Update about former fueding tiki carvers, Ed's Heads and Mai Tiki, with a happy ending
Tiki carvers bury hatchet
Billy Cox — People — Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003
Every now and then, a story we run needs to be updated. Like this relic from Aug. 8, 1983. It was about feuding Cocoa Beach tiki carvers Wayne "Mai Tiki" Coombs and Ed "Ed's Heads" Volonnino.
In our last accounting, back when Def Leppard and Night Ranger were still viable, the boys wouldn't even have bothered to spit if the other was on fire. The piece ended this way:
"I stay away from the guy, man." — Volonnino.
"I don't even want to see his face." — Coombs.
This was a clash of egos and personalities grinding away in a long-simmering turf war. Coombs, who began cranking tikis in 1973, laid claim to all the scrap lumber in Cocoa Beach, and got the city to back him up. Volonnino, a relative newcomer who argued there was plenty of wood to go around, said the monopoly was unfair, and laid claim to felled palms as he saw fit.
Accusations and counter-accusations of vandalism and theft ensued, escalating into a confrontation in which Coombs drew a small fine for getting physical with Volonnino. Tensions cooled when Volonnino moved to Indialantic. End of story. Sort of.
Twenty years down the line, one would think the massive land-clearing operations in Brevard would produce enough fodder to keep armies of tiki carvers happy. Not so. Today, Coombs says he can't afford to leave anything to chance anymore. He pays for set-aside wood these days, getting the jump on grinding machines that can devour three to four trees in a matter of minutes and wiring additional profits from the mulch.
Operating with fewer resources in Melbourne, Volonnino patrols new developments for opportunities, but he has to be quick about it. Late one July morning, he dropped in on a tree-smashing festival of progress laying the groundwork for the high-rise traffic jam under construction called Harbor City Center.
"They must've knocked down a hundred trees, easy," Volonnino says. "I got there around 11 and filled my truck up. It was hot that day, so I figured I'd take a break and come back later when it was cooler. So I went back around 6, and they were all gone. Every one of 'em. I couldn't believe it."
But the landscape along the Space Coast isn't the only thing that's changed. Last weekend, as he celebrated 30 years at Mai Tiki in Cocoa Beach, Coombs, 53, invited Volonnino, 45, to his bash.
No doubt you mellow with age, but that's only part of it. Coombs still reads the riot act to tiki carvers — too numerous to count — who go to excruciating lengths to copy his style.
"Truth be known, all through the years, Ed is one of the few who's showed some damn respect, and that's all anybody wants," Coombs says. "He's one of the few who's not knocking me off."
Even with the rapprochement, Coombs can't resist giving Volonnino some professional tips, saying he "lacks depth perception" and "needs to carve deeper." But Volonnino has settled into a comfortable niche of his own. His work is featured most recently in Gary Monroe's new book, "Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida's Self-Taught Artists." And next year, you might catch a glimpse of Ed's Heads in the background of the locally filmed "First Time Caller," starring Chris Elliott and Fred Willard.
"Wayne is the living embodiment of all that is tiki — he's the Elvis Presley of tikis and Mai Tiki is Graceland. Everybody's gotta go there sooner or later," Volonnino says. "But I don't feel like I'm in his shadow anymore, even though I think he still underestimates me a lot."
Thus, beneath a lunar eclipse that Coombs says was custom-ordered for the anniversary celebration, the man who turned Mai Tiki into a Space Coast fixture extends a huge hand to the bearded former adversary whose brains he once wanted to beat out. Volonnino promptly accepts the shake. For the moment, at least, the two look like long lost buds.
"How about that?" Coombs says with a sly grin.
Next update: Nov. 12, 2023.
Billy Cox's column runs every Wednesday. He can be reached at 242-3734, or at [email protected].
