It’s June 1 and that means another FREE EP. For the entire month of June, you can download “The Cassingles” for absolutely free. Just look up to the top of the page where my lovely bespectacled face is and hit the “MUSIC” button right below. Download away!

We’ve got a great EP release show coming up on June 11 at the Rosebud featuring The Rationales, Muy Cansado (who are having a June residency), and The Highway. Come celebrate the summer with a bunch of very good bands.

Just as “Fiction Memories” is starting to find a nice groove in your iPod mix and your soul, along comes another EP from your buddy Boogie. And this one couldn’t be more different:

Only the finest technology for my beloved fans

True to the spirit of this project, “The Cassingles” comes as YET ANOTHER completely different kind of collaboration. As you may or may not know, I play bass with a little outfit called Parlour Bells, the musical mastermind of which I am lucky enough to also have as a guitarist in The Best Intentions – the amazing Mr. Nate Leavitt. Recently, Parlour Bells came out with an excellent EP entitled “Heart Beatings” (which I had nothing to do with) via a very interesting process: Nate made a bunch of synthesized music and then handed it over, previously unheard, to singer Glenn DiBenedetto to add vocal melody and lyrics. A record made in two different rooms. Pretty funky idea.

Along with my numerous other character flaws, I’m a wee bit of a control freak so the idea of turning complete power of production to another person had its morbid appeal. Could I really let go like that? I didn’t know, but if I were going trust anyone, it’d be Nate Leavitt. If we were in a junior high class learning about parental responsibility, I’d totally let Nate babysit my egg while I watched scrambled porn on the stolen cable box in my parents’ room. Soooooooo I performed four songs on acoustic guitar, sent them to Nate and said, “Do whatever you want. You have carte blanche. Call me when they’re ready for vocals.”

When it came time for me to hear the tracks, my little mind was blown. Nate’s electronic wizardry morphed my acoustic diddies into a collection of power-pop gems that could fit onto the B-side of a 1984 cassingle (hence the name). The influences of artists like Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Rick Springfield, The Police and other 80′s pop that have always been hidden somewhere deep in the foundation of my songwriting are unashamedly at the forefront of this EP. I’m pretty psyched about it and can’t wait for you all to hear it.

So you have another week to download “Fiction Memories” and then get a taste of “The Cassingles.” Hooray for cognitive dissonance!

With apologies to the great Nicole Anguish, here is a sneak peak of the cover art I’ve digitized up for the June EP, entitled “The Cassingles”:

More info on this record to come in the next few weeks!

Courtesy of the great Johnny Anguish at Daykamp Music:

It’s time for the third and final Nate vs. Nate: The essay contest!

Round 3

In 500 words or less, please describe why you should be considered the Primary Nate of the Best Intentions at the show at the Lizard Lounge on June 19. Please cite your sources. Pencils up and BEGIN!

Nate Rogers’ essay:

Primary? Well, now let me see. You know, I don’t have any idea what that means.

I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it’s just a made up word. A politician’s word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?  There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.

Primary? It’s just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don’t give a shit.

WORKS CITED

Freeman, Morgan perf.  The Shawshank Redemption.  Dir. Frank Darabont.  Based on the short story “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King.  Columbia, 1994.

Nate Leavitt’s essay:

I’ve never been good at writing essay’s plus they always remind me of the time my father made my sister write one about why underage drinking and lying is dangerous. So, I want to take this opportunity to write a Haiku.

Nate, in a word, great
One must be modest in life
With humility

Wow. Two truly terrible essays. I can’t decide which one I hate more. On the one hand, Rogers quoted one of my least favorite movies of all time, almost guaranteeing a loss. Then again, Leavitt knows that I am a haiku purist and that in order for a poem to truly be a haiku, it must involve nature in some way. Just 5-7-5 is NOT a haiku. Leavitt knows how I feel about misappropriating the ancient Japanese poetry forms. We’ve had many discussions about this over beers.

I’m going to have to go ahead and declare this one a draw and call for an sudden death overtime. This Saturday night at the Lizard Lounge – the final showdown between Nate Leavitt and Nate Rogers.

Let’s settle this the old fashioned way – by rocking.

