Hukilau 2003 Report

For those that didn't catch it, we will be back at the Mai Kai next year. We can't say no to Mrs. Thornton! The employees can't stop talking about Hukilau and how they have not had such a great reaction to the Dinner Show in years and we were all so nice!

Now dat I wen said tanks to all I would like to give a special Mahaloz to Swanky, Tiki Kaliki, Breele and Tristan fo dis ono Tiki trip. I had great seats tanks to you guys! I will be looking towards your next events.
BIG Mahaloz!!!!

Al&Shelly, for the beautiful guest room and dat little bottle of aspirin on da "world map stool" love dat stool!

It was greatly a pleasure meeting Wayne
"Mai Tiki" at this event. Never thought I would get da chance.....tanks to Swanky's crew fo dat to happen.

Crazy Al, it was a plessure meating you. You have beautiful work braddah!! jus as Chiki, I to look up to your work!! I want to see some of my mystery drink pics you took brah!

Boobam Ben, you are a awsome bamboo'er braddah.....i like da way you open up corona bottles also, Ho dats talent braddah. come check me out sometime on da islands.

Chiki, nice meeting ya in Cali dude. beautiful work you do. Nice job on da little Filipino words you know to, you crack me up wen you speek it. If you were to spell Aloha in spanish it would be like this ya "Aloja"
see I know some spanish.
dem crazy looney(sorry if mis spelled) tiki peeps, you guys are ono! great artist. Nice meeting your wrecking krew!

BK, great craftsmanship you offer to da world of tiki! Mahaloz fo dat mystery drink!

Shelly, great job on those two maikai outfits! you da bes dam so'er on da so'ing ma'cheen!

King K, you wun funny buggah! wen you coming to play on da islands? I gon talk to a few peopo I know about getting you here.

Manic cat I love yuuuuuuuu! tanks fo da pics and dat book. That was nice of you to give me all dat stuff. Aloha to you and your kane.

wetha it was wun simple hand shake or swaping body fluids....It was my plessure meeting you all!

jus kiddin bout da body fluids...

Aloooooooha!

Aloooooooja Chiki

Gecko gets kissed by The Mystery Lady.

I have almost all of our pictures up on the site now and I have started a few pages with extra info. Click on pictures with borders for those extra pages.

We are getting in more pictures and they will be posted as I have time. Keep 'em comin'! I hope someone out there got a picture of me and Mrs. Thornton dancing.

Send us your video too. That's going to be a long project, but I would like to edit all the tape I get into one nice video.

I'll be putting the 2002 pictures back up and rearranging the site for 2002, 2003 and the future stuff to included.

You're welcome, Gecko. I'm bummed that I couldn't make it the Hukilaua and meet the rest of the TC Ohana. But, I'm writing from Poland now (and yes! I love Polish jokes)and soon to head off to Ukraine. Aloha from Eastern Europe. See you at Hukilau III.
Manic "Kitcha" (Cat in Pl. and Ukr.)

You're welcome, Gecko. I'm bummed that I couldn't make it the Hukilaua and meet the rest of the TC Ohana. But, I'm writing from Poland now (and yes! I love Polish jokes)and soon to head off to Ukraine. Aloha from Eastern Europe. See you at Hukilau III.
Manic "Kitcha" (Cat in Pl. and Ukr.)

Ahhhh....

Hukilau was indescribably wonderful -- it's taken me a week to absorb it all and even feel ready to describe it. Folks here at work, so used to hearing about my tiki escapades as soon as I return from them, have been baffled by the simple beatific smile they're greeted with when I'm asked "how my tiki thing went."

I left my camera at home this time, and I'm glad I did -- the experience will live on much better in my head, photographs would fail it.

Many factors contributed to my extreme enjoyment of that weekend, but the single most important one was Miss Inky Louise. My favorite memory is simply the two of us girls, all alone, playing in the ocean in the middle of the night after we returned from the Mai Kai. How fortunate was I? I got to go to bed every night with Inky Louise!! :wink:

There can never be enough mahalos for the folks that made it happen. Thank you so much, Swanky, Kiliki, Bree & Tristan! I can't begin to fathom the many months of hard work that went into just that one weekend.

With so much going on, I feel like I missed 2/3rds of what was happening. My biggest regret is that I missed meeting so many East Coast TCers! Next time, a more concerted effort will be made on my part.

That said, I did get to meet a bunch of new (to me) folks, which is always a blast!

