Hey folks,

Word through the grapevine is that the advance tickets for the Neil Young Cover-Up tonight at the are SOLD OUT.  It’s a hot ticket, people.

But don’t worry – the Lizard Lounge only pre-sells half of the tickets and keeps the other half for the door.  So if you’re there early (8ish), you have a good shot of not getting shut out.

See you there tonight!

This past Tuesday night at the Middle East Upstairs was yet another special night in the life of your boy Brendo.  Boston Band Crush hosted a One Night Band reunion with my OTHER band, the Champagne of Bands.

As opposed to last time when we only had one day to write three songs and learn a cover, the Champagne of Bands actually rehearsed TWICE before this show.  I know, I know – but we’re perfectionists like that.

The cool part of this show was that each of us performed with our individual projects before the reunion.  Duncan Wilder Johnson did his spoken word thing, delivering hilarious and touching stories of heavy metal and friendship.  Bo Barringer played solo.  On bass.  It was unbelievably compelling and innovative.  Sidewalk Driver played a beautiful acoustic set, including a cover of Sade’s “Smooth Operator.”  And Kuuluuko brought the house down with a scorching blues/rock set.

As for us, the Best Intentions were once again down a man, but Jason Dunn of The Luxury ably stepped in.  Not to brag or nuttin, but we felt pretty g-darn good about our performance.  We brought the rock and roll to this sleepy town on a Tuesday night like it hasn’t been broughten in a wee bit. 

Here was the problem – I gave it all during my set… completely forgetting that I had to play ANOTHER set with my OTHER band.  In that brief moment in between the two sets, I realized exactly how old and decrepit I really am.

Luckily, playing with the fellas in Champagne of Bands gets the adrenaline pumping.  Here’s our first song, “Boston Band Crush:  The Song (a.k.a. Ode to Sophia)”:

And here’s the new song we wrote for the occasion, aptly entitled “Reunion”:

Not to get all sensitive on you, but I do feel very fortunate to have been randomly placed in this band with these four guys.  I’m grateful to not only have them as bandmates, but as friends.  This is definitely not the last you’ve seen of the Champagne of Bands.

Hey all,

Just a quick note of advice from your buddy Brendo.  You may want to get advance tickets for Saturday night’s Neil Young Cover-Up show.  These things tend to sell out at a pretty good clip. 

Here is the advance ticket link:  www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98649

Great line-up, including The Blizzard of ’78, Cassavettes, Mike Verge, Will Dailey, Gilded Splinters, and Sodafrog all celebrating the music of the great Neil Young.  Come on by and check shit out.

Hey all,

Thanks to all the great folks who came out for the final night of the One Night Band reunion series last night.  Special thanks to Ashley at Boston Band Crush for organizing this really fun event and my fantastic Champagne of Bands-mates for bringing the noise like only they can.

When I have a moment, I’ll fill you in on all the sexy details.  In the meantime, this is the Chef’s take on last evening:

Chef’s Requests for mid week rock shows at places like the Middle East Upstairs:

Thanks,
The Chef

Last night, I spent the Super Bowl not with Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, but the manly men in the Champagne of Bands.  Even the coolest of beers and spiciest of Buffalo wings could not compare to the cool guitar licks of Bo Barringer and the spicy vocal stylings of Tad McKitterick.  I regret nothing!

All of our (relatively) hard work will pay off tomorrow night at the Middle East Upstairs.  Stop by around 8.30 for a viewing of the One Night Band documentary, followed by some spoken word by Duncan Wilder Johnson.  Then, music from Bo Barringer, Sidewalk Driver, me and my Best Intentions, and Kuuluuko.

The culmination of it all will be our much-anticipated return to the stage.  We’ve even got a new epic song for you.  Don’t miss this one!

So do you remember last summer?  Wasn’t it great?  Oh, the good times we had together. 

You know what was my favorite part of the summer?  Boston Band Crush presents… One Night Band.  40 musicians put into 8 random bands of 5.  We were given about 6 hours to write 3 songs and learn one cover.  It was a crazy, hectic, magical night of music and friendship.  Honestly, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. 

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one because check this shit out – One Night Band Reunions!  3 weeks of reunion shows starring the bands whose members made up the combos that evening.  And it starts this Wednesday with The Peppermint Patties!  Featuring all kinds of awesome people.

My outfit, The Champagne of Bands, will be closing out the residency on Tuesday February 9.  But there’s plenty of time for that, kittens.

