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Otto von Stroheim + Sven Kirsten on THE ART OF TIKI: Monday, 2/26, on KCSB’s THE FREAK POWER TICKET KCSB-FM Fund Drive Special

On Sunday morning, February 18th, I interviewed subcultural heroes Otto von Stroheim and Sven Kirsten poolside at the Caliente Tropics Resort in Palm Springs, California. The co-authors of the new coffee-table masterpiece The Art of Tiki (Last Gasp / La Luz de Jesus Press) were in town for Palm Springs’ celebrated “Modernism Week,” ahead of a book signing at the Shag Store later that afternoon. There’ll be an opportunity to acquire some limited edition tiki mugs and more tiki / exotica art, music, literature, even tiki-bar certificates, which are all related to last weekend’s expedition. But stay with me here for a moment… Otto von Stroheim is best known for being the creator of the 1990s zine Tiki News, and the impresario behind the annual Tiki Oasis gathering in San Diego, CA. Sven Kirsten is the author of three other major books on tiki art and culture for the famed German art book publisher Taschen. We discussed:

Where the “Polynesian Pop” art movement fits into larger Mid-century Modern (MCM) scene of the 1930s-1960s; 

Various aspects of the multicultural tiki culture, including fine arts, folk arts, design, architecture, music, cinema, bartending and the culinary arts, and more;

The difference between escapism and utopianism;

A range of issues related to the matter of cultural appropriation;

Connections between Afrofuturism and Kirsten’s concept of the “Tiki Modern”;

Their personal stories associated with the “Tiki Revival” of the mid-1990s, which was deeply rooted in the West Coast’s Lowbrow Art movement.

The Art of Tiki is both a art-show catalog, celebrating the 21st anniversary of La Luz de Jesus gallery’s breakthrough 21st Century Tiki Art exhibition of 1996, “the first of its kind in America.”

On tomorrow’s (the February 26th) edition of my music-and-cultural arts radio program, “The Freak Power Ticket” — which airs live every Monday at 11am-12noon PT — I’ll air Part One of our recorded conversation. It’ll be my best 91.9 KCSB-FM Fund Drive special ever.

For donations to Santa Barbara’s only full-power, freeform, independent community-radio outlet, and the University of California’s first radio station — $25 for students and $50 for non-students — you’ll be able to claim cool thank-you gifts like concert tickets and KCSB swag items.

I’ll also be offering the following items:

physical copies of Dionysus Records’ albums by The Tiki Tones, Creepxotica, Voodoo Organist, and Robert Drasnin.

MCM-styled wooden fish by Schroederville.

For larger donations, you can select:

hand-crafted palm-frond tiki masks by SB artist “Schroederville” Sheryl Schroeder,

limited-edition “The Freak Power Ticket” tiki mugs created by the Ojai-based “Village Potter,” ceramicist Scott Chatenever — inspired by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman’s The Curse of Lono;

Copies of the coffee-table book The Art of Tiki.

Each item above will require a minimum pledge of $65. A total steal.

With a $100 pledge you might select a $50 gift certificate — and a chance to compare the mixed drinks— at one of two area cocktail bars:

retro-cool VenTiki Lounge & Lanai in Old Town Ventura

and the “contemporary” Test Pilot cocktail bar in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone.

As a matter of fact, VenTiki also features a quirky and fun food menu!

A $100 pledge also automatically enters you in KCSB’s Grand Prize Drawing — which features platinum passes to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and a whole lot more.

Folks can donate online at www.kcsb.org (request your gift in the notes sections of our two payment platforms), or speak to one of our round-the-clock phone-bank volunteers from 6am-12am daily (sometime later) until Friday, March 2nd, at midnight. That’s (805) 893-2424.

Tomorrow’s edition of “The Freak Power Ticket” will be like a major art opening, but on the public airwaves. Send in your “RSVP” today, invite your friends, and please share this far and wide.

Part Two will air in a special time slot, this coming Friday, March 2nd, from 10am-12noon PST.

It will feature the conclusion of our interview and more of the Hunter S. Thompson-inspired, eclectic playlist of exotica music, psychobilly, psychedelia, instrumental surf, punk, and roots rock ’n’ roll, R&B, swamp and desert blues, etc. that I’ll be playing over the course of both broadcasts.

During both programs, I will be choosing amongst The Tiki Tones (which featured Josh Agle, aka the artist SHAG, as a founding member), San Diego’s Creepxotica, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, The Coasters, Voodoo Organist, The Cramps, Hawaiian Spotlighters, Rober Drasnin, Yma Sumac, The Presidents of the United States of America, Deadbolt, The Vistas, The Enchanters, Hoodoo Gurus, Jason Lee and the R.I.P. Tides, Don Tiki, Pua Almeida and His Polynesians, Los H.H., Bing Crosby, Santo & Johnny, The Tikiyaki Orchestra, and more.

Be sure to call (805) 893-2424 or donate online today! (www.kcsb.org)