First ever "LIVE" webchat...

Josh has just completed his first ever "LIVE" chat with fans.

This chat was announced less than 24 hours before it went live, and was restricted to FoJG. It took place at 11am PST (which for me in the land down under was 5am Saturday morning - YIKES!!!!!!) Only for Groban would I ever set my alarm for 4:45am on the weekend. LOL

There were a few small technical glitches early on, but it went a lot smoother than I'd anticipated. For the next one, they'll need to work on how to switch between the chat rooms, but apart from that, I thought it all went quite well.

I for one was glad we finally heard the story about the "Life is a Masquerade" song with Ben Folds... And yes, he confirmed it was a joke (and they were in fact aiming for the worst song ever written!!!).

There's no doubt there'll be some angst that it was restricted, but the mods on the jg.com boards have promised that "This is the first 'test run' for many future chats with Josh. We're looking at what format will work best. Sorry we couldn't include everyone this time."

My take is, one the one hand, I can understand that when you pay to be a member of a fan club, there is an expectation that you'll have access to exclusive content, after all that's what they promise, but I can also understand the disappointment of those who missed out because they aren't a member.

And with this type of thing, they'll go into it knowing they'll never be able to please everyone with there being so many variables such as the time differences around the world or the fact that people have to work, go to school, have a life etc, regardless of how much notice is given...

Hopefully the video will be up for everyone in a day or two, and if they allow it to be embedded on other sites, I'll post it here.

Anyway, here are a couple of tidbits to keep you going (my internet connection was very ordinary, my fault for reaching my limit for the month), so I've only got a couple.

• He's starting to record some album demos next week. He anticipates being in the studio for about 5 months of recording with the tour to start about 2 months later (so it could be winter or early 2010) - in other words, start saving NOW!!!
• PBS Soundstage - in the process of editing and he's hopeful it will air sometime in February or March
• Favorite food - Japanese
• He'd like to do some small shows in New York while working on the album
• He sometimes checks out FoJG and loves how a thread develops
• The Simpsons - Josh had spoken with Nancy Cartwright backstage while on tour. A script was sent to him with the concept, which Josh of course loved. He gave permission for the songs to be used, and Josh thought it was hilarious. Someone asked if Lisa Simpson was his new girlfriend and he said "Maybe? Creepy..." He even mentioned that it might open a door to an actual appearance down the track (how cool would that be???)
  
• He talked about working with Rick Rubin
• Plain or Peanut - he said peanut. Not that he was really sure what this one was about. He'll be out and about today when M&M's will pop into his head
• "One of the best things about traveling is making kids...I have 100's." (and yes that was a joke too...!)
• He'd love to do SNL and hopes they'll be able to organise that during the promo of the new album
• Chris has finished a short film "Another Day" and Josh did the music for it. He'd like to see if he can get it posted somewhere on-line (fingers crossed for that one)
• Josh knew there was a thread on FoJG that was trying to find him in this photo of the inauguration. He even gave a few hints (to the left of the tv tower, towards the back, in a seating area) as he didn't think anyone had found him yet, but he was surprised at the number of look a likes that had been found.

*** EDIT - The following update has been posted on FoJG "The webcast recorded, but for some reason the audio is out of sync. We're re-editing the video and should have it up soon."