Chicago - Twice
UPDATE: Emily’s performance has been posted to YouTube, and so now the internet will eat itself and explode:
The vibe is always great at Schuba’s, but it was especially nice this time with a very full house at the early show, and a very punchy house at the late. The early show folks enjoyed an extra special treat when Emily (of YouTube Code Monkey dance fame) came up on stage to do the dance during the song. It was an important moment for the internet - seriously, think how amazing that is. I really felt like I was meeting a famous person, and in fact I was. What I’m trying to say is that it ruled. And both shows got to enjoy a special robot voice effect applied to the “Message redacted” part of Chiron Beta Prime by our able soundman Fab. All in all, another triumph. Thank you Chicago, both of you.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
And the video of Emily’s performance is already up on YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=t85p8MkdKUo
December 9th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
My wife and I would have been there, too, if not for that meddling holiday party….
December 9th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Wow! Seats at Schuba’s. How civilized! Did your people have to pay extra? Usually it’s all cattle-car in there.
December 9th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Emily and the robot voice were both outstanding. Also, the zen drum is amazing.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
That that was was awesome awesome!
December 9th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I learned about Jonathan from the Portal song, and then came by after I saw the VGcats fan Flash animation.
I was at the very punchy late show. (Thankfully, your Treo did not capture me in my Santa hat.) My God, that was awesome. I hope you guys have/had fun at Blue Hill tonight! If my sister is there, tell her I said hi.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
What a great show! The zendrum filled me with glee!
December 9th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Thanks so much for a great show! I smiled so much my face hurt. Truly a wonderful experience, come back to Chicago soon!
December 9th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
So wait. She does a dance for a song, uploads it to Youtube, people do it at concerts, then SHE does it at a concert, and it get’s uploaded… to Youtube.
Circle of life, ladies and gentlemen. Circle of life.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Aw, the front-row people on the right side came to both shows! How nice.
I always thought it was “Message Rejected…” this has turned my world upside-down.
December 9th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Punchy doesn’t describe the vibe of that show. Awesome comes a little closer. Thanks for a great show (with seats!)
December 9th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Alyssa should do her Chiron Beta Prime dance from the Madison show on Youtube. In fact, she and Emily should join forces to make a dance for another song.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
I was at the late show, and it was amazing! It was the first time I got to see JoCo live, WOW! Paul and Storm were also great! I dragged my wife along, and I think she finally understands why I listen to this stuff… she never ‘got it’ till she saw it live.
As a added bonus, maybe I should not say.. but I bought the full cd SET with the thing a week cd’s, which I ran over to Jonathan to have sign. This morning when I woke up, and was checking out the CD’s, he had signed the inside of the case as well and even numbered it! That was awesome!!!
PLEASE come back to Chicago soon!!!
December 10th, 2007 at 2:02 am
The vibe at Schuba’s wasn’t so great for me. Due to their being uncooperative, noncommunicative, and rude, I only got to see the last half-hour or so of the show.
My frustration is purely at the venue, mind you. When I finally got in, the show was great, and when I communicated my frustrations to Johnathon and his group, I quickly received a generous reply.
I’d be happy to see Johnathon when he comes back to Chicago, but other than that, I’m not setting foot in Schuba’s.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:22 am
You do realize that you’ve set a precedent, yes?
Next time you’re in LA, I’m bringing my uke to your show, and expecting a summons.
(Okay, not really. But it would be nice.)
December 10th, 2007 at 7:44 am
The vid was great! I agree with Molly, I’d like to see a video of you and her in front of a live audience!
December 10th, 2007 at 10:37 am
At the late show (agreed that “punchy” hardly does it justice…complete insanity is closer) - it was absolutely fantastic. From the Paul and Storm opening set that reduced my wife and I to gasping in pain from laughing so hard, right up through the encore of “First of May” and “Sweet Caroline”, it was one of the most purely enjoyable concerts I’ve ever been to. Thanks to everyone on stage and the lunatics in the audience with us for making it a fantastic birthday concert.
Hope you guys had half as much fun visiting Chicago as we did having you here.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I was at the late show in chicago, and in just about blew my mind. It was absolutely hysterical, all the way through. “Punchy” is definitely an insufficient description. I think the highlight was watching Jonathon laughing at the crowd doing the zombie line in “re your brains.” I would go again in a second, but I can’t imagine it could live up to that.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I believe the term was “Coked-up, poo-throwing monkey of a first set.”
