Hi Tiki Fans!

In our latest attempt at stretching the reach of the tiki aesthetic’s “crossover” appeal with various subcultures and genres, Tiki Lounge and Bar are proud to announce that local Funk Band “Mainsqueeze” will be performing a high energy show on Saturday July 26th!  Here’s the skinny:

Mainsqueeze, 6 piece 60’s funk band comprising of lead vocalist: Chloe Wilson, baritone sax: Sammy Valentino, drums: Domenic Prattico, guitar: Ashley Klus, guitar: Tony Millilo and bass:Mike Ostapchuk.

The group have been rehearsing extensively for the last 8 months to become Melbournes funkiest new band giving audiences authentic, obscure southern funk.  The band comprises of 6 experienced musicians who have a passion for funk and funky soul. All members also work professionally in various other local bands. Lead singer Chloe was the former lead vocalist with Mo Tunes. She has also recently worked as a backing vocalist to New Orleans funk master Eddie Bo and provides sweet backing vocals for local Cabarock band The Dice Age. Other members are currently involved with the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, The Dice Age, The Moment of Truth and other Rhythm and Blues bands.

Kicks off around 9 pm!

..don’t ask about it!  You have been warned…

Hiya all!

I just had to share this t-shirt design which I found on threadless.com.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce you to our most popular drink…

At the Tiki Bar we serve a famous Don the Beachcomber classic cocktail called a Zombie.  The Zombie is an excellent example of a cocktail made with lots of fresh juice and premium rums with a lot of complex flavours.  The recipe we use is considered by many experts in the field to be close to what Don’s original Zombie Cocktail would have been - with passionfruit, lime, lemon, angostura bitters and lots of big, bold rums.  We top ours off with a flaming passionfruit husk representing the “brains” of the Zombie, to which we add a magical voodoo powder made from Chicken bone and Human blood (no, really!   Trust me, I’m a bartender!).   The voodoo powder - sent to us by a witch-woman living on a small french colonial tropical island in the indian ocean called “Reunion Island” - is dropped into the live flame which throws up a tempest of sparks (often burning the hair off the poor bartender’s knuckles).

We are pleased to say that despite the “voodoo powder” this drink is vegan safe - the chicken was also vegan.

 UPDATE!  This shirt is now only available at redbubble.com.  See our followup post.

It’s the old “hold an event at the bar” trick!

Join us at the Tiki Bar this Saturday from 8pm onwards to celebrate the release of the new Get Smart movie! Take in a cabaret show whilst enjoying our new “Cone of Silence” cocktail - made with the most exotic and excellent 42 Below Feijoa Vodka, lime juice and Chartreuse.  Dress in “secret agent” costume or bring your Get Smart ticket stub for special offers throughout the night!  Email info@tikiloungeandbar.com for more info!  Steve Carrell or someone who may or may not look a little bit like him in certain light may be in attendance*!  We may or may not be playing old school Get Smart episodes which may or may not include favourite characters such as Hymie, Larabee, and Siegfried!

Be sure that you don’t “miss it by that much”.

Kev

*Tiki Lounge and Bar does not guarantee that someone who may or may not look a little bit like Steve Carrell in certain light will be attending the event.

Hiya internets!

Tiki Lounge and Bar now has a Facebook group - yet another iron in the online fire where you can go to share your Tiki Bar experience on the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY!

The Facebook group will be yet another place where you can access information about our exciting upcoming events like our Get Smart-apalooza this month, or the wonderful surf guitar band Instrumental Asylum on the 12th of July.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our Google Calendar if you are so inclined, or befriend the Tiki Bar at our Myspace page

Comic from http://blogs.msdn.com/officeoffline/

The Melbourne Zombie Shuffle was an absolute lark! We went down to the event to hand out some flyers for our “Melbourne Zombie Shuffle Reviver”. Many thanks to the undead who made it in to the bar to kick back with a few zombie cocktails and watch zombie movies after a long afternoon of shuffling through the post-apocalyptic Melbourne landscape.

Be sure to check the gallery for more photos of the event.

Greetings to our undead readers!

This Saturday marks the 2nd 3rd annual Melbourne Zombie Shuffle - an event where local zombies are free to roam from the Carlton Gardens to Crown Casino through the wonderful city of Melbourne. For those Zombies needing refreshment after participating in the Zombie Shuffle, Tiki Lounge and Bar is offering a place to put up your tired and rotting feet. The Zombie Shuffle Reviver will be offering door prizes and “stuff” to people who turn up in costume and will be selling our most popular drink which, coincidently, happens to also be the Zombie.

Ice is back with a brand new invention!

Ok, now that we’ve got that out of our system, lets talk about ice (ice, baby - alright I’m done now).

Tiki Lounge and Bar has recently been experimenting with mankind’s greatest creation (after fire, wind and rain), ICE! We were of course inspired by the tireless research of the man without whom I believe this world would never have rediscovered the joy of a well crafted Tiki Cocktail - Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. Beachbum Berry wrote The Book on Tiki Cocktails (and then for good measure wrote another two, his latest masterwork being the thoroughly entertaining and informative Sippin’ Safari).

In Berry’s books he delves into old cocktail books and the hand-written records of past Tiki mixologists and emerges with wonderfully complex recipes containing secret ingredients and techniques that have been lost in the mists of time. One skill that has been forgotten since the fall of the great Tiki Temples is the manipulation of ice in creating impressive new ways to present drinks. Beachbum Berry’s work has encouraged us to work on recreating some of these effects - one of which is seen in our new Get Smart inspired Cocktail the “Cone of Silence” (pictured). Beachbum Berry has written some kind words about our humble ice sculpting effort over at his “Grog Blog” .

We salute you, Mr Berry! Your work has reinvigorated an entire genre of drinks and is continuing to show us that fun drinks can still be serious (or is it that serious drinks can still be fun?).

Cheers,

Kev

Aloha!

Our menu gnomes have been hard at work putting together our exciting new Cocktail Menu concept.

The new menu will be a beautifully illustrated A3 menu in the style of menu common in the middle of last century. Below is a sneak peek at one of the hand illustrated colour effigies of our wonderful tropical drinks. The drink in question is a Zombie :

Don the Beachcomber’s classic Zombie represents all that is great about Tiki Drinks – heaps of great Rum, fresh fruit juices, bold flavours and a bit of showmanship, our Zombie is good old-fashioned fun. Full of four premium Rums, lime, lemon, passionfruit and pineapple, our Zombie is brought to life with a bit of fire and some Voodoo magic… Don’t singe your eyebrows!

The superb illustration was done by friend-of-the-bar Fiona Palmer a gifted Melbourne illustrator and designer. The colouring was done by her partner Mike who is also an illustrator working in graphic design and is responsible for our great tribal tiki logo. The two of them have been dragged kicking and screaming into producing Tiki themed work for us against their will and have embraced the aesthetic with gusto.

Here is a great example of a vintage illustrated Tiki bar menu that I found on display in a Hawaiiana exhibit in Waikiki Beach. Our menu will be like that but better!

Cheers,

Kev

Last night’s Cinema Exotica was an unmitigated success! Many thanks to the Graveyard Tramp (check out his great blog) for delving into the archives and producing some great cinematic entertainment!

I’ve included a photo of our enthralled audience enjoying the b-grade horror feature “Homicidal”, but the barstaff’s vote for best part of the night goes to the incredibly classy and high-brow moving pictures of topless go-go dancers of the 1960s. Very artistic!

If you have photos of the event that you would like to share in our gallery please send them to photos@tikiloungeandbar.com.

We will be holding more of these nights in the near future - Keep your eyes on the event calendar.

Cheers,

Kev