Tiki Wonderland at Tonga Hut

After the huge success of last month’s shindig at the Tonga Hut, they’ll be throwing another soiree, on Saturday, December 16, from 7 p.m. to midnight. It’s a mug release party and a one-night-only art show. Two mugs will be debuted there: Tiki Farm’s new Marqo Pollo mug by Señor Calamar (a.k.a. Squid), and Tiki Diablo’s new Dia de los Marquesos mug. There will be art on display by Bosko, Atomikitty, Crazy Al, Derek Yaniger and more. I suspect there will be a return of Grog’s stupefying art rocks, as he’s organizing the event — be sure to get yours. There will be some drink specials, and better yet — they’re making sure to have an extra bartender on hand, dedicated to making tropical drinks all night long (apparently, there was a tragic tropical drink shortage at last month’s event). Tonga Hut is at 12808 Victory Blvd. in North Hollywood. It’s already looking like there’s going to be a great turnout of fun tiki-lovin’ people.

• Christmas Mug Release and Artshow at the Tonga Hut Dec. 16 [Tiki Central]
• Tonga Hut, North Hollywood [Critiki]
• North Hollywood: Tiki Magazine Party at Tonga Hut [Humu Kon Tiki]

Sculpt for Severed Head mug, by Nacho

Bay Area artist Nacho (who was responsible for the massive and awe-inspiring Ku tiki bar seen at Forbidden Island’s sale event and at Viva Las Vegas) has created this stunningly faithful reproduction of the famous Ren Clark Severed Head mug. What is even more impressive is that Nacho has never actually seen the mug in person; he was able to create this sculpt using only photographs of the mug he found online. I think that Nacho’s version is actually an improvement — the shaping of his face is more realistic without losing its style, and has cleaner shaping and details. I can’t wait to see it in mug form — Nacho plans to paint it as true to the original as possible, right down to the pink and red blood drips. Aside from Nacho’s obvious sculpting skills, he’s an experienced painter, specializing in hot rods and classic cars.

Nacho is dropping off the sculpt this week to be turned into a mold; he hopes to be able to produce as many as 150 of this mug, and will be selling it exclusively on Tiki Central. He is also producing his own, sinister take on Tiki Bob, which will be sold through eBay. You can see more photos of Nacho’s takes on the Severed Head and Tiki Bob in this album on Humuhumu’s Life in Photos.

• Nacho’s Mug Sculpts [Humuhumu's Life in Photos]
• Tiki Scores and Nacho Bars at Forbidden Island [Humu Kon Tiki]
• Ren Clark Severed Head [Ooga-Mooga]

Ad for Mai-Kai 2007 Calendar

After an extended hiatus, the Mai-Kai calendar is returning in 2007, as part of the Mai-Kai’s celebration of 50 years in business. The Mai-Kai’s 50th anniversary is on December 28, 2006. I haven’t seen any images from this new calendar yet, but it’s advertised as featuring “never before released photos from the Mai-Kai’s private archives.” The photos from the private archive that were on display at the Hukilau included some really fun shots. If this calendar does well, hopefully the Mai-Kai will be inspired to continue the tradition in 2008 and beyond.

The calendar costs $17, which includes tax and shipping, and is a natural gift choice for the Mai-Kai lover in your life. To order, use this old school form at the Mai-Kai website.

[Via the Tiki News mailing list]

• Mai-Kai 2007 Commemorative Calendar [Mai-Kai]

Vintage ‘n’ Retro Xmas Market

A Vintage ‘n’ Retro Xmas Market is happening at London’s South London Pacific on Sunday, December 10, from midday to 6pm. Admission is £1.50. The event is being organized by Miss Aloha, who also hosts South London Pacific’s Hula Boogie vintage music & dancing night, which happens every Tuesday. South London Pacific is located at 340 Kennington Road.

• Hula Boogie
• South London Pacific, London [Critiki]

Tiki Quest: Collecting the Exotic Past,
by Duke Carter

Tiki Quest isn’t new, it actually came out in 2003, but a conversation I had with someone who’d just purchased it last week is inspiring me to spotlight it today. It’s every bit as deserving of a place on your bookshelf today as it was when it came out three years ago.

Tiki Quest is the creation of Duke Carter and his wife Amy, who have amassed a very impressive collection over their years of tiki obsession. The book is 183 pages of large, full-color images of items from their collection, beautifully photographed so that every detail can be appreciated. All of the items in the book are from the vintage era of Polynesian Pop (’70s and earlier), and most of the book is dedicated to tiki mugs, although postcards, matchbooks, swizzle sticks and other items are also presented. A bit of history is included, particularly around the manufacturers of the mugs and their sometimes tangled relationships to each other.

Pages from Tiki Quest, by Duke Carter

As is typically the case, Duke and Amy struggled a bit in getting their book published — most publishers who had interest in the book wanted to cut corners on the quality of the book (the quality of the photographs was of high importance to the Carters), or insisted on including current-day values, turning it into a price guide (understandably, the Carters didn’t want the focus to be on the monetary value of the items). In the end, the Carters took the bold step of self-publishing, and made a deal directly with a printing & binding shop.

