Tiki Archeology Video/ Room 135 Singalong CD (also posted in Collecting Tiki)

This is an announcement that, inspired by my attempt to make the Room 135 singalong CD, I decided to go ahead with sharing other stuff from my vaults with you loving Tiki Central folks:
As some members of the OC Tiki Crawl already know, I will make available two documentaries that I was involved with before the BoT came out. I only got six done in time for the crawl, but this coming week I will make more, get a P.O. Box and sell them for MONEY to whoever is interested. Here is the text from the back of the box:

This delightful journey into Tikiland consists of two videos produced before THE BOOK OF TIKI was published. But since my research had a major influence on the making of them,they visually complement the book nicely.Expeditions to sites that are now gone, like THE TIKIS and the Playa Del Rey Polynesian Village Apartments, Interviews, and archival footage of people and places mentioned in the book allow the urban archeologist to revisit and discover the sites and sounds of Polynesia Americana:

PART 1 : "THE AIRCONDITIONED EDEN" -25 minutes-

This 1996 documentary was produced and directed by expatriate American Peter Stuart for BBC’s channel 4. The archival footage features highlights such as Martin Denny’s first live performance on the Dinah Shore show. To actually SEE Augie Colon voice those birdcalls is an unforgettable moment (I apologize that my voice over was layed over some of it!). Martin is also interviewed in the film, and we see one of the last interviews with James Michener. Original footage of the Disneyland Tiki room and the Kon Tiki voyage further document important Tiki moments in history.

PART 2: "HAWAIIAN AIRLINES INFLIGHT VIDEO MAGAZINE" -20 minutes-
This Tiki Tour of Los Angeles was only shown on outgoing flights of Hawaiian Airlines in 1999. You get to see my house, my Kon Tiki shirt, lots of Tiki apartments (like the Armet & Davis designed Polynesian Village which is now razed), Bahooka’s Restaurant, and Oceanic Arts in Whittier. Gracious host Miss Hawaii 1998 does not necessarily follow my train of thought, but does a good job stroking the lava rock Vanna White-style.

It is really a terrific video. An absolute must have for the Tiki enthusiast. The images and sounds make for entertaining viewing. Check this one out. The CD is full of Hawaiian standards. great for background music in the bar or for sing alongs on the bus. Must have for the Tiki Multimedia Library.
Al

I was wondering who did the bird calls. Big Bro, I think the video is great, I'm glad to own it. I watched it first thing in the morning and enjoyed every second of it. Thanks Sven.

I can certinly vouch for 'The Airconditioned Eden' as I taped it when it was shown in the UK and have watched it many a time. The footage is absolutely amazing!!! Funnily enough, the overall tone is one of sadness.....that soon all this Tiki stuff wil be gone because nobody cares about it. Six years on, the future of Tiki is brighter than anyone could have imagined back then.

Also Sven is credited in the show as having written 'The Book of Tiki' despite it not being published for another 4 years! No wonder I had so many fruitless searches in bookshops in the mid/late 90's.

(Members of the old Yahoo site might remember me promising to get copies made. I haven't even managed PAL copies yet, nevermind NTSC, so kudos to BigBro for getting it together!)

Trader Woody

[ Edited by: Trader Woody on 2002-07-15 06:11 ]

BigBro, I am holding my breath awaiting a chance to get the videos and the CD. And thank you for all your hard work to keep it all alive. Keep in touch.

My rum-soaked brain vaguely remembers seeing one or both of these a while back at the Parkway theatre in Oakland during a "Will the Thrill" event. I remember somebody (Beachbum Berry?) visiting Easter Island in another film shown at the same event. In any case, I enjoyed them so I'm interested in buying a copy.

I hate to clog bandwidth by saying "me too," but me too!

:-D

El Jabbo-

I enjoyed that night at the Parkway as well. We definitely saw the in flight film, and I much enjoyed the incredible indifference displayed by Miss Hawaii. The other film is called "The Secret Of Easter Island" and is damn funny. You can buy it (last I chacked) at http://www.tikibosko.com

-Martin

Jeff Beachbum Berry's "The Secret of Easter Island" has been termed by me "the only true Tiki movie", because it stars a Tiki as it's protagonist. Its a gem.
Brace yourself for the "big budget scene" where a whole shelf of original Mr. Bali Hai mugs gets smashed (in 1991 you could get them by the box at the Bali Hai). It's not so painful now that Tiki Farm is remaking them..

OK, here we go: The CDs are gonna take a little longer, I want to make them real nice and spiffy, but the VIDEO is all ready to go. I will have some for sale at the Atlanta Hukilau, or you can get it this way:

For simplicity, it's 20.- dollars. DO send cash! A 20.- bill is easy to hide in an envelope (checks will do in a pinch). Do NOT forget to include your return address! Here is mine, I trust you guys are not a bunch of weirdos (other than being into Tiki!) and will not send me stink bombs or obscene materials (actually, DO send...never mind:)

2300 Hidalgo Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039

Enjoy!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2002-07-17 14:07 ]

Do you take PayPal?
:)

Nope. Since I don't do e-bay, I don't know PayPal. I am a primitive, just cash or check (no glass pearls)

So I sold a bunch of videos at the Atlanta Hukilau, and I popped one in the bigscreen player at the Fountainhead Lounge, and to my surprise I see that I have involuntaryly copied a bonus piece at the end of it: The DON TIKI musicvideo shot at La Mariana's in Waikiki! It's not mentioned on the box because I forgot it was at the end of the HAWAIIAN AIRLINES tape!
So the first batch will include this as a bonus offering, get it while it lasts.

Heads up!!!

Looks like someone's already selling copies of the video on the open market:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=896050239

I suggest flooding eBay with copies so that whoever is doing the ripping off is unable to get a silly price for it.

Trader Woody

I looked at the ebay link and it says 25 minutes in length so it's possible the seller is selling a copy of the BBC documentary that they had before. It doesn't have the rest of the contents of the tape bigbrotiki is selling.

If you click on "me" next to the sellers name you'll find his name is Brian Litman.

This is the same seller that had a video on ebay of a Martin Denny performance with 7 songs that sold for $810! That had to have been a bidding error.

You know what, you're right (as always).
I pulled my earlier, annoyed reaction. This is not one of my few vids out there so far. But it is a good warning.

I will rewrite the above post for clarity and hope people will heed it.

So please let's close this thread so it drops off and post any video reviews, questions, or order inquiries under the new one. I will let you know about my CD projects once they are finished in a seperate thread.
Mahalo, bigbro