Tag: Facebook

Marlo Thomas, Why Are You Haunting Me?

It’s a creepy feeling. The feeling you get when suddenly a new person’s posts start appearing in your Facebook feed. Someone who you don’t know and you don’t care about. You can’t fathom why you should suddenly be seeing their stories, their missives to their loving spouses, and their Fathers’ Day remembrances of their gone but much-missed parent.

So for the last week, I have been a bit creeped out to open my Facebook page and find another post by Marlo Thomas. Yes, that Marlo Thomas, That Girl herself.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Marlo Thomas’s posts. She shows photos of herself with her husband Phil Donahue; she remembers her daddy Danny; she sends out a message of peace and love on Juneteenth. It is wholesome and uplifting and just what you would expect.

So why does it give me the shivers? I just can’t figure out how the Facebook algorithm decided to share Marlo and Phil’s life with me. I am quite certain that I have never said her name aloud in our kitchen where Alexa might overhear and report the info to Facebook. I have never done a Google search on Ms. Thomas, nor asked ChatGPT what it would be like to be Marlo Thomas. And a comprehensive review of my nearly eight years of blogging would not bring up her name even once. So why the new Facebook connection?

Of course, I am not unaware of the existence of Marlo Thomas. As a youngster, Make Room for Daddy was one of my favorite shows (yes I know, Angela Cartwright, not Marlo, played Danny’s daughter.) The mid-1960s brought us That Girl and although it wasn’t quite as compelling as The Mary Tyler Moore Show it was ok. It had a hat toss now and then and it introduced the world to Ted Bessell before he went on to fame and fortune in Me and the Chimp.

Marlo does have a Chicago connection, marrying Phil Donahue during the period when The Phil Donahue Show was being produced here. I even saw Marlo in a Chicago theater role here a few years later, as she starred in the Briar Street Theater production of Six Degrees of Separation. No hat tossing or Ted Bessell with that one.

In recent years, we all saw her fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For her good works, she has been presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is a beacon to all.

I just can’t figure out how she wound up invading my Facebook space. Who is going to be next, Agent 99?

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You can always get a hold of me at chidoc@post.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Man-People Take This Music Sh*t Seriously!

So I am a member of a few groups on Facebook. Groups about my old neighborhood, my new neighborhood, my schools, my occupation. And a handful about my love of music.

In one of the groups, people tend to ask questions like “name your favorite bass guitarist,” or “name a song with the letter Q in the title.” On occasion, I will volunteer an answer, and on rarer occasions, I will ask a question. During this past COVID-quiet weekend I asked a question. I didn’t know I was inciting a riot…

My question was pretty straightforward–“Name a song that contains the name of a non-USA city.” As an example, I listed my favorite Warren Zevon number, Lawyers, Guns and Money which includes the lyric “I was gambling in Havana.”

Pretty easy stuff, I thought. Not a trick question, not controversial. To my chagrin, I learned there is nothing in the cyber world that is not controversial. And nothing that can’t make people angry.

Sure, lots of people gave uncomplicated answers. No surprise how many people named Werewolves of London, another Warren Zevon track. Our great distaff vocalists were represented by songs such as Joni Mitchell’s Free Man in Paris (no one mentioned the Neil Diamond version!) And lots of other songs with non-USA cities in either song titles or lyrics were fun to reminisce about. The Comments reached into the many hundreds.

But then the arguments began. Everyone loves The Girl from Ipanema, but is Ipanema a beach, an area, or a city unto itself? Loads of people weighed in on that one–supporting their claims with Google maps and guidebook quotes. At least that debate was peaceful.

The fury rose when many people listed songs naming non-USA countries, but not cities. Songs like Never Been to Spain and Haitian Divorce. I will admit that for the first few minutes, I replied to posters pointing out the error, but after a while, I decided what the heck–let ’em list what they want to list and have fun. It’s not like I am giving away any prizes!

Yet one or two individuals assigned themselves to be the scourages of the list, pointing out every misattributed song, every spelling error, and every country-not-a-city-error.

The vitriol rose to a boil when discussing Back in the USSR, the Beatles rocker from The White Album. When Mr. Blue Pencil incorrectly* told a poster the song didn’t belong on the list, all hell broke loose. Name-calling, cussing, and sacrilegious comments followed in short order. WTF?????

I have learned my lesson. In an effort to avoid furor in the future, I think I will avoid hot-button topics like music in future postings and stick to less controversial topics.

Does anyone want to talk about changing the Senate filibuster rules?

*Moscow is mentioned in the lyrics.

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