And Now, Me Singing “Just Can’t Get Enough” at the 2023 JoCo Cruise Final Concert
Posted on March 24, 2023 Posted by John Scalzi 29 Comments
There’s a story here. Every year on the JoCo Cruise (the nerd extravaganza cruise I participate in annually, on which I act as head of its literary track, moderate panels, do readings and DJ a nerd prom), there’s a final concert on the last full day of the cruise. The musical performers for the year come out and sing songs, with a large segment of the show putting the spotlight on the songs of musicians and songwriters who have passed in since the last cruise. This year’s segment, for example, included songs by or made famous by Burt Bacharach, Olivia Newton John, David Crosby and Christine McVie.
Also, Depeche Mode. As fans are aware, last year Andy Fletcher, a founding member of that band, passed away suddenly at the age of 60. In the run-up to the cruise and in the initial planning of the final concert, I reminded Paul Sabourin (one of the quadumvirate who run the cruise) of his passing and suggested they put a Depeche Mode song into the tribute segment. I also mentioned that if they did put a song in and no one else wanted to tackle the vocals, I’d be willing to give it a shot.
This is a bit of a shot in the dark for me. There are many excellent musicians and singers on the cruise, starting with Jonathan Coulton, the cruise’s namesake, as well as his house band, and continuing on with the aforementioned Paul Sabourin, his musical partner Storm DiCostanzo (otherwise known as Paul and Storm), Aimee Mann, Jim Boggia (and his band), guests like the Rainbow Girls, Open Mike Eagle, Puddles Pity Party and Janet Varney, among others. They didn’t need me for the final concert, for sure, and I wasn’t really expecting that I would end up there singing.
Joke’s on me, because I was told that, okay, sure, I could sing a Depeche Mode song in the final concert.
Which both delighted and mildly terrified me. Delighted, because the final JoCo Concert is the big extravaganza concert of the cruise and me getting to sing a song in it, after ten years of being part of the JoCo Cruise, felt a little bit like Lucy being told by Ricky that yes, she could finally be part of the show (kids, that’s an I Love Lucy reference, have your grandparents explain it to you). Mildly terrified, because, well. See the musician lineup above. There are Oscar, Tony and Grammy nominees in there, along with people with top ten hits, gold and platinum albums, cult and/or popular fanbases and years of professional musical experience. I very much didn’t want to go out there and faceplant.
I’m happy to say I didn’t. We picked a song I could sing (“Just Can’t Get Enough” which also has the virtue of being one of Depeche Mode’s few happy songs), and I practiced it more or less constantly during the course of the cruise, accompanying myself on ukulele as I did so. Some of the musicians noted above performed the song with me (Coulton, Boggia, DiCostanzo, keyboardist Jon Spurney and drummer Christian Cassan) so I was surrounded by friends who actually knew what they were doing. I also decided that whatever I lacked in musical ability I would try to make up in sheer, ridiculous enthusiasm.
Finally there was the JoCo Cruise audience, which is, frankly, amazing. I always tell performers we’re trying to get for the boat that they will never have a more receptive audience than the one they will find on the JoCo Cruise. They are the complete opposite of snobs; they want to be entertained, and they want you to succeed in entertaining them. The second I stepped from behind the curtains to sing the song, I could feel their excitement and affection for me flowing onto the stage. That sort of support was huge, and made feel like I was supposed to be where I was.
The results are in the video above (shot by “Oscar Arr”). I show off my Crocs (which is a whole other JoCo Cruise subplot I’ll explain some other time, just be assured it was a thing), hop around like a caffeinated bunny (see relevant photo, taken by Steve Petrucelli), and mostly hit my notes. I’m pretty sure you can tell I’m having a grand time, and I think everyone else is too. “Just Can’t Get Enough” was the opening song of the tribute segment, so we needed to set the tone for everything else, and I think we managed that. I was thrilled.
Maybe more than thrilled. I’m having a pretty good 2023 so far; I’ve won a couple of neat awards, have some really nice film/TV things going on I can’t tell you anything about yet, and have some other big news that’s going to be announced soon. Honestly, 2023 is going great. So you now have some perspective when I tell you that getting to sing “Just Can’t Get Enough” at the JoCo Final Concert, up there with my friends, belting it out to other friends, just might the best thing that happens to me for the whole year. It just made me so damn happy.
And it made me happy to remember Andy Fletcher in such a celebratory way, with people that I like. I think he would like being remembered as joyously as this. With lots of bouncing, and bright green Crocs.
— JS
It as a delight to see. I’m glad you got the opportunity and you did a great job. Red Team 4 life!
Wonderful! 4+ minutes of pure, unadulterated joy.
Not related to Crocodile Shoes, I presume.
This just made my day.
That was fantastic!
Pictured above – John Scalzi levitating using glowing green sci-fi crocs
It’s only just now that I realise that it’s not JoJo Cruise, but JoCo cruise…
New fitness goal: be able to bounce like Scalzi and still sing I Just Can’t Get Enough
Nailed it!
Loved it and was my favorite part of the tribute show. Glad DM was represented. The tribute show is always my favorite of the cruise. My wife and I used the John Prine tribute from last year as our first dance song in our wedding.
Absolutely fantastic! Your joyful energy is contagious! Rock on Scalzi!
You nailed it!! Also I’m impressed you could dance that much and still have breath to sing. A+
Fun! What a joyous way to start my day. Thank you for sharing ☺️
This was one of my favorite bits from the entire week of the cruise. So much great energy and a great song choice to kick off the tribute show!
As a Brit who is from the Depeche Mode era, thank you for doing justice to the song. It was great.
The absolute high point of being unable to leave my bed, (much less the cabin), Saturday was being able to watch BOTH simulcasts! Everyone was so good, and YOU absolutely knocked it out of the park, Scalzi :)
JoCo is a wonderful time/place (of course time and place is always changing). There are few rules other than;
1) Be excellent to each other
2) No multiple part questions
Just can’t get enough.
John, you rocked it, you caffeinated Tigger you!!!! I had a great time at the Red Team concert!!! Red Team Best Team!
You would be so much fun at a karaoke event. I’d love to be able to sing alongside you.
You were wonderful! Your love and enthusiasm were showing clearly, and we loved seeing it!
Red team best team! :)
Thanks for sharing the backstory there. I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Well, if you and Kris are going to form a punk band, you’d better get used to singing before a live audience….
That said, the only Depeche Mode song I associate with the band is “Master and Servants”.
I didn’t realize until I saw a recent “Depeche Mode Top 25” songs that “Just Can’t Get Enough” was one of theirs!
I love how much fun you seem to be having!
Awesome John!! Thanks for sharing!
This was so much fun, and it really set the tone for the rest of the evening. Then again, “so much fun” tends to be an accurate description of everything you do on Boat, whether it’s this joyful bouncing or Worst First Page or anything else. (We’re not counting that time I shared an elevator with you, and I was too star-struck to look up from the elevator rug once I realized it was you.) Thanks for bringing your amazing energy, and for continuing to write so many things that I love!
I was so happy to see this in person. I’m still wondering what the other song would have been like.
@Timothy Liebe It is and it isn’t. Just Can’t Get Enough is from their first album, when Vince Clarke (later famous from Yazoo/Yaz and Erasure) was their songwriter and they were a cheerful synthpop band. Erasure’s music is what Depeche Mode might have become had Clarke remained part of it.
Clarke left the band after that album, Martin Gore took over the songwriting, and Depeche Mode went in a darker and very different direction.
As one of the folks who danced and hopped stage left during this, I can attest that it’s exhausting and I couldn’t keep up with John.