Jonathan Coulton blogs today about the sweatiest show he has ever played, which I was happy to attend on Saturday night. To say that the inside of Lestat’s coffee house was sauna-like would be wildly unfair to many saunas, whose capacity to extract sweat stops at the skin, whereas being inside Lestat’s with 200 other fans caused my hair and bones to sweat. Fortunately, I was not invited up on the stage, where the bright stage lights increased the temperature to a level referred to as “Mid-August Death Valley Inferno”. Bill was not so lucky however, and got to hop onstage with Jonathan, Paul and Storm to assist by providing the voice of a robot in “Chiron Beta Prime”
It was a testament to the humor and enjoyable musical qualities of both Jonathan and Paul & Storm, that the evening was actually a great time and the guys were fun to hang with afterwards. Perhaps next time we will have more time for Rock Band, and I will be able to keep straight who went to UVA, (Me & Lauren) and who didn’t (everyone else.)
If I can make some recommendations:
1. This article in the New York Times about Jonathan was an interesting read about the way the web has changed things for musicians, and also features interviews with the Hold Steady’s Tad Kubler and Franz Nicolay (they don’t mention the maniacs who jumped onstage with them the last time they came to San Diego)
2. Paul & Storm’s “Dejected Arr” shirt was something that I wanted but had no cash and even if I had it would have become soaked in sweat just by me looking at it.
3. Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale does a great job of cooling you down after a show like that
4. Lastly, if you are a fan of the witty song stylings of Jonathan Coulton or Paul & Storm, I invite you to check out this song by my friend Andrew Kilpatrick called “Orthopedic Shoes“. It’s quite awesome, we listened to it in the car on the way home from the show and sung along the whole way:
5. This was written in an office that was approximately 2 degrees cooler than Lestat’s was, due to the weekend thievery of copper pipes in our office complex that proved vital to the functioning of the A/C units, not to mention the running water and toilets. The crime of the century!
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UPDATE: Credit where it’s due — HERE is the artist for the “Dejected Arrr” tee.
23 responses so far ↓
1 RemmieBarrow on May 19, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Humor and music, it goes great together, just like chocolate and peanut butter.
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Reply from Bill Corbett on May 19, 2008:
Or any of the above — humor, music, chocolate, peanut butter — with bacon.
Reply from RemmieBarrow on May 19, 2008:
Exspecially with bacon.
2 ms chii on May 19, 2008 at 4:27 pm
nice! not your usual main stream fare.
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3 Onil on May 19, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Orthopedic Shoes = Powerful earworm
Ack! Must dislodge with Stan Bush’s The Touch!
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4 Shawn on May 19, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Everything I like in the universe is tied together somehow. Paul & Storm = Da Vinci’s Notebook, who did music for a Homestar Runner cartoon. Rifftrax (almost) = MST3k, have a blog entry featuring Paul & Storm. It’s not like it’s a scientific formula or anything, but as coincidence goes it works for me. See also: Portal, Transformers, Invader Zim; I’m sure I could go on.
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Reply from Onil on May 19, 2008:
Everything you listed is all held together by the whim of the Freemasons and the Illuminati.
Reply from Shawn on May 19, 2008:
Then God bless their cement-stained, one-eyed oily hides!
5 Bill Corbett is Jonathan Coulton’s robot overlord « deep ape on May 19, 2008 at 6:57 pm
[…] more. Conor Lastowka was benevolent enough to share a video of Bill’s performance here. Via the magic of the Internet, I’ve also embedded it after the cut. Bill is only in the […]
6 Au$10 on May 19, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Can I just say “Long live The Hold Steady” right quick? I can? Wonderful:
Love live The Hold Steady.
Just finished up my very first listen of the band’s new one, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
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Reply from Conor Lastowka on May 20, 2008:
Great. Now I’m jealous. Would it make you jealous if I said we got to see them at what looks to be the first date of their tour in two weeks? It would? Terrific!
Reply from Au$10 on May 20, 2008:
Damn you!
7 Dan Coulter on May 20, 2008 at 8:05 am
Yay! Len’s t-shirt design!
Also, I do website work for JoCo and P&S, so now I’m only 2 degrees from the Rifftrax crew.
Also again, when is John Hodgman doing a Rifftrax?
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Reply from Bill Corbett on May 20, 2008:
“Also, I do website work for JoCo and P&S, so now I’m only 2 degrees from the Rifftrax crew.”
It’s a big, magical tapestry of goodness, isn’t it?
“Also again, when is John Hodgman doing a Rifftrax?”
We’d love to have JH do a Rifftrax. Do you know what his preferred baked goods are, so we can bribe him?
Reply from Joshdg on May 20, 2008:
“Also again, when is John Hodgman doing a Rifftrax?”
What I’d like to know is when Philip Baker Hall is doing a RiffTrax.
Reply from Len on May 20, 2008:
I hear he likes Hobo stew. Seriously, I think if you really wanted him, I think I know how that can be done.
Reply from Dan Coulter on May 20, 2008:
@Bill Corbett
I guess I was already 2 degrees from Mike because of Len’s interview. Now I just need some 2-degree connection to Kevin to complete my playset.
Reply from Bill Corbett on May 20, 2008:
“Now I just need some 2-degree connection to Kevin to complete my playset.”
The key? Courtney Love.
(I’ve already said too much…)
Reply from Julie Coulter on May 21, 2008:
“I hear he likes Hobo stew.”
Or maybe you should try Moleman stew. It consists mostly of grubs. And dirt.
8 Len on May 20, 2008 at 9:41 am
Hey thanks for the credit! I am living vicariously through Paul, Storm and JoCo. I’ll take what I can get in my old age.
Love Rifftrax!
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Reply from Mike Nelson on May 20, 2008:
Hey, Len
Fine work! These connections are getting weird…
Reply from Len on May 20, 2008:
You’re not kidding. I’m glad you’re hanging with my friends, JoCo, Paul and Storm. They are good folk who know their way around land surfboards.
Reply from Erik on May 20, 2008:
Lurfboards?
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