This Is My Quest, To Follow That Star

A Jonathan Coulton show is where you fit in if you don’t fit in.

Jonathan Coulton (JoCo) is a singer songwriter much loved by a devoted fan base of mostly Millennial nerds. Although you’ve probably never heard of him, on the internet he’s a superstar.

Coulton makes a very good living recording and performing songs about social anxiety, dysfunctional relationships, zombies, and mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot. Imagine if Charles Addams and John Cheever fell in love and had a kid who wrote catchy pop tunes with quirky lyrics. That’s JoCo.

I heard my first Coulton tune on NPR (of course) fifteen years ago. It was “Shop Vac,” a fun little rocker about suburban angst. Although I was a middle-aged librarian and not a twenty-something code monkey, I fell in love with it. When he next played Philadelphia, my hometown, I went to my first Coulton show. It was, as the kids say, awesome. I didn’t want to wait for him to return to Philly to see another, so when he performed in New York City a month later, I went.

It, too, was awesome.

In concert, Coulton performs his cyber-hits and kibitzes easily with his audience, responding to their smartass nerd wit with his own smartass nerd wit. The crowd he draws is as odd and compelling as his songs; many of us would look right at home in a Diane Arbus photo. We know all the words. We sing along. We dress like zombies. A Coulton show is where you fit in if you don’t fit in. I felt right at home.

Everyone should have a goal. I decided to try to see Jonathan Coulton in concert 100 times. (I’m not saying that the goal has to be sensible or age appropriate.)

If you can’t devote yourself to chasing a crazy dream in middle-age, what’s the point? I was happily divorced. My son was grown and out of the house. At 54, I had enough free time and disposable income, so if I wanted to hop on Amtrak, or even a plane, to get to a show I would love, why on earth shouldn’t I?

My decision to get to as many Coulton shows as I could has been life changing. I hadn’t been to Boston in years, but when Coulton scheduled a gig at a club on Commonwealth Avenue, I took the opportunity to spend the weekend with Boston friends and treat my nephew, who was attending Tufts, to his first Coulton show. We had a blast. When Coulton played Atlanta, I finally enjoyed a long-postponed visit with my dear friend Anne and her family. Since then, I’ve crossed the country to see him in both San Francisco and Seattle, reconnecting with local friends each time.

Coulton-inspired travel has led me to enjoy weekend getaways in places I’d never been to before, like Annapolis, Alexandria, Brooklyn and New Haven. Not to mention an unforgettable evening music cruise around Manhattan during a severe thunderstorm. Passing the Statue of Liberty, the sky streaked with lightning, with my then-boyfriend Mark at my side, listening to my favorite music, was one of the best moments of my life.

“If this boat gets struck by lightning and sinks," I joked to Mark, “everyone can say that I died doing what I loved.”

The farthest I’ve traveled to see Coulton? London, England. It was totally worth it.

I’ve read that Madonna has a fan who has never missed a show. And there’s a dude who has seen Metallica over 400 times! (Once would be plenty for me.) Compared with these folks, I’m small potatoes. Still, over the past fifteen years, I’ve managed to attend 45 Coulton shows. If there’s ever a Guinness Book of World Records entry for the most Jonathan Coulton shows attended by a person who is not actually Jonathan Coulton, you’ll see my photo there.

What does Jonathan Coulton think of all this? At the post-show meet-and-greet, I usually take a photo with him to mark the occasion. At some point, I shared my concert-going goal with him. Now when he spots me waiting in line, he’ll smile and ask, “Which number is this?”

“But don’t you get tired of the same thing over and over?” people ask.

If you love an album, you don’t just play it just once, right? You play it a lot. Plus, each live show itself is unique. You never know exactly what you’ll get. Some nights are magical. Others are just good fun. But I’ve never been to a bad one and, when I’m at a Coulton show, I never want to be anywhere else.

I’m not suggesting that you drop everything and start following Jonathan Coulton around. But maybe you’ve got your own dream to chase. Don’t be afraid to follow that dream. It’ll make your life a little less predictable and a lot more fun.

Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)