A bit of help, folks

[chaoswolf]

Happy birthday to nicodemusrat and amelia_seyroon.

This next segment x-posted to filk.
What I need help with is a speech on filk: sounds a bit wierd, I know. I'm not allowed to use Wikipedia because of the credibility it causes, but I need at least 4 outside sources in this speech. I need to know:

• How do I define filk to mundane nuts who don't know anything about it?
• What are examples of said music genre that mundanity might know? (Wierd Al, etc.)
• What can be done with filk? (Burlesque, music video, literary works, CD accompaniment, etc)
• How do I wrap up an informative speech about everything covered and link it together? (This one, I can probably figure out on my own, but your suggestions would be welcome.)
• Finally, do I have your permission to site you as a source under the "testimonial" category?

Aside to jenkitty and members of Tres Gique: I wish to use some pictures for my presentation. Please send me an email or comment to work this out.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Hint: A well-written Wikipedia article cites its sources.

Mundane filk: "'39" from Queen's Night at the Opera. James Taylor's "Frozen Man". "Major Tom" might be pretty close, though I've never heard it done in circle. Bob Rivers' stuff comes close, as does Weird Al, but I've never heard anyone pull that out in circle and do it....

Personally I'm a fan of "if it gets done in circle or at a concert, it's filk" definition. Dasn't have to be space or little people or even cats or knitting... I've heard "Closer to Fine" done more than once straight up, not even the filked version. There are subtle differences in gradation, though; there's found filk (ordinary commercial artists doing SF or fantasy material), there's the novelty stuff (Weird Al, Dr. Demento, Bob Rivers), there's parody filk (of which the Bohnhoffs and Kanef are probably the two biggest), and then there's original stuff.

Oooooh. There's an aspect that nobody seems to touch on when writing up definitions: Filk as community. A lot of folks are in bands, but from what little I know of that, they don't hang out with their bandmates except after practice. Filk forms communities that keep up with each other, help each other through tough times, even track down people in times of need. Talk to runnerwolf about this... or heck, talk to your mom. She would definitely be a primary source about the filking community, and she's right there.

I'd want to vet anything you quoted me on to make sure the sense of it is right, but I wouldn't really consider myself to be a primary source anyway; you'd want someone who's done this a heck of a lot longer than me to be considered a real primary authority.

(Oh, don't forget in performance genres, signing to filk; Judi Miller has a Pegasus for doing just that. For that matter, cover "what is a Pegasus"?)