Facebook Friend of the Day - Jet Screamer

I met Jet Screamer, who chooses to be anonymous on Facebook, today. I actually met him through Alan Berman, the Dean of Oldies Listeners. We chatted in Alan's apartment for about an hour before going out to a diner on the east side. Jet lives most of the year in Winnepeg, Canada although he is originally from New York City. He enjoys baseball and hockey and is heavily in 1960s music. He actually dislikes WCBS-FM since he does not care for the 80s music that the station plays.

He says he will be back in NYC in September. Hopefully we can hook up then.

Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs

Rolling Stone Magazine recently published a list of 500 Greatest Songs of all times chosen based on votes by 172 musicians, critics, and music-industry figures. Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan was voted #1. Radio stations of different formats often get votes from listeners on their top hits of all time and play them back usually on a holiday weekend. For every person voting there are different reasons for voting. A popular song by an artist is not necessary the best. Like a Rolling Stone is certainly Dylan's biggest hit as it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Charts. It is a very powerful song, though very bitter in tone. Every time that a radio station has a vote I always vote for it and it usually ends up high in the voting, but not necessarily #1. I do that because this is likely the only Dylan song that would chart very high.

In reality the songs that are my favorites have personal significance for me. I have posted many songs in this journal that have affected me emotionally over the years. Many have been written by Dylan but other artists and songwriters have influenced me greatly.

I would never criticize anyone else's choice of favorite song or artist.

I always get a kick out of Sebastian Cabot's reading of Like a Rolling. Facebook friend can hear it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBMzZ2PD4r8

Another New York Times Article about Facebook

Are 5,001 Facebook Friends One Too Many appeared in today's New York Times Sunday Styles section. Regular readers of Bruce's Journal know that I have commented on Facebook several times over the past few years. I have to make some comments on this article written by Aimee Lee Ball.

She quotes Roger Fransecky, a clinical psychologist, who states that "friending sustains an illusion (emphasis is mine) of closeness in a complex world of continuous partial attention." Can someone be friends with 5,000 people? The terms connections and followers used by LinkedIn and Twitter, respectively seem to be more accurate terms.

Ball states that Facebook discourages adding strangers as friends. As of today I have 378 friends, but how many are real friends? Many are friends of friends whom I have never met. I have established some good electronic relationships with some people that I will likely never encounter in real life. I would recommend that all Facebook members be careful about their privacy settings. On the other hand you may also offend people that you refuse to friend or unfriend.

There are more important things in this world than Facebook :)

Exploring other forms of music at the Flushing Library

For the third Saturday in a row we hiked over to the Flushing branch of the Queens Public Library to see a concert. This time it was classical piano music by Jeni Slotchiver. She is described as a champion of 20th century composers. Should I start listening to WQXR?

Famous Amos Facebook Friend of the Day

This Famous Amos does not make cookies. His real name is Russ DiBello who works in radio. It is a small world since I found at that he is a cousin to Barbara Kebbekus, a retired chemistry professor at NJIT.

This morning Lee and I went to the Bay Terrace Mall. We went to Barnes and Nobles to buy a few baseball books to read on the Jay Buckley Baseball Tour. We stopped by the FYE, one of the few music stores left and bought the reissued Rolling Stones CD Exile on Main Street. On the way home Famous was on WCBS-FM filling in for Broadway Bill Lee. Famous really bashed a moderator of a well know radio message board. This person unfairly criticized Russ's professional abilities. I have always enjoyed listening to him on the radio and wish him well in his professional endeavors.

The Mets are on a roll

The Mets have now won 5 games in a row against the Yankees and Phillies who appeared in last year's World Series. They actually shut out the Phillies in the 3 games at Citifield. Their record for the season is now 25-23. They now go on the road for 6 games. They have played exceptionally well at Citifield. Maybe it took them a season to get used to the next ballpark. The National League East seems to be evenly matched this season, so we can hope for divisional title. Let's hope that injuries don't hit again.

Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James by Manfred Mann

This song is a good example of British hit that didn't get any radio play in the USA in the mid 1960s. It peaked at #10 in the UK while ito didn't even reach the Billboard Top 100 according to my Joel Whitburn book. If this entry is imported into Facebook it can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-_hBGMwe7w . Maybe I should ask Bob Radil to play it.