Chicago Exotica 2005

On 2005-07-07 14:49, docwoods wrote:
Has anyone made reservations at Hala Kahiki,or can you just show up?

I did. As I was told, it's more like a list at the door to make sure you can get in iffin the place fills up. So it's not a "table for 2 at 4:45pm" kinda thing.

-Z

Thanks,Feelin'Zombified-glad to know that-look forward to seeing everyone tommorow!

This just in....

http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/wkp-news-tiki08.html
also see http://www.chicagotribune.com and type in Tiki in the Search Box, this will take you to an article about Duke and Amy, their collection and the Exotica weekend

As this is being posted,Duke,King Kukulele and the Cocktail Preachers are preparing for a segment on this morning's local NBC news.

BaMbOoLoDgE...where the South Pacific meets the Great White North!

[ Edited by: BambooLodge 2005-07-08 07:12 ]

Boarding the plane in a few... Can't wait to get there!!!! See ya guys

Hala Kahiki time starts about 1 hour from now. Lissette and I are on our way!

Best Tony Sheridan tribute evar !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Deb and I had a great time at Exotica this year. A big thank you to Duke and Amy for working so hard to make this year's event the success that it was. Fitzgeralds looked great yesterday and the bands were smokin'! Trader Vic's was fun and today's buffet at the Chef was suberb. Looking forward to Exotica 2006!

Hey Randall, great to see you posting here, finally.
Great to see you and Deb at Exotica too - it's been far too long.

I didn't take too many pix over the weekend, but here's a few good ones...

Separated at Birth?

How many of these TC members can YOU name?

Flaming Virgin and Mai Tai at the Chef!

Mr. and Mrs. Lake Surfer

Alice n' Lisa at Aku Hall


Vern at Hala Kahiki


[ Edited by: tikibars 2005-07-10 22:51 ]

I would like to thank Duke and Amy for a great time at Exotica this year was fantastic. I would also like to thank TubroG, blacksandz, JTD, Formikahini, TikiVixen, King Kukulele, Mr. & Ms. JDTIKI, Mr. & Ms. Johnny Dollar, ikitnrev, for a fun filled weekend and so many other TC people I met over this weekend. A big thanks goes to tikibars for the ride Thursday night around Chicago land

Carroll D.

FINALLY!
PICTURES!

I was going to post a separate thread asking for them but thought better of it.

More please.

Vern, you look like you were having a great time.
I'm very glad.

How were my braddahs, the Kats?

How were my braddahs, the Kats?

Pablus... they are some of the greatest guys in the world... and very talented musicians.

They did you proud up here... both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at brunch.

I'm already looking forward to seeing them all again in October!

Hope you are well Pablus!

Tiki Diablo and Marcus from Adrift doing biz...

The Neanderthals take the stage...

Mugs for sale!

Vintage Deluxe...

The King and The Windy City Islanders...

Killer Surf Band from my town... The Exotics, back together again!

Los Straightjackets and Kaiser George rocking the tent...

Brunch at the Chef...

The King entertains at brunch...

Pig! Pig! Pig!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2005-07-11 12:17 ]

On 2005-07-10 21:30, pablus wrote:
How were my braddahs, the Kats?

All I can say is that I am quite stoked to see them again at Hukilau.
Quite a good mix of Hawaiian, surf, and swing.
A lot of sound for three guys!

Way to go Duke!
Scott

Mucho Mahalos to Amy, Duke,Melanie, & Eddie for making this Exotica so incredible! The entire weekend was a total blast. It was great for Coalbe & I to be able to put some of the faces together with TC names. We took oodles of pics & hopefully we will get to posting them next day or two.
TTFN
D&C

P.S.Be sure to join us for International Tiki Day celebration at Chef Shangri-La on either Saturday 8/13 or Sunday 8/14. We will start a thread with info as soon as we talk with Susan and pick which the date which works best.

Also, we would like to thank everyone who stopped by our booth on Saturday!

Hey Lake, thanx for the great tiki (he is happy in his new home next to our Kona Kai Tiki), and thanx for getting a photo of our booth

BaMbOoLoDgE...where the South Pacific meets the Great White North!

