Rock Star - Jonathan Coulton

[Mary]

Jonathan Coulton went from being just another "code monkey" to the Godfather of "Geek Rock."

 

If Jonathan Coulton were to write a song about his own success as a rock star, there would be little mention of the booze, drugs, one-night stands and lonely road laments that typically play out the power chord mix of mythic guitar heroes and music idols.

 

Instead, Coulton would refer to escaping a life awash in Fritos and Mountain Dew, stuck at his desk writing computer code ? "The Office," set to music. It is, by his own admission, a fairly accurate description of his own former life as a software engineer.

 

Jonathan Coulton makes more money as a musician than he did in his previous job writing software. Photo: Dale May

"There's very little Elvis in me," Coulton says from his light-filled two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn. "Any rhythm that I have is here in my fingers. It's nowhere else in my body."

 

But those same rhythmic fingers, adept at multiple instruments ? along with his gift for writing catchy, quirky songs anchored in sharp observation of the human condition ? helped turn Coulton from just another "code monkey" to "The Godfather of Geek Rock." And he owes much of his success to the Web.

 

I bring him up because I have listened to his music and love it - he is so smart and inventive- you should give him a try!