December 10th, 2007 at 11:00 am
The only curler at the early show thanks you for the inadvertent narrowcasting!
December 10th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I think you should get GLaDoS to do a quick clip of the “Message Redacted” bit to use at your shows - just to make the Intarweb explode.
December 10th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Hey - I was at the early Chicago show, just barely made it into the picture. It was such an incredible show, and both you and Paul and Storm rocked. Whenever you’re in Chicago, I’m there! (And I can do that now, because I’m 21 tomorrow! Ha!)
December 10th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
First-time live show for me and my husband! We loved every minute of it. What nobody mentioned, but I should have expected, was that this is the sort of geekish “safe space” that is usually only found at a con… or online. It felt so good to be in the middle of that! Not to mention, of course, that we laughed our asses off and cheered and sang along and had a hell of a good time just from the performances.
We are already working hard to get everyone we know to come to the next show, so COME BACK SOON! Er… maybe in the summer, though; while we are willing to brave sleet and snow for a Coulton concert, it would be really, really great if we didn’t HAVE to.
December 10th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Here’s the video of Chiron Beta Prime w/ Luke Ski for anyone that was curious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cPRalCvAec
December 10th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Thanks for inviting me up there, Jonathon! I had an incredible awesome amazing not-enough-adjectives-to-describe-it time
And I have to chime in with those who are saying the Zen Drum was one of the most mind-blowing things we’ve ever seen. I was staring agog through that entire song.
Hope to see you again!
December 11th, 2007 at 1:48 am
I saw you at the beginning of the first show, I waved Hi when you were behind me with your beer. I thought you might prefer to enjoy your beer instead of be pestered by a fan. ^_^
December 11th, 2007 at 11:19 am
The Zen Drum reminds me of that one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where all the kids are kidnapped by the artsy but infertile alien race? I looked it up: When The Bough Breaks. Man, I coveted those alien art tools.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Despite what jimh perceived to be a rude reception from Schuba’s, we were treated great (advance tickets-what a concept!). What a show! Emily! Zen drum thing! Happy drunken geeks! And !!!!! Come back soon. And thanks for being so gracious to my son, who is a big fan. One of your CDs is wafting from his room right now. The soundtrack of our lives.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Gerry, your comment implies that we received the same treatment, but perceived it differently. That wasn’t the case at all. You also make assumptions with your “advance tickets” comment that are false.
I’m happy for you that you had the experience I wanted, but your assumptions are off-track. Regarding your comments about your own experiences, and how great they were, I can offer no argument as I know nothing more about them than what you’ve posted. I would ask, though, that you please refrain from commenting on my experiences as you know nothing more about them than what I’ve posted.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:55 am
Looking at the photos, it seems the two people in the front row, just to the right of the centre aisle didn’t realize the show was over.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
You know, this symbiotic internet relationship between Emily and JoCo is fascinating.
It’s like two magnifying mirrors facing each other so that the ensuing reflections become infinitely large.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Hi Jonathan,
Stumbled upon that youtube video through another site and how have to download the song since it’s burned on my brain. Here’s a link to another
fan video, I like it better than the dancing college chick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W_wd9Qf0IE
December 20th, 2007 at 2:38 am
holy moley, i was not familiar with emily before, but i just stayed up past my bedtime watching all her videos. good times.
every now and then, there are tiny sparks that make me think maybe we can use the powers of the internet for good, not evil…
December 21st, 2007 at 9:33 am
That was awesome! I’ve had an internet crush on Emily ever since I saw her dance to Code Monkey and other songs. Oh, and Jonathan is awesome too
Thanks for the dance Emily, and thanks for the music Jonathan.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
For LoonieBin and Evan… we had tickets to both shows specifically because we had driven 9 hours (from the extreme SW corner of Missouri) through all sorts of nasty weather to get there. When you stalk someone, you’ve got to do it right… and prove to them that you are willing to brave (literally) rain, sleet, snow and dark of night (and gas at $3 a gallon) to stalk them. We just lucked out- because of me being in a wheelchair, they didn’t ask us to leave the room between sets (not that Paul, Storm and Jonathan don’t know who we are… because of the amount of stalking that we do!) and just told us to stay where we were. So… we did.
The show was excellent… we had seen the ZenDrum when we stalked the group in Dallas a few months before the Chicago show. And I LOVED Emily and Luke… if seeing Paul, Storm and Jonathan wasn’t enough, Emily and Luke definitely made it worth the trip.
You’ll see us again in Chicago the next time the guys are there.