[ Edited by: BambooLodge 2005-07-12 06:26 ]

TURBO g. reporting in. Had an awesome time. Great to meet some new people from TC. Always great to see old friends from TC as well. JT, thanks for cartin' us around on Thursday in the Mobile Exploration Unit 2.0. Hello again to DocWoods. All the entertainment was incredible. Mike Miller can mix a drink. The DJ sets were really good. Pablus, the Kats were tight. Tikivixen, I still can't House of Bamboo out of my head. At work right now so I don't have time to post pics, here's a link to the shared album. Never did get a dinner w/ utensils. Next time for sure. Duke, Amy and Eddie, great job. See you all next year @ Exotica 2006...right?!?

here's some of my pics

Tacky Techie Tiki Bar
It's easy to grin, when your ship comes in, and you've got the stock market beat; but the man worth while, is the man who can smile, when his shorts are too tight in the seat

[ Edited by: turbogod 2005-07-11 12:43 ]

[ Edited by: turbogod 2005-07-12 17:07 ]

I didn't realize there were so many of you that I didn't meet! Next time for sure. Here is but a few of my pics...

Yeah, that's me. :blush:

Mike makes one hell of a mai tai! :drink:

The Haole Kats kicked tiki ass!!!

Won a Bosko mask in the raffle!!!

Two Haole Kats CDs, both autographed!

The one on the left is an Orchids of Hawaii mug, the other is a new generic one. I'm not sure where it's from. I also picked up Tiki Magazine issue #1.

I had such a great time and all the other TCers I met were terrific people. I'm so glad I was able to meet all of you!!! Can't wait until next year.

Mahalo!

I was at Fitzgeralds for just a lil bit but got a huge dose of what "Tiki" is all about. Being new to this scene, I was overwhelmed by what people hold dear and that fact that there was a weekend, in my hometown nonetheless, that people from different parts of the country came to attend.

Greetings to TurboGod: Sorry for not catching up w/ you and the gang later. Aloha to Fred, and Clarence who I got to meet. Nice talking to Danny (diablo) and Adrift's Marcus.

I should have tried to meet a few more TC'ers but besides being overcome by shy dorkiness, and Soren being hot and tired, we had other engagements to tend to so we bailed only after a couple hours.

Big-Big MAHALO to Duke & Amy for all the work put into this.

ALOHA KA'KOU!

Derwin aka ManoKoa

^ Soren & I decked out

^ Soren & (I forgot her name, sorry)

I said it then, I'm saying it again. They could've posed for the Last Supper with everyone on both sides of the table and it still would've worked out in the painting. :)

BTW Mano, was nice meeting you and your little wahine. You both looked great in the Maori patterns.

It was a great time, I'm glad we got asked to play. Definitely more fun being a civilian though (like Tikibars said).

The highlight for me was the Los Straitjackets covering "Cry for a Shadow", then immediately following with Kaiser George singing "My Bonnie". The backing vocals being done with wrestling masks on. Hard to describe.

Craig

Hi All
Just want to say I had a wonderful time meeting everyone on Saturday.
Jerry Edler
Oceanic Art
Bloomington, Indiana

The cocktails at Fitzgerald's were excellent as well. Mahalo to the mixologists! Does anyone have the ingredients for any of those great libations?

me, the wahine and friends had a great time, just wanted to thank duke and amy...glad to finally get me some tiki diablo mugs, more adrift digs, and my first lake tiki by lake surfer....great to chat with finkdaddy,etc......sorry im not as sociable as i should have been to the other t.cers.............signed, the "fake lake surfer" a.k.a...hala bullhiki........lol!!!!

p.s....jerry, ill get ahold of ya soon, your table of artifacts were amazing!

[ Edited by: hala bullhiki 2005-07-11 20:22 ]

We are so glad that everyone seems to have had a good time. We're still recovering from the weekend, and not because we had too much to drink unfortunately. We just forgot to schedule ourselves some time to sleep.

There are many folks we'd like to thank for a tremendous time at Exotica 2005: all of the bands, dancers, and DJs—they did an incredible job—the venues that so graciously hosted us (Trader Vic's, Hala Kahiki, FitzGerald's, and Chef Shangri-La), our generous sponsors, the vendors with their great stuff, Mike Miller, all our friends who helped set up and run things on Saturday (we could not have done it without you), and Tiki Diablo for the cool mugs. A special mahalo to King Kukulele who turned out great performances all weekend (even after we'd been up since 4:30 am on Friday). He now holds the special distinction of being the first musician to ever perform live at the Hala Kahiki in their 43 years of operation! We'd like to especially thank Eddie and Melanie for their help, and most importantly, everyone who came out to participate and make Exotica a rollickin' hip-shaking Tiki-filled weekend. Mahalo!