Since yesterday’s Nate vs. Nate contest didn’t go so well due to my error, I decided to put a little more thought into this one. In order to determine who really is the Nate-o Supreme-o, I figured they should be tested on what they know about me, their proud leader. So I present:

NATE VS. NATE CONTEST #2: Brendan Trivia

Round 2

I know – it seems like an unfair contest. Since Nate Rogers and I were in bands together for over 5 years, you would think he would know me much better and have an advantage. This is not the case because a) Nate Leavitt and I have been in several projects together in the last year or so, including several Cover-Ups and our BalletRox performance and b) Nate Rogers doesn’t pay attention to anybody but himself and possibly Steve Gutenberg. So this is a much more evenly matched contest than you may imagine.

So I present to you, Nate vs. Nate Round 2. The question will be followed by each Nate’s answer and then the correct answer.

Question: How many toes does Brendan Boogie have?
Leavitt: 10.5
Rogers: Two. Brendan has hooves. It was our exasperation with re-shoeing him before every gig that led us to dissolve Scamper.
Correct answer: 37.

Question: In what city was Brendan Boogie born?
Leavitt: New York
Rogers: Brendan “Boogie” was born in Watertown MA.
Correct answer: Brendan wasn’t technically “born.” He was created by an inter-office memo during the dot com boom of the 90′s.

Question: Who was Brendan Boogie’s favorite Thundercat?
Leavitt: Cheetara… what a MILF! HOOOOO!
Rogers: John Blout
Correct answer: Voltron.

Question: What is Brendan Boogie’s proudest moment?
Leavitt: Declaring his love for a cartoon character
Rogers: Discovering that if you hold down the B button, Mario moves faster.
Correct answer: Assassinating Jared from Subway (August 2015)

Question: What secret would Brendan Boogie kill you if you let out?
Leavitt: His real last name.
Rogers: Bruce Willis’ character was dead the whole time.
Correct answer: He was Owen Wilson’s voice double for the movie Marmaduke.

Question: If you throw a beer at Brendan Boogie on stage, what is he most likely to do?
Leavitt: I wouldn’t waste a perfectly good beer on BB like that!
Rogers: Make a dick joke
Correct answer: Weep for 57 straight minutes.

Question: If Brendan Boogie were alone in a room with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, how many seconds would it take for Brendan Boogie to punch him in the scrote?
Leavitt: .00001 seconds
Rogers: How many seconds can a punch possibly take? I say one, max — otherwise it’s more of a cradling. So, yeah, 45 seconds.
Correct answer: Trick question – MacFarlane actually lost his scrote during the war.

Question: What is Brendan Boogie’s middle name?
Leavitt: Fuckin’
Rogers: Marc Roderick
Correct answer: Elizabeth

Question: If Brendan Boogie were to throw a Japanese tea ceremony, which celebrities (living or dead) would he invite?
Leavitt: Rodney Dangerfield, Marilyn Monroe and Father Guido Sarducci
Rogers: John Blout, Marc Roderick, Seth MacFarlane, and Shelley Long
Correct answer: Well, it WAS going to be Nate Leavitt and Nate Rogers, but they obviously don’t know shit about me so I guess it’s just me and Justin Tibbetts.

Question: Why are you staring at Brendan Boogie like that?
Leavitt: Because he has BBQ sauce on his shirt and I’m hungry!
Rogers: I’m kind of perplexed by his inclusion of Shelley Long, that’s all.
Correct answer: The smoke show behind his steely green eyes.

Wow! What an exciting zero-zero tie! I can see why you all have soccer fever these days! After yesterday’s spelling bee debacle and today’s oh-fer, we’ve got to settle this thing once and for all with the final tiebreaker contest of Nate vs. Nate… tomorrow! Right here on the Boogiespacethingy!

This kind of thing gets you really excited for this Saturday’s show, doesn’t it? Be sure to get your advance tickets – the Lizard is a small room.

As I mentioned, this Saturday the Best Intentions will be rocking the Lizard Lounge (You can get your advance tix here) with This Blue Heaven, The Doctors Fox, and Glenn Yoder & His Merry Band (Glenn is in Cassavettes). I also mentioned that Nate Rogers (of Scamper and The Future Everybody) and Nate Leavitt (of The Blizzard of ’78) will be joining me on guitar.

What I DIDN’T tell you was that I am a small, small man. I feel that the best way to elicit good performances by my guys is to create a sense of competition. As we have been rehearsing for the show, I’ve been asking myself one question: who is the superior Nate?

In order to determine Nate supremacy, I have decided to make it official. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:

NATE VS. NATE

Round 1

As we lead up to the show, I will be presenting a series of contests that will determine who will be Nate Numero Uno at the Lizard on Saturday night. Without further ado, I present the first contest…

NATE VS. NATE CONTEST #1: The Spelling Bee

I emailed Nate and Nate a series of National Spelling Bee-winning words with the following instructions:

Please correctly spell the following words that I am now emailing you. Do NOT look them up on the internet. Honor system, fellas. (The word is followed by each Nate’s answer).

