I didn’t watch the X Files, but sounds like Roky Erickson the Texas musician from the psychedelic band the 13th Floor Elevators?
Thank you–I’m afraid I threw up a few threads in a fit of pique over the “high brow” Pit dust up but didn’t actually prove anything.
(Late response to your last post in the Paradise Lost thread: most of PL is a story about Satan told from his vantage point–Satan is scarcely mentioned in the bible so all this stuff is made up. Also, PL started life as a play (which Milton abandoned probably due to staging issues–naked Eve). Just clarifying.)
In Ada, Nabokov mischieviously (?) refers to everything else he wrote, not to mention a lot of stuff that a lot of other people wrote. Bits of it are in French and Russian. It is the ne plus ultra (French in his honor) of a snobbish, elitist novel and it joys in this: be prepared if you go for it. Pnin, Pale Fire and Speak Memory are marginally easier warm-ups.
Ok, I’ve got no problem with starting with Pale Fire.
But ya gotta admit, Paradise Lost is daunting. Even to someone like me, who generally devours books. Can you maybe recommend another book that I could read alongside, that might help explain some of the references? I don’t mind hitting footnotes either. That’s all I was doing when I read Inferno, Purgatory, and - oh, damn, I can never remember the really boring last one.
As for “throwing up a few threads” - please do. While I don’t agree that this place should necessarily be high-brow or low-brow, I love these kinds of discussions and I’ll be looking for your threads. 
’mika - why not a Cliff’s Notes or similar academic analysis of Pale Fire? I never shy away from support like that for a tough book. Heck, when I read Ulysses - or at least started before realizing that while I *could *do it, IMHO it wasn’t worth the effort - I had 3 different analytical books laid out. I would read the analysis, read the passage/paragraph/page in the book, re-read the analysis and then process it. It was surprisingly straightforward and let to a reasonably straight read of the book - but time-consuming as all heck…
I think you’ve got it! In the episode, Roky Crickenson is one of the witnesses to the UFO “encounter.” He gives Mulder & Scully his highly embroidered account of the event & leaves town, after a threat from the Men In Black. At the end of the episode, we see him delivering a lecture to some New Age types, in front of a graphic with an “Eye in the Pyramid” theme.
Rocky Erickson was a founder of the 13th Floor Elevators, a kickass Texas band who pioneered “psychedelic” music–although their sound was often quite hard-edged & has aged better than lots of hippy schmoop. The cover of their first LP featured a gaudy Eye in a Pyramid. After a pot bust, somebody convinced Rocky that pleading insanity was a better idea than going to prison. A few years of shock therapy & heavy (but legal!) drugs did nothing for his somewhat delicate mental status.
After his release, Rocky decided he should be called “Roky.” The band broke up, but he continued to write excellent, if weird, songs. His mental problems became a Texas legend & prevented a real musical career–he was in & out of institutions, in & out of legal trouble. (“Schizophrenia” is the most common diagnosis I’ve seen.) And the “self medication” so stylish in those days was* really* a bad idea for him.
(Roky’s now in the care of his brother & doing well. He’s healthier & performing again. And getting some royalties.)
However: Roky Crickenson said he was a Republican. I don’t think our Roky ever went that far.
End of the Low Brow hijack!
wow - from that description and quotes from the ep, it’s gotta be!
cool - happy to help!
Well, I had already fantasized the connection between the 2 Rokys.
But I’m glad to have an audience.