Tiki Daze

Today's feed of the day at Feedster is Tiki Talk.

I've had my Tiki daze/days, days when in a tropical daze pounding on my Mac G3 keyboard producing articles for the Desert Sun about the Tiki scene in Palm Springs during the 1950s, interviewing Tiki celebrities like C.C. Rider who carves Tikis in his thongs using a chain saw and participating in a closed-door meeting announcing the unveiling of the Caliante Tropics remodel, the renovation of one of the old-style tiki motels of long ago.

The ultimate Tiki trip was creating a giant tiki from several photographs of an original that I found, ready to be discarded, in the front of the remains of what was Tiki Spa.

The tiki can be found in my book, "Digital Art Photography for Dummies," as the images used to illustate Photoshop's stitch option. Instead of stitching a landscape (as is usually done), I turn several photographs of a tiki on their sides and stitch them together for a giant image of one of the 60s originals. I sold it too, for a hundred dollars (okay, didn't blow up my bank account that much, but every hundred dollars counts).

Last, here's a clip from my book, The Book of Signs: The Twentieth Century, now in proposal form sitting on the desks of many editors in New York City, to whom I request, "Please review, as you'll get more kicks than found on Route 66!"

The Tropics--Dozens of words are associated with the sea, from coast to beach and beyond. Some words, such as Trader Vic's have been around for so long that they've become institutions of tropical public thought. Text that whispers with a soft ocean breeze—the Copacabana and Tropicana.

The business of the tropics comes from torch-lit resorts to strip clubs in back allys, each sign a signal of an island-like escape that'll take your worries away. And, not to forget, the great Polynesian God who has resurrected himself in popular culture--the Tiki.

popular culture, tiki, art and photography, Route 66