So why write a TikTalk story? Simply put, because they make me laugh and help me escape into an absurd and comical world I enjoy exploring. The first TikTalk is ‘The Blind Boys’, which was written in September or October of 2022. Writing songs and poems is all I’d ever done previous to that first story. The oldest songs in this web site date to 1976, though the recordings came later. Back to TikTalks…
I’ve described the stories to others as being like little bags of popcorn to munch on, while the main courses are the musical selections imbedded in most of the stories. And there is as much truth as there is fiction in many of the stories. Quite a few characters and scenarios are pure fiction, while also there are tales of adventure from my past. We’ve all heard “Truth is often stranger than fiction” many times, and like most folk wisdom those words should not be disregarded or ignored.
‘Blind Boys’ is an example of a purely fictional scenario employing characters who are real, but exaggerated for the purpose of humor and satire in the story. Blind Boy Billy is JS Bowers- the poet who is most responsible for my musical trajectory in life. Without him I suspect that I would have been just another guitar player amongst the untold on this planet, or perhaps I would have joined the circus and played a clown for my wages.
The Bowers-Butchvarov catalog of music stands unique and mysterious to my eyes and ears, and is easily the work I’m most pleased with and proud of. He makes another appearance in ‘The Butcher and the Bard.’ His verse is singular in my view, and not one of our works would exist but for his wordy wisdom, wit, and wonderings.
TikTalks are written much like I write most of my songs or poems. Quickly, spontaneously, almost in a fit of mirth and madness. A Cloud Nine experience akin to falling in love, or thinking sweet thoughts of one’s love. In the course of my day, or in the night sitting before the hearth, I’ll think through ideas for these stories. Almost without exception they are then written in a few hours on my tablet. I make sure to have kleenex beside me as I roar with laughter, my tears streaming, selecting and ordering words to reflect my artistic purpose of the moment. For me the task is that each story be quick, compact, sometimes excruciatingly offensive to certain sensibilities, and that I laugh uncontrollably throughout the process.
There are exceptions to the laughter criteria, of course. ‘At The Rave’ is not funny and was never intended to be. There are also dystopian fantasies here and there in the stories, where I do a tug of war in my own mind to understand an issue. In my view we are living in an era that could make or break our civilization as we know it. There’s lots to think about these days. Obviously and laughably so.
Quite a few of these stories were written while camped out in the high desert of New Mexico in a small trailer I pull with a pickup truck. Whenever I camped in a modern campground, and was surrounded by other travelers, I would sometimes, while writing a story, note that my laughter would appear to my neighbors as the ravings and ejaculations of a madman or lunatic. No amount of discipline allowed me to temper my hysterics as I popped these little bags of popcorn over my hotplate, for your consumption and enjoyment!
CP Butchvarov 2025