A year after the tragic death of artist and famed Tiki carver Wayne Coombs, his Mai Tiki gallery will be closing its doors after this weekend’s Space Coast Art Festival in Cocoa Beach.
The gallery will be celebrating 40 years of Wayne Coombs’ art at the festival, which runs through Sunday. Wayne founded the studio and gallery on Nov. 5, 1973, with is wife, Beki.
Becki Coombs has announced that she’ll be retiring after the festival. Dating back to 1963, the Space Coast Art Festival is also marking a landmark with its 50th event.
The Hukilau: June 11-15, 2014, at the Bahia Mar Beach Resort and The Mai-Kai restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. Latest updates: TheHukilau.com | Facebook or Twitter
After 12 years of hosting one of the largest and most authentic gatherings of Polynesian Pop enthusiasts from across the globe, Christie “Tiki Kiliki” White announced today that The Hukilau in June 2014 will be the event’s “Final Aloha.”
“I am lucky enough to be embarking on a new career and as we all know, life has the tendency to naturally shift your focus and you follow another path,” White posted today on the event’s official website. “We feel honored to have accomplished what we set out to do many years ago – to bring awareness to Tiki palaces on the East Coast and to help in their preservation so that many more generations are able to enjoy the spirit of Aloha.”
The Hukilau’s 13th and final event promises to be “the Big Kahuna – The Hukilau to end all Hukilaus,” White announced. “We are extending the event to five glorious days in the sun this year. Each one will bring new experiences and special performances.”
The East Coast’s largest annual festival dedicated to Polynesian Pop culture is returning in 2014 to the hotel that hosted some of the largest gatherings in the 13-year history of the event. In addition, a big announcement is planned for tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 18) by co-founder and organizer Christie “Tiki Kiliki” White that you won’t want to miss.
It will be announced tomorrow that The Hukilau is expanding to five days (June 11-15) with additional Wednesday events in addition to the usual Thursday through Sunday happenings such as the Tiki marketplace, retro-themed bands, rum-fueled parties, informative symposiums and much more. And, as usual, there will be events centered around the historic Mai-Kai Polynesian restaurant, the Fort Lauderdale treasure (est. 1956) that dates back to the original mid-century Tiki craze.
The Mai-Kai’s Molokai bar was filled with costume-clad revelers on Friday, Oct. 25, for the historic Polynesian restaurant’s frighteningly festive Halloween bash known as Hulaween. South Florida surf band Skinny Jimmy & the Stingrays performed three sets of retro classics and choice originals, there were many creative entries in the costume contest, and a good time was had by all at the fifth annual event. See below:Browse 20 photos from the event
Skinny Satan (Jimmy) & the Stingrays get the crowed revved up at the fifth annual Hulaween at The Mai-Kai. (Atomic Grog photo)
The bar opened at 5 p.m. for happy hour and exotic Halloween tunes programmed by The Atomic Grog. The band hit the stage after 7, cranking up the energy as Skinny Jimmy channeled Satan himself. The rest of the band took on the personas of famous Halloween characters as they ripped through instrumental surf hits from the past 50 years, including such appropriate songs Moonlight Surf, Dark Eyes, Jack the Ripper, Ghost Riders, and the Munsters TV show theme.
A Mexican wrestler and a pirate, better known as Mai-Kai manager Kern Mattei and marketing director Pia Dahlquist, once again hosted the costume contest and awarded the grand prize to a creative couple who came to the party as a pair of Tikis. Runners-up included several artistic Day of the Dead couples, the scary Sleestak and a confused Rastafarian Scotsman.
The band kept the party rockin’ until midnight as attendees enjoyed The Mai-Kai’s legendary tropical drinks in the nautical-themed lounge. Sponsor Captain Morgan also presented rum and cocktail samples featuring its tasty Captain Morgan Black.
The fifth annual Hulaween at The Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale will feature a lot of classic elements, from the surf music of Skinny Jimmy & the Stingrays to the cocktails, food and decor at the 56-year-old Polynesian palace. One additional classic element for 2013 is a theme centered around a classically bad B-movie.
The Horror of Party Beach is a 1964 horror film intended to be “a take-off on beach parties and musicals.” What it ended up being is one of the 10 worst films of all time, according to The Book of Lists. It was also among the films in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
Shot in black & white on a miniscule budget in Connecticut, the film stars laughable creatures that are said to be derived from water plants and dead human tissue mutated from radioactive waste. The monsters become humanoid by attaching themselves to skeletons in a shipwreck, then proceed to hunt down and kill a series of comely young women. The official trailer:
The 56-year-old Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale hosts many signature events throughout the year, such as The Hukilau in June and the legendary Polynesian restaurant’s anniversary party in December. But perhaps the most distinctive (and frighteningly festive) is Hulaween every October.
