Plain White T's Play Acoustic

In today's awaited video chat, Plain White T's played the first 3 songs from their upcoming album, The Wonders of the Younger: "Irrational Anthem," "Boomerang," and "Welcome to Mystery." The trend will continue as the band plays two or three songs from the new album during each chat session. PWTs noted that for most of the sons, it will be the first time they've played the acoustic versions. The approximately 200 fans that gathered ate up every moment.

It was also Dave's birthday. Happy birthday, Dave!

Counting Crows' recent twitter spam

Counting Crows' Adam Duritz has averaged a tweet every 10 minutes this weekend. (Only a slight exaggeration.) Most of the tweets center on Supernatural...and a lot of other really, really random junk.

You know, I'm willing to cut a lot of slack for people with mental illnesses. At the same time, I've had great experiences with other bands' use of social media. (Thank you, Plain White T's.) Adam filled my twitter feed with nonsense, and I was annoyed.

So, at about 9 tonight, I posted the following:

@countingcrows I love your music but your twitter feed just doesn't seem to be very useful. How about new music, tour updates, news?

It simply expresses my chagrined curiosity, right? So glad I worded it that way, because Adam RESPONDED.

Answering a question: my Twitter's not just for tour schedules & basic info. It's just for whatever nonsense passes through my twisted head.

Might not always be "useful" for you but it seems to do some good for me so I like it. Anyway, it's a great view inside a nutbag's noggin.

That said, we went on tour this summer. I can list the cities for you. More info? I'm having eggs for b'fast tmw, fried sunny side up.

Don't think I've gone all "regular guy" tho. They're celebrity eggs from the "brain on drugs" commercials. Even my eggs are 100% Hollywood.

I'll admit it. I'm willing to forgive a lot of celebrities who acknowledge my existence.

But seriously, Adam...if you need someone to talk to that badly, call me! Besides, I'm a writer; I'll summarize the experience for my fellow devoted fans, and you can stop rejoicing that your twitter feed is bleeding followers.

...Did I mention I make a mean fried egg?

Live Chat with Plain White T's

Plain White T's technical difficulties delayed today's live chat, but the band -- and the 150+ fans gathered online-- were undeterred.

These video chats are part of a developing movement from the band to get their fans more involved. PWTs asked us for contest ideas, for example. Tom mentioned that the band could fly a fan out for a meet-and-greet in Mystery, Alaska. It's a plug for their song Welcome to Mystery, although the song doesn't have anything to do with the town, of course.

But really, interacting with the fans is the least Plain White T's could do for a group devoted enough to sit through 30 minutes of no audio.

Instead, fans kept each other -- and the band -- entertained. One user shared jokes ("Did you hear about the fire at the circus? It was IN TENTS!") while others asked their fellow fans questions about their favorite PWTs songs. Tom, De'Mar, and Dave wrote messages on their iPhones and sheets of paper and showed them to the fans in response.

Once the audio started working, we did convince them to sing a few lines of songs from the new album, The Wonders of Youth. (It will be available 12/7/10.) The Wonders of Youth is PTWs first concept album, which Tom describes as "magical." I asked him to tell us more about the album:

"The older you get the more you lose track of that excitement and innocence of when you were young," Tom said. "It's a dose of nostalgia for you."

When asked why they'd never done a concept album before, Tom indicated that the band had a lot of time off to think. They wanted to do something that excited them, something fresh for the band and also the fans.

PWTs told us that these chats would probably happen on a once-a-week basis, although they wouldn't perform for us when it wasn't the whole band. Overall, the experience was a success. Wonderfully organic (including the interruption of a phone call, haha) and great fun for all parties.

Oh, and thanks for the shout-out, Tom. I didn't even have to ask. ;)