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hukilau was fantastic. |
112502
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 21, 2004
Posts: 16
From: Knoxville, TN
|  Posted: 2005-10-10 6:27 pm Permalink
Quote:
| On 2005-10-10 18:26, Swanky wrote:
Basement Kahuna worships at the Mai Kai altar. |
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THAT is the BEST photo EVER!
I want a poster --- I know it'll sell!
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Traitor Vic
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 02, 2003
Posts: 428
From: Greenville, SC
| Posted: 2005-10-10 8:45 pm Permalink
Wow!!!
We had a Blast!!! The Music... The Food... The Drinks... And Especially the OHANA were the best I've ever experienced for an entire long weekend in my life!!!
Thank you all for making our Hukilau trip so wonderful!
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professahhummingflowah
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 11, 2005
Posts: 296
From: honolulu, hawaii & boston, ma
| Posted: 2005-10-10 9:02 pm Permalink
Oxoltol, friends...
This was my very first Hukilau, and I can assure you it won't be my last. Me and the other WAITIKI guys had some of the most fun we've had... ever! Mahalo to all who made this event a success, especially Tiki Kiliki, JT, the one-and-only Haole Kats, King Kukulele, and all the Villagers of Okonkuluku!
My personal favorite moment was watching Crazy Al do the Clam Dance to Tongo-Hiti's bar serenade (Space Kadet and I danced The Clam right away when we got back to Beantown).
Can't wait for Hukilau 2006...... Holler if y'all come up to Boston, or at least east of Okonkuluku! (That's west of Xanadu, for you Drasninites...)
Mahalo & Oxolotl,
Professah Humming Flower of WAITIKI
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sneakyjack
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 25, 2004
Posts: 988
From: NYC Area
| Posted: 2005-10-10 9:11 pm Permalink
Hukilau = good
Mai Kai = extremely good
Mystery bowl and delivery = good
Robert Performance = good (even though I got locked out)
Cabana Bar = good
People at the event = Good
Baribault Creationz Tiki Stickers = good
I could go on and on but I think you get the idea, looking forward to next year I'm hoping to add Oasis in Palm Springs (may 06?) to my first list as well!
Thanks to all the people I met and to all the hard work that I know went into making it a special event!
Jawa - I missed ya - Monkeyman and Manic too - I guess next time???
Was it hot in that 1st seating happy hour at the Mai Kai or was it just ?
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codelisa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 09, 2005
Posts: 166
From: Long Island, NY
| Posted: 2005-10-10 9:27 pm Permalink
Wish I could have experienced all of the fun. I only got to shop for a short while on Sat. I met a few TCers but not enough. My daughter & husband bought 2 tikis and I bought 1. 
A special thank you to Basement Kahuna for the mug I bought that said 'Judy' on the bottom. It has a special meaning to me (it was a sign that my sister was there with me) and I will always treasure it. All the vendors had amazing stuff. We got some great items there. To all who were involved in organizing the event - Great job! I hope to experience the entire Hukilau next year!
_________________
Have a drink on me...
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bongofury
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Oct 15, 2002
Posts: 1473
From: Ventura County
| Posted: 2005-10-10 9:37 pm Permalink
Tiki Kiliki and James did Hukilau well. How could it be better? Robert Drasnin, Waitiki, The Intoxicators........Yma Sumac, Bunny Yeager, King Kukelele......The MAI KAI...... a bunch of great TCers.....and more. Formikahini did a swell job with Mr, Drasnin.
I also benefitted from having Polynesian Pop and Kick_the_reverb as roomates ......we had a blast together. Remember to bring a 6' tall empty case next year to bring back the cool carvings. Great stuff by Benzart, Lake Surfer, Tiki G, Chisel Slinger, and more. I got some cool swag from TiKi tOny, Puamana, Crazy Al, Lake Surfer, Joe Vitale, Pablus, Hukilau, PolyPop and more. I definately needed another suitcase.
Good to see old friends and new. Good to see Casey there too. Did I really See the Mystery Girl getting friendly with one of ours? The show, food, and drinks at the Mai Kai was first rate. Tour of the back offices was cool. Hope to make plans for next year. Maybe Mrs. Fury can make it instead of prepping for the SEMA show in Vegas. Sorry I forgot my camera.
And a special thanks to an East Coast lurker that we hooked up with at the Bahia Cabana bar. He said he would post soon (as Cabana Boy?) This guy showed us some of the "other" side of Fort Lauderdale (the dancers at Automatic Slims in their schoolgirl outfits was better than their "Tiki" bar in the back room), even joining us at the Molokai Bar. Then afterwards piled into the car with me, PolyPop, KTR, SugarCaddyDaddy, and Crazy Al for some after hours fun......was that another Tcer getting out of a cab at Scores? Hmmmmmmm....Hope someone got some pics.
I left the party at Unga Bunga's early(?) as I had a 7:45am wake up and off to the airport. Hope to see all of you there next year.
