Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Tiki Oasis 2014

The saying is "better late than never", right?!?  Well here is my very late Tiki Oasis 2014 blog.  Two weeks after Tiki Oasis last year Dave and I packed up all of our precious belongings (we have too many) and headed north to our final destination of Medford, Oregon.  I'm using this big move, having to look for a new place to live, new job, and dealing with the possibility of a wild fire burning down my parent's house as my excuses for not getting this blog out sooner.  I was also recently inspired to do so after cleaning up my cell phone to make room for more data space (i'll have a belated Honeymoon in Hawaii blog headed your way soon too).

The events started out at the Bali Hai for the opener and meet and mingle.  Not pictured is the fantastic band that kicked off the night Ixtahuele (I believe it's pronounced Zi-ta-who-lee).

The theme that year was "Beat Tiki". Dig that crazy scene!



This year Dave and I attending two symposiums as well as the Charles Phoenix Slideshow presentation on Sunday.  Below is one of my favorite San Diego bands "Creepxotica" providing the backgound music for the Yma Sumac symposium hosted by the charming and hilarious El Vez.  He even used me as a prop (displaying I was a strong woman by sitting on my lap) at one point which truly tickled me especially since he was describing Yma Sumac at that very moment. Rachel DeShon sang along with Creepxotica between El Vez's remarks and historical notations about the songbird diva.  She did an amazing job!  If I remember correctly the songs she sang were "Bo Mambo", "Goomba Bomba" and  "Gopher Mambo".  My memory is a bit fuzzy because I was enjoying my complimentary cocktail, a sneaky tiki, which was provided by Tiki Amy of Bar Pink.


We hung out poolside to watch the fashion show by Pin Up Girl Clothing. I ran in to my very beautiful friend Patricia.  We did our best to visit with all of our friends that attended as this was sort of like our big goodbye before we moved. We are so excited to be back in San Diego in a few weeks for this year's gathering.


Me and my gal Vanessa relaxing poolside waiting for the Friday night show to begin.


The view of down below from our friend's room.


Ixtahuele once again amazed the crowd with their exotic melodies.  I overheard someone say "this is the closest to you can get to live exotica music sounding just as it did back in the day".


Marina Medusirena the Fire Eating Mermaid joined them for a mesmerizing fire dance.  I love seeing her perform!


Love me some go-go dancing from the lovely Devilettes!  Seeing them perform on stage reminds me of the thrill I had when I was younger and performed with my dance class.  I wish I lived closer to San Francisco, which is where the dance troop hails from, as I would have most definitely tried out for them when they had open auditions a few months back.  Congratulations to the newest Devilettes!!


Saturday we started the day with some shopping.  I was quick to spot my friend Chris' fantastic hats from his store "Put a Lid on It" which where sold at the My Baby Jo booth.


Next we met up with friends Angie, Natalie, and Daren in the car show area.




Dave and I were so excited to have our 1962 Cadillac DeVille be a part of the car show.  



Dave wore the cabana set I surprised him with as a gift on our wedding day. I came across it on eBay  for a very good price just a week before the wedding in my usual vintage purchasing luck.



Up next, we attended the "American Disney Animator with Roland "Rolly" Fargo Crump" symposium. I was especially excited to attend this symposium as Mr. Rolly Crump is most famous as being one of the very first imagineers with the Disney Company and was the man behind many of the concepts and visuals that you see at the Enchanted Tiki Room, It's a Small World and has a few pieces from his "Museum of the Weird" are in the Haunted Mansion.  


His conversation about his artwork also included a slideshow which featured his "Beatnik" artwork which he created in the 1950s and 1960s.  It was an incredible symposium and I'm glad I got to hear the history of his work from the Rolly himself.  I had actually sat at a table next to Rolly and his co-host Jeff Heimbuch earlier that day for breakfast and they were delighted to see I was wearing my Enchanted Tiki Room print dress.  I just wish I hadn't been too shy to ask for a photo with him.




My favorite quote of his from the symposium was when he said "I went from painting nudes to working on It's a Small World"! 


I hope to do a more in-depth blog about Rolly Crump and Jeff Heimbuch's collaborations such as their book "It's Kind of a Cute Story" which is a tribute to the life and story of Rolly Crump's successes with Disney. Once I get my hands on this book and have read it I will have more to share.


After the symposium we hung out with our friends Daren and Ken in their room which had a fantastic view of the pool and the outside tiki markeplace.  By this point of the day the pool was packed!


After spending an hour relaxing we went back downstairs to eat some dinner at the Hunter Steakhouse with Ken and Daren.  Unfortunately we found out that while we were gone we missed seeing Charles Phoenix doing his interviews near the car show which included him wanting to speak to us about our car.  Woops!  After dinner we headed back to the Hanalei.   We have made it a tradition to sit poolside during the night shows.  We still get somewhat of a view and can hear everything that is going on stage. Here I am with my dear friend Angie. For many of my friends this would be our last time seeing them before we moved to Oregon.


From left to right, Natalie, Vanessa, me, and Alisha chillin' pooslide.


Daren, Dave and Jonny clowning around.


After catching up with friends and catching up on some more drinks we headed to the room parties!  We actually only ended up going into Tiki Hell as the rest of the rooms were very packed by this point.  We learned recently that Tiki Hell will not be hosting a room party this year.  We are bummed as this has become a favorite in our past Tiki Oasis'.





