Why the New Name you ask?

What’s in a name? In elementary school it felt like every year at the beginning of the year we had to write the story of how we got our name. I always hated that assignment and I’m pretty sure that the teachers just did it to because they didn’t have a lesson plan and they wanted a way to remember our names. 

“Bryan David Reynolds is a pretty nice name, I guess. It’s suppose to mean strong, but my big brothers still think I’m weak. I don’t really like the name, but since it means strong, I guess it’s all right…I don’t know if any of my friends like it, but I sure don’t…” Excerpt from: THE REASONS I HATE MY NAME 1993 Bryan David Reynolds. 

Clearly, I wasn’t into my name. What is interesting when naming a music project, you kind of get the chance to change your name (unless of course your name is something swanky like Xander or Channing.) Why not Bryan Reynolds? “Brian Reynolds”, “Byron Reynolds”, “Brien Reynolds”, “Brain Reynolds”. — I arrive the reception desk for an appointment made over the phone and see the excitement drain out of the woman’s eyes as I say, “no ma’am that’s Bryan... with a B.” Then she leans back and shouts to her comrade in expectations and says “See I told you Ryan Reynolds wasn’t coming here, he’s probably off making perfect babies with Blake Lively on some beach in the Bahamas!” then back to me with a trace of disdain “the doctor will be right with you B’ryan.” — It only has to happen once…and it did. Most gigs are booked over the phone. Most booking managers have seen Deadpool. I am not willing to do shows in a red and black leather suit to hide my true identity. 

So I borrowed from the name my dad used to call me when I was a kid “Bryan Boskowitz.” (I don’t know why he called me that. Why do I call my daughter booger bones? Because newborns have very soft bones…) I became Bosko Music. I did a quick google search - cartoon from the ’30’s “no one will remember that” - a musician who does other stuff “probably won’t sue me.” January 2019 Todo list:

• Trademark for Bosko Music, 

• Buy domains for boskomusic.com and .me .net (you never know)

• Build a website

• Start social media pages

• Annoy everyone you know by inviting them to said pages, (maybe accepting every friend request from the last 10 years will pay off?) 

• Create Patreon page

• Create youtube page

• Take cool photos so people will continue to come back to pages

End of January…DONE! In early February I sent an introduction letter to close friends and family and launched everything publicly! What a relief, I really despise admin work. A few days later I was listening to the radio and they were talking about the history of blackface in America due to the photos of politicians that were showing up. This story in particular was about the entertainment industry and how blackface was used to dehumanize and distance people of color, creating ignorant caricatures of black people. They told stories of how it stretched into animation and Children’s programs with a character who was the pre-curser to Mickey Mouse from the 30’s. A character you probably don’t remember…Bosko. The character is registered in the copyright office as “negro boy” and on wikipedia the species of the character is “human-dog-like character.” I didn’t know any of this until I heard that radio story.

I knew then I needed to change the name of the project. I have spent the last year or so thinking about different names and different ideas, sometimes living with them for a month or so and then changing again…It’s really hard to name a band. My wife and I had to name a human last year and that was easier then naming a “band.” You can have the same name as a human, you can’t have the same name as another business.

The simplest way to think about naming a band is to find three words that no one has ever thought to put together and go with that. In my last band, “Late Night Transit,” we were trying to think of names because we were about to release an album and our name at the time “Waiting on David” proved to be problematic for other reasons. Exasperated after searching myspace for the uniqueness of every option (yeah, that was a thing) I made up a word (I don’t remember) and decided we would be named that. A quick search showed 4 other bands on myspace with that same name…it’s exhausting to name a band. 

That being said, I have been wearing the name SEVEN POUND THESAURUS for the last few months and it is growing on me - I think it will on you as well. When I am writing alone, I have come to love brainstorming with a huge writer’s thesaurus I took with me to Malawi (it’s 4 pounds, I weighed it). If you have ever been in the same room as me and my thesaurus I have likely exhibited it’s merits to you with what may be over-excitement. ME - “OK, say a word any word” YOU - “not interested” ME - “well, that’s two words...how about disinterested?…searching, searching…here we go - apathetic, indifferent, uninterested, withdrawn, aloof, detached, passive, blasé, phlegmatic, dull, sluggish, torpid, comatose, resigned, hebetudinous, hopeless…” YOU - “exactly” ME - didn’t get it. 

Most of the songs I have written alone I have written with the help of that big, beautiful, naked (the cover is missing) thesaurus. Last year I showed “Someone Called Him John” to a country publisher and he said, with good reason, “That song is ‘War and Peace’ we want a comic book” then pointing to the book poking out of my backpack “You should put away that seven pound thesaurus and tell a story…” It was good advice, and let’s just say it stuck with me.

P.S. For the record I did get all of those synonyms for disinterested from my seven (four) pound thesaurus and hebetudinous (def:Dull or lethargic, especially relating to the mind.) is not in the spell check library for the mac, so I had to copy it from the pages like reading off a credit card number for a website. Thanks for reading this all the way to the end in spite of its hebetudinous ramblings.