NEWSLETTER
The Tiki Bar Review Pages / Tiki Road Trip
April, 2003
Aloha
With the imminent release of Tiki Road Trip, the new book by James
Teitelbaum (founder of the Tiki Bar Review pages at
http://www.tydirium.net), no less than eight events all over the US
of A are being planned to celebrate the release, to give Tiki
fanatics a chance to meet the author and get their books signed, and
to give James an excuse to road trip... er, that is to say, to
research the second edition!
Anyone who buys a copy of Tiki Road Trip from James during any of the
eight events listed below will receive a little bonus gift from James
to commemorate this inaugural summer of Tiki Road Trip. No, it isn't
anything so extravagant as a Tiki mug, but it IS something better
than just having him scrawl his Hancock on your book! You'll have to
show up to find out what it is, however!
Tiki Road Trip (published by Santa Monica Press) is your complete
guide to Tiki culture world-wide, past and present. It is an
historical overview of every Tiki themed bar, restaurant, or other
point of interest that currently exists - or ever has existed -
presented in the format of a travel guide.
The 'official debut' of Tiki Road Trip will occur at the Mondo Tiki
event at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday April
19, 2003.
Mondo Tiki is a huge event sponsored by Tiki Farm, and it is running
in parallel with the Gold Coast Hotel's 6th annual Viva Las Vegas
festival (April 17th to 20th - http://www.vivalasvegas.net). As much
as we all love rockabilly, four solid days of it is too much for
anyone - so scoot on over to the Hardrock on Saturday so you can show
off your cool vintage aloha shirt / sarong / cabana set to much
greater effect there than you can to the greasers at the Gold Coast!
Mondo Tiki will feature live music, nearly twenty vendors, three
bars, a DJ, and other sundry attractions. The Hard Rock's
spectacular pool area will be further augmented with more Tikis than
you can shake a Mai Tai at.
James will be selling and signing copies of Tiki Road Trip at a booth
in the vendors area on Saturday from 2PM to 6PM, and will almost
certainly be wandering around watching the live music afterwards from
8PM to 11PM. Cover artist Shag and fellow writer Sven Kirsten
(author of Book of Tiki and the foreword to Tiki Road Trip) will be
attending this event as well. This is the only event all summer
during which all three gentlemen(?) will be in attendance.
http://www.mondotiki.com
Directly following Mondo Tiki, James will be making an appearance in
Los Angeles on Wednesday, April 23 at La Lus De Jesus gallery
(located in the rear of the retail store Wacko - 4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA (323) 666-7667) from 7PM to 10PM.
Once again, James will have plenty of copies of Tiki Road Trip on
hand to sell and sign. Rumors that Shag my show his face at this one
are (so far) unsubstantiated (we're workin' on it), but if you can't
make it to Mondo Tiki in Vegas, this is your big chance for SoCal
natives to get James to sign your copy of Tiki Road Trip. And, if
you haven't been shopping at Wacko, you MUST check out their huge
selection of books, art prints, Tiki items, and generally weird
ephemera.
http://www.laluzdejesus.com/
That Friday, April 25, James will be at Trader Vic's in Emeryville,
CA for his third west coast event. The Emeryville Trader Vic's staff
love the local San Francisco Tiki community, and they are offering
discounted Mai Tais for anyone who comes down to meet James and have
him scribble on their copy of Tiki Road Trip. Be there from 6PM to
8PM for pupus, Mai Tais, the likely appearance of Tiki Central
hardcores (love those guys!), music selection by Otto von Stroheim,
and a good ol' time in the hard-to-get-into Captain Cook Room at
Trader Vic's!
Back in Chicago, there will be a signing at Quimby's book store (1854
W. North Ave. Chicago, IL, (773) 342-0910 - http://www.quimbys.com)
on Wednesday, May 07 from 7:30PM to 10PM. Quimby's features a wide
array of material by independent and underground talent, and is
Chicago's premiere source for books, comics, and other media dealing
with all aspects of popular culture.
A second Chicago area book release party may also happen at
Rock-A-Tiki's new location (the current location on Division street
will be closing soon). The Rock-A-Tiki date will be in mid-May,
depending on when Rock-A-Tiki 2.0 opens. Watch your local press for
details.
Never content to stay home for too long, the Tiki Road Trip caravan
of 2003 is heading east: look for James at the Hukilau festival in
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on June 27 and 28; this event will feature
events at the Holiday Inn Ft. Lauderdale Beach on Friday, and then
move to the astounding Mai Kai restaurant on Saturday. As is the
case with the Mondo Tiki and Exotica 2003 (see below), there is an
astounding array of talent lined up for this one - don't miss it.
http://www.thehukilau.com/
Summer rolls on with the gigantic Wizard World Convention in Chicago
on August 8th-10th. This convention - which is slowly edging up on
the legendary San Diego Comicon as the world's largest - is an annual
mecca for fans of comics, science fiction, and popular culture in
general. Look for James in 'artist's alley', selling and signing
copies of Tiki Road Trip, as well as his multimedia art and music
project, Left Orbit Temple, and even back issues of his legendary
sci-fi fanzine, Blue Harvest (1993-2000).
The summer of Tiki finally ends with a big bang: the just-announced
Exotica 2003 festival will take place all over the Chicago area on
August 21st through 24th; James will not only be there, but is
helping to plan the event.
Exotica 2003 is, without a doubt, the most action-packed four solid
days of Tiki you will get anywhere. Chicago has more to offer than
many people realize, and you'll get to see it all as summer winds to
a close.
The details are here:
http://www.konakai.com/
Still with us?
Good!
With so many options for spending your time this spring and summer,
you almost have no excuse not to stop by and visit at least one of
these events... but if you just CAN'T, you can still get Tiki Road
Trip on-line at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891661302/tikiroadtrip-20
...and what ever happened to The Tiki Bar Review Pages themselves?
Still up, and undergoing a major renovation.
Check 'em out at...
http://www.tydirium.net
After James gets a breather from the Tiki Road Trip promotional
onslaught, he'll start work on a new Left Orbit Temple release, and
then a second book (tentatively either "Retro Road Trip", or "Sound
Guy"), as well as the oft-delayed graphic novel "Chester Century".
Aloha and Mahalo!
from:
- the Tiki Road Trip pit crew!
