The specific meme that prompted me to post my old Mary Timony concert review was one that dominated my Facebook feed for two days before slowing down. Its basic form: list ten bands/ artists. Declare "I have seen these ten bands -- but I'm lying about one of them". I don't understand why it was *quite* such a hit, but it had real charm. It was a chance to learn about your friends' musical tastes (if for some lame reason your friends don't write interminable blogs about their musical tastes), and let them re-live favorite concert memories for you. Some people also got into the guessing aspect, the "How well do I know this person?".
Some people, I gather, found it aggravating, and posted pictures of Batman slapping Robin and yelling that he didn't care what concerts Robin had seen. (I think this was from a late 1977 comic, when Robin was wearing safety pins and affecting a Cockney accent.) Me, what I liked best were watching the more affectionate variations get spun. Such as:
1. My friend Jeff posted the following ten-band list: "Liars. Loveliescrushing. White Lies. Mister Lies. John Wesley Harding & the Good Liars. Liars Academy. Liars' Club. False Virgins. False Positives. True West".
All, apparently, are real bands in his iTunes collection. Liars are the only ones I own anything by, but if I claimed to have seen all the following bands from my iTunes collection -- Fake Brain, Fake Problems, Fake Shark Real Zombie, Liars, Shampoo, and Honest Bob & the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives -- I'd be telling the truth only about the last of those. Honest! (To ponder: I've bought three MP3's by Bush. Do they belong on the lies/fakes name list?)
2. My friend Henry's "nine bands I've seen and one lie" list considered of nine musical artists and, midway through the list, "We're bringing the coal mining jobs back".
3. My friend Kelly, in a darker mood, wrote "Ten things that irritate me on Facebook. One is a lie:
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* Pictures of cute animals.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past.
* People complaining about other people enjoying things, instead of just scrolling past."
I forget which was the lie, but I think it was the eighth one.
******
I didn't do the 10-concerts-one's-a-lie thing, but if I had, the lie I'd've picked would be Nine Inch Nails. I had tickets to see them, way back in 1995. I got refunded for my tickets, too. A local minister led his congregation in mass prayers to God to cancel the show. The show was snowed out. Snow in Iowa in January: I don't think we can *prove* it was a miracle. But the Super Bowl was coming up, so you have to figure God was getting in practice with his minor interventions.
******
Unrelated to any of this except in the sense of "I have entertaining Facebook friends", my acquaintance David posted a bunch of proposed slogans for United Airlines. They got repetitive, but a few struck me as inspired:
"Board as a doctor, leave as a patient".
"Our prices can't be beaten; only our passengers can."
"Fight or flight: we choose".
If they use any of these and don't credit him, I hereby volunteer to be one of his witnesses.
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