Pele the Benevolent, by John Rafferty

A comment by orangeguru put me in mind of a something I wrote several years ago for the old Exotica mailing list, called Tikidämmerung. Essentially, it's a piss-take on Wagner's Gotterdämmerung, with all the principal characters played by figures from popular music.

What inspired me to write it was an article I'd just written for Cool and Strange Music magazine about Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and his lifelong desire to be an opera singer. More specifically, he wanted to assay the role of Siegfried in the Ring Cycle. I also wanted to satirize the way that popular music keeps recycling everything that's come before it, although I don't think I was terribly successful in getting that point across.

I've put both online for your reading pleasure (or derision).

[Link: Tikidämmerung: Twilight of the Tiki Gods]
[Link: If You Are But A Dream: the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Story]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Gawrsh. I'm honored to have been added as a sidebar link at Mimi Payne's utterly fabulous Arkiva Tropika! Just for kicks, I did a search on "Bali Hai" and came up with these gorgeous mid-century Poly-Pop images:

[Link: Arkiva Bali-Hai-ika]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Today would've been the 100th birthday of the father of Polynesian Pop, and creator of some of the greatest tropical cocktails of all time. So everyone raise their Zombie, Rum Barrel, or (if you believe his claims) Mai Tai on high, and toast Donn Beach, AKA Don the Beachcomber.

[Link: Don the Beachcomber Story][via Swanky]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Inspired by Sam's remodeling efforts, I've updated my image galleries to better reflect the current look and feel of my home tiki bar, Balis' Hai'deaway. Man, that was thirsty work. Time for a Mai Tai! [Link]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

2006 was a bad year for Tiki in Southern California: the Royal Hawaiian and Lucky Tiki closed their doors, the Hanalei Hotel in San Diego remodeled and stripped out their classic decor, Hollywood's Lava Lounge is dumping their tiki theme, and Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills was scheduled for demolition to make way for luxury condos.

For a while, it looked like Sam's Seafood [Link] in Huntington Beach was heading for death by development as well, but to the surprise and delight of many, it now appears that they are committed to retaining their tiki tilt factor. They've retained the able services of folks such as master-craftsman, Reverend Bamboo Ben [Link], who is busy restoring and updating the bar and dining room. They've also commissioned 2 brand-spanking-new signature mugs from artist, Sam Gambino [Link] (who has no relation to mafia crime families that I know of). No word yet on the fate of the Polynesian floor show, but hopefully, they'll still be shaking their grass skirts and coconut bras for years to come.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

One of the things I enjoy most about collecting tiki mugs is uncovering a little bit of the history behind them, like where they were made, which restaurants used them, what kinds of drinks were served in them, etc.

This handled mug I bought in Los Angeles last month, with its striking Ku tiki figure on the front, and somewhat mysterious inscription on the back, really intrigued me. I did a little online sleuthing and as it turns out, this Al Harrington was a pretty cool cat. He had a recurring role on Hawaii 5-0 and his own singing-dancing-comedy revue called "The South Pacific Man" that played at the Sheraton Waikiki and the Hilton Hawaiian Village. He's still active in film and on stage today.

Unfortunately, no music or video from his revue turned up in my searches, but here's a nice little bio from Mai Tai Online [Link]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

A couple of weeks ago, I had dinner at a Cuban restaurant called La Bodeguita del Medio. I just about died and went to heaven after tasting their Masitas de Puerco, so last night, I decided to try making it at home. It took pretty much the entire afternoon to prepare and cook, but man was it ever delicious. We cooked up a mess of our special Cuban frijoles negros with bacon and garlic, along with plain rice and a mango salsa. Faboo.

During the course of the day, I tried out a couple of cocktail recipes calling for Falernum as an ingredient: Corn 'n' Oil, Astro Aku Aku, and a Test Pilot. The clove and vanilla flavor of the liqueur came through strongly in all 3.

The Corn 'n' Oil was the simplest to make, and my favorite to drink. The Velvet Falernum went down smooth as...well...velvet, and the taste was somewhat reminiscent of a Brandy Old Fashioned, but spicier. I had the Astro Aku Aku with dinner, and although it was quite good, I found it a bit too sweet for my tastes due to all of the fruit nectar and sugar syrup required by the recipe. In future, I'd definitely cut back a bit on both. The Test Pilot was consumed later in the evening down in the Hai'deaway, and its bitter tang was a pleasant antidote to the Aku Aku. I'd heard a lot of horror stories about using Pernod in cocktails, so I measured very carefully to make sure that I didn't add too much. I apparently used the correct amount, because it definitely added a subtle hint of anise to the drink that I very much enjoyed.

Speaking of the Hai'deaway, I once again found myself lacking shelf space to display my recent mug acquisitions, so like the Nahm Abrams of Tiki that I am, I whipped some up with my special tiki-mug shelving jig. Finding the studs behind a bamboo wall is no easy feat, but I managed somehow. So now all my mugs have a place to hang out, at least until I return from my next expedition with another carry-on full.

Well, it's -17 this morning, so I suppose I better go stoke the furnace, put on an extra pair of socks, and read up on Artic survival skillz. Happy Stuporbowl Stunday!

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's currently -7 degrees F outside, and expected to reach a high temperature of -1, so my plan for today is to hang out in the Hai'deaway and experiment with my new bottle of Velvet Falernum, while listening to gentle Polynesian music that makes me think of warmer climes.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:57 AM | Permalink