. Mon. Dec. 31

It's year 2, which makes the Upper Crust at Church an annual event! We've known Nat Freedberg, singer-guitarist of the Upper Crust, going back aways to his band the Flies in the early '80s. And then there was the Titanics and Satanics and various others. But Nat has made his bones, really, as Lord Bendover, his alter-ego-cum-uppity leader of the Upper Crust, the quartet that dresses up like French nobles of the 18th century, talk like British fops and write AC/DC-ish songs for the masses ... often about the hardships of being an upper class twit. All played in scruffy clubs. It sounds like a one-trick pony, but it isn't. The Upper Crust, nominally a Boston band, has been pulling this off time and again for more than a decade. They're playing Church on New Year's Eve, so we asked Lord Bendover to email us about what the Crust is up to these days. And this is what we got back:

An Open Letter to the Public from the Lord Bendover of the Upper Crust: "It is I, the Lord Bendover who addresses you—do not fear, for my message is a benign one; a message of goodwill tempered with only the mildest nuance of iron-fisted, imperious contempt for human life. With my steadfast companions, the annoyingly talented Count Bassie, the stern and implacable Duc d’Istortion, and the babulous and irrepressible Jackie Kickassis, we are the musical ensemble you have long known as the Upper Crust. Though we have laid our marque upon the musical tastes of the colonial American public for generations, we have lately become somewhat sedentary in our habits, and no longer pursue the mad impetuosities of the Rocque and Roll lifestyle with such abandon as we formerly did.
This is a good thing, as in order to preserve the last, faded vestiges of our youth and beauty, we find that near-perfect idleness as indispensable now as it was formerly merely agreeable. Thus it is that we have made but few public appearances over the last year, though we did venture to Austin, Texas; Los Angeles and Anaheim, Ca.; Brooklyn and New York City this past October. Thereafter, and but recently, we have recorded four songs, 'Chateau Neuf du Pape,' 'Come Hither Fair Youth,' 'Class Up the Ass,' and 'Bedlam.' These compositions are in the process of completion and will be made available to the public shortly. Other news I have not, for if there were other projects to relate to you I should not be at liberty to disclose them at this time. You may rest assured that if such projects were to come to fruition I would straightaway confess them in all humility, though until such a time I would quite naturally resent the impertinence of further inquiries." They're with the excellent band, and Unnatural Axe and Watts start the night off. Most excellent!. Doors at 8 p.m and ticket price tba..

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