Greetings from Northern Minnesota—the land of pikes (see above), lakes and sparse internet. So, what’s tiki about this? Nothing really, except for my hat. Catch ya later!
Category Archives: Other Tiki Topics
South Pacific at the Ahmanson Theater
Last week I had the pleasure of attending “South Pacific” at the Ahmanson Theater downtown with Mama Tiki Chick. This Rodgers & Hammerstein musical is based on the popular (at least at the time) novel of the same name by James Michener published in 1948.
“South Pacific” is often cited as being one of the inspirations behind America’s fascination with the South Seas, which in turn contributed to the proliferation of tiki establishments in the following decades.
One of the neat things about the Lincoln Center Theater’s production is that the musicians were playing off the original orchestrations, so we were actually hearing it the same way that the audience did when it premiered in 1949. (Sidenote: Love the retro bathing suits!)
The set also featured a backdrop of Bali Hai that was very similar to the one seen in the 1958 movie. That idealized island became the namesake for many tiki spots, like Bali Hai in San Diego, and Sven Kirsten even included its haunting song on his recently released “Sound of Tiki” compilation.
“South Pacific” will be at the Ahmanson through July 17. Go see it!
Pufferfish, Clownfish and Jellyfish, Oh My!
Rather than brave the early morning madness to see the annual Rose Parade in action (yep, this post is five months late), we always make a trip out to Pasadena to check out the floats after the fact. They line them all up on a street and you can walk right up and see all the individual flowers and seeds (and admire the crazy attention to detail).
Among the vendors catering to the herded masses was a Maui Wowee stand serving up smoothies. At first glance I didn’t notice anything particularly tiki about it beyond the thatched hut, bits of bamboo and faux tapa pattern.
But then Mr. Baseball piped up, “Hey, it’s the Jon Stewart tiki mugs!” And indeed, there they were for the folks that cared to shell out $8.50 for their beverage instead of $6.50.
The only other thing from the Rose Parade that I can tangentially connect to tiki is this under-the-sea-themed float with a small school of pufferfish (in pre-lamp form).
The Tiki Chick 