country life

Photo by Austin Young

Dangerous Minds pal Ann Magnuson was rather unceremoniously booted from Facebook this morning? If Facebook wants to look seriously unhip, picking on someone as awesomely cool as Ann Magnuson would seem to be the right way to go about it. But I’ll let Ann explain:

My photographer friend Austin Young called me today to ask if I was mad at him. Mad? Yeah, because he’d been blocked from my Facebook profile. Then my husband FWD’d me a message from a mutual FB friend that my page had been taken down.

“a question… call it odd coincidence, but i somehow just now noticed that ann has vanished from fb. hmmm… since i can’t imagine it was anything i said 😉 i’m hoping she didn’t get deviously hacked or something.—T”

I panicked. Deviously hacked??? What’s next? My bank account? But I went on FB and discovered my personal profile had, indeed, been disabled. WTF? I could not for the life of me figure out why.

UNLESS….

Unless it was a photo I did with Austin that I recently posted as my profile pic. It spoofed the iconic Roxy Music album cover for Country Life. We shot it over a year ago. It was a bit of an afterthought but it turned out so fantabulous that I wanted to save it for something special. But on March 29th my husband sent me this:

…with the explanation:

“New album from J. Mascis and some other dude who was in a band called Cobra Verde in the 90’s.”

DAMN! I knew Austin and I better get our “Country Life” cover out into the world TOOT SWEET lest we be accused of copying Mr. Mascis. (Oddly enough, I was saving OUR cover to use for future artwork on a CD of my own Seventies-inspired tunes and cover versions. Oh well.)

So I posted it on Easter. It seemed as appropriate as candy-colored Peeps or chocolate bunnies.. I thought, well, it is a TAD racy but not really considering what’s out there these days—case in point: Michelle “Bombshell” McGee. I mean, I wasn’t wearing a Nazi’s officer’s cap with outstretched arm and improvised Hitler ‘tache.

But someone must’ve complained. I read the FB fine print. “Obscene”? “Pornographic?” It seemed pretty harmless to me. (The only violation may have been the copious amount of photoshopping.) I suspect that complaint MIGHT have come from someone in my homestate of West Virginia. I’ve had to block a few of ‘em for the right-wing harangues. I try to be friends with everyone but….it can’t always be done.

Or maybe not? Maybe was it my last comments railing against Don Blankenship and Massey Coal for all the safety violations that are ignored time and time again until we lose more miners’ lives back in West Virginia? (Not to mention Massey’s mountaintop removal rape of Almost Heaven, turning huge swathes of the Appalachian mountains into Almost Hell). Or…WHAT?

Whatever the reason, I’m somewhat relieved to be off the damn thing. I’ve found I have a LOT more free time. Hey, I’m reading books! But I miss my 4,000 plus ‘friends’. Even the ones I really know!

Facebook, what gives? Can I have my original profile page back? There were so many great comments on that photo, the best being from someone who knew the original photographer of the original Roxy album cover who offered all sorts of insider info on how the photo was shot and who those girls were and what Bryan Ferry was up to in Spain where he found them!

UPDATE: Reinstate Ann Magnuson on Facebook

And while I have your attention: Ann just joined Twitter. Follow her here.