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KuKuAhu
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 23, 2002
Posts: 567
From: Kahiki, Ohio
| Posted: 2005-10-10 9:40 pm Permalink
I'm still recovering, but I wanted to pop in and say thanks to everyone. You all were amazing, and I've never been more impressed by the warmth of strangers than I was at Hukilau 05.
Kiliki: Wow. My thanks could never be enough. You took such good care of us all and were as patient as the day is long. Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo.
JT: Like I said, you outdid yourself and frankly all others. The bar is permanently raised.
Pablus: thanks for making an Ohio boy feel at home in Florida. Come up some time and we'll go see the Bucks play.
Joe: Looking forward to our next meeting. You are the goods my man. You ever roll through Columbus, you got a home for the night and a drinking buddy.
Swanky: A pleasure once more. You are one of those rare cats that I just plain dig being around. I'll miss you until we meet again.
Jeff: Brother, you always come through. We live so close, we gotta hang out more often.
Vic: You crack me up, you live it up, you get down like you got it made. Nice to meet you, and I look forward to our next encounter.
The Cult of the Eye guys: I'll thank you in secret code so that nobody else understands.. Fly on wall, skyline falls, no more than ever more, never the better. 1114 and Lincoln forever. Cannibal, who loves ya baby?
Shoot, I know I'll remember to thank and say hi to more of you, but I'm tired right now and gotta hit the hay. So if I forgot, don't get sore at me. I'll try to continue this later.
I'll leave you all with a link to the FOM gallery where there's some pics and video snips I uploaded. I'll put up more as I get the time.
http://www.fraternalorderofmoai.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=56
Enjoy!
Ahu
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Tikigoob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 06, 2005
Posts: 151
From: Florida
| Posted: 2005-10-10 9:43 pm Permalink
The Intoxicators! had a blast at Hukilau 2005!
Thanks Tiki Kiliki, JT, Dames A'Flame, the Mai Kai staff, and the awesome bands, vendors, and personalities that we met and hung out with over the weekend...
anyway... enough talk... here's some photos...
Brian from the Intoxicators! with the Molokai bartenders
The Intoxicators! performing on Friday night with Dames A'Flame
The great Monkeyzuma
The Mai Kai dinner show on Saturday
Waitiki on Friday night
Pablus entertains the tikis Saturday night
I will be adding photos to The Intoxicators! website in the next few days. The address is http://www.theintoxicators.com
[ This Message was edited by: tikigoob 2005-10-10 22:17 ]
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ikitnrev
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jul 27, 2002
Posts: 1298
From: D.C. / Virginia
| Posted: 2005-10-10 10:02 pm Permalink
I want to share my first Hukilau memory with you - but first I have to provide a little background.
My home tiki room contains a vintage stereo system, which can be seen in the photo below.
I also have a large LP collection in my basement, and I will bring up and rotate a small number of exotica LPs to play on this stereo. Most of these LPs are mediocre and some are so bad that I will play them only once before discarding, but for the most part I generally prefer the ambience of the vintage sound that the records provide. A few of my favorite LPs (i.e. Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, etc.) will be kept near the turntable in case friends come to visit, but the majority are kept alphabetized in shelves in the basement.
Before this year's Hukilau, I went to the basement to retrieve a few of my Yma Sumac covers for her to sign - I also checked under my exotica section under 'D' to see if I owned any Robert Drasnin LPs. I thought that I might perhaps have his 'Voodoo' LP filed there, but there was nothing there. I debated about buying a CD copy of Voodoo before the trip, so I could familiarize myself with the music, but decided to wait.
Advance to Hukilau - Friday afternoon when the bazaar doors open. I make it to the table where Jeff Central is selling the Gecko/Drasnin Voodoo mugs, and I notice that sitting on the table is a small stack of a LP titled 'Percussion Exotique.' I immediately recognize the cover graphics, as it is one of the few treasured LPs that I own and keep next to my tiki room stereo. For unknown reasons, I never really paid any attention to who the LP artist was. It is only then that I learn that 'Percussion Exotique' is a re-released version of Drasnin's 'Voodoo' LP, with a different cover graphic. I had been listening to Drasnin's Voodoo for years, and didn't even know it!
Advance to Friday evening, as Robert Drasnin and his assembled orchestra are about to start playing. A brief introduction is made, and then Drasnin starts conducting the first song -- and my heart melts with recognition. I know this song!! I am familiar with this song!! Those notes have emerged from my tiki room stereo speakers dozens of times, and I am now hearing them being played live, with the actual composer there in front of me. I wasn't quite prepared for this - I knew exotic music would be performed by this orchestra, but I didn't expect that I would be so familiar with most all of the music. It was truly one of the most emotional live musical performances that I have experienced.
Understand that for most of his musical career, Robert Drasnin was either a supporting musician for somebody else's band, or a composer for television and movie orchestras who rarely had the opportunity to perform in front of a live audiences. The audience during the entire performance was very quiet, very respectful
Here are a few pictures from that Drasnin performance, starting with one that shows Tiki Central's Formikahini singing
A closeup of Robert Drasnin playing
And here he is, nearly 45 years after composing the original Voodoo composition, finally receiving a well deserved standing ovation for his work.