Purple Jade -- so neat to finally meet you! Can't wait to swap closets.

Basement Kahuna & Brad the Beachcomber -- oh my god, do they make boys right down south! Such gentlemen, so charming, the girls were positively melting as you guys passed by, we don't have boys like you out here on the west coast. Screw LA, I'm moving to Georgia!

James -- the rumors are true, girls, he's quite dashing, and a bit impish. Sharing the fireworks moment with you was just right.

Gecko -- I'm going to extend the echo with yet another swoon... but where was that pigeon? Next time, I'm gonna see you in Hawaii so I can hear that beautiful lilt.

Kava King & his Queen -- it was great to share a table with you folks! Who knew my handbag was so famous?

Vern -- it was so great to put a face to the name! I'll have to come up with an excuse to visit DC so I can see the local tiki sights!

I think I met more TCers for the first time, but due my zombie-induced haze, you may have to re-introduce yourself at the next event! :(

My new Hoiti Toiti 'ohana, thank you so much for accepting me into your tribe! I can't wait to be down there with you. In particular, it was a blast hanging with the boys, Crazy Al & Bamboo Ben! C'Al, my little resin ape has been affixed to my handbag, and is now my constant companion and symbolic reminder of all that is TC. Ben, you can advertise on my ass anytime you want! Holden, of course, is the ultimate stress reliever. Sane Al & Shelly, SugarCaddyDaddy, TraderPup, King Kukulele, Doctor Z & Z-girl... you guys feel like home to me already.

Of course, it's not all about the Hoiti Toitis -- TikiVixen, Mr. Smiley, Otto & Baby Doe, Tiki Bob, I love seeing you guys!

Casey, from Caliente Tropics -- I'm so glad that after hosting us so graciously at Oasis, you were able to relax and enjoy an event! Welcome, officially, to the 'ohana.

David Doris -- dunno if you're on here, but in case you are, you were a blast to chat with! I hope to see you at more events.

This year has been an amazing one for me so far -- massive life changes, hugely painful experiences, terrifying new decisions to be making... and through all of this, you guys have been there, waiting with a smile and a Mai Tai. This year, which could easily have been described as my annus horribilus, has been quite possibly the best of my life. Much aloha to all of you, mahalo.

Hukilau was a blast..thanks to all who made it happen....although I didn't happen to meet many tiki centralites {due to my early nites no doubt,the mai tais did it!} I really look forward to next year..The Mai Kai is a knock out! Anyone who missed out save up and go next year..this is a mecca for tiki freaks.... Can't wait for Hukilau '04

hukilau 2 was all that I thought and more!! it was kool meeting all the TC'ers and da local lauderdale punk kids. saw some familiar heads from last year, and met a few new ones.I wont mention names cause I suffer from a condition called "CRS" and have trouble retaining names and stuff ,but the whole damn thing was kool .Kiliki, Swanky, once again thanks for everything and cant wait till da next one. Jaksin "TikithuggeryWorldwide"

Hell yeah! HUKILAU '03 was off the chain... I'm still recooperating from it all, not to mention the hula lesson that I got from the lovely wahines at the Mai-Kai. It was fun meeting a bunch of cool people, tiki artists and seeing familiar faces also. Mucho Mahalos to Swanky ,Kiliki and everyone who made the event possible. Can't wait to do it all over again next year. Kreepy Tiki wants to thank everyone for participating in our tiki raffle and congratulations to the lucky winners! KT...jinxproofed since '97.

Kaliki, Swanky, Bree and all the rest -- Hukilau 2 was THE BEST!

I had a blast and can't wait for 3!

Thanks for all the hard work you guys put into it.

I'll try to get some photos up this week.

I've just arrived home, to NYC. This evening before boarding the plane I had a final cocktail at Mai Kai, and although the atmosphere was decidedly Sleepier than last weekend, the Awesome Tiki Ohana Vibe still reverberated through the air!

Kiliki and Swanky – that was an awesome party, the best. I am glad that I never went to my high school prom; I am going to fantasize forever that Hukilau was it!

Humu – The best roomie ever! The wardrobe changes, the midnight swims….We will Divide and conquer!

Shelley – The Shiniest pearl on the beach. Thanks sooooo much for including me in your special costume extravaganza and sharing that passionate moment w/ our mystery man. I wouldn’t have been able to handle him by myself. The girls at Mai Kai today kept asking were my sister was!??!