Pages from Tiki Quest, by Duke Carter

The result is well worth the extra effort, as the final product is a loving tribute to the golden age of Polynesian Pop. I fell in love with tiki all over again when I first received the book. The pages are now falling out of mine after spending lots of time admiring and savoring the items shown in it. It’s one of my favorite Tiki books.

If you’d like to order Tiki Quest, it’s available on Amazon.com, or directly from Duke & Amy’s Pegboard Press.

• Tiki Quest [Pegboard Press]
• Tiki Quest [Amazon.com]

Unnamed Dirty Donny
decanter from Tiki Farm

Tiki Farm will be offering this new decanter, designed by Dirty Donny, in 2007. Tiki Farm owner Holden Westland is asking for help in naming this fellow. He’s accepting name suggestions through November 10, and the winner will get a decanter of their very own. The decanter shown here is a prototype, the final version will be slightly different.

• New Decanter – name him & win 1 free! [Tiki Central]
• Tiki Farm
• Dirty Donny

Tiki drawerpull
from Crazy Al Evans

Years ago, Accoutrements made some tiki head drawer pulls. They were crap. The design was okay, but the quality was terrible — the resin cracked when you tried to mount them. I wound up gluing them onto the drawers in my bar. Blech. They were cheap, and I got what I paid for. It’s no surprise that Accoutrements stopped making them a while ago.

Tiki drawerpull
from Crazy Al Evans

Thankfully, this hole in the market has been filled in a fantastic way by Crazy Al. He’s offering a whole range of designs, all of them traditional tiki styles, including Hawaiian, Tongan, Maori and Tahitian, and Papua New Guinean, with small and large sizes. I haven’t tried them myself, but I do have a small resin chimpanzee made by Crazy Al that I bought from him about four years ago — it’s been on my Bamboo Handbag ever since, and has seen, and lived through, much abuse. It has held up incredibly well, and still looks fantastic — I would think that Crazy Al’s door pulls would be of similar strength and quality.

• Drawer Pulls [Crazy Al's Bone Productions]

The Bad Liver mug, by Munktiki

On Sunday, October 1, at 3pm, a limited edition version of Munktiki’s new Bad Liver mug will go on sale at Forbidden Island. This unusual mug, designed by Stuckie, is shaped like a rotten liver. Some of the Bad Liver mugs will be sold on eBay, but this special batch of Forbidden Island Bad Liver mugs have an elaborate multi-color glaze, and won’t be available anywhere else. (The mug pictured does not have the exclusive Forbidden Island glaze.) Each Bad Liver mug sold at Forbidden Island on October 1 will come with a coupon good for one Bad Liver cocktail, an award-winning drink by Forbidden Island co-owner Martin Cate. Only 25 of these mugs will be available, at $60 each. There will be a strict one-per-person limit, and the sales will be in-person only, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Mmmm. Bile.

• The Forbidden Island/Munktiki Bad Liver ON SALE OCTOBER 1st 3:00pm [Tiki Central]
• Forbidden Island
• Forbidden Island, Alameda [Critiki]
• The Bad Liver [Ooga-Mooga]

Picasso with his Marquesan tiki

At the end of October, Prestel Publishing is releasing a detailed book by Peter Stepan about Picasso’s love affair with African and Oceanic art. Here he is on the cover of the book, with a Marquesan tiki he was particularly fond of (can’t blame him!). The tikis and other items from his collection now reside in museums and also in the private collections of his family members, and many of them have been photographed and described in detail for this book. The list price for the book will be $85, but Amazon is offering pre-orders for $53.55. Tip of the hat to Aaron’s Akua for the heads-up. You can learn more about Picasso’s Marquesan tiki on this thread at Tiki Central.

• Picasso’s Collection of African And Oceanic Art (Hardcover), by Peter Stepan [Amazon.com]
• Picasso’s famous tiki [Tiki Central]

Insert Coin, by Heather Watts

I’ve highlighted Heather Watts’ art before; she’s a very talented young artist out of Vancouver, B.C. whose talent seems to increase daily. The above piece, Insert Coin, is part of the Tiki Art Now show currently at Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle. It’s simply gorgeous, I can’t even imagine what it must look like in person. She is currently pre-selling prints of this and other works on her website. The Insert Coin prints are a 23.5″ x 12.25″ limited edition glicee, and are signed by the artist. The cost is $150; if you place your order by October 1, shipping is half-off. The prints will start shipping on October 15.

Exotic Origami Fortune Teller,
by Heather Watts

You don’t need to wait until October 15 to have a bit of Heather’s art at your fingertips… she’s designed a clever (and of course, beautiful) Exotic Origami Fortune Teller that you can print from your own computer. You’re just a few folds away from learning your destiny!

• Heather Watts
• Exotic Origami Fortune Teller [Heather Watts]
• Roq La Rue Gallery
• Artwork by Heather Watts [Humu Kon Tiki]