If that’s the issue, writing new songs might not be terribly compatible with touring.

I found Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk pretty inspiring – she gives some alternative ways to think about inspiration that are helpful.

I really enjoy when you play with different musical genre’s. Perhaps a blues, gospel, disco, rockabilly or opera song might be in your future creations? Would love to hear another Gregorian chant song from you.

Tom

(I was at the Minneapolis show in October. I am still waiting. You know you want to.)

I was excited to find out you will be visiting Vancouver during the Olympics! — unfortunately Ticketmaster sees fit to charge a Facility Charge and a Convenience (?) charge which makes the tickets unaffordable for me.

Oh Well — maybe I’ll run into you at a local Starbucks.

Cheers & Good Luck!

Peter

Also, I agree with DavidK. Committed artists always seem to find niches, reinvention, new ways to develop. Personally, I have no doubt wherever you go, it will be magnificent.

Maybe you can try something like that as well. You were in one headspace when you wrote the Thing a Week now you’re in another. Instead of trying to move back into that headspace, try something from where you are right now. Something different so you don’t feel like you’re competing so much with yourself: different genre of music, music parodies, collaboration with other musicians. You could try jumping media try your hand at writing short stories. Heck, there might even be enough in Skullcrusher Mountain for a whole novel.

Maybe trying something different is more intimidating than repeating your previous style, but it might be where your best future creative work lies, too.

You know how when you buy an album, and there’s maybe 2-3 songs you really like, and another couple that are just OK, and the other 5-6 do nothing for you? An album. They’re physical discs that contain the… you know what, it’s not important (old! I’m old! Gah!). What’s important is that I did a Real Mathematical Analysis that involved counting and stuff, and I like – really, really like – 83% of the full set. And the rest are OK. Only 2 songs I don’t like at all which either means that JoCo is super-talented or I am the nearly-ideal target audience or both.

The Future Soon, I Crush Everything and Blue Sunny Day are my current favorites, all for different reasons.

JoCo – for the record, your money-pooping cow business model works. I followed a link to Skullcrusher Mountain a few months ago, then grabbed a couple of free songs (Skullcrusher, When You Go, KML), heard others on YouTube (including the Wil Wheaton version of My Monkey) and got hooked. I got impatient and stole a couple songs before Christmas (borrowed! I borrowed them! I knew I would be getting the box set!) and then ponied up the cash because I would like there to be more of your music in the future. Sorry to make you read all this but I guess I took a typing pill and I feel fantastic.

Still worth it, though! I’ve been watching for another Portland visit for a while.

St. Jonathan?

On the other hand, I’ve learned it’s not a good idea for an over-50 guy, going back to college, to walk around singing Skullcrusher Mountain. It’s just not as funny somehow.

Have a life. Make more music when you’re compelled to. Thing-a-week is more legacy than hundreds of “famous” musicians left, and they still have careers off their once-upon-a-time success. And you can always do the Johhny Cash thing in your old age – intense, moving covers of classic songs from the old days, like Baby’s Got Back.

My husband and I have recently discovered your music and we absolutely love the things you’ve done. Since we haven’t even heard everything you’ve already done, we can wait a while for some more.

I am disappointed that the cruise idea won’t be happening. My husband were talking of joining you to celebrate our 10th anniversary this summer. However, may I respectfully beg and plead for you to come to Vancouver, or even Victoria. Please, please, please!

I want to let you know one of the reasons that I love your music so much. My mom was diagnosed with advanced, aggressive cancer in the summer this year. It was shortly after my husband introduced me to your music. I loved what I heard so much that I had my mom listen to some of it. She instantly became a fan, too. Your refreshing, lyrically-beautiful, and sometimes downright hilarious songs really brightened her spirits. Listening to your music brought light and hope to an otherwise dark, scary time in her life. Thank you so much for that, Jonathan.

Today, six months after diagnosis, and five months after doctors opened her abdomen to discover uncountable numbers of tumours, small and large, everywhere they could see, my mom is cancer-free. It truly is a miracle. Now she gets to laugh and cry through all your wonderful music for many years to come.

Another way your music has touched my life is by bringing my husband and I closer together. Sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Many evenings we crank up your tunes and dance and sing while making supper, whirling our four-year-old and 18-month-old daughters around the room, sharing laughter and enjoyment. Our older daughter always insists that we start with “Mr. Fancy Pants”, followed immediately by “Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance”.

I really must let you know that you have been successful at corrupting the younger generation in our household. Our four-year-old sometimes randomly blurts out, “You’d see the voices that control me from inside my head say I shouldn’t kill you…yet!” (It’s hilarious, and I can just envision the awkward conversation one day when her preschool teachers ask me to stay for just a few minutes after class!) Also, our friends’ 2-year-old likes to wander around their house, mumbling almost incoherently, “All we want to do is eat your brains….” So. Well done!

In all seriousness, I love your music, and, to be blunt, find you to be a genius at what you do. Your sound is beautiful and unique and you obviously sing with passion and joy. Thank you for all you’ve done.

-From a loyal fan in Western Canada

And good luck with the new songs! I’m looking forward to hear them!”

OMG there’s someone else from Finland too. Yep tour would be awesome, but I know it isn’t possible here.

I agree with other guys, just put some deadlines and think about some themes like ninjas, pirates and random stuff

On the lighter side, how about “All I want For Christmas is Prozak” (subtitled ‘Since the kids are home for a week’)?

I hope that your life gets less chaotic, but not so ordered that you have nothing to write about. I bet there’s a song in your guitar about somebody who’s living in an out-of-control makeshift mess and is sad. And I bet I would love that song, because my apartment is a mess right now and I don’t think the mess stays exclusively on the outside of my head.

