Little Gray Books

The "Little Gray Books" lectures were a series of lectures, hosted by John Hodgman, from 2001 to 2006. They represented Hodgman's attempt to create a "radio program on stage", and were named in honor of the 1920s collection of pamphlets Little Blue Books, one of which John's mother gave him when he became a literary agent (#1143, "How to Prepare a Manuscript"). Jonathan Coulton served as the musical director for these lectures, performing many originals that would later be released as Other Experiments or reproduced for Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow or during Thing a Week.

The themes of the lecture series were titled as if they were a similar series of useful How-To booklets with charmingly archaic titles. Each Little Gray Book program loosely followed that theme and featured a selection of guests. These lectures included readings by authors, novelty demonstrations, comedy and music. Most of the Little Gray Book lectures took place at the Galapagos Art Space, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Jonathan's role has been described in this way: "The loyal audience, which Hodgman has built, anticipates the closure Coulton’s songs often bring. They have the uncanny effect of wrapping-up and summarizing the night’s theme in well-crafted song. Hodgman believes, 'it is unconscionable that no one has found a way to make one million dollars off his talents yet.'"

Th

only nearly-complete recording of a Little Gray Book lecture currently available on the internet is the one made of Lecture 29, on the topic of radio. <refe lecture took place in Philadelphia, in order to take advantage of radio-quality sound recording at the Indre Studio. <refwever, recordings from a total of seven of the lectures were at repackaged and released as [htt[://www.littlegraybooks.com/hear.html podcasts]. These podcasts were compiled by Jonathan Coulton and John Hodgman and bookmarked with inventive fictional settings and events as described by the two of them. Each podcast reprised readings, songs, or amusing happenings from one specific past lecture.

Se

ral of Jonathan's songs were written for the lectures or the podcasts, including [[Sklcrusher Mountain, ]]ThFuture Soon, ]]ThPresidents, ]]d [[Br Brookline, ]]e last of which was prompted by the lecture about Hodgman's hometown of Brookline, Massachusetts.

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lectures were:

{rder="1" 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3

' 'Lecture #

' 'Title

' 'Songs

' 'Date

H w to Begin an Important Project <ref ne

2

H nts on Public Singing

[ I'So Lonesome I Could Cry, ]]Rabow Connection

]] esday, May 8, 2001

H w to Spell Several Common Words

n ne

4

H w Can We Possibly Go On? (post- 9/11)

n ne

5

H w to Win a Fight

n ne

6

H w to Choose (or Make) the Perfect Gift

n ne

7

S crets of Self-Improvement

n ne

8

H w to Throw a Curveball

n ne

9

M stery Cults of North America

[ I'a Mason Now

]] 1

H w and When to Tell a Lie

n ne

1

E rope vs. America

[ OvThere

]] 1

G eat Rivalries in American Spelling

n ne

1

H w to Seek Your Fortune

n ne

1

H w to Speak with Strangers

[ Dot Talk to Strangers

]] 1

H w to ReDistribute Wealth and Joy

n ne

W dnesday, December 4, 2002

H w to Pour the Perfect Werthmann <ref Maelbrot Set

]] dnesday, February 5, 2003

H w to Generate a Winning Character

n ne

W dnesday March 5, 2003

W at Will Happen in the Future? ([htt[://brettmartin.org/audio/Brett-Spleen.mp3 Full mp3])

[ ThFuture Soon

]] dnesday, April 2, 2003

E iles of Chicago

n ne

W dnesday, May 7, 2003

H w to Negotiate All Kinds of Deals and Contracts

[ Scwed (demo)

]] dnesday, June 4, 2003

H w to Measure Misunderstood Genius

[[ klcrusher Mountain

]] dnesday, September 3, 2003

H w to Gamble and Win ([htt[://brettmartin.org/audio/Brett-Gambling.mp3 Full mp3])

[ Galer's Prayer (demo)

]] dnesday, October 1, 2003

B ookline: the Town that Has Everything Yet at the Same Time Has Nothing <ref Brkline (demo)

]] dnesday, November 5, 2003

S range Gifts from Far-Off Lands <ref ne

W dnesday, December 3, 2003

T e Animals: Are They Our Enemies?

[ I ush Everything

]] dnesday, March 3, 2004

S crets of the Secret Agents

n ne

W dnesday, April 7, 2004

H w to Lead a Double Life (or Death)

[ Dae, Soterios Johnson, Dance (demo)

]] dnesday, June 2, 2004

( itle currently unknown)

n ne

2

H w to Communicate Without the Aid of Wires

[ Caing Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, ]]Dae, Soterios Johnson, Dance (]]w lyrics), [[Swt Information

]] turday, October 9, 2004

H w to Observe President's Day, Observed

[ ThPresidents

]] ursday, February 24, 2005

[ tt[://www.blottered.com/2005/06/blog-and-order-svu-more.html How to Commit the Perfect Crime]

[ OnMore Score

]] ursday, June 16, 2005

H w to Prepare Manuscripts for Publication <ref BaGot Back, ]]BiRock Candy Mountain ]]W dnesday, October 19, 2005

L

ure #33 is listed as "How to Rest Quietly". It is technically not a lecture, but the title of the hiatus announcement found currently on the Little Gray Book Lectures website.

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s

Rec rdings are available for many of Jonathan's LGB performances. These are compiled and available for download [htt[://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=03c5974248b8c96cab1eab3e9fa335ca24d8885bdaed9e49 here.]

=

erences

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