Aloha!

Preparations are at a fever pitch for the sold out 2008 NorthEast Tiki Tour, "Son of NETT," an annual pilgrimage to some of America's remaining Polynesian palaces.

The three-day event includes a bus tour of Polynesian lounges, raffles, performances by local and national musicians, a Polynesian dance show, and guided tours of Maori tattoo and Oceanic art exhibits at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

Featured performers for 2008 include the surf band 9th Wave, the modern exotica band WAITIKI, Hapa Haole & Hawaiian music provided by our own Carl "Granite Tiki" Ayotte and the dancers of Polynesian Dance Arts! The tour is also welcoming featured guest tiki carver "Tiki Hana" and is sponsored by KegWorks, Stuff-o-Rama, The Lounge-o-leers, The Velveteen Lounge, Flat Earth Trading, Gecko, and Boloco.

Tour organizers have started announcing a variety of items that will be raffled off during the event. Many of these items have been donated by tour sponsors and other friends of the tour. Updates on sponsors and raffle prizes are posted on the NorthEast Tiki Tour website: www.northeasttikitour.com.

The Tour takes attendees on an archeological hunt for signs of the heyday of the tiki craze of the late 50s and early 60s when diners enjoyed pseudo-exotic dishes under the solemn gaze of enormous carved tiki figures and highly potent cocktails were served in fanciful vessels shaped like volcanoes, coconuts and moai.

If you didn't get a ticket in time, don't worry. Planning for the third annual tour has already started!

Keep the torches burning,

— Tagata Maori Rogorogo