Tiki Oasis 2013: FridayA few weeks ago we headed south to San Diego for Tiki Oasis. Tiki Oasis is a tiki themed weekender thathappens every year near the end of August. The event starts on Thursday night at Bali Hai restaurant atShelter Island for the official pre-party. The actual event starts on Friday afternoon which is when wealways arrive.

The event takes place at The Crowne Plaza hotel. The host hotel is expensive and hard to get into so wealways stay at a hotel cross the street, The Kings Inn. It is a super cute hotel with a kidney shaped pool,beautiful landscaping, and two restaurants. The rooms are very clean and the prices are reasonable. They

have a free shuttle to and from the host hotel that makes it really easy to go back and forth.

We first arrived to the host hotel during "sip and shop" hours. This was my first time experiencing sip andshop. Basically the rum sponsors set up booths in between the other vendors and give out free mixeddrinks and shots to everyone. It was fab! We didn't actually get any shopping done but boy oh boy did weget some drinking done. By the time the sun went down we were ready to party.

Tiki Oasis is a unique event in that every year they have a different theme. The theme is taken very

seriously. They book bands to fit the theme, have themed symposiums, themed decorations, themedmerch and themed contests. The theme this year was Hulabilly: part Americana, part Hawaiiana,Hulabilly is an American music style derived from the blending of Rockabilly and Haole Hawaiian music.

I am a sucker for themes so I had fun dressing the part. Everyone else did too! I love the hillbilly influenceon rockabilly, so this years theme was right up my alley. I don't think they can ever top it in my book.

The bands all play outdoors, on a stage placed on the grass near the pool. The hotel wraps around the poolarea so people can watch the festivities from their balconies. The first act to kick off the event was a newone, the Hukilau Hot Shots (Los Angeles), who was formed just for the event by members of The LuckyStars. We only caught maybe one song but they were great! I hope to see them again. Next up were thePolynesian Paradise Dancers (Los Angeles). That was a nice treat! Then we caught the B Stars (SanFrancisco). They are always great and such nice guys.

The Lucky Stars (Los Angeles) were a big hit, as well as the MC El Vez (Seattle). You can never go wrongwith The Lucky Stars. We had a rootin' tootin' good time!

Tiki Oasis actually fell on my birthday again this year, so I got to celebrate there. Everyone was having agood 'ol time!

Mitch Polzack (San Francisco) did a cool solo banjo act. King Kukulele (Hollywood) played some funsongs on his ukulele. The next act up for the night was my favorite, Vic Travino (Texas)! His young Elvisact was a HUGE hit with the ladies. I love young Elvis impersonators and Vic was great. I can't believe Ihadn't heard of him before. He has all the dance moves down and payed extra attention to the ladies in theaudience. He made such a big impression that every time I saw him around during the weekend I wouldblush and say to myself "Oh my gosh, it's Elvis!". I mean, no one ever looks as good as the real Elvis, but agirl can dream! Kudos to Otto and Baby Doe for booking him!

The headliner for the night is a band very close to my heart, The 18 Wheelers (Van Nuys). I am so gladthey got booked because since my hubby is in the band I got a free wrist band. Whoot! They put on a greatshow and had a big audience. Amber Foxx came up and did a few duets with them, which is always a treat.They even had a go-go dancer on stage. What a fun way to end the night!

Just because the bands end does not been the party ends. At this point everyone heads into the hotel forroom parties. Most big room parties are sponsored by rum companies or bands. They will either hand outinvites during the day or you will hear about them on Facebook. Then everyone just does a room crawlthroughout the night. All of the drinks are free, you just leave a tip. My favorite room had bartenders fromTrader Vics. They made the best drinks ever. Some rooms only served one type of drink, but this room hada whole menu to choose from. My pick was a kona coffee, which was amazing! The room parties at TikiOasis is where it is at. I have never experienced anything like it. Someone compared it to what they wishedcollege was like.

When people choose to have a room party they really do it up. All of the furniture is removed from the

hotel room, so it no longer looks like a hotel room. No bed, no TV, no couch. There is just a bar remainingand a lot of open space. Then they come in and decorate however they want. Some people go as far asremoving light fixtures, adding art and decorative panels to the walls. One room even brought in haybales. The hotel seems fine with it all too. I cannot image another weekender where this would fly. Thenthey bring in a band and lots and lots of booze. Then they just invite strangers in. It's great!

Once the acts are done on the main stage, Tiki Oasis moves the official party inside for DJs and burlesque.So after a few free drinks at the room party I went to check out the burlesque show. They get a lot of greatburlesque acts to preform. The MCs are always really funny too and drag king Mo B. Dick (Hollywood) did

not disappoint. She is pictured above with miss Tiki Oasis. I actually missed the Miss Tiki Oasis pageant,but the winner was super nice whenever I saw her throughout the weekend. Congrats to her!

I figured that was enough excitement for the night so we headed back to our hotel and hit the hay. TikiOasis had another jam packed day in store for us. Stay tuned for my post on Tiki Oasis: Saturday.

XOXO

Dollie