-Duke and Amy

p.s. We still have some official Exotica t-shirts, posters and awesome hand-painted Tiki Diablo mugs. If you are interested in any stuff, email us at [email protected]

[ Edited by: boutiki 2005-07-15 17:00 ]

Have a few pictures to share of Saturdays fun

Why does everyone have to live close to the big events!
Humbug...I guess I'll have to throw a party of my own...
Vern sez he's going to visit the Congatiki room (northern
wisconsin) on thursday night....everyone else is welcome
too....nice to see a few familiar faces in the pics by
tikibars and exotica!

Had a great time and got to meet even more TC members. The music was incredible this year. So many great bands and musicians. Sounds like everybody had as good a time as I did. See everyone at Hukilau ... or sooner??

tj

What a bunch of drunks!

:D

It was great to finally meet all of you in person. Just wish I had more time in Chicago to get to know everyone better. James, looking forward to sampling your bartending skills in September...

Bigpala... I'm the guy who won the spirit board in the raffle. Thanks! You have some excellent pieces and I wish I had brought a sack full of cash to stock up (I've been eyeing your stuff on Ebay for a while) You'll be hearing from me soon.

-Z

A colored version of Danny's Exotica Mug. This is the black and silver one and their is a white and gold.

Aqua, Here you go.

[ Edited by: teaKEY 2005-07-13 11:22 ]

On 2005-07-13 08:59, Feelin' Zombified wrote:
What a bunch of drunks!

So I guess you saw me there!

tj

That is one sweet mug!

:tiki: Finally, back to my Little Grass Shack after a week of fun and sun at Exotica! First, let me give a huge mahalo to Amy, Duke and Eddie Angel for staging such a super event with their tiredness efforts! My family and I had such a great time! Melanie and Amy were so gracious at each meet and greet social and Duke always was grinning from ear to ear! It was a pleasure putting a face to a name with the many T.C.er's! In particular: Turbogod, Powerofthetiki, ikitnrev(vern), JTD, Formikahini, Mr.and Mrs. Johnny$, FinkDaddy and so many others. A special thank you to Tikibars, for his generous hospitality of driving us around Chi-Town on Thur. night! From the Mai-Tais at Vic's, King's superb perfomance at the Hala Kahiki, non-stop cavalcade of musical talent (Of special note: The Nebulas, H.Kats and Los Straightjackets) at Fitzgerald's, to brunch at Chef Shangri-La. This was one great 4-day party! Cant wait for next year!???.

Mahalo!

Finally back home, after staying behind a few more days to see the sites of Chicago (at least something that wasn't tiki-related!).

Big mahalos to Duke & Amy and Eddie & Melanie for all your hard work - the many, many, many hours of work. I can say I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed myself and it looked like everyone else around me was too!

Also, big thanks to all the bands and dancers who rocked my socks off and to the vendors who hooked me up with SUCH cool goodies! I love my shirt and jacket, Marcus! Jerry, I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy every one of the pieces that I was wanting from you. But I love my hook (yep, learned what it was at The Field Museum, where I spent 3 hours on Monday - free, thanks to being a teacher :) What was that I said about seeing the NON-tiki related sites? Oh well...)

And big thanks to tikibars, the Boutikis and the Bamboolodges for having me out to their FABulous home bars! I feel like I've now been in some holy Chicago shrines. I also am now filled with covetousness after seeing your collection in person, Dave. wow But the beauty of all the furnishings and placement made it even better.

Big thanks to jt for the late-night Chicago drinking tour for our whole gang Thursday night. I still want to know how JTD finally made it home after he bailed from the cab...

And of course, how GREAT it was hanging with old friends and aquaintances Tikivixen (thanks, fill-in roomie!), King Kuke, and the DC/MD/VA posse: ikitnrev, JTD (yay - no broken bones this year!), Turbeaux Gee, AwesomePowerOfTheTiki and M/M J$. Pure pleasure meeting you, BlackSandz & Co., Finkdaddy (aka, J$'s evil twin...or good twin?) and Feelin' Zombified (thanks for the cocktails, sweet thang!). Wish I coulda done more than just shake hands, EsQui & Lisette, Exotica 59 and Tikijunkman and all the rest whom I only too briefly met. And SHAME on you, the rest of the TC-er's there who hid!! Shame shame shame! (Sorry I didn't get to meet you, ManoKoa and Soren with that great make-up!!)