Another successful show despite the universe conspiring against us.  Here’s how it all went down…

-  Around 10am, I get a call from Tim “The Chef” Delaney informing me of the unfortunate fact that vomit was leaving his body with the speed and frequency of an Epcot Center supertram.  (Remember?  Because he was at Disney?  No?)  Although he was going to try to muscle through, the Chef was a very strong “probably not” for the show.  Add this develepmont to the fact that KenDo was in Vegas this weekend and you’ve got yourself a bit of a crisis.

-  Luckily, the multi-talented Jason Dunn of The Luxury and Will Dailey were on board to be special guests, so they were about to pull more duty than for which they had bargained.  Will handled the news with his characteristic laid back aplomb while Jason freaked out for a few hours and then decided to kick all kinds of ass and perhaps take a few names.   Like Irving.  He might, for instance, take that name.

-  With all this adversity in front of us, we had two choices – throw in the towel or continue to rock.  I picked the third option:  drink heavily on the Lizard Lounge’s tab!  During soundcheck, I took advantage of the kindness of the bartender and gulped my problems away!  Who says alcohol doesn’t magically solve everything?  Liars, that’s who.

-  Right before show time, The Chef informed us that not only was he not any better, but he had successfully infected his wife as well.  That’s good strong work there, Chefsie.  We made a few last minute adjustments to the set and (more importantly) had a few more bottles of liquid courage and prepared to bring the noise all “unprepared”-style.

-  The evening began with the great Paul Melancon from Atlanta with his all-star Boston-based band.  They absolutely blew the doors off the place.  Many of the (by then almost sold-out) audience hadn’t seen them before, so I was getting a lot of “Who are these guys?  They’re amazing!  Why haven’t I’ve seen them before?”  I of course informed these people that my restraining order against Paul was only recently lifted by the courts.  Because fuck that guy for being so good.

-  Around 10pm, it was our turn to rock the house in whatever way we could muster.  We started out a little bit soft and sweet with an acoustic duet with Will and myself.  I swear, when you look into that man’s eyes… it’s like a Bing Crosby Christmas in your mother’s womb.  His talent simultaneously thrilling and soothing.  Viola player extraordinaire Beth Holub then joined us for ”February” and a cover of Dire Straits’ “So Far Away” with some impromptu bass and guitar from Will and Jason.

Then, it was time to bring Jason up for some loud rock and some say fucking roll.  Knowing KenDo was going to be out of town, we had rehearsed with the foursome of me, Justin, Tim, and Jason for a few weeks.  I’m not going to lie to you – we were sounding goooooood.  Jason wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to handle both guitar parts on all the songs because he’s, you know, not in the band.  But he’s an annoyingly talented motherfucker and hit it out of the park.  Everyone was coming up to me afterward and talking about what great musical chemistry we had.  They should have seen our smoldering gaga eyes in the green room.  HeyOH!

-  After we managed to put together a good set with only chutzpah and metaphorical duct tape, it was time for The Motion Sick.  They absolutely ripped through a chaotic, high energy set featuring Patrick taking a header into the drum kit and Travis ripping his thumb open and spraying gore everywhere.  You think I’m exaggerating?  Take a look at the aftermath:

Rock and roll, goddamnit.

-  The night was closed out by Oranjuly.  They’re a relatively new band in town, but they’re quickly making a name for themselves with excellent songwriting and killer musicianship in their performances.  At the end of their set, they were kind enough to invite Paul and myself on stage for a version of the Wonders’ “That Thing You Do.”  At that point, I was drunk enough to tell the entire audience that Mike Viola was a douchebag for not paying me when I opened for him several months ago.  And now, I’m apparently drunk enough to post it on my website for all the world to see!  I’m terrific!

You know, creating great nights of rock music isn’t rocket science.  You just get a bunch of great bands who are also really nice people and you throw a party.  Saturday night was one of the more fun parties I’ve thrown in a while.  So thanks to the sold-out audience for making  yet another magical night at the Lizard Lounge.

Thanks to all of you who came by and sold out the Lizard Lounge this Saturday night.  A great show filled with terrific bands and booze-driven peril.  A full recap coming up soon, plus news of the next big show…

Hey all,

Hope you’re all psyched up for the big show at the Lizard Lounge tonight.  We’re getting some nice write-ups from some good folks at the Cheap Thrills and Boston Music Spotlight blogs.  It is nice to have your cheapness spotlighted.

As far as the band goes, Tim “The Chef” Delaney was projectile vomiting as early as this morning, so his participation in tonight’s festivities will be a gametime decision.  Personally, I think the “During what song is Tim going to vomit?” factor could add an extra level of entertainment value to the show tonight.  But I’m kind of sick like that.

No matter what happens with Tim, I guarantee any remaining band members will give you our all to entertain you as we always do.  Doors at 8.30.

It’s all happening…