But here’s the scoop about Gary Jules: Some folks here at Pollstar have followed him since the very beginning when a disc called Greetings From The Side arrived at the office in 1998. It didn’t hurt he was born in our hometown of Fresno, Calif.

But we had just put Limp Bizkit and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on the cover and here was this dude singing and playing guitar, recorded on an eight-track in his living room.

Maybe it wasn’t right for the time. Also, a few months into the release, the label, A&M’s parent company, Polygram, was sold to MCA/Universal. It was a bad cocktail for Jules. His career was over before it began; he went back to school and the CD became a rarity.

Jump ahead a few years and his friend Michael Andrews asked him to record a song for a movie called “Donnie Darko.” They recorded Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” in Jules’ hallway. During Christmastime in 2003, Jules got a call in the middle of the night: The song was a No. 1 hit in the U.K.

Now with several U.K. tours under his belt, plus the album releases of Trading Snake Oil For Wolftickets and Gary Jules, he’s found himself a big seller on CD Baby and Greetings From The Side is a U.K. import.

With that, he releases Bird Nov. 25 and will celebrate it with a four-week, Tuesday-night residency at Los Angeles’ Hotel Café starting Nov. 25. Then we’ll catch him on the Frankenreiter tour, hopefully at Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre or the Catalyst in Santa Cruz or maybe S.F.’s Independent. Hey Gary, how about a show here in Fresno?