Thanks to all who made it fun for my traveling companion, Gregory Fleeman, aka, Don HO-rowitz and "the guy with the incredible jeep." His first tiki event (besides playing Trader Vics Atlanta in our old band) and I suspect not his last.

Countin' down the days 'til Hukilau.....

[ Edited by: Formikahini 2005-07-15 13:46 ]

Ah, I too am finally home, after my post-Exotica excursion to tropical Columbus Ohio!

Side note: I just can't take in how very odd it is that anything like the Kahiki once existed in Columbus. Wow. How totally weird. I had to work hard not to think about that while I was there, for fear of a fit of tragic weeping!! But my Columbus friends and I did lift a toast to Ohio's great lost Tiki Mecca...where, I was told, my best friend Dottie collected a total of three marriage proposals over the years.

Back to Exotica.

Formikahini, you rule!!! Thanks so much, Alice, for being such a kind and cheerful and fun last-minute roomie. In case there's some fool out there who doesn't know it, Alice is a peach. (And her friends are marvelous as well, natch!) Both she and James were kind enough to offer me hospitality at the veryyyy last minute, too. Thanks, guys, a lot. I knew no one else in town going in, but was made to feel most welcome.

I might add, Tikibars' "Aku Hall" is not only a fabulously detailed, truly memorable home bar. It also resides within one of the most elegantly comfortable bachelor pads I've ever seen. Much less been lucky enough to crash at. Thanks again, James.

And to all the other TCers I haven't met before or haven't seen in ages--so wonderful to see you! Verntiki, Turbogod, PoweroftheTiki, you guys are the greatest and made my trip so much more fun. Esqui and Lisette, you are so dear and nice and I love your stuff! Still sorry I didn't buy your great Tiki Bob painting, but...sigh...the damned budget was already tight. And Bree, it is always a pleasure to see your lovely face and enjoy chatting with you. Mr and Mrs Johnny Dollar, you guys are so much fun and I hope we meet again!

I thought the event as a whole was extremely well-done, and it blew me away how helpful the Carters were with my last minute reorganization. That kind of personal attention from folks who must've already been SO busy is simply amazing. Thanks for everything and all praise.

Needless to say, the local Tiki spots were a blast. I especially love Hala Kahiki and hope to enjoy a 'Passionate Rummie" there again someday :wink:. Not to mention a giant roast pig buffet at Chef Shangri-La! Unparalleled hospitality from all the venues, matter of fact.

Last but not least, I am VERY relieved and happy to hear that pain-in-the-butt Dennis decided NOT to follow T.S. Cindy and spared New Orleans and Purple Jade. Here's to ALL the stupid hurricanes this season seems determined to produce fizzling off harmlessly into the ocean somewhere! Enough already.

On the plane coming back, a California blonde behind me was burbling loudly about weather issues. "All my friends back East ask me 'how can you stand the earthquakes??'--well, I just tell them, 'hey, at least we don't have earthquake SEASON every year!"

Even though I AM sitting next to a large piece of vintage unreinforced masonry at the moment, still, she has a point I guess...my sympathies and best wishes, therefore, to any/all Pensacolans-and-vicinity here on TC.

xox tikivixen

Sorry to miss the party and to have sent Duke and Amy half assed packaged donations to the raffle only to be crushed by a 600 lb gorilla known as USPS.

I have to agree with Tikivixen regarding Formikahini. A real nice person to chat with. Hope all is well with you Alice! Hey I ran into Patrick at Oasis.

Look like you all had a hoot. Yea!