Marking its fifth anniversary on Oct. 25, Hulaween has become one of South Florida’s most authentically fun Halloween bashes. No fancy gimmicks or wacky concepts, just a good old-fashioned costume party in The Mai-Kai’s nautical-themed Molokai bar featuring some of South Florida’s best retro-themed bands.
Deerfield Beach surf band Skinny Jimmy & the Stingrays will be making its Hulaween debut this year, providing the perfect soundtrack of classic instrumental tunes from the ’50s and ’60s, plus their exceptional originals. Once again, The Atomic Grog will dig up 50+ years of rockin’ Halloween tunes to play between sets. Expect the dance floor to again be filled with zombies and monsters of every persuasion.
2013 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: Through Nov. 11 at Disney World, Buena Vista, Fla. Access to the festival marketplace is free with theme park admission; food, seminars, and special events are priced individually. More at EpcotFoodFestival.com.
Crowds walk the World Showcase promenade near the Norway pavilion at last year’s Food and Wine Festival. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward).
It’s one thing to overindulge and partake in all that the annual Epcot International Food and Wine Festival has to offer. One Florida couple has immersed themselves in all 18 years of the event, typically staying at a nearby hotel for all 40 days and attending most of the special events. The cost of their annual excursion likely tops five figures.
But it’s another challenge entirely to squeeze an entire festival’s worth of eating (or drinking) into one day. A hearty group of individuals is gathering today for an event called Drink Around the World (official site / Facebook) to accomplish this on a grand scale. They modestly call it a “specialized pub crawl with some cultural flare,” but it’s much more than that.
Taking place all day today (Saturday, Oct. 12), this eighth annual event is designed to test participants’ endurance and provide ample opportunities to savor a wide range of items at the 18th annual International Food and Wine Festival. The goal is to imbibe in all 11 countries in Epcot’s World Showcase, all in one day. The timing of the event with the festival ensures many more choices for cocktails, beer and wine along the way, in addition to the dozens and dozens of affordable food choices.
Miami’s Russell Mofsky decided to take a seemingly unorthodox approach to funding the upcoming album from his retro-inspired band, Gold Dust Lounge. With a goal of raising $15,000, he turned to Kickstarter, the crowd-funding Web site.
Russell Mofsky of Gold Dust Lounge shows off a limited-edition print by Q. Cassettiat that some donors will receive. The band was performing at Sweat Records in Miami on Sunday, Sept. 29, during a final push for donations.
The gutsy move by this former DIY punk-rocker was a rousing success. When the 33-day campaign ended at 11:59 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 30), he blasted past his goal and finished with a grand total of $16,012. This came from 174 backers pledging an average of $92.
* Kickstarter.com:See the final totals and details on the project
* See updates on the campaign at GoldDustLounge.com and Facebook
“Thanks to your amazing support,” Mofsky wrote to supporters on the Kickstarter page. “We have surpassed our goal of $15K and Lost Sunset will be fully realized.” He added that the goal is a January release, pending any unforseen delays. On GoldDustLounge.com, he wrote: “This Kickstarter campaign was as much about community as it was about art. You guys ROCK! Can’t wait to share the album with you.”
Check out the Kickstarter page for samples of four of the songs (Bunny Yeager, Hidden Lake (Broken Glass), Humble Hill Rain and Lost Sunset) as well as the album, T-shirt and print artwork. The front and back cover of the LP feature original artwork by Miami artist Robert Jimenez (see below).
The summer tour featuring surf guitarist Laramie Dean and drummer Jimmy Dale made three stops in South Florida last weekend. The Southern California-based band made the cross-country trek to Dean’s former stomping grounds for two full shows plus a special acoutistic set.
Laramie Dean (left) and Jimmy Dale play a rare acoustic set in The Mai-Kai’s Molokai bar on Saturday, July 20.
On Friday, they hit Churchill’s Pub in Miami for a “surf-punk party” with local favorites Pool Party, Skinny Jimmy & the Stingrays, and Sandrats. Also performing was touring opener Hardship Anchors, the rockin’ SoCal punk band featuring bassist Trevor Lucca, who also plays with Dean & Dale. Laramie looked and sounded great, obviously fully recovered from recent health problems that kept him off the road for the past few years.
Before Saturday night’s concert in Pompano Beach, Dean and Dale donned acoustic guitars and played their first unplugged set ever, along with the band’s sax player Alex Lewis. Opening with the classic Miserlou (popularized by Jimmy’s dad, the legendary Dick Dale), they rocked the packed Molokai bar in the famous Fort Lauderdale Polynesian restaurant.
A year after the tragic death of artist and famed Tiki carver Wayne Coombs, his Mai Tiki gallery will be closing its doors after this weekend’s Space Coast Art Festival in Cocoa Beach.