Well, it’s true what Merlin said, and it’s true what people are saying about deadlines: deadlines work, and you should either get yourself one, or just commit yourself to making clackity noises or chunka chunka noises for fourteen minutes a day. But the reason they’re called deadlines is that after a year of them, you’re dead tired. And also very much alive. So basically a zombie or a vampire. But not a suicidal one. I think I had a point here but I can’t remember what it was.

Anyway, I don’t want to pressure you into writing songs or anything, because it’s not like I’m entitled to new songs, and it’s not like I don’t already have a lot of great songs from you. For me it doesn’t matter, I’ll still go to your shows even if there are no new songs, and try to get you to sing the old ones I haven’t heard live yet, gradually increasing in difficulty until you’re singing The Presidents *and* The Elements at double speed.

But at the same time, I don’t want to say that you should just rest because you’ve already written loads of great songs and and we’ll love you anyway (even though you have, and we will.) Because I’m pretty sure that writing new songs or other things would be rewarding for you. And if it’s rewarding for you, then you should do it. After a few baths and cups of teas, as the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Deadlines says.

1. No matter what you post or write, I come to your site nearly every day. (I rarely log in) I don’t care if there’s nothing new – that just doesn’t bother me.

2. You’ve already written more songs that mean something to me than any other band has. You’ve written more hits (IMO) than most popular bands ever do. Consider the 80′s hits – many of them one hit wonders. You’ve already done so much more. Nearly everything you have written has been awesome to me. There are still songs that seem new to me. There are still songs that are hitting me hard with their awesomeness. There are still songs that haven’t even begun to hit me yet, but I know will. Hell, I just got done listening to “When you go” again. Niagara Falls. You don’t need to write anything new. You’ve already done so, so much. I wish the world could hear your songs.

Please don’t take that as some creepy fan statement even though it appears to sorta border that. After all, like I said, I just got done listening to “When you Go” so I’m a little bit fragile right now. I am just so happy that I found your music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dadPWhEhVk

Somewheres.

It’s probably down beneath the angst and guilt of being a touring musician away from your family for long stretches. (Just kidding!!!)

Whenever you’re ready, we’ll be waiting.

We want to bring you to Victoria BC – those Vancouverites can swim over if they want to see you guys!

Have a great holiday and here’s to a great 2010!

Mike

And yeah,don’t be constantly comparing yourself to your Thing-a-Week feat…as I say,that was a feat.You can’t constantly compare yourself to the superhuman stuff you’ve pulled off,that’s self-defeating.Sometimes you need to give yourself some slack for having chaos in your life.And hey,it’s not like you’re not working,you’re touring all over the place.If you pressure the muse,she’ll run away.Leave her alone for a while and she’ll start nagging you for attention.:-)

p.s. oh by the way, orlando is more like south georgia, we need you a little farther south, say west palm???

I have about 10 friends who would have gone, too, and none of them did. They would have told me too.

You have to get the word out to us opinion leaders in future!

Or get killed by Robocop. So you can skip the second part there.

As far as your music goes, you need to do a fan collaboration project. They provide the lyrics, you provide the music. Step 1) Call for submissions. Step 2) Pick the top ten that tickle your fancy. (you do have a fancy, don’t you?) Step 3) Boom! Instant album!

I may have missed a few steps but you get the idea.

Life can be easy if you reduce it down to its basic blocks (someday I should write a book on this idea and then hire you to write the theme song of the inevitable book-on-tape). For you the blocks may be a) get settled b) observe c) write.

In all, the important thing is you’ve got a whole lot of people out here that want you to continue succeeding.. including old jaded folks like me

All the best,
M.

“WHERE … IS … KANE?!”

But, honestly, although I’m sure we’d all love to hear anything you want to throw at us (seriously, you can make anything fly, just look at Mr. Fancy Pants!), we also love the “old” stuff. I was at the concert in Minneapolis last October and I have the bootleg of it on my iTunes (and listen to it repeatedly!), but I’d pay good money to go see the exact same concert again. (Speaking of which, please don’t forget to come back to MN in all your tour plans! You promised. You really did. I have the bootleg to prove it.)

I guess what I’m saying, in a long rambly way, is feel free to take a little break. Relax, enjoy your holidays, pick up the signer/song writer life next year. You’ve earned it. ^_^

I guess I am in no position to give you advice (I learn a lot from your recordings). Just want to let you know I look forward to another “Skullcrusher Mountain” from you.

DO IT!!!

so anyway, sure, i’m always ready for more, including shelling out for it in terms of coming to see you when possible and buying what’s available otherwise; but hey, it’s a gift just to have access to something i know has made me feel better (or feel ‘more’ as with some of the more melancholy songs). for that i thank you. if this morphs into cruises and other unimaginables (for me the not so sensitive unimaginative non creative art appreciator) well, yahootie. what a ride, who knows what’s around the next corner?!

someone beat me to commenting on ‘seeping chaos’ being a good place to start. you wrote that, you know, right up there, which indicates to me that the muse lives. even as you explain that you’re not writing, you’re writing what we can relate to. my motto has often been … get to it if you can. but that sounds like advice, and i don’t give that stuff. so, i’ll stfu after just adding, have yourselves a merry little christmas with your chaotic home and family. who’d have it any other way, after all?

I second the suggestion of Thing/Chord/Lyric/140 characters a Month for inspirational purposes… best of luck with the continuing construction and hope it ends soon so the settling in can begin.

Can’t wait to see you in St.Pete in January,and just FYI,whenever I need a pick-me-up,I head over to your Twitter feed and that often does the trick,so thanks for that!;-)

I know you guys are doing what you can but I will be a little crushed if I lose the opportunity to see you with all of my friends.