Whomever it was in the skit (maybe Gilda Radner) was imitating the sound of a boring drum solo. "It sounds like 'Blickum...blickum...blickum...blickum-blickum-blickum.'" Being a drummer myself I thought it was hilarious. When I started my YT channel it was the first thing that popped into my head. I knew that almost no one would get it except maybe for another drummer, or a sweet sister from Mississippi maybe, but I thought it was as good a channel name as any. It has rhythm anyway.
My experiences on YouTube have been extraordinary. I've learned so very much and met some remarkable people (mostly digitally so far but a couple in the flesh), but that's another story. I can say that, shitty of a platform as it's become I've been blessed by YouTube and that's a fact. At first I started a channel so I could save videos and maybe comment and such, and I didn't think about putting up any videos, but one day I just wanted to see how easy or hard it was to upload. I picked a short random vid from my phone and it was a cakewalk...three or four clicks and my illustrious YouTube career had begun. I've enjoyed every low-res moment of it.
Several months back I met a guy from Bavaria. He commented on one of my vids and he said he liked my name. I thanked him and said something about it being a made-up word but he told me that it actually was a word, and that in German it means "To look around." I'm not sure if it's slang or a real word in their language but I really got off on it. It's certainly appropriate for me. I've been training my observational skills every day since I was young (I just did in fact on my walk just now) and I was blessed with excellent vision. It made my day to hear that and I appreciate him telling me. How cool.
A few days ago I was in a live chat I've visited for the last year or so. It's run by an old bastard that's even crustier and more of a cynical asshole than I am. It's funny because back when I first got on his channel he misread my name and thought there was an N in it, and to this day he still calls me "Blinkum." It sounds like a new fairy-tale character- Winkum, Blinkum and Nod. I think it's great. He's smart as shit though and he's had a really interesting life. Anyway YouTube in its infinite wisdom took away the "Go to channel" feature in a chat, where you could click on someone's channel and check it out and maybe subscribe. It's even getting very difficult to find some channels even in a direct YT search, and that's changed too.
Someone I knew from the chat but who hadn't subbed to my channel yet said she was trying to sub me. A minute later she said she'd just subbed me but that there was only one video on my channel. "Huh?" I said. A minute later she came back "Oops, wrong Blickum, lol." "Wrong Blickum?" I asked. "You mean there's another one?" "Yep, and he's a drummer" she said. "I'll be dang" I said. I did a search and sure as shit there was another Blickum- 'blickum blickum' to be exact. He didn't capitalize and there was a space between, but he got it right having two "Blickums." I got a huge kick out of it and subbed him immediately.
Not only was he a drummer but his one video was about a very specific and uncommon pair of Paiste hi-hat cymbals that I happened to have a pair of. It was like seeing a doppleganger. I never expected to see another Blickum on YT but I think it's fantastic. He now has four subs, two of which are my friend, by accident and me, on purpose. I left a comment but he may never see it unless he goes through all his notifications.
The video is two years old and I think I'm the only comment so he's certainly not looking for it. Maybe he'll see it. I thought about getting about a dozen people to all go and "gang-sub" him at the same time, so it will light up his bell and maybe get his attention. He'd have to get a kick out of it, the small-world thing and having the same rather rare channel name, and "Blickum Blickum" is really narrowing it down. For the record I beat him by about five years. I thought I'd found a unique name but not so. Interesting.
I just took a stab at the spelling since it's not a real word to begin with and I guess he did too, and we agree on that. According to the Bavarian dude the spelling is correct. That's how he spelled it. I hope I hear from the other Blickum one day but it's cool to know another one exists. We must at least share a common sense of humor to name our channel after such an obscure but funny name like "Blickum." He'd probably be fun to talk to. And he's a drummer too, although he'd almost have to be. 'Tis a small world. I say that all the time. Plus I learned that Blickum actually means something in another language, and a meaning I take proudly. Who'd'a thunk it?
BTW the image is my YT (and FB) avatar or whatever it is. It's a beautiful old game-piece from the early-20th century. The hand spins around to show how many moves to make or whatever. The action is still smooth and flawless after all these years. The dial is ivory (pre-ban and 100% legal) and the seller on eBay said that he thought the original hand had probably been ivory too but had been replaced by a Bakelite hand at some point, and it looks like it to me. I think it's a magnificent piece and I've never seen another one like it.
It does have a bit of meaning...even though there are only ten numerals it's still clock-like, and the hand is pointing to just shy of "midnight" if you will. It's a nod to the "Doomsday Clock," which factors in things like famine, pollution, overpopulation and tons of other factors and calculates how much time we have left, figuratively speaking, before it's GAME OVER for Planet Earth. Believe you me that bitch is pegged right now.
It's a small world, for Blickum and YouTube anyway, and YouTube is a very big universe. I like the word "Blickum." Even though it's not really a word, the other blickum blickum and I, plus the dude from Bavaria are doing our part to give it legitimacy. Come to think of it it's an Onomatopoeia (hey, I didn't get spellchecked). That's where the word itself makes the sound of the thing, like "Boing." It's definitely quite the percussive word. It's the sound of a boring drum solo and I'm a boring drummer. Touche. I love it.
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