Skydar and Riverock, the dirty hippies that they are, did not really seem to fit into the scene at Tiki Oasis at first. Many of the “tikispters” did not seem able to relate to anyone that was not wearing the designated uniform of- Fez Hat, super unique aloha shirt with matching shorts, or super loud Muumuu Dress.

Riverock and Skydar cannot even match their socks.

Riverock and Skydar were- at first, a little frustrated by this alienation from their colorfully adorned brothers. I mean hell, as far as we know; Tiki Bars partly blossomed from post WWII fears and anxieties. During the time of the Red Scare, you were deemed a Commie if you even looked strange. The post war Tiki Bars were a place of refuge, a place where one could pocket such paranoia, and act as a savage- with a good rum drink in hand. Basically making early tiki bar patrons closeted hippies way before we started to see actual hippies like Skydar and myself.

Then we smoked out and mellowed out. We used our third eyes/sixth chakra to get over our paranoid egos, and had a great time! Tiki Oasis is the largest tiki gathering ever! There are various Tiki vendors of hand carved tiki poles, tiki mugs, black velvet paintings, spread throughout the Hanalei hotel’s massive courtyard. Legendary surf and exotica bands jam at da main stage. Each night Oasis fans adorn them selves in their finest tiki wear and consume mass amounts of Mai Tais. How could you not have a good time?

Otto and Baby Doe (the creators of Tiki Oasis) asked us to make a short film presentation of the history of surfing. So we made Riverock and Skydar’s SURFISTORY, a one time showing of Riverock and Skydar’s loose/stoney knowledge of surf history. Our setting was a fictional tiki bar in Tijuana, where an uppity bartender (Otto) warms up to Riverock and Skydar as they begin to talk about surfing’s roots. We edited together great vintage footage that we found form Oddball film and video, some classic Macgillivray and Freeman, some clips from Richard Kenvin’s new film, Hydrodynamica, some big wave footage from the trailer for FUELED, from the talented folks (Eric Nelson, Curt Myers, and Chris Wilson) at Powerlines Productions, and some classic shots from Steve Spaulding’s Bali Hai, to make a silly, irrelevant presentation. We followed up with some good soul music form DJ Phast Phreedie and lots of rum, which made for a very good time!

Our buddy Ed Son put it best when he said- “This is like living in a cartoon, Man!.” From our experience at Tiki Oasis that is not necessarily a bad thing. We’ll see you next year. Thank you Otto and Baby Doe! For more info about Tiki Oasis click HERE.
All photos are by Tim Ott.



Skydar and Riverock arrive at Tiki Oasis 9!

Crusing thru the main event area of Tiki Oasis taking pictures with da pretty ladies.

This is Otto, the mad man behind Tiki Oasis, and the publisher of one of my favorite mags- TIKI NEWS

TIKIZILLA!!!

Flyer

Let the Surfistory lecture begin, it went well until...

Riverock started passing out shrooms while lecturing about mind expansion and surfing.

Kate Flannery who plays Meredith Palmer from da TV show The Office seemed to enjoy our show and did not seem to mind hugging a stinky hippy.

This charming fellow did not like our show!

Dancing to da beats of Phast Phreedie!

We met many new Mai Tai induced friends at Tiki Oasis 9!

The Phantom Surfers rock da main stage at Tiki Oasis 9!