Inside the Desert Oasis Room

On this sponsor spotlight edition, we are joined by Bryan Azorsky, founder of Tiki Bar T-shirt Club along with Brandon Cummins from Altamar Brands, distiller and importer of fine spirits including Four Square and Probitas Rum! Today we chat about their respective brands, how the Covid pandemic has affected their lives and their local businesses (like Tiki Cat), their thoughts about the future of t...

Today we chat with Cristian Diaz! You might know him better as Skipper Cristian, bartender at Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar located at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. On this episode Cristian chats about his start at a Brazilian restaurant in Fresno, his background in culinary school and his journey to Trader Sam's. We also chat about his new YouTube venture Adventures with Alchemy...

Today we chat with Fritz Costa, author, professor and scientist. Learn about Fritz's scientific background, his former life in academia and hear how he went from being a college professor to becoming a blogger and author telling the stories of Shag, Tim Biskup, Derek Yaniger, Miles Thompson and Brandi Milne in his new book The Lives of Lowbrow Artists! Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Liv...

On this episode we chat with Bernard Yin and Rebecca Ramirez, the surf instrumentalist duo better known as Par Avion! Learn about their musical backgrounds, influences, song writing process and hear about their latest collaboration with Mexican cumbia musicians Perro Agradecido and how a chance meet up led to their latest project, Perro Avion! Get new release here: http://bit.ly/perroavionspotcali...

On this episode we chat with artist, carver and builder Danny Gallardo aka Tiki Diablo! Tiki Diablo is a world reknown tiki carver, mug maker and thematic builder having created some of the most iconic collectibles and tiki themed spaces of the modern era. If you're a tiki enthusiast, odds are you've got one or more of his tiki mugs in your collection or you've visited a bar he's built! I've known...

On this episode we chat with 2 time Na Hoku Hano Hano award winner Starr Kalahiki, bassist Mark Tanouye and musician, producer and song-writer Kit Ebersbach, co-founder of the iconic jazz exotica band Don Tiki! This broadcast is a replay of the live session we conducted with them on our Instagram page. We chat about their musical backgrounds, their residency at Skull & Crown Trading Company, life...

Today we chat with Opie Ortiz and Marshall Goodman aka Ras MG from the Long Beach Dub Allstars! Opie and Ras MG are part of the original line up from the iconic punk/ska/reggae band Sublime. On this episode we chat about their origins with Sublime, the history of their band the Long Beach Dub Allstars and how their pedigrees are connected. We also talk about their song writing and production proce...

On this final installment of our series the Covid Chronicles, we chat with Noa Laporga! Noa along with his partner Angelina are the founders of Hawaii's newest tiki bar known as Skull & Crown Trading Company. We learn about Noa's eceletic background, his upbringing on Oahu and how it culminated into him opening Skull & Crown. And as the world slowly reopens, we discuss what's next for this venture...

On this installment of the Covid Chronicles we chat with Randy Wong! Randy is the Co-founder, Band Leader and Music Director of the modern exotica band, Waitiki! On this episode, we briefly touch on the current state of affairs on the Hawaiian islands regarding the covid pandemic however, for the bulk of our chat we talk about his and his band members roots in Exotica music. Learn about Waitiki's...

On this installment of the Covid Chronicles we chat with Josh Hermsmeier! Josh hails from San Diego, California and if you're an active member in the tiki community and local to Southern California you'll probably know him best as drummer for Jason Lee and RIP-tides. In March of 2020, Josh and his immediate family were positively diagnosed as having been infected with the Covid-19 virus. On this s...

On this installment of the Covid Chronicles we chat with writer and rum aficionado of The Atomic Grog, Jim "Hurricane" Hayward! We recorded this episode just a little over a week ago before some beaches were re-opened in Florida and before The Hukilau had announced the way they were adapting to this year's changes of their annual event. It's crazy how much and how quickly things change in the worl...

On this installment of the Covid Chronicles we chat with surf music impressarios, The Volcanics! Frankie, Ben and Jarrod join us to discuss the process of writing and recording their newly released EP "Freakout!" We also chat about how the virus and its resulting quarantine has affected their shows and what it's like to release and promote a new EP during a world wide pandemic! On the web: www.the...

