King Kukulele
Tonight is a celebration of two years of King Kukulele’s monthly Tiki Taix cabaret night, at Taix French Restaurant in Los Angeles. King Kukulele is a comedian, singer, songwriter, adorable nutjob, emcee… but most of all, he’s a ukulele player. On the last Friday of every month, he transforms the intimate bar area of this ’60s French restaurant into a showcase of tiki. Visiting musicians, dancers, collectors, historians, vintage film clips… with King Kukulele’s rotating cast of supporting players, you never quite know what’s in store at Tiki Taix, but it’s always a blast. Taix is a neat old restaurant worth paying a visit to in its own right, and the clam chowder available on Fridays is very tasty. This month, everyone is receiving a reproduction of the Hawaiian Village Hotel’s “Coconut Bulletin” of October 20th, 1957. The evening’s entertainment program includes a hula dancer, music from the Friki Tikis, a slide show from the recent party at the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, and a look at vintage ad art from the Hawaiian tourism industry. The evening kicks off at 10pm-ish, but it’s nice to get there a bit early to enjoy dinner in the bar and secure a table near the stage. Taix Restaurant is at 1911 Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park.
February 24th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
[...] I already mentioned tonight’s Tiki Taix 2nd Anniversary, but Sunday’s going to be a good day to be a So Cal tikiphile, too. Otto von Stroheim is in town to turn the atrium of VacationFest into a Tikifest. VacationFest takes place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and is filled with travel vendors’ booths with information on tour packages, destinations, hotels, boat packages, you name it. Trips will be given away in drawings by several vendors. As at last year’s Vacationfest, the atrium of the building will be a tiki marketplace, with vendors of carvings, apparel and more. Otto will be selling copies of his Tiki Art Two book. Doug Nason will have a presentation on Tikis of the South Pacific at 2 p.m. A coupon for free admission can be found at Otto’s website. Later that evening, Otto will be DJing at the new Puka Bar in Long Beach, from 9 – 11 p.m. [...]