Reply To: JoCo in NYC!
From jinx’s comment on the previous page:
The thing that had prompted Storm to make the long accurate throw of a suggestively named snack product to [Jeff, the lighting guy] was that during their set, Paul had made some joking comment about how much of a placeholder they must seem to a JoCo crowd, and Jeff had instantly cut the spotlights off both P and S, and cut on one over the empty central microphone. Which was hilarious.
It was! I ought to remember this, but P&S replied by saying something like, “Oh, sure, leave us in the dark!” Immediately, out went the center spotlight too — pitch-black. Then a couple other challenges were issued and met — I wish there’d been more P&S fans in the audience, both because then they might’ve had to change up their setlist >;) and because someone might’ve been videotaping. (Also because no panties were thrown. Disappointing, NYC.)
The rest of the lighting work was spectacular too — lots of rotating spots in different colors, and rotating patterns projected onto big disco balls in the rear corners, all without coming across as either amateur or too darn polished for rock ‘n’ roll. It was witty lighting.
It was. It was great. The “Curl” lighting’s been mentioned, but there was the smoke effect and the red light on Storm as he sang “If James Taylor Was On Fire”; the rotating, tentacular pattern for “I Crush Everything” (it actually looked like some kind of squid or octopus); jeez, I’m starting to forget things already, but Jeff was amazing.
Jutze:
“Mandelbrot Set” sounded much, much, much better than the recording above suggests.
I agree! I hope there’ll be more recordings of it available soon — which I assume means they’d have to play it at a different show.
Let’s see, what else:
* Jinx and I’d met at the Birchmere last August, and I’d been trying to arrange a time to get back to DC for a show, but NYC was easier for me. When I found out Jinx was in town that weekend, I made my arrangements as well.
* I met Jinx at Grand Central, and on our way to the venue I’d been trying to decide whether or not to preserve my anonymity. Of course, when we got to the venue (which was indeed in an industrial-type setting, and we almost walked right past it) at 4:35, two hours before doors opened, the first guy there grilled us on whether or not we were “from the message board.” [“The Bry?”] Nice to meet you, too, Mitch. 😉
* Jinx says that Mitch, she, and I got there early because we read this thread and knew seating was going to be a problem — that’s true, but I think it was more that all three of us vastly overestimated the transit time.
* Mitch, Jinx, and I had a great time hanging out there — maybe not so much Ken, the fourth guy there, who was relatively new to JoCo, hadn’t heard of the forums or the wiki, and was waiting for a friend. The conversation kept drifting to Coulton trivia, and I’m not sure we kept his interest. (Accordion, by the way — “Take Care of Me”, and yes, I had to look it up.)
* Approximate time frame: Mitch got there 4:30, Jinx and I about five minutes later, Ken shortly thereafter, and it felt like ages before anyone else got there.
* Standing where we were, we didn’t get a good look at what the line looked like — all I could see was the first segment of the line, although we did get to see all the performers (well, most of them) come in. Flagged down Ian “hankpiece” “bigcambridge” Schwartz as he came in, surprising him. (We’d never met, but I saw him play “Big Bad World One” in Somerville in October. I was not expecting to see someone from the Boston area, and he was not, I think, expecting to be recognized.) Jinx described JoCo’s arrival; Mitch had seen Paul and Storm arrive before we got there.
* At one point we saw Storm leave the building. [Mitch: “Was that Paul or Storm?” Bry: “Storm.” Mitch: “All right. When he gets back we all start chanting, ‘Storm! Storm! Storm!’ Pass it down.”] A little while after, he re-entered. [Mitch, Bry, Jinx, and two or three indifferent people immediately behind us who didn’t know Storm from Adam: “Storm! Storm! Uh, Storm.”]
* We did indeed see Scarface, who did indeed introduce herself to Mitch as “Jonathan Coulton’s assistant” before seeing the people she was actually supposed to be introducing herself to. Some discussion over whether “Jonathan Coulton’s assistant” meant “Scarface.” (Mitch was right, I was wrong.)
* Surprising lack of Coulton shirts. (Well, maybe not so surprising, since he hasn’t played New York in a while.) At one point (after the guy with the pi shirt walked by, I think) I remarked that shirts with mathematical symbols on them outnumbered Coulton shirts 2 to 0. First “Skullcrusher Mountain” shirt got a thumbs-up from us. Shirt-wearer: “Huh?” Us: “Nice shirt!”