Joe Pernice Enjoys His Newfound Twitter Fame

Posted on Jun 17th 2010 2:00PM by Eric R. Danton
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Not only is Joe Pernice a recording artist and published novelist, he's become something of a (minor) celebrity on Twitter, thanks to his manager, Joyce Linehan.

Since joining Twitter in 2008 under the handle @ashmont, Linehan has chronicled her funny and sometimes absurd interactions with Pernice, now collected in 'Pernice to Me,' a slim 82-page volume they have published as co-authors to coincide with the release of the Pernice Brothers' latest album, 'Goodbye, Killer,' which is out now.

The book is filled with tweets such as this: "Pernice: Stop tweeting what I say. Me: OK, no problem."

"I joke about it, that half the stuff I never said, but I'm aware that she's doing a certain thing," Pernice tells Spinner. "A lot of it's true. I even said in the preface to it, joking, that even if I didn't say it, I've probably said even worse."

The singer-songwriter, who penned 10 new hooky pop songs for 'Goodbye, Killer,' is quick to note that he's mainly just talking trash.

"There's nothing serious in there," Pernice says. "Joyce and I have known each other for a long time, and we really do have this kind of relationship where I care about her a lot, there's no doubt about that. She's done so much for me musically and we run a business together and I probably wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for her. But we're only so involved in each other's lives. Like, I don't know what she's doing today. We kind of stay out of each other's hair in some ways, but we'll break each other's balls endlessly."

Pernice isn't on Twitter -- or, he notes, Facebook or MySpace -- so he only hears through Linehan of reactions to his online persona. Audience members made no mention of it last year during a brief run of readings/performances to promote his novel, 'It Feels So Good When I Stop,' but Pernice wasn't surprised.

"If people really think I'm this curmudgeon, they probably don't really want to talk to me," he says. "They probably think I'm going to bite their head off."

Sounds like that could have its advantages.

"Hey, I'm not saying it doesn't," Pernice cracks.

Listen to the Pernice Brothers' 'Goodbye, Killer'