I’m currently in a hotel in Glasgow counting CDs and half-listening to the television. I can’t tell if it’s the jet lag or all the Irn Bru I drank during my set at Oran Mor tonight, but I’m not so sleepy even though it’s past midnight. It doesn’t help that there’s some kind of wedding in this hotel and a bunch of kids in suits are running up and down the halls randomly banging on doors (not as relaxing as it sounds).

Both shows have been amazing – the crowd in Dublin sang everything all the way through very loudly, which was great. I played Danny Boy, which is such a beautiful song I couldn’t resist even though I knew it was going to make the audience groan. And groan they did, but they sang anyway. I wish I could have spent more time in Dublin – I was staying with friends of friends who are actual Irish people, and they were very nice and fun.

Today I had a frenetic day of traveling and a second great show here in Glasgow. The crowd was less sing-y to be sure, but no less kind and enthusiastic. Also there was steak pie and Irn Bru and Tablet. I had no set list because the only pen I had in the green room was broken (I wish I made this excuse up but it’s true), so I kind of made it up as I went along, took a few requests, played some songs I probably should have practiced before playing in public.

Manchester on Wednesday!

As you know, this Ireland/UK trip is coming up fast. I’m looking for a few folks to help out at the merch table at all these shows – mostly this means coming to the venue sometime in the hour or so before doors open so that I can show you how everything works and get everything set up. Then you sell things before and after the show (you don’t have to sit there during the show, I’m not a monster). Then you give me all the money. In exchange, I’ll put you on the guest list (and hopefully a second person who is also at the merch table with you, because it’s always easier with two people).

READ THIS: If you’re interested, please email my horribly disfigured assistant Scarface at scarface@jonathancoulton.com.

Paul and Storm are also looking to leverage the power of the JoCo overseas forces. And I quote:

Paul would like to (humbly) ask if there’s anyone coming to the Manchester and/or London shows that might have access to a decent keyboard/digital piano. We could rent one, but the fees are excessive, so we thought we’d check with the Coulton Army. It does not need to be fancy–in fact, an 88-key weighted-key piano with just a good piano sound is far preferable to, say, a 61-key synthesizer with 963,842 different samples. That said, beggars can’t, and won’t, be choosers. We will be happy to reward any generous soul(s) with 2 comps to the particular show; or, if you’re already attending, a full Paul and Storm Merchandise Super-Duper Prize Pack. Or, barring that, the eternal gratitude of a struggling musician wandering a strange land.

If you might be interested in helping a poor Yank out, please contact Paul at “info at paulandstorm dot com” and we can discuss specifics. And thank you. A lot.

Thank you in advance, foreign people.

Barnes and Noble at Union Square NYC tonight (Tuesday) at 7 PM, be there if you want to see the two of us stumble through our first joint appearance in support of John Hodgman’s new book, More Information Than You Require.

A couple of times since I put out those Thing a Week CDs I’ve gotten emails from people asking me why Code Monkey is in mono. Usually I was all “Huh?” and then sometime later would kind of forget about it. It’s not in mono, it can’t be in mono, why would it be in mono?

Well guess what? Code Monkey is in mono. I just noticed that the track I delivered to the CD production place way back when is about half as big as it should be BECAUSE IT IS IN MONO.

Nevermind that I didn’t notice at the time, nevermind that I didn’t even bother to check when people told me over these last couple of years. What’s amazing to me is that it hasn’t really mattered in any significant way. I’m sure I sweated like crazy over the stereo placement of this or that element during the mixing process, and then I just plastered over all those details with stucco, and turns out nobody really cares. Not even me, apparently. This is a lesson that I learned (or rather, failed to learn) many times over the course of Thing a Week: that thing you’ve been working on forever, buffing and polishing to get to that last 2% of excellence? It’s done. Finish it and move on. Hey, at least it’s not in mono, right? Because that would be a huge disaster with serious consequences.

And so you know, this error will be corrected in the forthcoming greatest hits CD “JoCo Looks Back” that’s being manufactured even as we speak.

I knew there would be at least one – forgot this (no Paul and Storm on this one):

Saturday November 22 at 8 PM
Nyack, NY
Riverspace Arts
Tickets: xrl.us/osy8c