Sunday morning we got up and got to the Hanalei early to check out the sales at the tiki marketplace as well as check out the Tiki Oasis art show.  I am in love with this piece done by AtomicKitty aka Susannah Mosher which has inspirations from Margaret Keane crossed with the film "Bell, Book, Candle" staring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart.  Simply fantastic! The Doug Horne "Beat Chick" painting below it was another favorite.  There were so many fantastic pieces on display last year.  I can't wait to see what the artists present for this year's theme "Yesterday's Future, Today".



After the art show we waited in line to watch the Charles Phoenix Slideshow which was amazing!  This was now my third time seeing him live and he puts on a show that is not to be missed.  You can get a list of his future shows from his website here.


We spent the last part of the day hanging poolside with old and new friends listening to one of my favorite bands Jason Lee and the R.I.P. Tides.  I also met the very lovely Kiley of the blog Running with a Chance of Costumes.  


Just two more weeks and counting until Tiki Oasis 2015!! Will you be attending as well?  Please, if you see me don't be too shy to say hello!


Till' Next Time,

Suz

For more information about Tiki Oasis check out their website here.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Tiki Kon 2015

A few weekends ago Dave and I attended the 13th Annual Tiki Kon gathering which takes place at the Red Lion at the Quay hotel located in Vancouver, Washington which is just across the Columbia river from Portland, Oregon.


We have been looking forward to attending this event as it is the first Tiki gathering we have been to that takes place outside of California.


We arrived at the hotel on Friday night around 6pm after a five hour drive from Medford, OR.  We got quickly settled into our room and changed as quickly as we could to join in the fun.  This year's theme was "Tiki Kon Air" or a throw back to flying in style in the 1960s.  Instead of a wrist band we got a passport to wear around our necks that we could get stamped with each event we attended, vendor we purchased from, and symposium we attended.  

We wore our latest matching honeymooners set which were both purchased from the southern Oregon area.  I found the dress at a local thrift shop and then found Dave the matching shirt on eBay from a seller who happened to be located one town over from us.  I'm convinced these were originally a set that were temporarily separated and we brought them back together.


We walked in just in time to catch the tail end of the Rat City Brass performance. They are an excellent Tijuana Brass tribute band.


It was the perfect background music for when I got to meet and pose for a photo with the original "Whipped Cream" girl herself Dolores Erickson. 


I was kicking myself for forgetting to bring my copy of the album to have her sign.


The event takes place outside and has an excellent view of the Columbia River.


Next up was DJ Cabana's Vintage Fashion Show.


Marina MeduSirena the Fire Eating Mermaid was among the models wearing some fantastic vintage.



I'm so happy I had a chance to say hello to Marina!


Here is a view of our balcony.  We shared a room with our friend Daren and he had brought two of his recently purchased Tiki Diablo tikis as well as excellent lighting to use as Lanai Swag. Not pictured from the evening performances are The Satin Chaps.  I was dancing my tushy off hence no photos.  I ended up purchasing their CD and have had it in the car now for almost two weeks.


The next morning we got up early, had breakfast and headed to the Tiki Kon Island Marketplace.


There were so many great vendors with so many excellent items for sale.



Daren and Dave.




I absolutely love Sophista-Tiki's work (aka Dawn Fraiser).



Dave and I did pretty good and held ourselves back on purchases.  I did buy a skull mug and an excellent luggage tag that looks like the world as seen in the Witco artwork.  Daren purchased many excellent finds including this August Holland "Pearl of Wisdom" framed art.


We had some fun with the TKA photo spot the organizers had set up.


The plane is going down!!!


Love at 30,000 feet!




Here is a better photo of my day outfit for Saturday.  I was lucky enough to have found this vintage palazzo jumpsuit during Halloween time at a thrift shop in San Diego.  I've finally lost enough weight to be able to wear it!


I topped off the ensemble by wearing my favorite beetle bangles. I was also sporting matching beetle earrings and a necklace which I purchased on my most recent trip to Los Angeles at the Topanga Vintage Market which takes place every 4th Sunday of each month in Woodland Hills.


With Darren and Daren on our lanai.  It was so awesome meeting and connecting with fellow tikiphiles.  Darren and I have been friends on Instagram for over a year and finally had a chance to meet each other in person.


Hamming it up with my monkey pod snack platter.


Sadly the weather did not cooperate for the pool party.  We didn't end up getting to wear our swim gear or even have a dip in the pool.  Dave and Daren did however join in the fun for the "Bananas for Cabanas" poolside meet up.


Not pictured is when we had dinner with Daren and his wonderful parents Susan and Bob.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel to watch the evening's performances. I wore one of my DeWeese Design dresses and Dave wore his incredible tiki themed blazer which I spotted for him at a vintage shop when we were in Portland last year. The tiki tie was a birthday gift from me.


Dave and Daren.


First up was the Iron Tikitender Showdown which featured three local bartenders competing for the title and a cash prize. 


The event was hosted by Blair Reynolds, owner of B.G. Reynolds syrups as well as the Hale Pele bar located in Portland.


We were rooting for Sierra of Hale Pele and she ended up coming out in First Place!








Next up was swinging sounds from the band Johnny Astro. I love a band that can play a mean Bond song.


The highlight performance of the weekend's events was the Roy and Marina Anderson of Ronin Taiko performance. This was Marina and her husband Rob's first time performing their Japanese wadaiko and fire show to a tiki crowd. It was an amazing performance!




Marina looked beautiful as she always does!


It was pretty intense at times....but a good intense of course!




We had such a great time and look forward to attending Tiki Kon in the future.  The event is like a mini version of Tiki Oasis and is much more intimate of a gathering. We are so happy there is a tiki event near to us here in the Pacific Northwest! The countdown for next year begins!


Till' Next Time,

Suz