Tiki Oasis - Let's Tiki

Is there tiki in Wisconsin? There is if you know where to look! And the place to look is Let's Tiki. I had the pleasure of meeting Randy and Damon at the Zen Tiki Lounge podcast at Tiki Oasis. Damon, the guy on the right, is the tiki genius who runs letstiki.com. It's a great source for tiki information. You'll find tiki bars listed by state, province, and country. For the record, Florida leads the nation with 25, closely followed by California with 24. But Wisconsin has a very respectable 2, make that 3 if you count the one in Damon's basement. But wait there's more, you will also find "all of the latest tiki headlines in one place" and a bar-load of great cocktail recipes including the Milwaukee Mai Tai.

To make one fill your cocktail shaker with:

1 cup crushed ice

2 oz. Roaring Dan's Rum

1/2 oz.Cointreau

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

1/2 oz. Orgeat syrup

Shake well, until the outside of the shaker is frosted. Pour unstrained into a cocktail glass. By the way, Roaring Dan's Rum is made in Wisconsin by the Great Lakes Distillery. It is distilled from pure sugarcane molasses and Wisconsin maple syrup. Sounds yummy!

Tiki Oasis - Zen Tiki Lounge

I really enjoy listening to podcasts and one of my favorites is Zen Tiki Lounge. Sunshine and the Ladies of the Lounge spend an hour chatting and sipping cocktails for our listening pleasure. For the past two years I've been invited to be a part of the podcast live from Tiki Oasis. Sunshine, Kalani, and Starshine (from left to right) are wonderful hosts. Starshine redecorates his hotel room to look like a tiki bar, serves a couple of exotic cocktails of his own invention, plays a round or two of 'What's in Kalani's Bra' (which for the past two years my wife has won, um, not the bra but the contest) and generally makes us all feel very welcome. I'm honored to have all three host add a little something to the chalkboard ukulele. Check out the podcast here Zen Tiki Lounge. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Tiki Oasis - A Pair of Kings

One of the great things about living in San Diego is all of the great events that happen here. Of course there's the huge San Diego Comic Con. But there are also some interesting smaller events, too. For the past few years I've been spending a weekend at Tiki Oasis. The best way to describe the it is a Woodstock for hipsters. It's at the now renamed Hanalei Hotel famous for it's tiki architecture. While there I had the opportunity to meet some ukulele royality.

First up is Tiki King. Hailing from Felton, CA he is well known in the ukulele community. His website is a great source for ukulele information including a very comprehensive listing of ukulele makers both past and present. Almost 700 ukuleles are listed! Tiki King is also an accomplished artist having made his own custom ukuleles as well as designing artwork for the popular Flea and Fluke ukes. He also fronts his own band Tiki King and the Idol Pleasures. Their songs are definitely worth a listen. And if that's not enough activities for one man he's also an amateur bartender! On his website he has a great list of cocktails both tiki inspired and conventional. Here's the Mai Tai recipe on he wrote on the ukulele:

1 oz. Light Rum

1 oz. Dark Rum

1/2 oz. Rock Candy Syrup

1/2 oz. Orgeat

1/2 oz. Orange Curacao

Juice of 1/2 a lime.

Shake well, strain into a double old fashioned glass filled with crushed ice garnish with lime shell, mint sprig, orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Delicious or should I say, "Mai tai!"

Our next royal guest is none other than King Kukulele. King Kukulele is a Southern California ukulele fixture. He's performed at many ukulele events, night clubs, and even McCabe's Guitar Shop. But he is probably best known as the emcee of Tiki Oasis. Every year he keeps the stage running smoothly from one band to another by keeping the audience laughing at his spontaneous humor. Personally, I'm a big fan of his ability to entertain both the kids and the adults in the audience. This is not an easy thing to do when the grown ups are enjoying a tasty adult beverage and the kids are watching their first burlesque dancer! If that's not enough to do he also fronts his own band Kink Kukulele and the Friki Tikis. You can find more information about this one-of-a-kind entertainer at his website: http://www.kingkukulele.com/