Al, Crazy Al, Bamboo, and King – Thanks for keeping the party going for a few days, Kickin’ back on Ink Key. I loved meeting you all and can’t wait for more fun times ahead.

To all the other great folks I met… Holden, Kava and Mrs. Kava, Purple Jade, Brad, the Zs, Traderpup, Bree, Gecko, JamesT, the Italian Sailors, and all the rest. When in New York, the door is open at the InkPad.

Manic – next year I am dragging you!!!!

Now it’s time to scan the photo albums and see how many compromising photos feature some renegade Mystery Girls…

Although Wahine Marian and I were only able to fly in for the Hukilau party at the hotel on Friday (we left at 4 am from Baltimore) and had to jet back to the same city early the next day -- we still had a great time meeting some of you infamous west coast tiki people, and sharing Aloha with some of our "old" tiki friends from Florida and Hukilau 2002.
We have to extend a massive mahalo to Ken-tiki and Ariel Setzer for picking us up at the airport, driving us to the party and getting us back to the airport the next morning. They are the best Ohana anyone could have...
Also, it was great to be greeted on arrival on the streets of Ft. Lauderdale by Chris Holland, ushered into the hotel by Alnshely, welcomed with a big hugs from Christie and Bre-elle, get a hearty (if panicy) hello and handshake from Tristan -- who had just lost electricity-- and recieve that quiet yet strangely cool acknowledgement Swanky does as his counterpoint to the needless displays of personal warmth and enthusiasm expressed by others.
I really can't remember everyone we danced and drank with -- or the last third of the evening for that matter -- but dancing with Becki Coombs was a treat, as was dancing with Bree in all of her Hiva finery, and watching Marian dance with Crazy Al and Wayne Coombs at the same time was pretty damn frightening for me, but fun for her.
We're so glad we also got to meet Holden, Bamboo Ben, Otto, and Gecko and to have finally met our neighbor, Rain. Also, good to see Vern from DC, Themuggler and Mrsmuggler again. And, to watch and listen to King Denny do his thing.
Sorry we didn't get to meet, or least were too high to remember to have met, Basement Kahuna, JT, thejab, mrsmiley and others we wanted to groove with, but there's always next year, when we promise to make the entire weekend or quit our jobs.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-07 14:36 ]

Dammitall, KG, I missed meeting you!
(Or did I? Parts of Friday night are still nebulous.)

It was pretty rockin' having all you classy sassy hip shakin tiki fiends down in our neck of the woods! Fort Lauderale hasnt seen that kind of excitement for a LONG time and i am NOT holding my breath for such a good time here until Hukilau 2004. I never thought that we could possibly have more fun at the Mai Kai than we do every WEEK there but you guys rocked off the roof. Kiliki - you are an ANGEL with Devil's style...and Swanky, the name speaks for itself and a WHOLE lot more. Cant wait to see you all again next year.
Until then...

...I'll be toasting my Pina Passions to ya'll in the Molokai Bar counting down the days til the tikis will be honored again!

(P.S. YES "Tiki" Jaksin, I know I'm a nerd leave me alone)

I wanted to chime in also and say thanks to Swanky, Kiliki, Bre-elle, Tristan, and all the others involved who make the Hukilau 2003 so much fun. It was great to meet so many of you west-coasters, nice to see familiar faces from past grand parties, some new faces, and good to share the festivities with a few others from the DC/Baltimore area.

I think we need a Hukilau high-school like yearbook, then we could all write our little comments of thanks to the individuals we had met individually and shared good times with.

I will share some of my favorite photos from the Hukilau event later this week.

I decided to stretch my vacation to a 12 day Florida vacation, and Hukilau was a great way to start the trip. I did make it to Key West afterwards, and probably walked right by Sloppy Joes while Al, Shelley, Al, Ben, and the others were partying inside. I ended up having sidecar martinis at a neat lounge singer place called Virgilio's a few blocks up the street - highly recommended. I did the very un-tiki thing of walking into Jimmy Buffet's souvenir store on Duvall store - and am pleased to announce that I saw no traces of tikis whatsoever in that store, so perhaps the fears of the future dumbing down of the tiki spirit are a bit premature.

I was also able to visit Butterfly World, the BOK Tower, Hemingway's home, Caribbean Gardens, see the live mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Springs, the glass bottom boats of Silver Springs (where the Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed), and there were small touches of tiki at many of these places. I spent the fourth of July in Orlando - not by doing Disney, but by hitting the thrifts and ending up at the Bamboo Lounge.

