The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Sports

    Pollin honored as a D.C. treasure

  • Sports

    Jamison lights fire under Wizards

  • Politics

    Uninvited White House guests met Obama in line

  • Sports

    Wife aids Woods after SUV crash

  • National

    Volunteers for drug trials hard to find

  • Business

    Dubai debt crisis rocks U.S., Asia markets

  • World

    Piracy threatens fishermen in Yemen

Home » News » Entertainment

Friday, August 31, 2007

Geek rock's new king

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Entertainment Stories

  • ON THE EDGE: Kate Moss, health savior?
  • Director Hillcoat transported by 'Road'
  • RIFFS: Sloan's 'Hit & Run'
  • MOVIE REVIEW: 'Red Cliff'

By

For years, Jonathan Coulton felt as if he were living two lives simultaneously. In one of them, he was a writer of computer code, a cubicle cowboy at a small software company in New York City. In the other, he was a writer of quirky songs, a balladeer who mused on topics such as fractals, robots and monkeys.

Then he had a "Mr. Mom" moment — sort of like the one Jack Butler (played by Michael Keaton in the 1983 film) has when he drives his children to school for the first time and goes the wrong way around the facility's circular driveway. "Dad, you're doing it wrong!" the youngsters yell.

For Mr. Coulton, though, this voice came from inside his head.

He and his wife had just had a baby girl, and he stayed home from work for nearly three weeks to care for the infant.

"When it was time for me to go back to work, I thought, 'Whoa. I don't really want to go,' " Mr. Coulton says by phone from his Brooklyn apartment. "I had nursed the music-hobby thing for my entire adult life, and here was this new child who was going to look at me as an example of what to do. It just seemed really dishonest doing that [software development] job."

So, in September 2005, "contrary to every shred of reason," he walked away from his steady paycheck and into the uncertain world that surrounds a full-time musician.

Since then, Mr. Coulton has used a combination of magic, talent and marketing savvy to turn what could have been just another starving-artist tragedy into a fairy tale.

His folky reworking of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" was an Internet smash, and another tune, "Code Monkey," became a favorite of key crunchers everywhere. He has been written up in the New York Times Magazine, mentioned in the music rag Blender and invited to appear on National Public Radio. He has a publicist; gorgeous, glossy full-color press photos; and an income that surpasses that of many signed artists who have been in the game a heck of a lot longer. (According to the New York Times Magazine, Mr. Coulton's music sales bring in as much as $5,000 a month.)

Then there are the fans. They volunteer to organize gigs for him, work his merchandise tables, make free music videos for his tunes and create other "JoCo"-inspired works of art — be they illustrated books or fuzzy vibrating pillows.

When asked about his success, the now 36-year-old songwriter says without a hint of irony, "It's actually very easy to do."

123Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  4. Wife aids Woods after SUV crash
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  2. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure
  5. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  3. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  4. Finance mavens gloomy
  5. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
More Top Stories »
  1. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  2. Fenty's approval in D.C. divided by race
  3. Drug lords finding safe haven in Bolivia
  4. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  5. Global Warmists exposed

Most Commented

  1. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  2. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  2. Crashers probe may become criminal investigation
  3. Obama taking emissions goal to summit
  4. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure
  5. 9/11 families sharply split on civilian court trials

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Are you planning to go shopping today?

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Hall out, Rogers will start

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.