I haven't posted for a while so just thought I'd blab a bit. My live music report is pretty weak as I find it harder to leave my home and drive into Portland at 9 in the evening to attend but did manage to go to the Aladdin Theatre to see the Psychedelic Firs recently. I don't usually go to see older bands 'cause let's face it- Rock & Roll is a young persons sport. But together with two new members and three of the originals it made for a pretty darn good show. I missed the Thee Oh Sees show partly out of protest for playing at this years Pick-A-Thon here in Portland (I didn't want to have to rub elbows with some bearded, smelly hippie) but I understand that as a band you have to make money. I missed both the Melvins show and Nice Nice because of out of town fun things. Visiting my daughter in Orlando was great and also attended a wedding in Las Vegas. Working hard to carve mostly new things for the Tiki Caliente event in May 2013 and also the Artwalk here in July, the Tiki Kon and Elroy Artspace events in August as well as Tiki Oasis which is a hopeful at towards the end of that month. Thanks to local guy Ken and his wife for purchasing O'Hiki and Paddleman. They have the nicest manicured yard (including many palm) I have seen and the tikis look fantastic.

I heard that "Ron", the Elroy piece I submitted for the Happy Tiki event in Portland sold this week. It is a great feeling when someone parts with their hard earned dinero to purchase one of my carvings and although I did not get to meet you I greatly appreciate it!

I had another great time at the Elroy show. This year's line-up of tiki art was the best yet. My first Tiki Kon vending/carving event was even more fun and although we had record heat I really enjoyed speaking with mostly local or Seattle area tiki people. Thanks to all that bought stuff and especially to Pete for purchasing "Lombardo"!

Looking forward to 2 events this week starting with the Elroy Artspace "What makes your Tiki Hapi" show on Thursday. There is great art coming from all over the U.S. On Saturday is Tiki Kon where I will be vending and carving at the Jansen Beach Red Lion. Hope to see some of you there.

Thanks very much Brian and his wife for purchasing "Flip" this weekend and helping make this my best Artwalk! Next up is the First Thursday event August 2 in Portland. The public is invited and you can get details through the Elroy Artspace website under upcoming shows. After that is a live carve/vendor event at the Jansen Beach Red Lion on August 4. You can get more details by checking out Tiki-Kon.

Hope to see you the third Saturday of July for the Gresham Artwalk. This will be my fourth year doing it and always have a good time. Also will be at Elroy Artspace for a one month exhibit the first Thursday of August and will be doing a live carve at the Jansen Beach Red Lion on August 4. Nobody ever watches me so this will be odd, but I will try not to cuss when I screw something up.

I had a very good time at my first real tiki vending event and will certainly do it again. It was hot and close to or over 100 every day and loading and unloading damn near killed me ('Ohiki will never be going on another roady with me) but mostly enjoyed the beautiful dry heat. Many thanks to Rory for hosting the event and to Mark and Cindy from San Diego, John and his wife Janelle, Wendy and Dan, and the others that purchased tikis and depleted my t shirt supply. I will bring bigger sizes next time I promise.

Attended the sold out, sweaty, beer- soaked Dead Milkmen show at the Hawthorne Theatre yesterday so naturally I had a great time. They played their asses off for an hour and a half in a sing- along set that included old classics and from the newest album The King in Yellow. Opening band the ex girlfriends were ok while local band The And We Shared Milk provided a great odd, tempo that would change from one minute to the next.

Thanks to Thinc Actionwear for the open house on Friday. About 300 people showed up at this t shirt supply house for food and drink. They started business about the same time as I did (1979) and have grown from a 1500 square foot hole in the wall to their new place that is an acre of land under one roof. I don't ever talk shop with anyone so it was fun to speak with others in the biz.

Enjoyed local singer/songwriter Leigh Marble at the Doug Fir on Thursday along with opener Kelly Anne Masigat but stay far away from the Ascetic Junkies unless you like the Wiggles or the Partridge Family.

I am not recommending music to anyone just acknowledging how much I liked Thee Oh Sees newest album Carrion Crawler. It really was good the first time through and also captures the way the sound live. Also picked up the new Primus album Green Naugahyde. There are many gems to be mined here also but the song that stands out has to do with Lee Van Cleef, and his whereabouts.

A friend pumped me up and told me that I am on the Reverend Horton Heat's Facebook page. Check out my ugly mug while it's still there in the August 2011 section.

I got accepted to the Gresham Artwalk again this year so if you live in the area come on by and say hi. It is the third weekend of July and if you mention this blogspot I will give you a Frog Island Tiki T shirt.

I went and saw an all-time favorite of mine last night at Dantes. The Secret Chiefs 3 are a great instrumental band and did a fantastic one hour set combining all kinds of instruments, sounds, and influences. A lot is very middle eastern sounding, with some surf, spaghetti western, metal, and punk. One guy played the keyboards, guitar, violin, and trumpet all with a crazy sort of vail over his face. I was also surprised that the opening band was U Sco, locals that I had seen a few weeks ago. They are another instrumental band that matched up with SC3 very well, but I can not say the same for the headlining band Dengue Fever. They play a 60s sort of Hanoi rock with a Cambodian gal as lead singer. Very syrupy soft sound that brought the mood down too much. A highlight of the evening was the guy (girl?) dressed in brown galoshes, tight leggings, brown vinyl raincoat open at the chest, an "F" on his t shirt (fly person?) and a cloth green bug mask. The mask was open at the mouth so it could drink a Pabst 16 ouncer or three.

I went to one of the most unusual but cool venues last night to see Trevor Dunn, (from Mr. Bungle) bassist extraordinaire, at Laughing Horse Books. Maybe 30 people were there, no alcohol, and a pay what you can entrance. The place was like a living room with the book shelves pushed to the back and sides of the room, a couple of table lamps on the floor for mood. He was solo, no amps, and played an unreal 20 minute set. At times it seemed like he was trying to saw his double stand-up bass in half with his bow and at other times it seemed like his instrument was alive and bellowing on it's own. Sometimes he plucked it, sometimes he played it below the bridge or on the tail piece, other times attaching close pins to the strings, and that was just with his right hand. I really liked the opener also, local band U Sco. I will look for them again. Also traveling with Trevor was Travis LaPlante, a very entertaining solo sax player.

Thanks again to Whitey for taking me to the Blazer/Laker game last week. My pal has the greatest season seats and to watch a game from there is unreal. My distain for Blazer fan grew, however, as they are the WORST winners in the universe. The jumbo-tron shots of fat Laker fans stuffing their faces during time outs was particularly bush league. Stay classy Portland and pop off when you actually win something.