Thomas Dolby is coming to Seattle. This is great news.

But what’s even better is that he’s not just going to be performing music, which is a treat in and of itself. His show is also going to be part lecture, which he will be talking about the development of his new interactive social game and his solar-powered recording studio/lifeboat. From his email announcing the tour:

“These solo performances will take the form of a 60-minute lecture about his new social networking transmedia game, The Floating City, interspersed with live songs from his upcoming album (A Map of the Floating City, due out October 25 on Lost Toy People Records through Redeye Distribution), as well as a few timeless classics.

He will also give his personal account of the groundbreaking Floating City game, which he describes as “a Dieselpunk dystopia . . . weary survivors of a global climate catastrophe bartering and trading to stay alive in the face of techno-piracy and mutant squid attacks!””

I’ve had the good fortune of seeing Thomas Dolby live a few times, and he doesn’t disappoint. And if you only associate him with “She Blinded Me With Science,” he’s turned in many many songs that are more recent and much better (in my opinion).

But he’s also been a digital pioneer, being a regular on the web 2.0 and social networking speaking circuits.

I saw him live a few years ago when he was really breaking down all of his songs into their component parts and illustrating how he built them all – live – in front of the audience.

This is from his podcast series that accompanied his tour a year or two ago…

This was a great tour because attendees were able to see exactly how these songs were built… the layers of sounds, harmonies and melodies that were incorporated into them. The video includes his live performance of “Flying North.”

This tour should be a great show for marketers, techies and music fans, alike. Here’s where he’s going to be:

Mon., Oct. 3 WASHINGTON D.C. Sirius XM The Loft
Wed., Oct. 5 NEW YORK, NY 92 Y Tribeca
Fri., Oct. 7 CHICAGO, IL Martyrs’
Mon., Oct. 10 SEATTLE, WA Triple Door
Wed., Oct. 12 PORTLAND, OR KINK-FM Concert
Thurs., Oct. 13 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club
Fri,. Oct. 14 LOS ANGELES, CA Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Mon,. Oct. 17 LOS ANGELES, CA Grammy Museum

I’m Jon Friesch, and I not only approve, but I wrote this message.