Word #1: gladiolus
Rogers: gladiolus
Leavitt: gladiolus

Word#2: cerise
Rogers: cerise
Leavitt: cerise

Word #3: luxuriance
Rogers: luxuriance
Leavitt: luxuriance

Word #4: albumen
Rogers: albumen
Leavitt: albumen

Word #5: asceticism
Rogers: asceticism
Leavitt: asceticism

Word #6: fracas
Rogers: fracas
Leavitt: fracas

Word #7: foulard
Rogers: foulard
Leavitt: foulard

Word #8: chlorophyll
Rogers: chlorophyll
Leavitt: chlorophyll

Word #9: insouciant
Rogers: insouciant
Leavitt: insouciant

Word #10: soubrette
Rogers: soubrette
Leavitt: soubrette

Final score: Nate Rogers 10 for 10, Nate Leavitt 10 for 10. Result: tie.

Okay, so perhaps email wasn’t the best venue for a spelling bee. My bad. I’ll tweak this thing a little bit and come back with a more conclusive contest tomorrow, I swear.

Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions
With This Blue Heaven, The Doctors Fox, and Glenn Yoder & His Merry Band
The Lizard Lounge, Mass Ave, Cambridge
Saturday June 19
8:30 doors 21+, $8 adv/$10 door

It just seems to continue on and on, doesn’t it? And there’s no end in sight, my rock-loving friends.

Although it seems like I’ve been playing a lot lately (what with the Songwriter Residency and the Gay Pride Cover-Up and whatnot and so forth), it’s actually been a few months since I’ve gotten together with an actual rock and roll band behind me. That all ended last week when I re-assembled my band for rehearsal for the next big rock and roll show at the Lizard Lounge on June 19. (Get your tickets now!)

I should clarify – by “my band” I meant “3 guys who have never played together in their lives.” Unfortunately, neither Ken nor Tim can make the show in June (it’s “Twink Week” down in P-Town), so I had to enlist the back-up duties of my two favorite Nates (sorry, Hawthorne): Nate Rogers of The Future Everybody and Nate Leavitt of The Blizzard of ’78. It’s an all-Nate guitar battery! How delightfully kitschy!

If you’ve followed my band at all, you know that lineup changes are always part of the deal. I briefly considered changing the name of the band to “Brendan Boogie & Whoever Shows Up,” except I would lose that delightful alliteration. Part of the fun of making music for me is experiencing what different musicians bring to the table. “Cigarette” sounds completely different with Tim Delaney on lead than it does with Jason Dunn on lead than it does with Nate Leavitt, etc. etc. It’s always very exciting for me to see what different people do with my music.

If the first rehearsal was any indication, this Nate-heavy lineup should be bringing a very cool musical energy to the show on June 19. I wouldn’t miss it if I were you.

Since Andrea and I started this successful juggernaut known as The Cover-Up, there honestly has not been a non-awesome moment in the whole thing.  But this past weekend’s Cover-Up was probably the mostest awesomest so far.

I must admit – I have done a lot of ridiculous shit in this series (my Freddie Mercury outfit comes to mind), but nothing was as intimidating as trying to embody the spirit of Jack Black without resorting to imitation.  Luckily, I had the best Rage Kage that I could imagine by my side – Nate Leavitt of The Blizzard of ’78.  A pure pleasure and joy to work with as well as an absolute shredder on guitar.  What a fun memory.

And don’t even get me started on the other talented performers from that night.  Golden Bloom absolutely brought it as a one-man Weird Al on some sort of hallucinogen.  I had the pleasure of singing (or really slurring my way through) “Sweet Young Thing” with Oranjuly as the Monkees.  Always fun to play with those guys.  And Sidewalk Driver as Spinal Tap brought things to a whole new level – including a to-scale replica of the mini-Stonehenge. 

As far as the comics, Ken Reid, Tim McIntire, and Lamont Price turned a potentially difficult gig (lots of drunken assholes that were all riled up by me) into a roomful of people losing their shit from laughing.  Three of the best, which is why I booked them.

Actually, fuck all these accolades for other people.  The success of the Cover-Up is all about me, baby, me!  (Sorry, still in character as JB for a second there.)

We shift gears on May 15 as the Cover-Up presents…. Fleetwood Mac!  Hooray!