Ask Me Another
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m excited to be a part of this new NPR show called Ask Me Another. It’s sort of a game show of puzzles and trivia, recorded in front of a live audience in Brooklyn and sometimes DC. The show is hosted by Ophira Eisenberg, along with a panel of funny puzzle people, and a different mystery guest each week. I’m “the guy with the guitar” kind of, but I also run a few of the games in a semi-quasi-demi-host capacity. We’ve done a couple of pilots and they’ve been really fun, and will be recording many episodes over the next few months. You should come, because you’ll have a good time and maybe get to be on the radio and win millions of dollars in cash prizes (not really)! I don’t know yet when they will air, but they will.
Tickets to the tapings are free, so all you need is an available evening and the ability to get your body to where it’s happening. The next one is at the Bell House in Brooklyn on January 23rd. I’ll be on tour or on a cruise ship for much of February, so I won’t be in the February 6th and 13th shows, but I will be a part of all the rest.
Because I sense it will become a FAQ, I will answer it now: no, I won’t be playing a TON of Jonathan Coulton songs. This is not a Jonathan Coulton show, so you shouldn’t expect a 12 minute Code Monkey jam. Which is not to say that you shouldn’t come, because you should – there will be puzzles, and victories, and defeats, and witty banter, and for goodness sake it’s absolutely free. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!?
Tickets here!
JoCo News January 2012
Happy new year everyone! I can’t believe I’m sitting here at this dumb desk working on this dumb computer again! Around the holidays I usually step off the grid for a bit, and it’s always a nice reminder that many parts of my life can still take place in offline mode. Still, I hope I didn’t miss any pictures of cats. And now, the news.
Artificial Heart
Artificial Heart special edition packages are almost all the way out the door. Levels 2 and 3 have shipped (3 went out just before Christmas), and Level 4 packages are being assembled RIGHT NOW and the plan is for them to hit the mail this week. The planet will breathe a little easier once that happens. I thank all of you for your patience, even the people who never ordered anything from me.
In general I’m really pleased with how the album has been received. Ridiculous Billboard charting incident aside, it seems to have found its way to a lot of people who like it, which makes me happy. All those videos I mentioned last time have now been released, so if you missed any of them, you can find them here. I think my favorite has to be Je Suis Rick Springfield, which features the Baldwin Fun Machine, a nice looking suit, and some even nicer looking bare feet.
The Cruise
JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 is coming up fast: February 19th-26th. We’ve sold through most of our allotment of cabins, so the booking website looks barren and sad, but there may still be cabins on board that we can snag if anyone is still interested in booking. Just get in touch with us at booking@jococruisecrazy.com and let us know what you’re looking for, and we’ll see what we can do. In case you haven’t heard on the Twitters, last minute additions to the talent line-up include John Flansburgh (who will be DJing a couple of dance parties), Molly Lewis, Joseph Scrimshaw, and Chris Collingwood from Fountains of Wayne. You should come! There is still time, but not much!
The official JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 T-shirt is now available at Topatoco for a limited time only, until January 13th. Order now and you’ll have the shirt in time for the cruise (or whatever sad, fake cruise you’re planning to have instead). While it’s possible we may have some EXTREMELY limited quantities on board, this is really the only sure way to make sure that you get one in the size you want, so order now or risk heartbreak forever.
Speaking of shirts, did you all see this fantastic new JoCo Has Some Problems shirt? Because it truly is my new favorite thing. I am fighting zombies!
The Touring
I’m out with The Might Be Giants again in February for the final leg of their Join Us tour. We start in California and head east until we get home, so it’s a big one. All these shows are with the band, and pretty short (but completely kickass) sets because I’m the opening act. Details on the Shows page as always, but here are the dates:
The Rio Theater – Santa Cruz, CA
January 27th 8pm
Tickets
Royce Hall – Los Angeles, CA
January 28th 8pm
Tickets
Marquee Theater – Tempe, AZ
January 29th 6:30pm
Tickets
Rialto Theatre – Tucson, AZ
January 30th 8pm
Tickets
Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK
February 1st 8pm
Tickets
Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
February 2nd 8pm
Tickets
La Zona Rosa – Austin, TX
February 3rd 9pm
Tickets
Tipitina’s (Uptown) – New Orleans, LA
February 4th 10pm
Tickets
The Ritz Ybor – Tampa, FL
February 7th 8pm
Tickets
Hard Rock Live – Orlando, FL
February 8th 8pm
Tickets
Ponte Vedra Concert Hall – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
February 9th 8pm
Tickets
Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA
February 10th 8:30pm
Tickets
Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA
February 11th 8:30pm
Tickets
Track 29 – Chattanooga, TN
February 12th 8pm
Tickets
McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square – Charlotte, NC
February 14th 7:30pm
Tickets
Lincoln Theater – Raleigh, NC
February 15th 8pm
Tickets
Jefferson Theater – Charlottesville, VA
February 16th 8pm
Tickets
Calvin Theater – Northampton, MA
March 8th 8pm
Tickets
Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel – Providence, RI
March 9th 8pm
Tickets
Terminal 5 – New York, NY
March 10th 7pm
Tickets
The Future
Between now and the cruise I’ll be getting ready for the cruise. Between the cruise and the future, who knows. I’ve been invited to be a part of this new NPR puzzle quiz show called Ask Me Another (fb page) that seems like it’s going to be pretty fun, and we’ll be recording a few of those in front of live audiences in NYC and DC over the next few months. I’ll let you know more about that when I have more details. I’m working on putting together a tour for late spring/early summer where I headline again, and play full size sets the way I used to. Which leaves some time in the early Spring for me to lie about and look at pretty flowers and things. Maybe I will write some songs.
I hope your new year is already better than your old one, especially if your old one was pretty great.
Public Appeal from Jimmy Whales
No no no, not the founder of Wikipedia, this is a public appeal from an actual whale named Jimmy. He lives in the ocean and eats krill and he really wants to make sure you don’t miss out on JoCo Cruise Crazy. Here’s what he looks like.
This is to let you know that we’re getting down to our last few reserved cabins. We’ve been shuffling things around to keep as wide a distribution of cabin types as possible, but the ship itself is getting pretty full, and many stateroom categories are completely sold out. After December 6th we’re going to have to stop shuffling and begin to either sell through or give back all our rooms. So if you’ve been on the fence about going, or if you have friends who are dillying and dallying, now is a good time to pull the trigger. Not to say that nobody can book after December 6th, just that we’ll have a lot less flexibility than we do now.
This is also the time when I personally stop worrying about all the things I need to do to make the cruise happen and start to just look forward to it in a big way. We’ve got the last minute addition of John Flansburgh (who will be DJing a couple of dance parties for us), plus the already superbad array of fantastic performers and fun people. For the record, the complete list includes me, Paul and Storm, John Hodgman, Wil Wheaton, Vi Hart, John Roderick, MC Frontalot, Marian Call, David Rees, Paul F. Tompkins, and DJ John Flansburgh. We will have fruity cocktails together. We will all get horribly sunburned. We will wear fake mustaches. We will order club sandwiches delivered to our staterooms at 2 in the morning and it will cost us nothing.
THERE WILL BE BAKED ALASKA.
So if you like those things and don’t want to make Jimmy Whales cry (because everyone knows, whales and sea creatures in general LOVE cruise ships), then book now.
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