Contributors Say hello to the fine folks who contribute to Mai Tai : : Several others have contributed to the print version of our newsletter too. Our thanks go out to them as well...

JOHN TRIVISONNO : : John Trivisonno has had a long-time fascination with mid 20th century Polynesian Pop culture... and a recently unearthed Super 8mm film showing him goofin' around at a luau at the Miami Beach Hawaiian Isle Hotel in the mid-60s proves it! A basement bar, trips to the Montreal Sheraton Mount-Royal's Kon Tiki, and the sounds of The Mauna Loa Islanders further fuelled his love of all things Tiki throughout the 1970s. : : In 1998, John finally decided to do something to express his interest in Polynesian Pop: he founded The Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society and its official newsletter, Mai Tai, which he published and distributed in Tiki hot spots worldwide from 1998 to 2005. Since no one else was really covering the subject in Canada at the time, John and his fellow Tiki Society members became the authorities on Tiki in the Great White North, contributing information about Montreal-area Tiki culture (as well as their extensive research on such lesser-known subjects as New Jersey’s mid-century Tiki heritage) to such publications as James Teitelbaum’s essential guidebook Tiki Road Trip. : : John has written and published a number of chapbooks that got some notice both locally and abroad. These include Dollar Days (a somewhat surreal account of John’s days as a retail ad copywriter), Mental Notes (a sometimes poignant, sometimes funny collection of anecdotes and memories), and the Montreal underground classic The Official St. Leonard Dictionary (a satirical dictionary and phrasebook of Italian-Canadian slang spoken in the Montreal borough of St. Leonard). First published in 1994, the Dictionary continues to be a cult item and was nominated for an Expozine (small press) Award in 2005. All of these are still available from chapter 11 productions. : : Along with a love of mid-20th century pop culture, John has also always been passionate about music representing a wide range of eras and styles. He is currently sharing but a small portion of his musical interests with listeners as the host of Thrifting for Tunes on luxuriamusic.com. : : John has also created CD artwork and shot photos for Stan Ridgway’s live recordings The Ancient Town of Frankfurt and Call of the Northwest.

DAVE LeBLANC : : Dave LeBlanc sincerely wishes it was 1957. Above, Sputnik slices through the heavens; under the carport sleeps a shiny new two-toned Buick Roadmaster; inside, Paul Desmond's sax is purring on the hi-fi; but best of all, he and the wife have just cleared an area in the basement for the do-it-yourself Tiki bar project. : : Dave is a radio producer and freelance writer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where there are no Tiki bars of any kind. To combat this, he frequently drives 5 hours to his other favourite city, Montreal, to find solace at the bottom of a ceramic coconut and enjoy the company of his other "famiglia". : : Dave writes a column for the Toronto edition of the Globe and Mail on mid-century modern architecture and has also been published in The Toronto Star, Atomic magazine, The Montreal Gazette and the West Island Suburban, among others. He hosts a weekly 3-minute radio feature called "The Architourist" on Newstalk 1010 CFRB. : : On weekends, you'll usually find Dave and his wife SHAUNTELLE cruising around in "Monty", their 1962 Mercury Monterey looking for artifacts from the 40's, 50's and 60's to "rescue" and take home or sell on eBay to other like-minded freaks.

FRED SARLI : : People seem to really get a kick out of Fred's writing for Mai Tai. He gets away with going off on tangents that have nothing to do with Polynesian Pop because he constantly compliments John T. on his editing skills. : : In his spare time, Fred "Dag-Tiki" Sarli likes to sing Broadway show tunes with the Montreal-based Lyric Theatre Singers who put on musical reviews around town on a regular basis. Also, after many years of separation, Fred has finally picked up the ukulele again, this time for good.

JO BRADLEY : : Jo’s writing appears in Mai Tai on a regular basis. She has contributed articles on the first Tiki bar in Belgium and exotica-themed burlesque, among many others. She spends most of her time concentrating on her band, The Sin-Tones, in which she co-writes and plays bass. She also designs Tiki jewelry.

PAUL CORUPE : : Paul Corupe is a Toronto-based writer and editor who first encountered Tiki culture scouring through thrift store record bins. His own website, Canuxploitation! is dedicated to forgotten Canadian b-films.

MIRELLA BONTEMPO : : Mirella has a knack for digging up Tiki related tidbits in the most unlikely places... from Vermont to Cuba! Mirella recently reported that her quest to find a decent Hawaiian shirt is finally over...

DAN LAXER : : "I rode the coat-tails of the M.T.A.S. like a bad surfer precariously hangin' ten off the Hawaiian coast on a Brady Bunch vacation. Heck, gimme a mai tai and a good pu pu platter, and I'm putty in your hands. I was easily swept up by the monsoon of pop-culture that is the M.T.A.S. Thereafter, Mai Tai gave me the opportunity to write, and perhaps more importantly, to eat and drink. I'm a radio producer, a freelance writer, and a devoted family man."