Thomas Dolby makes nerd rock cool. Not like Weezer. Weezer is one nerd and a band. Dolby is like a frump of a professor who has an apartment full of old newspaper and old clothes. Just eccentrically weird, and he's cool.
The whole "Blinded Me With Science" thing fit him like a glove and decades later still pays the bills.
This new tour, set to start in March brings a whole new level to nerd rock
Playing music from his 2011 album, A Map Of The Floating City, Dolby’s March through April road trip will feature an actual time capsule that looks like something HG Wells might have come up with if he had crossbred a time machine with a tear-duct travel trailer. The chrome and brass-plated vehicle seats three and features a high-tech video recording suite. The plan is to park the time capsule outside the venues Dolby will play on this tour, giving fans a chance to slip inside and create a fully produced 30-second video clip.
Get outta here. This is the coolest interactive idea yet.
Once the clips are completed they will be instantly uploaded to a new YouTube channel – time-capsule.tv – as well as the users’ Facebook and Twitter pages. The most-viewed clips will result in prizes for the creators. The clips will also be assembled into an online video montage.
“If you had 30 seconds to explain to an alien visitor what went wrong with our civilization, what would you say?” Dolby said. “Our species may not be around on this planet much longer, so you might as well leave a welcome message for the next guys!”
The Time Capsule Tour begins in Austin, Texas, at SXSW March 16. Other temporal/geographical locations include New York City’s Canal Room March 29; San Francisco at the Red Devil Lounge April 13 and Los Angeles at Largo April 17.
Way cool indeed.