Coming to Your Town
A few people have asked me if I have any plans to play in their area. No matter where you live, the answer is probably no. Not because I don’t care about you, not because I want to keep an air of mystery, not because I was horribly disfigured by a chemical accident that made me into a hideous monster with superpowers. Here is why: I am lazy, that’s one problem. The other problem is that I live in NY and not anywhere else. So when somebody says “Hey JoCo, you should come play in Orlando,” I don’t have any way of knowing if I’m going to go to the trouble of setting up a gig and flying to Orlando only to find that it’s really just that one guy who’s interested in seeing me play. Sure, it would be fun for that guy, but it would be kind of a drag for me.
So here’s an idea: I just ran across this site called Eventful that lets you create events that don’t exist yet, and allow other people to demonstrate their desire for that event to take place by “demanding it.” I am not explaining this well at all, it’s really very simple and will make complete sense if you click on that pretty blue box over to the right. The signup process (I know, another one?) seems to be minimally invasive, and I think it might be an interesting addition to our little experiment in making me famous. It might also be embarrassing when we find that it really is only the one guy in Orlando…
March 27th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Fantastico! I’m that one guy in San Diego with the first demand in the system, so I thank you for noticing it.
One thing you can do to help (aside from the actual singing part) is to post a message on each demand with the number of people who’ll need to demand you before it’s worth the bother to go. For instance, 15 people in San Diego might be enough, but Moscow could require at least 10,000 screaming fans. (with blackjack! and hookers!) That way we know how many fake accounts to create, errr, friends to encourage in order to make something happen.
Thanks!
March 27th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
OK, now I feel like a tool…
March 28th, 2006 at 6:46 am
No, no, no, nobody’s a tool. I want to hear from you all if you want me to come play somewhere. I think eventful can help bring all the love together in one place. And then we have superlove.
March 28th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Ack. It wants my password! And… creepy… it already knew where I lived.
March 28th, 2006 at 8:56 am
It wants your password? Where’d you see that? To join a demand it just needs an email address so it can verify you’re a real person (you get sent a single email validation message) and so the demand can actually be counted (otherwise it’d be so easy to “stuff the ballot box”, as it were).
Or, you can join a demand by becoming a user of Eventful, in which case it asks you to sign up (with an existing Eventful name and password if you’ve already signed up) or register (if you’re new to Eventful).
As for your location: It guesses where you are based on your IP address, that’s all. So actually, it’s guessing the location of your Internet Service Provider, not where you are exactly. Most often, your ISP is located in the town you’re in, so it guesses correctly. Once in a while it guesses wrong (because the ISP is based in New York, or somethig, or worse, it just shows “United States” or “Great Britain”).
March 28th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Look into NACA (National Association of Campus Activities). It’s right up your alley. You would need to get a booking agent that is a NACA member, and they take care of the rest. It’s guaranteed pay/travel expenses and you’re not responsible for all the promotion. Check it out.
C Ya,
Eric
March 28th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Nice! According to the site, JC is the #4 most demanded performer!
He’s behind only Wil Wheaton, some band named “Sinch” and “Impeachment of George W. Bush”
March 28th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
I’m the #2 demander for Pittsburgh. My cat would be #3 but he’s a Luddite and so refuses to utilize modern conveniences such as email and the toilet. Which reminds me, I have to clean the litter box.
Keep up the great work, JoCo!
(PS: My wife will likely add another tick to the demand counter when she gets my email about this. That’s not ballot box stuffing since we’d both be paying attendees.
)
March 28th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
This’ll work great until we all start sharing and trading demands, so you end up with 58 (at the present count) demands that you play everywhere.
March 28th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
Anybody else interested in seeing JC’s contract rider?
March 28th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
The demand stuff’ll only work if each demander finds a friend, family member, etc who would like for this event to happen too, and signs up for the demand. Then that person needs to go find someone *they* know to do the same, and so on. It’s a pure grassroots word-of-mouth effort.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Exactly, Brian. And that’s why I made the following post on my blog.
http://wingsforwheels.blogspot.com/2006/03/help-bring-jonathan-coulton-to-dc.html#links
March 28th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
If it makes you feel better, if you came to Orlando, I’d come to see you too and convince several other people to go as well.
That would make at least 5 or 6.
March 30th, 2006 at 8:02 am
It’s too bad that there’s not a way to nominate a general area, like say I wanted to indicate that I would attend an event if it were within 100 miles of Tampa. (Though for you, JC, I’d make it 200.)
I’d also like a way to UN-nominate an event, now that I see that the RNC is contemplating coming here in 2008 for their convention.
March 30th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
I think JC and Hodgman owe us in Wisconsin a visit anyway. We cannot be held responsible for the marauding eagles once again.
March 31st, 2006 at 6:39 am
Go crazy, come to Sydney! Sit on the beach at Bondi & strum the guitar! If it feels like a drag, I’ll make the seagulls clap…
April 1st, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Re: Coming to Your Town
Will you help me “party down”?
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:03 am
Added a Bostonian demand!
April 6th, 2006 at 10:19 am
I think you and Wil Wheaton should co-headline a world tour. The Coulton/Wheaton Express? Hmmm…the possibilities.
May 5th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Consumer and prescribing information.
Actonel with Calcium, Actoplus Met, Amitiza, Angeliq, Arranon, Avandaryl, Estrogel, Exjade,
May 19th, 2006 at 10:56 am
You should go on tour with someone like They Might Be Giants as an opening band. You’re guaranteed crowds when you arrive, and payment as well! (:
August 17th, 2006 at 9:26 am
[...] Yesterday, I asked Coulton, on his blog, if he was planning on doing a show here in DC any time soon. He responded not in the Comments section, but with a full post to me and anybody else who might consider asking him the same question. He did set up an account at Eventful to gauge interest in various markets. Just click here, enter your e-mail address and reply to the confirmation, and hopefully he’ll book a show in the nation’s capital. Hopefully on a night that doesn’t coincide with a DC United match. [...]