Look who has an article in EXOTICA MODERNE

Several months ago, my friend (Tiki With) Ray Wyland chatted me up a bit with House of Tabu’s Ken Holewczynski, the publisher of EXOTICA MODERNE magazine, essentially giving me an “in” at the mag. I was thrilled—but exasperated. What could I possibly write about that would be interesting enough for the tiki magazine on the scene? My blog posts are largely my adventures at various bars. Who’d want to buy a magazine to read that (especially when they are posted here for free)? Still, zowie… The idea of being included in EXOTICA MODERNE, becoming a part of tiki history even in a very small way, would just be so magnificent.

But what could I write about? Hmm…

A chance meeting in Tacoma, Washington’s Devil’s Reef with Laura Miller, wife of Bay Area designer and tiki artist Woody Miller, provided the inspiration I needed. She was telling me and a small group of others about her first date with Woody and how he had casually confided to her that he was “kind of tiki famous.” While that may have triggered some snickers from the crowd, it got the rusty little cogs in my head a movin’.

Tiki famous… Tiki famous… Hmm. I had met Bamboo Ben once at Tiki Tom’s. I’d run into Otto and Baby Doe von Stroheim at their Tiki Dreams exhibit at the Napa Museum in Yountville. They didn’t know me from Adam, but I knew who they were…and I had fanboy-ed out in both instances. What must it be like to be tiki famous, I wondered.

Eventually, I worked up a proposal for Mr. Holewczynski. I would interview several people who are “tiki famous”, find out what that means to them and what it’s like to be famous within the small tiki community of society as a whole. If he liked how the article came out and was interested in others, I proposed continuing to have “Tiki Famous” as a running feature, but in subsequent issues I’d profile a single tiki famous person. He thought it sounded like a good idea. I needed to have it in by August. Okay!

Proposing an article is one thing, but getting people to participate is another…especially when this is your first article for a particular magazine. Fortunately the tiki community is very friendly, approachable, and cooperative. Not only did I get Bamboo Ben, Otto, and Baby Doe on board, I scored the help of several others. Woody and Laura Miller, Sven Kirsten, Tiki tOny Murphy, Julio “Jules” Gutierrez of Chunktikis, and even Mrs. (Vicki) Bamboo Ben were all kind enough to help me out. Of course, Ray was also ready, willing, and eager to assist me, too. I appreciated all of their time, input, and photos. Although it came down to the wire for some of the responses and picture requests, I got the article finished and sent in on time.

Mr. Holewcyznski told me that he’d received it and that he, his wife, and two other editors would look at it when they started preparing the issue. Okay. But what did that mean? Was I in? What if they didn’t like it? I guess I’d just have to wait and see…

Time passed and…. Nothing. Hmm. I went ahead and started on my next article. I got the questions submitted to my subject and his wife. More time passed. I still had no word. Ray mentioned that he’d spoken to Ken. He said that Mr. Holewczynski said that he liked my article and it would be running in the next issue. Okay—great. But still no word from the man himself. Hmm.

Finally, on the House of Tabu Instagram page, issue 21 was announced!

Besides the cover, there were several pages of teaser screenshots from within the issue. What, what, what? There was my article; Tiki Famous!

However, in the long, sprawling spiel about all of the goodies EXOTICA MODERNE #21 had in store for the readers (on Instagram and later in subsequent email advertisements), there was no mention of the article. Hmm. Maybe I hadn’t really made the cut after all…

It was aggravating, but what could I do? I just had to sit and wait—and see how it all turned out. I got my second article completed (My original subject kind of fell by the wayside and Tiki Tom-Tom graciously jumped in at the last minute.) and sent it in. I got an email back saying “received.”

I was going to Chicago for a bit around the end of October. I’m a very nervous flyer. While having my traditional pre-flight Bloody Mary with a prescription Xanax chaser, I got a text from Ray saying “This will make your day…” Lo’ and behold, it was the first two pages of the article (albeit sideways). It really HAD made it in. Hooray!

A few days later, I had a note from Mr. Holewczynski. He wanted to know if I used PayPal and, if so, under what email address. I told him and soon I had received this:

Jeepers! For the first time since I’d last written for the Fresno Bee, I was finally a paid writer again. Yes, it was only $75 (the going rate). But that isn’t the point for me. It was such an honor to have been included in the magazine and to have gotten to chat (if only via text and email) with those tiki luminaries. I can’t thank everyone involved enough. I just hope I can keep my foot in the door and keep the Tiki Famous feature going for as long as possible.

Cheers!

EXOTICA MODERNE and other swanky thangs can be found at:

HOUSE OF TABU: http://www.houseoftabu.com