South Florida’s macabre festivities aren’t quite dead yet

A mid-week Halloween always offers a great opportunity to spread out the ghoulish fun over two weekends, and with the growing popularity of the Day of the Dead there’s no good reason to stop the revelry.

South Florida Day of the Dead Celebration

That’s particularly true in Fort Lauderdale this Friday, Nov. 2, when the third annual South Florida Day of the Dead Celebration takes over downtown with a free five-hour bash and skeleton processional. That will be followed by the official after party at The Mai-Kai.
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The celebration will take place from 6 to 11 p.m. in the FAT Village Arts District just north of downtown. Led by a mariachi band, the processional will start at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art at 6:15 and wind its way north on Andrews Avenue to Northwest Fifth Street, ending at FAT Village.

Participants are invited to don skeletal attire and join the processional of giant puppets, stilt walkers, floats, drummers, circus performers, and more. At FAT Village, revelers can enjoy art, crafts, music, theater and much more. The Boneyard Bandstand will feature sets by local bands The Riot Act (6 p.m.), Los Diablos (7 p.m.), Arboles Libres (8 p.m.), Bobby Lee Rodgers (9 p.m.), and Everymen (10 p.m.)

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Minimalist Tiki

Tiki godfather Sven Kirsten added to Hukilau 2012 lineup

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Official sites: TheHukilau.com | Facebook page | Facebook group

More music and a very special guest speaker have been added to the lineup for the 11th annual Hukilau, the massive Polynesian Pop party scheduled for April 19-22 in Fort Lauderdale. Organizers just confirmed the addition of exotica band Exotik-a-GoGo and influential author Sven Kirsten.

Exotik-a-GoGo
Exotik-a-GoGo

Exotik-a-GoGo, hailing from the not-so-tropical locale of Minneapolis, is scheduled to perform on Friday and Saturday nights. Combining jazz instrumentation with jungle rhythms and tropical birdcalls mixed with vibraphone, the group promises the pseudo experience of being transported to an exotic island destination.

The band cites influences such as mid-century exotica pioneers Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and Yma Sumac. You can catch them live every Friday and Saturday at Midwest Tiki hotspot Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge in Minneapolis.

Making a rare appearance at Hukilau will be one of the pioneers credited with kick-starting the Tiki revival, California-based and German-born Sven Kirsten, author of the Book of Tiki (2003) and Tiki Modern (2007). Kirsten will host a special presentation, “The Golden Age of Tiki Archeology: Unpublished Images from the Sven Kirsten Archive.” It’s sure to include a multimedia showing of great photos and discoveries that have never been seen before.

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Have a hip-shakin’ Huladay this Saturday at The Mai-Kai

Are you already getting tired of those boring office Christmas parties? Ring in the holiday season with those wild and crazy DJs from Exotica A-Go-Go at another one of their raucous late-night soirees this Saturday at Fort Lauderdale’s world famous Mai-Kai.

Put on your dancing shoes, grab a Barrel O’ Rum and and a pupu platter and prepare to get funky at a very special Huladay Party from 9 p.m. until the wee hours in The Molokai bar. DJs Sensitive Side, James Brown’s Sweat and Mikey “Radio-Active” Ramirez will be spinning a wide assortment of hip-shakin’ soul, garage, punk, R&B, surf and much more.

Santa will drop by with holiday giveaways and likely take advantage of the half-price happy hour drink specials from 10 p.m. until midnight. There’s no cover charge or minimum.

Of course, these are the same guys behind the recent Zombie A-Go-Go at The Mai-Kai in October. See photos and a recap of that bash courtesy of Broward New Times.

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