fancycwabs

Now is as good a time as any to profess my allegiance to Jonathan Coulton, and my willingness to put on a black "Security" T-shirt and stand in front of the performance area at a smallish bar or bookstore with my arms folded and glare menacingly at the crowd and forcefully remove anyone who tries to come on stage.

How did I become acquainted with Coulton's work? It's a convoluted chain of events...

Several years ago, I read Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and thought it was fantastic. Looking additional material/latest project by him led me to McSweeney's, whose website is actually more interesting than the magazine--although the magazine breaks a lot of ground (as does its sister publication, The Believer, which has published some excellent Brandon Bird illustrations).

During the time I was reading McSweeney's (website) on a semi-regular basis (this may have been seven-eight years ago), one of its regular features was John Hodgman's Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent. I submitted a question to Mr. Hodgman to this effect:

"I'm writing a novel about a man in prison who gets routinely beat up because he smokes Virginia Slims. When he gets out, he sues the tobacco companies. Is the legal thriller dead?"

Hodgman never responded, but I did get put on a mailing list, where (over the next several years) I was informed of Hodgman's ongoing Little Gray Books lectures in Brooklyn, and his book Areas of My Expertise. Hodgman, incidentally, is a regular commentator on This American Life (which we don't get in Memphis anymore) and lately a correspondent on The Daily Show.

A year or so ago (maybe longer), Little Gray Books started a podcast of its greatest hits. I think it had an eye towards making the series into a radio show. The podcast was introduced with Hodgman and and the series musical director, one Jonathan Coulton, who'd occasionally sing an into to the show, or a song about Brookline.

Then, last October, Boing Boing linked to Coulton's cover of Baby Got Back. The voice sounded familiar--and when I added up the pieces I remembered the Little Gray Book singer. He is also, incidentally, the "resident troubadour" for Popular Science magazine. I listened to some other stuff, and was hooked--catchy pop tunes, and lyrics about cyborgs and evil geniuses.

That said, his most recent entry in his weekly song series is about zombies. It's much better than either the Cranberries' song or John Fogerty's song. Everyone (except alphadavenport, who has already been informed) is politely requested to check it out.

Other links in this entry worth checking out--the bits about Hodgman (check out the Daily Show clip on Greenspan) and the Brandon Bird illustrations. Oh, and Baby Got Back, of course.