Jonathan Coulton

It’s taken a long time for me to get here and now I wish it had happened sooner – had a very pleasant 36 hours here and a great show last night. A lot of newcomers in the crowd, I could tell because they laughed at the sad parts and looked confused during the first verse of First of May.

This was the first gig in a couple of months, so I was a bit rusty. Also I have that perpetual parental head cold so my voice started out a little ragged. But I took requests during the day on Twitter, and that gave me a set list with some challenging choices, kept it interesting for me. I’ve fallen into a rut lately with set lists, so I’m trying to shake it up and bring in some newer stuff, maybe some of the Thing a Week songs that haven’t been done live yet.

Also I met Craig Robinson (Darryl from The Office) when he and I were both guests on the channel 7 morning news. After I did Code Monkey (on this NEWS SHOW) he claimed during his interview to have written a song called Pin Number Orangutan, which doesn’t even make any sense, but is still funny.

And now I’m headed to SF for tonight. Still tickets for Sunday I think, but Saturday is sold out.

Note: I wrote this on my phone and forgot to post it until right now…

Man, seems like I never blog anymore, I think because I’m spending all my talky energy on Twitter. In case you haven’t already joined the fray, that’s where all the action is these days, at least for me. Mostly I complain about things, but once in a while I might say something “funny” (or not).

I’m back in NYC and already behind for the year, which is no longer surprising to me. The good news is, I’m hitting the road again for a few shows in January and February. Paul and Storm and I could use some merch help for some of these too (Seattle, Portland and the Birchmere are all covered, the rest I need peeps). Just email Scarface if you’re interested.

Friday January 16 at 9 PM
The Soiled Dove Underground (Denver, CO) with Paul and Storm
Tickets: tinyurl.com/967oq8

Saturday January 17 at 9 PM
Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA) with Paul and Storm
SOLD OUT!

Sunday January 18 at 8 PM
Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA) with Paul and Storm
Tickets: tinyurl.com/4r25ns

Friday January 23 at 8 PM
Moore Theatre (Seattle, WA) with Paul and Storm
Tickets: tinyurl.com/8cqfjw

Saturday January 24 at 8 PM
The Aladdin Theater (Portland, OR) with Paul and Storm
Tickets: tinyurl.com/6upo6l

Friday February 20 at 7:30 PM
The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA) with Paul and Storm
Tickets: tinyurl.com/9xn4ue

Saturday February 21 at 8 PM
Rams Head Tavern (Annapolis, MD) with Paul and Storm
Tickets: tinyurl.com/86qvbu

It’s Christmas and I’m here with the in-laws (yes, Brookline) surrounded by cakes and cookies and newly opened presents. After a few days here I will head for the deep woods, where I will hunt, kill, and dress a moose. Or maybe I will skip that and eat fatty foods and drink beer while sitting on the couch, we’ll see how I feel. In either case, I’m outie till the new year. I hope you’re all having fun winter holiday times, because I sure am.

It’s been another great year here at Coulton industries, thanks in no small part to all of you who read, listen, record, send monkeys in the mail, etc. I’ve got a few songs in the pipeline and a few new toys itching for the studio, a trip to the west coast in January with more touring to follow, and this FREAKING concert DVD which is still very nearly finished and targetted for February release (I hope). And probably other exciting things that I haven’t even thought of yet will happen.

Thank you all, and here’s hoping the years continue to get better and better until everything is awesome everywhere all the time.

2009 here we come…

Nerdcore compilation that includes (among many other excellent things) me singing Still Alive with Felicia Day at PAX 2008 – available now for just ten bucks. All proceeds go to Child’s Play, a worthy charity started by the Penny Arcade folks that gives toys and games to kids in hospitals (hard to argue with that, no?).

Buy it here!

Ad hoc, virtual Jonathan Coulton cover band The Mandelbrot Set (born in the forums, like all other crazy schemes) has completed their first cover, a soothing version of Re: Your Brains. It’s quite nice, and were it not for the subject matter I’d say it would be right at home on some Wes Anderson soundtrack. But for the moment, it is only available on the internet.

Thanks crazy forum people!

And speaking of crazy forum people, I recently was made aware of a couple of foreign language (to me) Jonathan Coulton areas. Here is this forum for speakers of French: joco.forumactif.fr and this fan page for the burgeoning fanbase in Hungary: koponyaroppanto.wordpress.com/

There is also this Camp Bachelor cover: www.myspace.com/sparechangequartet

There is also this piano medley: spaceparanoids.net/2008/11/joco-medley/

Don’t you people have work to do?