HARK!
I hear … sizzlin’ spam….
Four days ago, as of this writing, HARK Valley’s Facebook page had 46 followers--most friends, family, friends of friends; a certain Someone did pretty well by starting with 12 followers, but I’m not out to save the world. I figured I could grind it out and ultimately get crack 100 followers interested in this site’s take on the HARK Valley (aka Phoenix) music, comedy, writing, art etc scene.
Just took a peek--HV now was 2,351 followers.
WTF?!
Also known as: What the Facebook?!
Wish I could say I wrote something so devastatingly brilliant that it went buzz-crazy (let’s retire the word “viral,” shall we?), with one person passing it onto the next in a very natural, nutritious, non-GMO sort of way.
Ahhhh, nope...
It’s all Fb marketing, here.
Facebook recently launched myself and about another 100 newsletter writers on a platform Fb calls Bulletin. (See bulletin.com for the complete list.) Some of the writers are big-timers with massive fan lists, others like me just kind of wandering around the Internet like a lost kindergartener, first day of school...
Fb, being the kind-hearted school principal, said, “Hey, gang, help us welcome the new kid!”
All the sudden, I had “followers” from all over the country.
I just tried to explain this phenomenon to my wife when I heard her giggling.
She just got a text from her ex-. (She’s good friends with him, and it doesn’t bother me because: 1) I have confidence in our wonderful relationship; and 2) He lives far away.”)
She read it:
“Oddly yesterday yer husband’s face came across my FB page! So now I’m following him.”
Oddly indeed! Cue the Monty Python song: "Spam Spam Spam Spam, Spam Spam Spam ....lovely Spam, wonderful Spam!...
Not sure how many of her other ex-es got spammed with my big fat face underneath an old-fashioned hat with a “PRESS” sign.
But I do know this:
At least 10 people responded with some form of this comment:
“PULL!”
One of them added a YouTube clip of the Three Stooges bit referred to. The Stooges are trying to bluff there way into some show by pretending to be reporters. Moe, first of course, shows his makeshift tag at the door, and says, “Press.”
Larry follows, same deal, “Press.”
Curly, God bless him, is up next. He flashes his pass: “Pull.”
And if that’s the worst trolling I get, God bless the Net!
In keeping with the mandate that the Stooges are “a guy thing,” each and every “Pull” comment was from someone with a traditionally male name. Personally, I’m more of a Marxist, when it comes to slapstick. DJ Medusa, aka my wife, who is not a big fan of Moe and company or Groucho and the boys, gets credit for another nice discovery she sent my way: E Alo https://www.facebook.com/ealomusic a sensationally talented electronic musician who has some great stuff up on her Fb site.
And she tipped me off to Treasurefruit, a “desert noir” (nice genre) band led by singer/songwriter Anamieke Quinn. Check out Tf’s “Double Denim” https://treasurefruit.bandcamp.com/album/double-denim
More in future posts on other bands, DJs, poets, comics...and a new correspondent …
Stay tuned by checking out harkvalley.bulletin.com. Tips questions comments favorite Marx Brothers routine? Email harkvalley@gmail.com.