Courtesy of the kitchen staff.  Those crazy kids.

Hi all,

Good friend of the bar and international cocktail evangelist Angus Winchester recently presented a talk at Tales of the Cocktail and the Museum of the American Cocktail concerning the list of bars that one should see before kicking the bucket.

The list was about 71 strong and can be found on the New York Times website.  We were delighted and humbled to see that good old Tiki Lounge and Bar was one of five Australian Bars that made it on to the list.  We’re in some great company sitting alongside Melbourne cocktail institutions 1806 and Der Raum.

Be sure to check out the list!

Cheers,

Kev

Topic of conversation at the bar tonight: which is more flamable, vampires or zombies?

Also, will duck hunt work on a projector?

Your help kindly appreciated.

Love,
Staff

So Kevin Rudd has kindly given you a bunch of money, and you’ve got a few mates that need a “perk up” in these troubling economic times.  Why not be a hero and shout them to a night at the Tiki Bar?  To take advantage of celebrate the Australian Government’s stimulus package, Tiki Lounge and Bar is offering some special function/party packages for 20-30 people.

Package 1 – A Good Start to the Night – $600 – 20 people

This package gets you two “punch size” versions of some of our premium cocktails – An oversized version of our Pirate’s Grog recipe which we call “Davy Jones’ Locker” and is served out of a Treasure Chest, and another drink which is our version of a Pearl Diver Punch which is served out of a giant clam-shell.  These two punches will give you and 20 of your closest friends about 2 drinks each.

Package 2 – Settle in for a Comfortable Evening – $900 – 30 people

This package is suited to groups of around 30 people and gets you about 2 serves of punch each (as in package 1) as well as a spread of food – gourmet Pizzas and toasted sandwiches, Esquidillas (tasty little avocado, tomato and cheese-filled tortilla snacks) and a tropical fruit platter.

If you have more specific needs please feel free to get in touch to discuss options.  Tiki Lounge and Bar is a great venue for parties, birthdays, corporate function, product launches and so on.  If you want to offer  a little bit of “something different” for your friends, colleagues or clients then Tiki Lounge and Bar is the place to do it!  We also have access to a range of different entertainment options from bands to cabaret performances.  Give us a call (9428 4336) or email (info@tikiloungeandbar.com) to discuss your needs.

Cheers,

Tiki Lounge and Bar

Photo of a NZ 10 cent piece from thelittlehousebythesea.wordpress.com

Well that snuck up on us!  The Melbourne Zombie Shuffle is on again for 2009.   For those who aren’t aware of this annual event, it’s basically an excuse for Zombie Afficionados to don Zombie costumes and terrorise the good peoples of Melbourne in a good old-fashioned flash mob.  The shuffle kicks off this year at 1pm on Saturday May 9th starting at Carlton Gardens

The Facebook group for the Shuffle can be found here.

As strong supporters of Zombie rights, the Tiki Bar will be offering Zombie related cultural entertainment all night (movies on the projector, maybe some Resident Evil or Left 4 Dead… depends on whether Kev is up for donating his Xbox for the evening…).   We’ll  offering drink specials on the night ($4 off Zombie cocktails) to those who attend as Zombies (more out of fear than anything else), so please feel free to dress up!

Here are some scenes from last year’s shuffle…

Hiya!

I’ve recently come across a new website devoted to the history and culture of Olde Melbourne Towne called “Macabre Melbourne“.

As the title might suggest, Macabre Melbourne is peppered with a collection of writings about Melbourne’s dark past.  Melb0urne is a proud city that embraces all aspects of its personality – be they lofty successes of humanity or less savoury aspects of the soul.   Where else do you find such a collection of bars that will happily brag of being housed in an ex-brothel or sweatshop?  Macabre Melbourne not only explores the historical aspects of Melbourne, but draws a clear connection between these colourful events, places and people and how they influence the city in the modern day.  The site also contains reviews of Bars, Restaurants and venues of cultural significance in and around the city (not our bar yet, but we’ve certainly invited the good people of Macabre Melbourne to drop in coz we like their style).