Chongolio

Finally had a little time to sort through pictures. Here are a few:

Trader Vic's

TipsyMcStagger & friend

Amy & Melanie

Set up for TV spot

Pop Nation film crew

Inside Hala Kahiki

Outside Hala Kahiki

King performs in the garden

Mom and Dad Tiki

Windy City Islanders

Atomic Mama

Tiki Diablo

Jon Rauhouse

Kaiser George and Neanderthal Johnny Rabb

Aloha attire contest

Formikahini

Neanderthals

Fire dance

Duke with raffle prize

More of the King

The Chef's Susan with Duke

Haole Kats

Mr and Mrs. Jeff Central

King with the kids

King gets everyone involved

Duke and Eddie

If you want to see more there are some at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/view?i=EeAMXDloycM2z44&open=1&x=1&sm=1&sl=0

-Amy

Check out Tiki Quest at http://www.pegboardchicago.com/TCintro.html
Tiki Central members get a discount and a special premium!

[ Edited by: boutiki 2005-07-17 13:10 ]

[ Edited by: boutiki 2005-08-24 11:07 ]

We finally got some pics to share......

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMmLhw5ZsXLhA

I am finally finding the time to post my entry to this post. The Chicago Exotica weekend was a very fun one. Much thanks to Duke and Amy for organizing the event, and also for picking a hotel (the Write Inn) that was near some landmark architectural locations. I spent several hours on this trip doing walking tours of Oak Park and experiencing Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio, Wright's Unity Temple, Ernest Hemingway's birthplace, and several other places, and it was very nice to be able to top off those activities by then going to Exotica and sharing mai-tais with friends.

It was good to once again see several of the DC/MD group on-board, and to meet several familiar faces and new friends too. I have now seen King Kukulele perform in six different states, and Formikahini, who must share of the identical DNA gene material as myself, somehow ends up attending the same events that I do.

Thursday's night at Trader Vics was fun, and I enjoyed the music and the hula line dances. I wasn't quite used to drinking mai-tais in plain glassware, but I soon discovered that by ordering and drinking a Samoan fogcutter drink, one could then fit not one, nor two, but three of the stronger mai-tais into the now empty but still hefty ceramic fogcutter mug. After that was consumed, I repeated the experiment to see if the same could be done with the Navy Grog -- I was not disappointed, as the answer to my scientific tiki query proved to be 'Yes.' The drinks at Deliahs later that evening were also very good - I do remember asking the bartender to make them extra strong. Somehow, for the taxi drive home, I ended up in the front shotgun navigating seat, where it was shown that ones 'giving the driver directions home' skills, just like actual driving skills, can be greatly affected by the consumption of alcohol. Our cab full of people ended up with an unexpected nighttime tour of many of the lesser known streets of the Oak Park suburb, except for JDTiki, who had evidently taken the tour before and bailed out halfway.

The following day I woke up and went with Jeff Central and wife to the Science and Industry Museum to view toy robots, and the Bodyworks human anatomy display, where I was sobered by the comparison display of healthy and unhealthy liver organs, shown side-by-side. I survived that, and later made it to Hala Kahiki, which was a nice, relaxed event. Here a couple of pictures taken there.

Profiles in Courage - Moai, Esqui, and Lisette

Johnny $, taking advice from a plastic parrot

And here are some other pictures, taken from the rest of the weekend.

PowerofTiki, Turbogod, tikibars, and tikivixen

King, Duke, and Eddie on stage

Empty stage at the end of the night

Haole Kats at Chef Shagri-La's

Bre-elle and Witco

And finally, a non-Exotica photo - and tiki where you don't expect to find tiki. This is a photo of the sales desk at the small store located inside the Ernest Hemingway Museum (located across the street from the Write Inn)

and a close-up of above

After Exotica, I took a week of vacation in Wisconsin - I will be posting tiki-related pictures from that portion of my trip in other venues.

Vern

Thanks to everyone for sharing your photos and recollections of Exotica. I know I had a great time checking out music and chatting with other TC'ers. (Tikivixen, TurboGod, Powerofthetiki, Formikahini, Tiki Diablo, Tikibars, King Kuku, Lake Surfer, Jeff Central, Bamboolodge, Finkdaddy...I'm forgetting someone here...it was great to meet all of you!) When things settle down around here, I'll be sure to get some photos up.

The event went amazing smoothly from our standpoint...getting to and from the stage with our equipment was waaaay easier than we expected..many thanks to the organizers for that!

I think the biggest surprise for me was Southern Culture On The Skids...to quote one of my childhood idols...theeeey're grrrreat! We got our paws on 4 of their discs and every one of them kicks butt! Check 'em out if you haven't already.

JG

Undead King

p.s. to king k: sorry about the ZAZZ razz