TIKIMAN – THE BACK STORY

You are currently reading a post on the blog entitled “The Tikiman Says…” Perhaps you’ve listened to a couple of episodes of the podcast Tikiman and The Viking. If you live in Wichita, KS, you might even have seen an orange Chevy Spark with the license plate TIKIMAN.

But unless you’ve known me for a while, you probably do not know how TIKIMAN came about. Here’s the back story.

On a lark, many years ago, I started buying Hawaiian shirts from thrift stores. They were mostly $4.99 or $5.99. When I was feeling daring, I’d pay $6.99. I thought they were cool. I was working at a large telecommunications company (I can’t say which because they like to sue) and tried to get my supervisor to initiate Wicky Wacky Friday (my expression). It was to be a day when all the people in my office would wear Hawaiian shirts. No go. I guess they were all a bunch of stuffed shirts. (Yeah, pun intended!)

One Christmas, my wife bought me a shirt from Hilo Hattie, one of the finest purveyors of Aloha shirts at the time. Needless to say, they were far more than $4.99, $5.99, or even $6.99. However, the quality and styles were vastly superior. Despite the higher prices, I acquiesced.

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For some reason, I transitioned to Maui Shirts because their styles were different. The problem was they often did not have my size for the shirts I was truly interested in. I had to depart from my patronage.

From a BBQ magazine (of all places), I found High Seas Trading and found my sartorial home. I even went so far as to friend the owner on Facebook. Amazing quality, excellent customer service, and a vast array of styles that changed and evolved.

During this time, my wife and family members would buy Wicky Wackys for me at Christmas and my birthday. My collection was starting to grow. I made choices based on color and style. “I need more orange and yellow,” I would ponder. “I’ve got enough cocktail shirts. I need more floral patterns.” Also, during this same time period, I was listening to a lot of lounge music, especially from the Ultra Lounge series. I received as gifts or bought Moai and Tiki signs and had Tiki masks adorning our spa hut.

Tikiman was born.

I soon realized it was more than just shirts, music, cocktails, and paraphernalia. Tikiman was a state of mind. The notion of “chill” was predominant (accentuated by my ordination as a Dudeist minister – but that’s a story for another time.) I don’t swim but, boy, did the notion of a beach sound appealing. The sound of waves, the feel of warm breezes, the smell of tropical flowers. Come on. Who wouldn’t get lulled into that world?

I have often joked the reason I write crime fiction is because I have had a long career in Customer Service. Yet, the notion of Tiki is a sustaining influence, a calming factor amid the stress of everyday life. Listening to Frank or Dean or Martin Denny or Les Baxter, making an Old Fashioned or a Negroni or a Gin Martini, unwinding after a long week and thinking about nothing important.

I have embraced Tikiman, not as a persona or a way of life, but as an idea of something fun and non-threatening. A colorful gent with a smile and a warm greeting. A character that doesn’t take himself too seriously, can laugh at himself, and isn’t afraid of naysayers.

But, let’s be honest – The shirts look GREAT!