It was War of the Worlds author H.G. Wells who famously said, "Advertising is legalized lying."

I recently had the unpleasant occasion to have a brief tete-a-tete with a young lady in the music public relations business. They call themselves "publicists." Not liars.

It all began innocently enough, a "friend request" in my MySpace inbox. I looked at the lady's MySpace site - I always look before I click - and saw she was a publicist of what is pejoratively know as "Texas Music" in some circles - OK, well, mine mostly.

No problem. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed that maybe there was no hidden agenda, that maybe she is just a very literary woman desiring to expand her mind by hanging onto my eloquent prose.

Click. She's my "friend."

I sent back that I could maybe help out her clients' budget by saving postage if I thought what she was going to mail might not be something I was interested in, or within the genre bounds of what I mostly write about for money. Who are the artists; what are the album titles?

"I'm not a receptacle for whatever crap anyone wants to mail me. Like I said, who is the artist and what is the title?"

Reply: "Where is all of this aggression coming from? You're being very aggressive and I don't think I like this. I may not talk to you anymore."

Type. Fast.

"YOU friended me, I didn't seek you out. Looked at your site. Saw you have photos with some Texas music hacks. If that's what you're trying to mail me, like I said, I'm not a receptacle for any crap anyone wants to mail." Send.

And back came the message: I had been BLOCKED.

She never even got my last message.

MySpace, you bitch. - William Michael Smith