Jonathan Coulton lived the drab Office Space reality of a desk-bound computer programmer working for Innitech. That is, until, like Peter Gibbons, protagonist of the aforementioned tale and hero of anyone who has ever wanted to smash a copy machine to bits, he quit his job to do something a lot more fun. For Coulton, that meant playing his guitar every day and making a go of it as a professional musician. It's ironic that Coulton has the Internet to thank for much of his success.
Coulton's fanbase initially grew hit by hit. Fans visited his blog and downloaded the songs he wrote and recorded at the pace of one per week—a goal he set for himself soon after he shucked his monkey suit. These same tech-savvy devotees created music videos that have further promulgated his product and propelled Coulton to demi-fame.
Now, Coulton's music can be heard in real time as he tours select cities—using his blog, he first determines precisely how many fans he has in a given city—with his solo acoustic performance.
April 3, 7 p.m., 20 Center St., Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, $17, (413) 584-0610.
