Megan Boggia is the Queen of the Galaxy

7.11.07
3:46 PM
Thanks to Megan Boggia (the aforementioned Queen of the Galaxy) today began with a super special treat.
John and John of TMBG were interviewed via phone by Bob Edwards (NPR demigod) at the Manhattan XM satellite radio studios at

Columbus Circle

and I was one of the four people sitting in the mixing booth right there, watching and listening.
The interview will pop up somewhere on XM at some point so I won't go into that, but I will go into how freaked out I was that my presence would unnerve the Johns.
I have been spotted at several concerts in recent years (and referred to as "the tall guy" on more than three occasions) and I didn't want them to freak because, hey, I'm just this fan of theirs that somehow got into XM studios.
Turns out I was overreacting.
For the first time in my life.
They were totally mellow during the interview and afterwards, they signed Megan's CD and we all chatted for a bit.
I think the biggest thing is that when they're in a concert or at a signing or any other public situation they put on their "scared of their fans" hats, but when it's just close friends (like XM honcho Bill Kates, who I am FINALLY getting together with on Friday afternoon) and/or people who should be there (people from Central Booking who got TMBG to the studio) and/or people who aren't making a big deal that they're there (me is latter) they're much more relaxed.
Or perhaps they were just trying not to make any sudden moves for fear I smell their terror and swallow them whole.
Whichever.
The point is it went totally smooth and I neither freaked them out, freaked myself out nor made a freak of myself.
Score one for the home team.
During the interview (which I will now touch upon, thereby negating my earlier statement about not going into it) they (obviously) talked about elements of the new album (a very interesting bit of back story about the last track, 'The Mesopotamians', was revealed and it will hopefully turn into to something great), the costumes that Marcel Ozama designed and created for the album art (which was shot at a cabin in the Catskills and, sadly,  features none of the band dressed up, merely close friends of the Johns that volunteered to be a part of it) and how much they've really grown to dislike being called 'quirky' after 25 years of making music.
The whole morning was great and I feel less like a creepy fan and more like a less creepy fan.
Victory tastes like a grande skim vanilla latte.
And it's all because of Megan, who remains a true shining star in my Galaxy of Friends and Loved Ones (not to be confused with the galaxy of which she is the Queen mentioned in the first line of this entry and its title; that refers to the ACTUAL galaxy mentioned by NASA, popular fiction and www.spacealumni.com).

This one's for Megan...

I'd like to take a moment to not berate and bitch about the two human slugs that surround me almost constantly at my apartment and share with "all y'all" a few fond memories about someone who rocks very hard and has been doing so for about 4 years now (Note: There is a very real possibility that this special someone has been rocking consistently for more than 20 years, but since I have only been acquainted with said special someone for 4 years, I can only report upon what I know to be true. Thank you for your understanding and milk.)
This special someone goes by the name of Megan and, despite her geographical handicap (New Jersey ), she does indeed, as I stated before, rock and rock hard.
The first time I saw Megan she was slathering a large piece of muslin with primer (as she is want to do). A few minutes after being introduced to her, she got the aforementioned primer in her eye and had to run to the bathroom to wash it out. Although I had only actually spent a few minuets with her before the primer incident, I could tell that she rocked (I have that ability...with great power comes great responsibility...).
Ok, here's where it gets weird...the above account took place in November of 1999, between then and the early part of 2003 I have only mental snapshots of spending time with Megan. I remember that she and I had a callback together for a terrible student-written show called "The Wall" in which I would have been Megan abusive boyfriend. Fortunately, Megan was not cast as the object of my abuse because even acting like I was abusing a person like Megan would have been MASSIVELY damaging to my Karma Meter (incidentally, the actress who did get the part was very easy to abuse because of her personality and on the third and final night of the show she "convinced" me to hit her for real...the audience ate it up. Perhaps they wanted to hit her too? I guess we'll never know...No, wait. Yes, the audience did want to hit her too, I remember a few people telling me this afterwards. Never mind, mystery solved.). Another snapshot is of her and I (although I don't actually spending any time with her there) at the White Trash Paradise of a Six Flags Great Adventure buried deep in the heart of...JERSEY. Some crazy weird school trip. I remember my man Gizzy Cizzy taking pictures of families with mullets and F.B.D.(Full Body Denim...yes, it really happens), creepy.
Sadly, aside from those two (rather clear) memories of my encounters with Megan, all others are blurry...until the early part of my senior year of college.
Megan and I were both called back for one of the most wonderful shows I have ever had the privilege to be a part of (The Universal Language by David Ives) and one of the exercises was to play a game of Charades with the other person (this was mainly a two person show). I picked "Movie" as my category and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as my movie (because it's one of my favorites). Now, you can imagine that Fear and Loathing is NOT the easiest thing to just grab in a game of Charades... BUT Megan goes right ahead and gets it on the first guess. Why? Because she double-majored in Theatre and Rocking and minored in Charades? NO, because she remembered me blathering about F&L in a conversation we had had almost half a decade ago in our freshmen year. And how did I feel about this remembrance? Flattered? Yes. Amazed? Yes. Terrified? A little...but compelled. From that point, Megan and I (and our Prof at the time, Elizabeth) decided that we should do a scene from Universal Language. Long story short, we decided to do a scene from When Harry Met Sally...and it was awesome (that the shortest I have ever made something after saying "long story short").
Now, why did I take up time to explain to you all the Rock Machine that is Megan? Well, that's easy, because things that Rock are Awesome (which is Super Good) and since it's Good when Things are Good...it is therefore Good that Megan exists. So, yes. Also, I think some people might be getting tired of be destroying my roommates. No? Ok, we'll jump back on that Horse of Hatred, that Stallion of Slander, that Mare of Malice soon enough. But for today, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about someone who Rocks and is awesome and has made my life just that much better by simply being. So thanks Megan...you exist, you persist, you Rock.