A wider shot - James Teitelbaum is standing in the shadows under the bright light (to the left of the man in white), and Tiki Kiliki is in the white dress. To the right of Tiki Kiliki, with hands raised in the air, is Hanford. The leftmost musician in the image, with the dreadlocks (if you zoomed in you would see a BIG smile) is Robert Drasnin's 18 year old grandson, who flew in from Washington state to play percussion for this concert.
I heard it mentioned several times that Robert Drasnin considered this moment to be one of the definite highlights of his life.
Hukilau memories don't get much better than this.
Vern
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tikibars
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2002
Posts: 2014
From: Aku Hall, Chicago
| Posted: 2005-10-10 10:41 pm Permalink
Hey everyone!
Thanks for asll of the positive feedback!
Just got home and I am completly exhausted - in spite of my nap at Pia's on Sunday afternoon(!) - but I just had to check out this Hukilau thread.
I was so busy running around like a headless chicken in organizing things all weekend, that I didn't really take any pictures at all, so please, please everyone - feel free to post as many as you have!
And of course let me take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who showed up for this weekend.
I spent nearly ten months putting together the Drasnin show, and your reaction to it, your appreciation for it, and your clear enthusiasm for it made it completely worth all of the work. I had to keep ducking behind the sound area to the right of the stage to hide, because I was getting all choked up!
It was fantastic to see all of the TC ohana there - I just regret that my conversations with everyone were so short due to my responsibilities... I would truly have liked for every conversation I had with each of you to have been about three times longer!
And now:
Everyone repeat after me: "Hooray for Christie!"
- James T (JT)
PS - Someone was asking about a DVD of the Drasnin gig. Although our video guy did get some nice footage, rumors that there was pro-quality audio being recorded were greatly exaggerated. Do not hold your breath for a full-length release of the performance. But definitely look for Drasnin's long-awaited "Voodoo II" studio-recorded CD in 2006 or 2007!
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Basement Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 14, 2002
Posts: 3587
From: Jawja Province, Isle of North America
| Posted: 2005-10-10 11:12 pm Permalink
Alas, I have washed back up upon my own shore here in Georgia; I'll probably "come to" tomorrow and get my photos posted..this was one of the best times ever. 
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pappythesailor
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 1563
From: Mass.
| Posted: 2005-10-11 03:20 am Permalink
Quote:
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The thatch roof was a later touch. I don't think it was designed that way and was not that way when it was built. Think of it as going back to their roots!
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I admit not knowing Mai Kai history and I admit to not having a marketing degree but you can't attract people off the street with a roof that looks like THIS. I hope they understand you can't wow anybody if you can't get 'em in the door. I say this with love--I wanna go back for the 75th anniversary too!
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I, Zombie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2003
Posts: 539
From: the Les Baxter Grotto (Minneapolis)
| Posted: 2005-10-11 06:16 am Permalink
Aloha everyone,
Let me just add my THANKS! to everyone involved in this year's Hukilau. Just an amazing event. It was great to meet so many TCers finally, and put faces and voices with the names.
And a Big THANK YOU to JT (aka Tikibars) for the great music. For me, the whole tiki revival is really about two things: exotica music and great cocktails. Listening to Martin Denny's music live at the Mai Kai, while enjoying a Mara-Amu, is about as good as it gets. And the Drasnin set brought tears to the eyes.
It was truly an excellent Hukilau!
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Cabana Boy
Member
Joined: Oct 11, 2005
Posts: 2 | Posted: 2005-10-11 07:27 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2005-10-10 21:37, bongofury wrote:
And a special thanks to an East Coast lurker that we hooked up with at the Bahia Cabana bar. He said he would post soon (as Cabana Boy?) This guy showed us some of the "other" side of Fort Lauderdale (the dancers at Automatic Slims in their schoolgirl outfits was better than their "Tiki" bar in the back room), even joining us at the Molokai Bar. Then afterwards piled into the car with me, PolyPop, KTR, SugarCaddyDaddy, and Crazy Al for some after hours fun......was that another Tcer getting out of a cab at Scores? Hmmmmmmm....Hope someone got some pics.
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Hiya Bongo!
Yeah, Hukilau was a fun time - my first one. Saturday night was a blast with you, KTR, SCD, Poly Pop and Crazy Al. I'll post pics soon. Thanks to all involved who made my trip so much fun!
Cabana Boy - Flex on the Beach
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MooneyTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 578
From: Jensen Beach,fla
| Posted: 2005-10-11 07:32 am Permalink
I want to say that my family and I had a great time at the Hukilau. Much MAHALO to Christy, james T,Casey and please forgive me for missing many others. You all did a killer job organizing and running an AAAAAAAAAWEASOME Event!!
It was great meeting so many nice people an seeing so manny Talented venders and musicians. AWEASOME EVENT and we cant wait to go next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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