I'm exhausted .... but it was a great 12 days, and once again, thanks to everyone for making those first days of Hukilau activity so much fun.

Vern

"mean little devil" you are a kool nerd nondaless..G.B.H and da Circle Jerks will destroy Ft.lauderdale tamorrow night hope to see ya dare..Jak+Sin= Tiki thuggery worldwide

Damn...G.B.H.? Last I remember them playing nearby it was the Metroplex in Atlanta...That's been a while. I love G.B.H. I saw the Circle Jerks, the Necros, and Bedlam Hour at Rockefella's in Columbia back in 1986...Great show. Saw Black Flag there, too..think it was the "Loose Nut" tour!

How is it that I always sound like a MORON in print?

Here is the link to the article in our local entertainemnt paper about the Hukilau:

http://www.citylinkonline.com/coverstory.html

On 2003-07-09 14:06, MeanLittleDevil wrote:
How is it that I always sound like a MORON in print?

You didn't sound moronic at all and at least you made it into print. This reporter kept me on the phone for over an hour one night answering all kinds of ridiculous questions, like "when you tiki people get together do you wear Hawaiian shirts and get drunk?"
Duh.

Regardless, I think he did a great job uncovering alot of Mai-Kai history. I wonder if he stole some of the thunder of the person that is writing the Mai-Kai book? Anyone we know?

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-09 15:14 ]

Jean is a long time friend of the Thornton family. He's not a member of Tiki Central. He's actually pretty old fashioned and doesn't even have a computer. Also, he's a great guy and dancer! Art interviewed him for several hours too so I'm sure he's ok with anything in the article. I'm sure there are plenty of stories that he's holding back for the book!

That is a great City Link article, and the upcoming Mai Kai book is certainly something to look forward to.

Meanwhile, here are a few of my favorite pictures I took from the Hukilau weekend .... enjoy!

1. Tiki Kiliki all aglow, perhaps because of her proximity to the tiki? or the result of the camera flash and the misting system? a combination of both?

2. Tiki Kiliki singing with King Kukulele, with harmonies that put even Crazy Al into a rare meditative mode.

3. Bre-ele and Shely showing their hula moves.

4. Mai Kai Serving Girl, with Mystery Drink Bowl and Tiki
   

5. James, seduced by the mermaid/drink mural at the Yankee Clipper Wreck Bar.

6. Holden admiring Al's tiki coffee mug .... what are you drinking, Al?

7. Later that evening, the same Al, swimming in the pool behind the Yankee Clipper bar windows. Al was joined shortly afterwards by Shely - both are considering career changes to become Weeki Wachee mermaids.

8. Myself, one week after Hukilau, kissing a great monkey tiki carving at Silver Springs.

There are many more, but these were my favorites!

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev on 2003-07-09 20:40 ]

Aloha Kailuageoff!

You and Wahine Marian are MORE than welcome any time in the Hala Kentiki! Next time, it's gotta be for longer (and hopefully the place will have a cove and lagoon by then ; )

Nothin like seeing Miami Int'l at 7:00am thru hungover eyes, huh? HEE HEE

yeah ,I agree w/ Mean Lil' Devil when what you say and what's printed out is kinda different .still I think Art levine, did a good job on covering the event, and I give em mad props for the exposure he gave the Hukilau and for coming out to ma place, and Taking his time to interview 4 drunk kids in the middle of the afternoon in the hot Miami sun. but, please note that I'm not the Kreepy Tiki Collective "leader" we all work equally as hard ,and it just would not be fair to Loon,P.G.(ma sis) ,Josh C.,Beon.for me not to say this. Jaksin (tiki maker by day ,Super Hero by night)

Hukilau fans; check out my article on the event at http://www.Citylinkmagazine.com (I also posted this as a separate topic posting; I'm new to using this site, so pardon the redundancy.) The organizers liked it, and so will you, I expect. See you next year at the Mai-Kai. Sincerely, Art

by the way god bless that Mystery Tiki girl

On 2003-07-10 12:18, Kentiki wrote:
Aloha Kailuageoff!

You and Wahine Marian are MORE than welcome any time in the Hala Kentiki!

Huge thanks to you, my dear, for getting Geoff and Marian to the Friday night bash. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

On 2003-07-09 20:37, ikitnrev wrote:

1. Tiki Kiliki all aglow
2. Mai Kai Serving Girl, with Mystery Drink Bowl and Tiki
3. James, seduced by the mermaid/drink mural at the Yankee Clipper Wreck Bar.
4. Later that evening, the same Al, swimming in the pool behind the Yankee Clipper bar windows. Al was joined shortly afterwards by Shely - both are considering career changes to become Weeki Wachee mermaids.

