Saturday, April 24, 2010

8th Annual Waikiki Spam Jam


But first, a word from our sponser. This Kodak moment was so funny mainly because the ladies to the right were tugging like heck on the back of Mr. Spam's outfit to get the very popular mascot to turn around so that they could take a picture of him posing with their kids.



For this evening's starter course....a medley of taro chips, sweet potato chips, etc., topped with what appears to be an omlet, then spam salsa, shredded cheeze, and garnished with I dunno.



DJ's from a local radio station interacting with the audience. Sumpthing to do with random volunteers yelling out the letters, "S-P-A-M....!" 



And would a food festival in the islands be complete without a lunchwagon. The takeout window is to the left when you're ready to place your order. 



Many of the food vendors have now been with the annual Spam Jam in Waikiki for a few years as the "2004" on the souvenir t-shirt attests.



8th year of the Spam Jam, and most booths have managed to keep within the "Spam" theme of the festival, while some booths arguably have diverged from the central idea.



®Spam theme?



Always a packed house. At this point, the street is four-lanes wide just to give you a general idea of the breadth of the crowd. On top of that, people tend to gather in front of a particular food booth for a number of reasons. Next thing you know it, the only open aisle is in the middle of the street, itself. Single file at that. The standing rule has always been that if you decide to or must stand in one spot in a block party, do not, by all means, place one foot behind your other foot. You not listening. If your right foot is directly vertical below your body, while you're standing still, do not rest your left foot any further behind your body than your right foot is planted behind your body. And, visa versa. Otherwise, people, like me, for instance, so intent on being polite not to rub against your shoulders while passing, will inadvertently kick the Achilles' heel of your trailing foot hidden from their GPS view, and you won't be pleased at all, as was that lady tonight, whose foot I bumped into, and like, apology not accepted. Fact of the matter is that in order to take a better photo of a food booth, I momentarily stepped back with one foot, and somebody behind me accidentally kicked my heel.



Spiral fries. It actually took longer to clamp the potato in the spiral machine, than it took to spiral the entire potato.



Soft tacos with spam.



Another stage with live entertainment.


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

When was this event? Was it on Kalakaua Ave? Funny the local papers didn't cover it. But maybe it's in the Sunday issue...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for giving me a little "taste" of Spam Jam. Due to scheduling conflicts this is the 3rd year i've missed it.

Gigi is right - the local papers do tend to do a crummy job of covering events on the island.

Alan from Makiki

RONW said...

good morning, gigi- yes, it's on Kalakaua, but only from the International Market Place to Lewer's St. Yeah, for some reasons the local tv didn't cover it, either.

good morning, Alan- these past few years, it's really became packed to the gills especially after 6pm. You've not really missed that much in the sense that most of the regular booths tend to repeat the same menus, the items that sell well, I surmise.

Ann da sista and the gang said...

Yay - you're back! We missed your blogging. The Waikiki Spam Jam - Damn! Only in Hawaii nei. Looked like fun - how much spam did you eat?

RONW said...

Hi Ann- I was away having a brain transplant. Unfortunately, all for nought. I won't get into the details. Anyways, I asked for my old brain back, since I wasn't happy with the new one. The later simply did not perform at the level of the former.

Brad Farless said...

What's up Ron? I was wondering where you'd been.

It's odd you should post this because last night I was in the grocery store with a serious craving for Spam (odd for me), but the Spam was on sale and all that was left was Garlic and Turkey spam. I wanted the original or the spicy one that I think comes with Tabasco.

RONW said...

Howzit Brad- I received a previous comment from you that was in my "moderation folder," which I hit the approve button, and it somehow disappeared. My personal favorite is ®SPAM with bacon. Hawaii eats more ®SPAM per capita than any state in the Union. Whether that's good or bad may be debatable.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ron. I come from gigihawaii. She wrote about your blog. I've been to the Spam Jam several times and love it. Great photos my friend and excellent coverage :) Have a good week ahead :)

RONW said...

Thom- they actually had a Spam Jam Photo Booth that I wasn't aware of.

Hattie said...

I wouldn't mind a spam jam, but my digestive system says otherwise.

RONW said...

Hi, Hattie- Let there be Spam. All kidding aside, the Spam Jam is a benefit for the food bank.

Rowena said...

What the? Comment moderation now? You couldn't just be happy with word verification?

Rowena said...

I had to wait nearly 2 weeks before I got to finally see this, and it was well worth the suspense. Stupid local tv not covering this. Had I been there....no wait, there's you so no need.

RONW said...

Rowena- "Comments Moderation" was not my idea. Blogger approves some, others get sent to the moderation holding cell. Blogger doesn't even notify me that I have comments to be approved. ????

RONW said...

Rowena- might have found the problem....I had enabled "moderation on posts older than 14-days," or left it enabled. However, frequently Brad's comments gets held up even if he does posts before the deadline.