Tikidämmerung: Twilight of the Tiki Gods
Pele the Benevolent, by John Rafferty
A comment by orangeguru put me in mind of a something I wrote several years ago for the old Exotica mailing list, called Tikidämmerung. Essentially, it's a piss-take on Wagner's Gotterdämmerung, with all the principal characters played by figures from popular music.
What inspired me to write it was an article I'd just written for Cool and Strange Music magazine about Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and his lifelong desire to be an opera singer. More specifically, he wanted to assay the role of Siegfried in the Ring Cycle. I also wanted to satirize the way that popular music keeps recycling everything that's come before it, although I don't think I was terribly successful in getting that point across.
I've put both online for your reading pleasure (or derision).
[Link: Tikidämmerung: Twilight of the Tiki Gods]
[Link: If You Are But A Dream: the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Story]
Comments
The SJH article was great.
The epilogue reminded me of a quote from the Hagakure...
It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.
Posted by: Fritz | February 24, 2007 11:55 AM
Glad you enjoyed it. I like the quote.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | February 24, 2007 12:04 PM
I remember Tikidämmerung. Nice work.
Posted by: M.Ace | February 24, 2007 1:10 PM
Thanks. As I recall, R. Moritz offered to do the set designs
Posted by: MrBaliHai | February 24, 2007 1:15 PM
What have I done ... ?!
"Gunther is alarmed at Siegfried's shameless appropriation of his own song titles to move the narrative along, and Hagen thrusts his spear into Siegfried's ass while he isn't looking."
Looking forward to see this scene on stage in Bayreuth.
Posted by: orangeguru | February 27, 2007 10:48 AM
That would be awesome, but if you stage it at Bayreuth, nobody will be able to get tickets.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | February 27, 2007 12:15 PM