The Internet is changing so fast, I hope from time to time we all take a moment to remember what it was like at its peak -- and by "peak", I mean
the 2000 version of the Official Chubby Checker Website.
Before "Alexander Graham Bell"... no telephone.
Before "Thomas Edison" ... no Electric light.
Before Dr. George Washington Carver ... no Oil from seed or cloning of plants.
Before "Henry Ford" no V8 engine
Before "Walt Disney" ... no animated cartoons
Before "Chubby Checker" ... no "Dancing Apart to the Beat"
What is "Dancing Apart to the Beat"? Dancing Apart to the beat is the dance we do when we dance apart to anybody's music with a beat and before "Chubby Checker" It could not be found!
5 comments:
Leaving this comment perhaps more to illustrate just how much Thingol-John is on my mind.
When I read Chubby Checker, I thought "Oh yeah, Santa Claus!". He was said to be a "chubby and plump" elf. And he is a checker - making lists and 'checking them twice', in order to determine who is naughty and nice (or who prefers the right books?)
Santa Clause has been compared specifically to Thingol-John going all the way back to Xanadu, if not before, when we had Gene Kelly rollerskating around yelling "Ho! Ho! Ho!".
This thought caught further hold with the specific reference of "Dancing apart to the Beat", and this notion of striking a tune that differs from the prevailing music brought me to Thingol. In Daymon's additional writings, Thingol's efforts against Melkor were specifically described in terms of setting a different music to Melkor's 'beat' or hammering. Here is an example passage:
"And yet, came he [Thingol], renewed in Spirit, sudden to lighten hearts, near Eru-Home, and without Eru-place, seeing there, in challenge, Melkor’s wide filling [falling?] deceptions, that he of the Darkness’s Mastery, was now set to Rule; Not only the night, but also by Eru, being given rule of Day, the night every day-time, to bound, and constrain; There following as Melkor to far out shores descended, was a trailing True-Friend of Eru Light, and where so landing, softly, in Melkor’s devices, thundering came his heart-song, joyful, to all there that Evil-Dark now Abiding; “that sounds…familiar…” and recall was judged anew Ea, Out There, and Minds to past, turned, to Days before Melkor’s Dominion; and though fanciful (mostly), in that was-ing, was Thingol to lay about their dark pits, Estel in Now, from where is not-now.
Always Thingol-Suleman unmade Melkor’s hammering, and set it to tunes, jaunty, and spritely stepping..."
That last description quite literally describes a music set apart from the beat (Melkor's hammering) and which causes dancing (spritely stepping). And before Thingol (Chubby Checker), this dancing and music could not be found, or at least remembered.
The connection to Thingol-John is further supported by Chubby Checker's real name: Ernest Evans. Evans is a form of, what else, the name John (Evan/ Ivan).
It is also interesting to see his first name as Ernest or Ernie. You specifically referenced Thingol in the context of the Keebler Elves, and their head elf is named Ernie.
Last night, I thought through the Keebler Elves as a negative symbol - Beings appearing white but filled with 'fudge' or lies (probably the biggest lie of all is the Keebler lie that what is in those cookies is fudge...). I can still see it that way, but the names themselves are fascinating, and could be viewed in a positive manner. One story element, however, is the theft of names and identities, so just because a Keebler elf is holding up a name tag, we still might want to verify through other means, I guess.
But Ernie is a strong tie to Thingol-John; both from the independent Chubby Checker link, but also your tie of Thingol-John to the Keebler Elves and the mention of Ernie as one of those elves.
I also thought the Chubby Checker logo itself was very interesting, with the Warp and Woof/ Checker background. That Warp and Woof design has been used to illustrate Spacetime in my story, and the ability (and necessity) to manipulate that fabric.
In my own words and dreams, Thingol's rightful realm has been referred to as the area beyond our world, or I guess this physical universe, comprising of the "Waters" of space. That area is comprised of Spacetime, and so the juxtaposition of Chubby Checker over that symbol seemed relevant.
It never ceases to amaze me how literally every little thing I post, however random, gets subsumed into The Story. Every idle word . . .
https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2023/12/every-idle-word.html
The Official Chubby Checker Website is a bit confusing, but I think dancing apart *to* the beat differs from dancing apart *from* it. I think the idea is that in the Twist, two people dance to the beat apart from one another (i.e. not touching one's dance partner).
Ernie, Fast Eddie, and Buckets.
Thingol, the Swift Messenger, and Thomas “Bucket of Cream” Marsh.
I wonder which name corresponds to which Flour Boy?
I should mention that what made me think of Chubby Checker and his old website was that Billy Joel song sung by the Background Brethren. (This is Joel's version; I can't remember whether the Brethren's adaptation included Chubby.)
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
Lots of potential for a cicada-read there. I spontaneously read Buddy Holly as lowercase "buddy holly" -- a budding holly plant. Space monkeys are a familiar theme. "Hula hoop" sounds like something out of Joseph Smith's GAEL (cf. Ho-e-oop).
By connecting them both to John-Thingol, Bill has implicitly linked Ernie the Keebler Elf with Terry the Giant Irishman. Although Bill disagrees, I tend to assume that Terry and Gross Gaur are the same Being. My Keebler post went into some detail on the fact that my siblings and I used to call Keebler Elves "Flour Boys." In the comments on my original Gross Gaur post, Debbie focused on my pronunciation note (where I noted that "Gaur" rhymes with "flower") and dubbed Gross Gaur "the Flour Grocer," adding some notes about the esoteric meaning of flour. It was such a random tangent to go off on that it seems significant.
Can't make saints of Keebler Elves? Hold my beer, G.
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