If you want to feel connected to the lifeblood of the city in which you live, you can do a lot worse than tapping the vein that is www.macabremelbourne.com.

Cheers,

Kev.

* I took the photo somewhere in Lonsdale Street.  Let it not be said that Melbourne is not photogenic.

Once again the Great Instrumental Asylum will be descending upon Tiki Lounge and Bar to spread their surf guitar driven gospel to the cocktail-drinking congregation in Richmond on Saturday April 18th.

Doors open at 6 – musos start when they’re good and ready!

$8 cc at Tiki Lounge and Bar – 327 Swan Street, Richmond.

21st March 2009 – 8.30pm – $8 cc.

A very special night’s entertainment at Melbourne’s “Tiki Lounge and Bar” with a fabulous new print of this very famous and rare gem of cinematic history. From the director who made “Nosferatu” and the very famous “Sunrise” (often featured in top ten lists of best films of all time) Tiki Lounge and Bar is proud to present “Tabu” with a score composed and played live from music iconoclast and underground legend Mike Cooper.

About  the Movie…

There has never been another film like “Tabu”. This is a unique blending of
ethnographic documentary and expressionist drama, from a master director.

The actors are real Polynesians and their ceremonies and rituals are faithfully
captured, and interwoven with a tragic love story. The cinematography deservedly
won an Oscar – it is truly beautiful. Murnau, away from his usual studio sets,
manages to create the same sense of danger using natural light – especially
moonlight – and real locations.

The performances are very strong – especially Chevalier as the girl, and the old
man is as scary as Nosferatu as he haunts her dreams at night.

Sadly this was Murnau’s last film – he died in a car crash just before the
premiere. It is a little dramatically uneven, and certainly not the masterpiece
that “Sunrise” is, but it is still very worthwhile. (source)

Motu Tapu, the place where Murnau made this film, is an actual sacred tabu place
… It is therefore understandable that the islanders believe Murnau’s disregard
for the tabu, in making a film on this forbidden site, was the cause for his
tragic death soon afterwards.

About the Artist…

MIKE COOPER – GUITAR /LAP STEEL GUITAR/ ELECTRONICS/ VOCALS

For the past 40 years Mike Cooper has been an international musical explorer, performing and recording, solo and in a number of inspired groupings and a variety of genres.
Initially a folk-blues guitarist and singer songwriter his work has diversified to include improvised jazz and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations. He is also a music journalist, writing features for magazines, particularly on Pacific music and musicians, a visual artist, film and video maker, collector of Hawaiian shirts and appears on more than 60 records to date. “Cooper was forging connections between folk and experimental musics long before America got New or Weird..” (The Wire)

Mike’s Myspace page

Hi There,

In light of the tragic events of the last week throughout rural Victoria, Tiki Lounge and Bar has decided to do their bit to raise some funds to send to the Australian Red Cross for their Bushfire Appeal.

Due to the fact that we have many incendiary drinks on our menu, for the next month, Tiki Lounge and Bar will be donating $2 from every flaming drink we sell to the Red Cross*.

Our thoughts go out to all those touched by the Bushfire tragedy, and we wish for the best for those still battling the fires and those who are beginning the arduous task of rebuilding.

Cheers,

Tiki Lounge and Bar

*We’re hoping that’s not too distasteful to people – apologies in advance if anyone is offended.

Hi All,

You may have noticed that we’ve recently been referring to Tiki Lounge and Bar as “TikiLAB”.   At the time we though this was a cute contraction of the full name of the bar and that, we thought was that.   It has just come to our attention, however, that there was already a site at http://tikilab.com which is home to the Deborah Harry and Blondie Internet Service!  Now we have no desire here at Tiki Lounge and Bar to upset or confuse Blondie fans (we’re quite partial to spinning the Nouvelle Vague version of “Heart of Glass” every now and then down at Tiki), so we’d like to apologise to Louis (who’s a great guy who runs tikilab.com and contacted us to let us know we were inadvertantly stepping on some digital toes).

Now that’s all sorted and all is well for the Internet community.

Cheers,

Tiki Lounge and Bar