As mentioned in this month's Artist Profile, "freewheelin' monkey boy" Chongolio is planning a move to Hawai'i in '07. To help with his transition, he has set up Chongolio's Flea Market as an outlet "for my art and the things I am willing to depart with."
He's already started posting items with links to purchase through Paypal and figures:
I will give my friends, family and Coconut Wired listeners a chance to help out and get first grabs at the stuff they might want. I am going to try and start posting a few more things every week. After some time passes ... some things will go on the Bay Area craigslist. Whatever doesn't get sold will ... go into storage or ... get taken to Goodwill or given away.
I just took a look at what's on offer and can confirm there are some good bargains and great holiday gift ideas!
Good luck, Chongo!
Since August, I have had the pleasure of administering a blog for CheekyTiki. It's been a lot of fun posting photos and info about all the cool stuff happening for this growing company. I've especially enjoyed the behind-the-scenes access to all the work that they put into designing Mahiki - London's newest tiki bar!
Lately, the CheekyTiki blog has started to take on a life of its own. From now on, the blog will no longer be included in my Tiki Chris weekly updates. To keep updated on the latest CheekyTiki news, simply send an email to mailinglist@cheekytiki.com.
I appreciate the opportunity to help CheekyTiki through a successful transition and wish them the best of luck in the future.
Cheers,
Tiki Chris
bargain antiques with our friends on Saturday, where I picked up this lil scurvy dog for only five pieces of eight! As you can see, he's now sitting snugly on the shelf in me cap'n's quarters, guarding me booty of books. He looks great near (but not too near) the tiki mugs.
Thanks to everybody that took the Tiki Chris survey. More "T&A" and a "chocolate fountain" are on the way! Still would like to take the survey? Just click it.
This week's highlights include photos from CheekyTiki night at Mahiki, an artist profile of a monkey boy, a pretty cool Weekly Photo, and all the info you'll ever need to post a comment on a Tiki Chris blog.
Please see below for a complete listing of all of this week's posts.
Have a great weekend,
Tiki Chris
After choosing an identity, click "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT" to have it published or "PREVIEW" to see what your comment will look like.
If you click "PREVIEW" you must then click "edit comment" or "publish this comment" to continue.
That's it! However, please note that your comment will not appear immediately on the blog. All comments must be approved by me before appearing. I'm usually pretty speedy with most comments appearing well within 24 hours of being submitted.
Click here for more help.
Thanks,
Tiki Chris
Artist Profile: Chongolio
Self-described "freewheelin' monkey boy and intrepid tripper cruisin' down the paths of life lookin' for laughter, good friends and big fun," artist Randy Bain (aka Chongolio) resides near Santa Cruz, California, but has designs on moving to Hawai'i in 2007.
Of course, viewing Chongolio's work one might suspect he was born on and nevah left some remote surfers' paradise in the Pacific. If anybody was ever meant for da islands, it's dis braddah!
In reality, Chongolio was born in Los Angeles, but left the concrete jungles of LA in his early twenties, to travel up the California coast and across the US. He has visited Hawai'i many times and has been "mesmerized and inspired by all things tropical and exotic" for as long as he can remember.
Such inspiration may be found in his artwork – a briny melange of frantic surfing action and evocative tiki moods (think “Big Daddy” Ed Roth goes Hawaiian). To view his work is to be reminded of a favourite Saturday morning cartoon that never actually existed – but should have!
Recently, Chongolio has branched out to designing tiki mugs. His Ohana Hut tiki mug design won the second-ever Tiki Central Mug Design Contest! He hopes to use the buzz generated from the mug design contest as a springboard to bigger projects.
I’m a big fan of Chongo’s work. In fact, in 2005, the two of us collaborated on a three-volume illustrated series based upon the ancient Hawaiian legend of Kamapua'a, the Hawaiian Pig God.
Not satisfied with exploring only the visual side of his tropical fantasies, Chongolio is also the mastermind behind Coconut Wired, a music show podcast of "sonic surf, tropical tunes and exotic ambiance."
Eager to learn more about Chongolio and his zany, tropical zany style?
Have a look at these sites:
Barefoot Bloggin'
Chongolio's Lost-Isle
Coconut Wired with Chongolio and Friends
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Have you taken the Tiki Chris survey? No!? Just click here (it's painless; I promise).Still haven't taken the Tiki Chris survey? You really need to click here (please).
Couldn't make it to the opening of Gavin Nolan's Unnatural Selection at Sartorial Contemporary Art? No worries, I took plenty of pics. And when I wasn't snapping shots of art, I was playing with the very fun (and postmodern) Super-Bastard Box Art Characters, reading about some rather unpleasant aspects to being a pirate, and learning more and more about Rapa Nui and how the media portray it.
Yes, the past week in London was particularly yummy, in a 100% Authentic Vegetarian Gujarati Food sort of way. Still, there's always room to Reach for a Better Standard, at least with respect to ontoLondon's Weekly Photos.
But, as good as things are, there are always complications that arise, such as these new changes to hand baggage restrictions at UK airports that were noted on the ontoTravel blog.
The weekend promises to be a good one, especially with it starting off with CheekyTiki night at Mahiki!
Please see below for a complete listing of all of this week's posts.
Have a great weekend,
Tiki Chris
Super-Bastard Box Art Characters are colorful and fun box-shaped toys. Each side of each toy features a unique character, such as George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, a mummy, a cave man, a dominatrix, etc. The toys have detachable heads and trousers. Once removed, the characters' skulls and underwear are revealed.
A complete set of these lil buggers consists of 16 toys (that's 64 characters!). Each toy is individually placed 
in a sealed box (blind assortment). They are produced in a limited edition, with only 1000 copies of each toy on the market. Made with quality card stock with matt lamination, Super-Bastard Box Art Characters stand 4” tall and sell at a retail price of US$5.95 per toy.
The manufacture of these neat toys marks the first independent commercial venture for New York (by way of Malaysia) artist/designer Undoboy, who hopes the toys will be "the first step to producing my own fashion label or maybe even more toys in the future."
For the design of these interchangeable characters, Undoboy found inspiration in "early mix-and-match books and the Postmodernist movement." According to him:
In reality, people judge by appearance and first impressions usually last ... an identity is variable, like postmodernism. Change the dress or language and an identity changes ... By interchanging body parts, the characters become a new figure. At the same time, we get a chance to see through what really lies underneath.
Pretty heady stuff considering how much fun these toys are.
About a week ago, I received a gift of four Super-Bastard Box Art Characters from Undoboy. Since then, I've been having fun mixing and matching characters: Santa Claus with a dominatrix's body ... Michael Jackson wearing Dr. Spock's shirt and Mike Tyson's boxing gloves ... Bill Clinton in a cheerleader skirt with pom-poms ... so many possibilities!
I would like to sincerely thank everyone for making the 31 Days of Halloween Madness so much fun. Especially, everybody that contributed. I hope you had a great Halloween. Cheers!And speaking of London ... In very cool and exciting CheekyTiki news, Mahiki is now open to the public! In fact, we're gonna have a little shindig there next Friday.
Anyway now that Rocktober's over, I guess it's time to talk turkey - even here in London.
Still looking for something to read? There's plenty more at ontoTravel, and Rapa Nui News.
Please see below for a complete listing of all of this week's posts.
Have a great weekend,
Tiki Chris
Thanks to Matt and Laurel for sharing these photos of calaveras come alive! 
