Music as a uniter

On Friday, blogging got me all mushy.

It wasn't the actual writing part. That was the normal effort to find the right words. It may have felt more important, but it kind of always feels important. The mushy part came when I was posting it.

Normally with a band review, I tweet it once with keywords (which for the band reviews are pretty much always "music" and the band name), then I send it to the band's Twitter and post on their Facebook page, and I am done. Sometimes I was followed by a band member instead of the band, or some members within the band, and they get included too. This was so much more.

First there was the band's Twitter, and then Revenir has two street teams, one for the US and one for the UK. Then there are the members. Because of Matt's Twitter issues, that was two accounts for him, plus the two former members and the other three current members who have Twitter, because they were all in there.

Actually, I was not mushy yet. At that point I was more nervous. Would they like it? Would I get it right? But I had to remember that these are really good men. I follow them, but they also all follow me, and have replied to me. Even if they think I am a horrible writer (which I would hate), they will be too nice to tell me.

Also, I sent a tweet to one account that retweets a lot of MCR stuff, because MCR fans are a natural audience for this album, and I want it to do well.

Where I got all sentimental was sending the link to my friends, because I have made friends through this band. I don't even know how it happened. I think Shanna was first, when she joined in an exchange about old movies between Matt and I. Maybe it was all just different conversations, and someone else joins in, and then over time this affection and understanding builds. Suddenly, you have people watching your back, cheering you up when you're down, reminding you that you are not alone, and telling you that you are beautiful.

This time they said nice things about my review, and about being friends with each other, and well, Shanna wrote this: http://shanna-raindrop.tumblr.com/post/63114058884/when-bands-do-more-than-just-give-you-music

Anyway, that was about when I turned to mush. The band has given me more than music, and music is a gift, but it is not the only gift. And then I went to the Pet Shop Boys concert that night, which was a whole different thing, and since I am on vacation and will have limited computer time, I think I will just write about music this week, and all of these posts will in some way involve Twitter.

We'll get to what the pope said, and other social science things, next week. I'm not sure I have anything to say about what the Fox said.