Sept. San Diego Chop Chop - 8th in O'side, thanks for coming out! - California Events

BTC Billy the Crud Member San Diego Joined: Jun 02, 2007 Posts: 996	BTC Billy the Crud Posted posted on Mon, Sep 24, 2007 4:14 PM I for one had one of the best spiritual experiences of my life at PIFA. The Islander community was full of good will and aloha spirit and it was a total honor to be invited (And invited BACK next year) to carve for the very people who's culture we all emulate, celebrate, and enjoy. The Tongans including us in their Kava ritual, the Islander population coming by and enjoying our art and process, the wonderful stories of the islands back home.........The experience of a lifetime. I'm pretty sure I'm a changed man after that and and I know that I'll never look at Tiki the same way. It's not just an excuse to have cocktails, luaus and Tiki parties in our tiki bars, rooms, themed porches and gardens.........This is an ancient culture(or rather the mix of SEVERAL ancient cultures) that were mostly destroyed by the introduction of our own. What we are doing is a beautiful and spiritual thing if we keep the right mindset. I predict even more improvement in the entire group as far as traditional work goes, after this weekend. Better traditional tikis= a better world!! The Tiki Bars, themed porches, Luaus and tiki parties are just the places that we and others enjoy the spoils of our hard work. Lets face it.......carving tiki IS hard work, especially when you're carving something over 4 feet tall on a fat, wet log!! The poor kids dancing in the cold rain on the first day, seemed unfazed Cammo, actually CARVING!! Kate, doing small work Mieko and Babs with his junior audience Me, working on "Kapa'a Maka Koa" And the natives became restless...... ........as Cam and I talked out of our asses..... And more of the group arrived. Here is a rare shot of Zaya, as she is usually the one taking the pics. A couple of Babs and his killer bunny-style artwork Kate and Mieko with their spoils A rare shot of Brian carving Brian, Billy, Dave My baby "Latiny Wahine" by the bay Buzzy, the guy that made this all happen(thank you SO much, man!!) And this is what I spent my weekend working on. A LOT of Aloha spirit was soaked up by this guy and he's sure to bring years of happiness. Kapa'a Maka Koa, from the left(his left!)is 75% complete I have more thank yous and pics, but for now, I think this will do. I'm exhausted and must get some sleep. Mahalo, all!! Mudslinger formerly known as Billybobaloo RWT32 Las Vegas32, F&AM myspace.com/billytoney [ Edited by: Billy the Crud 2007-09-24 16:19 ] [ Edited by: Billy the Crud 2007-09-24 22:30 ]

I for one had one of the best spiritual experiences of my life at PIFA. The Islander community was full of good will and aloha spirit and it was a total honor to be invited (And invited BACK next year) to carve for the very people who's culture we all emulate, celebrate, and enjoy. The Tongans including us in their Kava ritual, the Islander population coming by and enjoying our art and process, the wonderful stories of the islands back home.........The experience of a lifetime. I'm pretty sure I'm a changed man after that and and I know that I'll never look at Tiki the same way. It's not just an excuse to have cocktails, luaus and Tiki parties in our tiki bars, rooms, themed porches and gardens.........This is an ancient culture(or rather the mix of SEVERAL ancient cultures) that were mostly destroyed by the introduction of our own. What we are doing is a beautiful and spiritual thing if we keep the right mindset. I predict even more improvement in the entire group as far as traditional work goes, after this weekend. Better traditional tikis= a better world!!

The Tiki Bars, themed porches, Luaus and tiki parties are just the places that we and others enjoy the spoils of our hard work. Lets face it.......carving tiki IS hard work, especially when you're carving something over 4 feet tall on a fat, wet log!!

The poor kids dancing in the cold rain on the first day, seemed unfazed

Cammo, actually CARVING!!

Kate, doing small work

Mieko and Babs with his junior audience

Me, working on "Kapa'a Maka Koa"

And the natives became restless......

........as Cam and I talked out of our asses.....

And more of the group arrived. Here is a rare shot of Zaya, as she is usually the one taking the pics.

A couple of Babs and his killer bunny-style artwork

Kate and Mieko with their spoils

A rare shot of Brian carving

Brian, Billy, Dave

My baby "Latiny Wahine" by the bay

Buzzy, the guy that made this all happen(thank you SO much, man!!)

And this is what I spent my weekend working on. A LOT of Aloha spirit was soaked up by this guy and he's sure to bring years of happiness.

Kapa'a Maka Koa, from the left(his left!)is 75% complete