The geek shall inherit the earth!

Jonathan Coulton is playing in Manchester in November. This is epic news. If you don't know who JoCo is, then you clearly don't have any kind of standing in the geek community (a dagger to the heart there, I'm sure!) and have either stumbled across this blog by accident or are only visiting because you know me and take pity on my attempts to maintain any kind of pertinence or value in this here page of witterings.

Jonathan Coulton is something of a geek icon. A singer/songwriter who ruminates on topics as steeped in geekdom as zombies, animated demonic dolls, evil geniuses and slave-driving robot overlords. His songs tend to resonate with the gamer geek niche. Here's a couple of unofficial videos to get a taste of what JoCo is all about.





Still reading? Well that's something... JoCo has become quite the internet phenomenon and is in many ways a trailblazer for the way new media is powering the consumption of content. The concept of mainstream now is one that is becoming less and less relevant. The huge pie that is culture is a lot more evenly sliced now than it ever was. Every imaginable sub-culture has its own heroes, its own icons and unlike before, an easily accessible mechanism to deliver the content by those producers right into their *insert potential computer location here*.

While it's quite cool these days to be a geek (right!?), the geek fraternity don't want to listen to what the cool kids listen to (and vice versa). In steps Mr Coulton and his ilk (another example being nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot) who, to quote the great Noam Chomsky, have "tapped the zetigeist". The times, they are a'changing ladies and gentlemen, and I for one am quite happily moving along with them.

As I said, he's coming to Manchester in November and am really considering the not inconsiderable amount it will cost to go up there for an overnight to see him live. Better yet, I hope there's a repeat of last year and more dates are added in more convenient locations. (He played shows in London and Oxford at the tail end of the year).

So, anyone out there brave enough to open their minds a little and let in a little geekdom?