On this episode of the Covid Chronicles we chat with mid-century, tiki and classic car enthusiast Keir Whitcher! Keir hails from the land down under, just outside of Melbourne, Australia. We talk about how the corona virus has found it's way to his part of the world and how they're doing their part to flatten the curve and even explore a little bit about what the tiki scene is like in his part of...

On this installment of the Covid Chronicles we chat with pinup, model and doctor! Rina Bambina! Rina recently traveled to California and within about a day of her arrival, Los Angeles was put on limited lockdown and all bars, restaurants, public gatherings and other similar places of business or events were shut down or restricted to take out service only. Rina chats about this experience and the...

On this edition of the Covid Chronicles we chat with musician, composer and industry professional, Jason Lee of Jason Lee and the RIP-tides! Jason chats with us about how he's adjusted to the new reality we are all experiencing and how the corona virus has affected the live music scene and his industry as a whole! On the web: www.jasonleeguitar.com Social Media: @tikiguitarplayer @jasonleeandtheri...

On our third installment of the Covid Chronicles we chat with Kari Hendler along with Marina the fire eating mermaid! This episode was recorded exactly one week ago today and it's amazing how much things have changed since then. Between then and now, beaches in both California and Florida have since been closed and some of our favorite tiki centric events have since been rescheduled. We have a fun...

On this second episode of the Covid Chronicles we chat with Ross the "Tiki Boss" Aliotti! Ross recently returned from a visit to the Hawaiian Islands. While most of our lives were normal as he boarded the plane, things quickly turned south right after he left for the islands and when his vacation was over he returned to a very different world. We chat about how quickly things changed on the mainla...

Today we start a new series of episodes we are calling The Covid Chronicles! At the moment I'm not really sure how many of these episodes we'll be recording but as long as social distancing is being practiced to slow down the spread of Covid-19 we'll be interviewing our guests by phone from inside the Desert Oasis Room. On this episode we chat with Deejay Clulow and Chanel Herren. Deejay and Chane...

On this special Throwback Thursday edition, we revisit our session with the crew from the newly released documentary, Squeezed Up! Join us inside the Desert Oasis Room as we chat with the director, Dirk Behlau, executive producer, Stefan Immke and the rest of their crew also known as "The Wild Bunch", including Shane Bagnall, Andy Schmidt, Thorsten Leisenberg and Matze Heiden. The episode you are...

Today we are joined by singer and songwriter, Kirrah Amosa! Kirrah recently relocated to Los Angeles, California from Canberra, Australia and is the latest addition to the Island Block Radio family. We chat about her songwriting process, musical influences and are treated to a very special acoustic performance of her latest single, "Island Way" available at all media outlets beginning on February...

On this episode we speak with Mike & Mike, Jr & Sr, owners of the legendary Tiki-Ti in Los Angeles, California. I first started going to Tiki-Ti somewhere around 1995 or so. It was a great place to grab a strong and tasty tropical drink on my way out to a night of "clubbing" in Hollywood. Back then Ray Buhen was still bartending, the mixology legend who opened it back in 1961. Ray was one of the o...

On this episode of Inside the Desert Oasis Room I make a field trip to Oceanic Arts in Whittier, California and chat with the founders and living legends Leroy Schmaltz and Bob Van Oosting. They share many never-before-heard stories related to creating, building and influencing the South Seas aesthetic during the Polynesian Pop era and beyond. It was such an honor, pleasure and treat to get a snea...

I've been a big fan of Jordan T since his first hit single "Sunset Tonight" on Island Radio back in 2014 and started following him on Instagram and eventually became Facebook friends with him. Over the years, I saw several of his shows here on the mainland, which eventually lead up to this day. I reached out to him for an interview and he graciously opened up some time for me and we recorded this...

Today we are joined by my friend "Q", Producer and On Air Personality for Island Block Radio and Island Block TV. Q talks to us about how he got his start in radio, his thoughts on the future of radio, island music, guilty pleasures, bucket lists and much, much more! To listen to Island Block Radio, click here: https://onlineradiobox.com/us/dashislandblock/ To follow Island Block Radio on social m...

Today we welcome John Philbin back to the podcast! You might know John from his various movie characters over the past 3 decades including Turtle in North Shore, Nathaniel in Point Break, Tom McLaury in Tombstone, Chuck in Return of the Living Dead, Amos in Children of the Corn and more! On this episode we chat about what's happened in his life since our last chat along with his current film proje...