wisconsin cemetery.

Bong is the namesake of

the Bong State Recreation Area on the site of what was to be Bong Air Force Base in southeastern Wisconsin
the Bong Memorial Bridge in the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin
the Bong Airport in Superior
the Bong Barracks of the Aviation Challenge program
the Bong Bridge in Townsville, Australia
the Bong Squadron of the Arnold Air Society at the University of Wisconsin
the Bong Theatre in Misawa, Japan

There are Bong avenues on the former site of the decommissioned Richards-Gebauer Air Force Base, on Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas, on Luke AFB in Glendale, Arizona and on Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska.

In Mount Holly Township, New Jersey, Bong Terrace is named for him.

On September 24, 2002 the Bong Veterans Historical Center (originally the Bong 'World War II Heritage Center') opened to the public in Superior, Wisconsin. Housed in a structure intended to resemble an aircraft hangar, it contains a museum, a film screening room, and a P-38 Lightning restored to resemble Bong's plane.*

On 2010-07-18 20:10, Tiki Kaimuki wrote:
Card carryin' member.

Bong is a "member carryin' card"!