1. This pic is too cool, Vern! Christie, you look like a Tiki angel.

2. Sigh.

3. Oh, man, oh man, I forgot all about you taking this picture. I wonder what sort of other blackmail material is floating around out there?
   Note to self: don't pose for goofy pictures while drunk!

4. Even though this occurred on Thursday night, it was one of the funniest parts of the weekend. This silliness was hard to beat, it set the bar for nutty behavior pretty high for Friday and Saturday. Kukulele's Mystery-Dance for Shelley and Inky might have come close... Why are Al n' Shelley always at the epicenter of insanity? Bless their hearts.

Nice pix Vern, thanks for sharing.

I see from the Hukilau web site that it will be held in September 2004 at the Mai Kai
Fort Lauderdale, FL., any reason for the move from June.

Just wondering

powerofthetiki
http://www.marylanddctiki.com
http://marylanddctiki.proboards2.com/index.cgi

September is the slowest season in Lauderdale. It will allow us to deal with the hotel, etc. for the best deals. They will give us more space for free to get our large group in there. We hope we'll be able to have a large air conditioned room for vendors, lower rates, and such. Air fare may be lower at that time too. And the temperature is warmer then than June and the rainfall average is 2 inches less. Bottom line, more for less. AND, it moves us several months away from Tiki Oasis in May.

The only downfall to having the Hukilau in September, is that we now have to wait for over a year to the next one!

yeah, that's kind of depressing.
good rationale for the whole thing, though.

While I'm not a fan of waiting for OVER a year now. I can say one thing that's for sure... Swanky and Kiliki (and co.) sure know what they are doing when it comes to throwing a party. So I will HAVE to just wait... and accept it. I am ok with it. :)

The weather down here is much nicer in September. I'm going to try to go back to Mai Kai in December for my birthday.

Wait until you see what we can cook up in these 14 months! If all these plans can be made reality!!!

If ya'll need any help here on this side of the world over the next 14 months, please dont hesitate to ask! I have nothing more important to do here than dedicate my time in the name of a damn good party =)

Will we be sticking with the Holiday Inn, or trying out another beach front hotel?

We are trying others. We liked the locale, but there were problems. We especially need a place where we have "convention" space. Gotta be on the beach. Gotta be nice. Gotta be big enough. Gotta have a space to set the vendors up once and lock it up at night. ALL the vendors. Etc...

I always thought it would be damn cool to party in the Polynesian Room of the Sheraton Yankee Clipper, even though Tristan said they were not real cooperative when approached. The room's not decorated Polynesian anymore, but I bet we could raise the tiki spirits in the space and catch a good vibe.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-07-16 19:32 ]

it's not on the beach, but have youse looked into the Tropirock? it's about 1 block south and 1 block off the beach from the holiday inn, and it is SUPER SUPER cool - two of our friends that came to hukilau stayed there, and we got a little tour from the owner.

probably too small for hukilau, but worth noting for any solo/small-group mai kai pilgrims.

On 2003-07-16 19:07, Swanky wrote:
We are trying others. We liked the locale, but there were problems.

       ----------  

Faster elevators???? (my only complaint. the stairs took years off my life!)

Yeah, we had lots of complaints about the elevators but all in all the hotel worked for this year. If I had another slice of pizza from that place around the corner I think I would croak.

Rain, I'll try the Tropicrock. We are trying to plan a trip there soon to scout around and find what would be best for the group. Maybe it doesn't need to be on the beach. As long as it's close I think attendees will be happy. I'll see how many rooms they have.

kiliki -

http://www.tropirock.com

• i think they only have like 40-something rooms. alot of outdoor (and roof!) space, though.
  :)

Shelley and I stayed at Tropirock our last night in Ft Lauderdale. It was very cool. I recomend it.
Mahalo,
Al

Marian and I have stayed there as well. I love their roof top hammock. How did you find it? Just curious.

The internet of course
Mahalo,
Al

Yeah, us too. I think it would be way too small for the Hukilau ohana though. By the way, it was great to finally meet you both.
KG

Thanks Rain! Looks like a very nice and cozy spot. Maybe we can find a place with those qualities just larger.

I'll have to look into staying there when we're in Lauderdale later this year.