FACEBOOK MAGIC
For all its faults, Facebook has the ability to create MAGIC, whether it is re-connecting with old friends, making new ones, or friends sharing information and links. I have enjoyed all of the above, but also several noteworthy instances, particularly as it relates to Jimmy Buffett after I started posting concert photos and the stories behind them.
Here are a handful of those magical moments:
• FACEBOOK MAGIC: In March, 2021, I posted a photo of Jimmy I shot from the front row in Boston on March 9, 1978. It generated a private message from Bruce Hardy, a fellow fan, informing me that particular concert was available on the internet. He provided a link and password to access to the concert recording. OMG! I was able to hear my own voice from the front row from 40+ years prior. If you want to read my subsequent post at Facebook, it is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuffettNews/permalink/10159488838758385
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: The above post at Facebook generated a response with the Original Reeferette, Deborah McColl, which was an unexpected thrill:
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: Deborah later sent me a “friend request” and eventually, I even had the unique opportunity to speak with her on a 3-way call with Bob Liberman.
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: After a while, Jimmy’s official Facebook page started to share some of my posts and photos. Seeing a notification like this never gets old:
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: On September 2, 2021, Jimmy’s page posted this
Since I saw and shot photos at 5 concerts in 1978, I posted a stream of photos to the page and eventually elicited an invitation from Jimmy, or at least his Facebook team:
As you can see, I was already working towards writing my memoir in 2021!
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• FACEBOOK MAGIC: One day in the summer of 2021, I saw a photo that took my breath away. It was a photo posted by Sidney Bennett from the concert the night before in Nashville. What caught my attention were the photos posted on the back video wall behind the Coral Reefers.
“OH MY GOD! Those are my photos which I had previously posted to Facebook!”
I reached out to Sidney and learned her husband, Andy, was the fan to shoot that photo from their seats in the 9th row. I also asked if he shot any others.
Sidney filled me in – that photo was shot during a tribute to Fingers Taylor to enhance the song “Everybody’s on The Phone.”
At first, I was thrilled to see Nadirah and Tina looking at my photos on the back wall, while the other Coral Reefers performed, but also mildly disappointed that Jimmy wasn’t in Andy’s picture seen looking at my photo.
However, it wasn’t long before I fully appreciated that Jimmy WAS in Andy’s photo, but it was actually my photo where he appropriately appeared much larger-than-life!
With Sidney’s permission, I posted Andy’s photo with my own commentary about how thrilled I was to see my photos on display at Jimmy’s concerts. No one besides me would ever know they were my photos appearing larger than life-size, but still…
Seeing my post, another fan directed me to video taken from the song posted at a page dedicated to Fingers Taylor. Watching that video, I learned two things: they used a third photo of mine in addition to the two that Andy Bennett caught in his photo and that they were only up there for a few seconds. Andy had impeccable timing.
Then, another fan, Kathy Hubler Young, saw my post and sent me a photo she shot at a different concert but from the other side of the stage. In her photo, you can see the third photo of Fingers that they used which I shot in 1978, right over Jimmy’s shoulder, in black-and-white.
Kathy also captured that split-second where my photo was seen on the back wall by that night’s concertgoers. AMAZING!
Though it was far from making me or rich or famous, I was beyond thrilled to know that someone in Jimmy’s inner circle thought enough of my photos to include them on the back wall of Jimmy’s tribute to Fingers.
• FACEBOOK MAGIC: After seeing my posts and photos at Jimmy’s fan pages, Scott Atwell reached out to me to inquire if he could use some of my photos he had seen for a book he was writing, “Buffett Backstories” in which Scott detailed 50 stories that Jimmy turned into his songs.
Ironically, given the eventual connection I developed with Bob Liberman, he had written the Forward to Scott’s book.
Of course, I agreed to let Scott use my photos though there was no assurance of any financial compensation. I mean, who cares? – these were photos taken in 1978 and were never published anywhere.
Photographers freeze moments in the present to be shared in the future showing the past.
Sometimes, we all do work without compensation, whether it is unrelated volunteer work for worthy causes, or professional help for those in need like lawyers providing pro-bono services.
In my situation, it was neither volunteer work, nor pro-bono services, but I agreed to provide my photos for nothing more than the sheer satisfaction of having my work published in a book about Jimmy Buffett. Oh, and a credit line.
Scott’s book and the inclusion of my photos fulfilled a long-term goal, as my pursuit of photography endeavors coincided with my introduction to Jimmy and his music in the mid-70’s. I always wanted to have one (or more) of my photos used on one of his albums, or in a magazine, or, well, just about anywhere…
Scott sent me two copies of his book hot off the press, which I highly recommend to any of Jimmy’s fans. It is available at Amazon.com - Buffett Backstories
And then, a few weeks later, Scott sent me a very nice thank you note, with a check for $100. I sent Scott a message through Facebook thanking him for the check and assuring him I would spend it on something “fun, foolish, or frivolous…”
That $100 kick-started a special “Fun Fund” I created, which grew from other unusual eBay sales, like ticket stubs to Boston Celtics playoff games from the ‘80s for a total of about $1,350.
Eventually, that “Fun Fund” turned into front row seats for Jimmy’s show in Tampa on December 4, 2021, for which I dug deep, real deep, because I “HAD TO BE THERE!”
That is the MAGIC OF FACEBOOK – connecting us in ways we can’t even imagine.
Until. They. Happen!