Tiki Jack o’ Lantern, by Crazy Al Evans

There are tons of great examples of tiki-carved Jack o’ Lanterns every year around this time, but this one is really gawk-worthy. Leave it to sculpting master Crazy Al Evans: this pumpkin sports not only a tiki, but a A-frame building in the distance. The tiki itself is carved so well, he looks like you could pick him up and put him right on your dashboard. Fantastic work. For more pictures of this and other tiki Jack o’ Lanterns, check out this thread on Tiki Central.

• Jack-o-Lanterns [Tiki Central]
• Tiki Mania [Crazy Al's website]

Voodoo Priestess at Forbidden Island,
photo by Liz Hafalia for SF Chronicle

Tuesday night, Forbidden Island is hosting a Halloween party, complete with costume contest, in Alameda (just east of San Francisco). The Jab will be DJing — he’s sure to bring out some obscure and danceable records. We’ll be there — I put the finishing touches on my costume on Saturday, it’s the first time I’ve put effort into a Halloween costume in years, and it feels good. I guess I’ve had so many opportunities to wear costumes over the past few years that Halloween has felt skippable, but I’m really happy to be throwing myself into it again.

The current drink specials at Forbidden Island are Halloween-themed, with each drink special being the concoction of a different member of the FI staff. This month’s standout has to be Thayer’s Voodoo Priestess — the drink calls for spiced Voodoo Rum, and “voodoo spices” (hint: in a pinch, pumpkin pie spice mix does the trick). In an ingenious touch, the drink is rimmed with red brick powder (or, sugar), to keep out uninvited spirits. Thayer put a lot of effort into creating this drink and it shows — and even the San Francisco Chronicle has noticed. They wrote up the Voodoo Priestess in today’s issue. Congratulations, Thayer!

• DJ Jab at Forbidden Island – every 3rd Tuesday! Plus Halloween! [Tiki Central]
• Voodoo Priestess puts a spell in a glass [San Francisco Chronicle]

Hanford Lemoore at the Mai-Kai

This post about our trip to Hukilau has been sitting here, taunting me in its mid-drafted state, for weeks now. Just the details from the first day were already too long to be a reasonable post — a full account of the whole weekend was looking like it would be a bloated whale of a thing. I could have put it up, but who would have read such a gangly monstrosity? I just need to clear the blockage and just get going with the blog posting, fercrissakes. So to get a sense of the fantastic time we had, just check out my photos, and read the threads of Hukilau memories and pictures on Tiki Central. The only thing missing from the pictures is the afterparties — they happened out in the Atlantic ocean, under the stars, a few dozen of us in our underthings and thankfully cameraless (that includes no webcams).

On with the show, already!

• Hukilau 2006 [Humuhumu's Life in Photos]
• Hukilau Pictures [Tiki Central]
• Hukilau memories [Tiki Central]

Hukilau 2007

Well, with Hukilau 2006 having drifted off into the sunset, I can’t help but think, “when can I do it all again!?” The wait won’t be as long this time, as Hukilau is moving to early Summer — June 14-17, 2007, to be exact. Kiliki has been wanting to move out of Florida’s hurricane season for some time, and Otto wanted to move his annual Tiki Oasis event to later in the summer to take better advantage of San Diego weather, so this schedule switcheroo works great all around. Some of the musical performances for Hukilau 2007 have already been announced: Clouseaux from Houston, Hula Punk all the way from Hamburg, Germany, and High Noon, a rockabilly trio from Austin. DJ Del Villareal will be spinning hulabilly tunes all weekend. For more details, get on the Hukilau mailing list, and stay tuned to the Hukilau website!

• The Hukilau 2007

Mahiki, a new London tiki bar by Cheekytiki, artwork by tiki racer

Cheekytiki, the London-based purveyors of all manner of tiki goodness, have a new trick up their sleeves — a tiki bar set to open soon in Mayfair. This new venture, called Mahiki, is sure to be lovely, given the fantastic talents of the people behind Cheekytiki. To stay up to date with the latest Mahiki news, get on the Cheekytiki mailing list.

• Coming soon to London’s Mayfair: Mahiki [Cheekytiki blog]
• Cheekytiki

This short film is a documentary on Bosko Hrnjak, the famed San Diego tiki carver. He shares he goes about making his creations, how his interest in tiki was sparked, how it expanded over time, and toward the end of the film, he speaks eloquently about the importance of Tiki as a cultural art form. The 7-1/2 minute film was produced in 2001 by Paul Desjarlais, with music by Bosko’s wife, Truus De Groot.

• Bosko [YouTube]
• Tiki Bosko

Come for the Lala in skintight snakeskin, stay for the funny. And because it’s Special Day! This new episode is particularly good, and not in a David Hasselhoff way.

• Tiki Bar TV

In my post earlier this summer about a totally groovy, early-’70s Hanna-Barbera-themed party I went to, I mentioned a “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” episode where the gang goes on a Hawaiian vacation; the episode had generated some discussion on Tiki Central. It’s titled “A Tiki Scare is No Fair,” and it aired on October 17, 1970. I haven’t seen the whole episode, but Warner Bros. has posted the last two minutes of the episode on YouTube to promote Scooby-Doo.com. This clip includes a dramatic chase through a thatch-covered hut, a giant robot-monster-Aztec-tiki god thing (which probably makes more sense if you’ve seen the episode), a suspicious witch doctor, and the requisite totally-shocking unmasking. It’s worth watching for Fred & Daphne’s spastic dance alone, but those who have harbored a secret Velma crush will thrill to see her swingin’ her hula hips.

• Scooby Doo – Tiki Scare [YouTube]
• My Travels: Cartoon Caper in Balboa [Humu Kon Tiki]
• Scooby-Doo.com [Warner Bros.]
• Scooby Doo – Tiki Scare is No Fair [Tiki Central]