Over the past decade, the second Saturday of August has become an annual day of celebration in the world of Polynesian Pop culture: International Tiki Day.
The holiday was created in 2002 by Kevin Bullat, the steel guitar player for The Hula Girls, as a day of fasting and quiet prayer. No, wait. It’s a day dedicated to colorful aloha shirts, tropical drinks, and tribal revelry.
It’s touted as a great day to host your own backyard luau or visit a contemporary Tiki bar in your area. Most Tikiphiles need no special day to partake in such activities. It’s a year-round, 24-7 lifestyle for many. Newbies may need a little help, however.
Like the lucha libre wrestlers who inspired it, Nashville’s Los Straitjackets has launched a high-flying comeback after being dealt a paralyzing blow that would have pinned lesser bands.
With co-founding guitarist Danny Amis (aka Daddy-O Grande) on the road to recovery from cancer, those masked marvels of instrumental rock have delivered one of the most diverse and polished albums in their 18-year career. Jet Set, released Tuesday on Yep Roc Records, is the band’s lucky 13th studio album and perhaps its best ever. Guitarist and co-founder Eddie Angel has been quoted as saying: “I think it’s remarkable that this far into our career, we could do something I’d consider our best work.”
Amis was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, in mid-2010. “It took me out of commission for two years, even put me in a wheelchair for a while, but once I started recovering I began writing new songs like crazy and was able to record with the band again,” Amis says in a press release for Jet Set. “The godfather of Mexican surf” underwent a successful stem cell transplant in 2011, and he’s been pronounced well enough to play select dates on the band’s upcoming tour. It’s great to see Amis – one of surf rock’s longtime practitioners (he started with the Raybeats in 1980-82) – back in action.
The “Tonight We Unite” tour, which hits South Florida for a date at Miami’s Grand Central next Friday (July 27), is billed as a union of the psychobilly and punk rock worlds. Though under-represented by having just one band on the bill, the psychobilly genre nevertheless stands almost equal by virtue of the tour’s co-headliner, the mighty Nekromantix.
Kim Nekroman of Nekromantix at Churchill's in Miami on July 20, 2010. (Photo by Moe)
Nekromantix is perhaps psychobilly’s most popular and prolific band of the past decade. As co-headliners, the band is joining forces with thrash-punk icons The Casualties for this summer tour that offers a great underground alternative to Warped and other corporate packages. No stranger to South Florida (they played a jam-packed Monterey Club last September), Nekromantix appeal to punks and rockabilly fans of all ages with an incredibly tight array of fast-paced original songs with a macabre twist.
Just one look at the song titles and you know you’re in for a tongue-in-cheek good time: Bats in My Pants, I Kissed a Ghoul, and Bela Lugosi’s Star are just three of the catchy tunes on the band’s most recent album, What Happens in Hell, Stays in Hell (2011, Hellcat Records).
The Mai-Kai’s Molokai bar was jumping on Saturday night, June 9, as an eclectic mix of cocktailians, Tiki enthusiasts, retro hipsters, and surf music fans gathered for The Atomic Grog’s first Mai-Kai Mixer.
Doors opened at 4:30 for Saturday’s early happy hour, and dozens of Mai-Kai faithful queued up early for exclusive flights of the Fort Lauderdale Polynesian palace’s legendary cocktails. DJ Mike “Jetsetter” Jones got the festivities in high gear with his wide-ranging playlist of retro party music, and up-and-coming surf band Skinny Jimmy & The Stingrays nearly blew the doors off the place. The party went full-throttle until the midnight hour.
The rum cocktail flights sold out quickly as more than 30 signed up to taste sample versions of three vintage drinks featuring Lemon Hart Demerara rum. Several hundred filtered through the bar throughout the evening for happy hour – which ran until 7 p.m. – and two high-octane sets from Deerfield Beach’s Skinny Jimmy & The Stingrays.
With rare exceptions, most bars don’t have the proper set-up to mass-produce great Tiki cocktails. The Left Coast Bartenders’ Guild in Florida’s Tampa Bay area recognizes this problem and has come up with a great solution. They’re throwing a gigantic Tiki party at a vintage beachside hotel, complete with live bands, artists and vendors, Polynesian dancers, and of course plenty of vintage cocktails.
Sunset Tiki Party II will invade the Post Card Inn on St. Pete Beach on Sunday, June 10, from 6 to 10 p.m. The mixologists promise an event filled with the best of Tiki culture from the 1930s to 1950s. One of their esteemed brethren, Martin Cate of Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, will present a seminar on the significance of rum in this retro scene.
Rum, of course, will take center stage. Bartenders from around Tampa Bay will be pouring classic drinks featuring major rum brands on what’s being called a “soon-to-be world famous 26-foot-long bar.”
Live music will be provided by three of the state’s premiere purveyors of Tiki party tunes. The Intoxicators (Tallahassee), The Crazed Mugs (Tampa), and The Stolen Idols (Tampa) are all veterans of The Hukilau and other major events. It’s an eclectic mix that includes surf, exotica and tropical/Hawaiian styles.
