Pablus and his Ukulele warming up the crowd poolside at the Best Western.

Master of ceremonies King Kukulele.

The Intoxicators awesome as always.

The pool at the Best Western.

The staff from the Lani Kai in NYC with Tiki Adam helping presented three different Mai Tais. Perfect cocktails to kick off the weekend.

The sundeck at the Best Western overlooking the pool. The sundeck was where the vendors were set up.

2012/04/20 09:30 It’s Friday morning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the first day of the 2012 Hukilau is over. A grueling first day it was. Karen and I were up at four in the morning to catch our flight to Cleveland. We flew on a prop-jet to Cleveland and from there to Charlotte on a regular jet. I dozed a little on the flight to Cleveland and I seem to recall Betty White in the little dream I had while snoozing. No doubt I had been thinking about the sitcom “Hot in Cleveland”. When we got into Charlotte we had to switch carriers from United to US Airways. I was a little nervous because we didn’t have boarding passes for US Airways. I went to one of the attendants when we landed in Charlotte and explained I needed to get boarding passes because we were switching carriers. She asked me where we were going and, being half asleep I guess, I looked at the paperwork in front of me and said, “Charlotte”. She smiled a big smile and in a beautiful southern drawl she said, “Oh honey, you’re already here”. We got the boarding passes for Fort Lauderdale and made the rest of the trip without any problems. I must confess I seemed half brain dead in the preparations for this trip. I didn’t pack my laptop and I didn’t bring directions to where we were going. I couldn’t even remember the name of the host hotel. Wow! After checking in to our motel I went to the Mai Kai and to their office and asked if they knew where registration was. They were very helpful at the Mai Kai and directed me to the Best Western next to the old Yankee Clipper hotel. Registration and the first night’s festivities were at the Best Western. The vendors for the weekend were located at the Best Western on the sun deck and in the rooms along the sun deck. For the kick-off the Lani Kai, a bar in NY, provided some Mai Tais. There were three different versions of the Mai Tai to sample; one from Trader Vics, one from Donn the Beachcomber, and one from the Mai Kai. Pablus and his Ukulele performed poolside, warming up the crowd. King Kukulele was once again master of ceremonies. The Intoxicators were awesome as always. There was some fire dancing and Angie Pontani performed one of her burlesque routines. Karen and I ended the night at the Mai Kai in the Molokai bar.

Khan Tiki Mon returns to the Hukilau for fourth year running. 

Hukilau 2012

Angie Pontani is a contemporary burlesque dancer, choreographer, and costumer based in Brooklyn. She was crowned Miss Exotic World in 2008. Angie did two performances poolside at the Bahia Cabana once the rains passed.

Sven Kirsten, author of The Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern, signs my friend Bryan's BOT.

Firedancing poolside. The fire-knife.

Natalie is the bartender from Painkiller with the 'sleeves'. She asked where I was from and I said Syracuse. She said if you can make it all the way to Florida you should be able to make it to Manhattan and Painkiller. So true. There will be a road trip to Painkiller in the not so distant future.

Karen is “Number One” Patron of the Tiki Arts. Without Khan Tiki Mon’s Purple Wahine, Karen, there would be no Tiki for Khan Tiki Mon. The picture above is Karen amidst the lush tropical gardens at the Tiki mecca that is the Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I met some nice young ladies from Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge. Psycho Suzi’s is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I met Emily and the girl who did their awesome postcards. “Mender of broken dreams”. I love that. When Khan Tiki Mon’s Most Excellent Adventure gets underway Psycho Suzi’s will be a stop on the tour. Road trip!!

2012/03/08 09:00 I got my tickets today for the Hukilau in April.