Since its birth in the early 1960s, surf music seems to arrive in waves roughly every 15 years. And just as Florida surfers have played second fiddle to California, so have the Sunshine State’s surf bands. But it’s surely not due to lack of talent or effort.
Dr. James E. Cunningham talks surf rock. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward)
As a fourth wave washes over us, music scholars are beginning to examine the history of this phenomenon that never seems to die. During the climax of an exhibit of surf culture at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton this month, an ethnomusicologist put Florida’s role into perspective during an hour-long lecture, “Surf Rock and the Music of the ‘Right’ Coast.”
“Surf rock isn’t just some fad that appeared and has lasted through the years,” said Dr. James E. Cunningham, an associate professor in FAU’s Department of Music. “It’s followed trends in technology throughout its existence.”
Cunningham floated his theory that surf rock’s peaks in popularity, and its so-called revivals, also coincided with breakthroughs in technology. He points to advances in surfboard technology, guitar and guitar amp technology, and even the media (radio, television, the Internet) that paralleled the music’s booms.
You have one last chance to check out the eye-catching exhibit of surf culture at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Saturday’s closing event runs from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and includes slide shows, a movie screening, a surf music lecture, a DJ spinning some reggae and surf tunes, plus prize raffles, food and drinks.
“Surfing Florida: A Photographic History” features the works of more than 50 photographers and 100 surfers, including archival photos; media stations featuring video, music and interviews; and lots of custom boards.
All special programs will take place in the lecture hall next to he Schmidt Center Gallery on the FAU campus:
* At 2 p.m., the New School Surf Photography Slide Show will be presented by photographer Nicola Lugo, whose work has been featured in all the major surfing magazines.
* At 3 p.m., the film Surfing at Summer’s End will be screened, and Will Lucas of Surf 64 Productions will be on hand to discuss his work, a historic documentary that combines vintage 8mm film, still photography and contemporary interviews.
Join The Atomic Grog on Saturday, June 9, for a special party featuring exclusive flights of Mai-Kai cocktails, live surf music, and a DJ spinning retro tunes all night long. The event runs from 6 to 11 p.m. in The Molokai bar.
Skinny Jimmy & The Stingrays (Facebook photo).
This first “Atomic Grog Mai-Kai Mixer” will mark the completion of 52 weeks of cocktail reviews, covering the entire menu of renowned tropical drinks at the legendary Polynesian palace in Fort Lauderdale. The flights, featuring three sample versions of these classic cocktails, will spotlight the recently reintroduced Lemon Hart Demerara rum. Click here for the full story.
But that’s not all. There’s a full evening of entertainment on tap. The party gets into high gear after happy hour with DJ Mike “Jetsetter” Jones and two sets of live surf music from South Florida’s Skinny Jimmy & The Stingrays. If you caught this authentic instrumental surf band opening recently for Dick Dale in West Palm Beach and Miami, you’ll know you’re in for a treat. And the Jetsetter will mix things up with his eclectic blend of surf, lounge, exotica, reggae, ska, classic punk and more.
Dick Dale: April 21 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach, April 22 at Churchill’s Pub in Miami. See below:Video, photos from both shows
Concert reviews by Jim Hayward
Just two years ago, it was unclear if legendary guitarist Dick Dale would ever tour again. Now in his 70s, the man who invented surf music more than 50 years ago was battling complications in 2010 after a bout with cancer in 2008.
Dick Dale at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach, April 21, 2012.
Then, miraculously, his health improved. He and his son Jimmy began playing acoustic sets, and by early 2011 plans were moving rapidly toward a limited touring schedule. Soon, the concept of “limited” flew out the window and Dale’s tour last spring and summer included six dates in Florida. The South Florida shows last June were nothing short of incredible [See review].
But rather than tire and grow weary on the road, Dale got stronger. “You’re my medicine,” he would tell the audience after his concerts, showing no signs of his frail health. Dale also clearly benefited from his clean-living lifestyle and years of physical fitness. His wife, Lana, also keeps him on track as his physical and spiritual caretaker.
More touring followed, and when 2012 rolled around he announced a rigorous 50-date jaunt across the country with not much down time. This time, there were nine Florida dates, including back-to-back nights in West Palm Beach and Miami on April 21-22. Would Dale and his band be showing any signs of rust or weariness? We would soon find out.
Hundreds of Tikiphiles from around the world gathered in Fort Lauderdale on April 19-22 for the 11th edition of the largest event on the U.S. East Coast dedicated to Polynesian Pop culture. It was a jam-packed four days of informative symposiums, live music, artists and vendors, and – of course – many tropical-themed cocktails.
Here’s a full recap with highlights and first-hand reports. Check back soon for more in-depth features on several of the symposiums, plus a special audio slideshow when all the photos are released.
The party actually started a day early on Wednesday, April 18, when early arrivals migrated to the legendary Mai-Kai restaurant for happy hour and a full evening spent reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. And with the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival holding its Tiki Time event that same evening, there were plenty of cocktail lovers in the house. Rum fest DJ Mike “Jetsetter” Jones provided the tunes in The Molokai bar and a large group enjoyed the authentic Polynesian dinner show, the longest running in the United States.
