Easy. Wonderful. VIP.

Let's start with the obvious.  I love Guster.  This is why.

As most of you already know, I've recently gained a SWEET "in" with the band, as their newest member, the spectacular Luke Reynolds, happens to be my cousin-in law (his first cousin is married to my sister). So my initial freak out about the whole situation of being connected has passed, and now I'm just totally pumped that I've been able to meet Guster a couple times, when I tried my best not to act completely crazy because I was beyond stoked.  Was only partly successful, but I've gotten better now that I'm practiced at it. *Snooty*.

In addition to having rad music,  Guster also likes the Earth.  Their tour bus runs on Biofuel.  Adam, their bass/trumpet player and singer extraordinaire, and his wife started an organization called Reverb a few years ago. It's a super cool nonprofit that teams up with bands on tour and educates fans about sustainable living.  Reverb and Guster have helped lead the way in touring artists (Sheryl Crow! Maroon 5! Brett Dennen!) to promote sustainable living at shows, and do things like "Campus Consciousness" tours in which students can help out with promoting healthy living all around. I think it's really cool that they've used the popularity of music and power in crowds that come to shows for a good cause.  So, when I saw that Reverb was looking for volunteers for the Guster show in Baltimore, I did not hesitate to fill out the application online.  Three weeks later, I got a phone call from Reverb asking if I still wanted to volunteer!  Not only would I be able to help them out, but I also got a free pass to the show, and could bring a friend with me.  Perfecto!

So last night, my environmentally passionate cousin, who also happens to be a Guster fan, and I took Oliver on a ride to the hopping downtown of Baltimore.  We were greeted at the door with our passes and joined three college kids in setting up this tour's project, a collaboration with Brita and Filter for Good.  The campaign is about trying to reduce the consumption of plastic disposable water bottles, and encourage people to use safe and renewable canisters and drink filtered water.  As volunteers, it was our job to ask people to sign the pledge to reduce/eliminate their use of crappy plastic bottles, and if they signed the pledge, they got a free (and adorable) nalgene bottle (BPA free) already conveniently filled with filtered water.  And, we had a bunch of big Brita pitchers so people could come back and refill for free.  Who doesn't like free water?  Obviously nobody--the crowd was all over it.  Hey, you gotta hydrate when you're screaming your lungs off while singing along!

The first part of the night was spent tabling, which, I must admit, I have gotten pretty good at.  College clubs followed by an entire summer marketing at ADF trained me well--after a few minutes I've got my spiel and I'm not afraid to use it.  So though I'm a little tired of saying "would you like to sign our pledge to reduce the use of plastic disposable bottles?", I'm grateful that I could spiel for a good cause.  I also got to wear and keep a really nice Easy Wonderful/Reverb t-shirt that people were jealous of.  We also got to keep the giant, brand new, and green (literally) Brita pitchers, which will come in handy later.

Cousin & I, tabling masters:

P.S. you can sign the Filter for Good pledge and check out some other seriously cool things on their website, like how to recycle Brita filters, which I did not know you could do. <-- Totally voluntary promotion. I like the Earth, too.

Though we tabled through the opener--we couldn't quite see Good Old War from our table, but we could hear them, and they rocked.  Guster came on, and we got to go watch!  They obviously put on an INCREDIBLE show.  Probably one of the best I've seen. I'm telling you, I will never, ever, get sick of this.  It blows me away every time.  This would mark the eighth time I've seen them on stage (yeah ...), and I always enjoy it like it was that very first time I saw them six years ago in Buffalo. It also helped that we found a SWEET perch in the sold-out venue, in which I'm unsure if we were allowed.  It may or may not have been a special tickets section ... but nobody stopped us, so we lucked out.  Our view from the top center:

They are geniuses, hands down.  Also fun. Ah. So good.  They flowed into a cool remix of "Hang On" with a Billy Joel tune, and the band's percussionist, Brian "Thundergod" Rosenworcel, who was not graced with the gift of vocal accuracy, seranaded the audience with Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge."  I got a video on my camera but it's shaky because I couldn't stop laughing.  Today my voice is sore from screaming and my legs a little achy from the constant jamming, and I love it.

If the high from the amazing show wasn't enough, we got to top off our evening with a little VIP action.  After the show, our volunteer passes got us into the after party in the private bar/room at Ram's Head Live.  Yep, that means us + Guster + about 30 other fans/people with inside connections having a drink and mingling.  I got a chance to catch up with Luke and we basked in our gene pool, as we were a mish-mash of cousins up in there.  It was a family affair.  I also got to introduce myself to the rest of the band again, and have them autograph our Brita pitchers.  Brilliant, right?!  Adam was incredibly friendly and smiley, and so grateful we volunteered for Reverb.  He's also as handsome as ever.  Gosh, can't stop swooning.   Ryan scribbled a butterfly/bug on my pitcher, and a dead duck/turkey on my cousin's.  We're still trying to figure it out.   And I think my proudest moment was when we went over to say hey to Brian, before I had a chance to introduce myself, he looked at me and said, "you're Luke's cousin." Close enough.  Done, I'm in!

BFF's.

Gene pool.

Conclusion:  I'm friends with Guster. Luke is the coolest guy ever. I have a water pitcher that will be a valuable collectible someday.  Music. Happiness.

All gimmicks aside, I'm really just grateful that I am able to tell the band how much I appreciate them and their music.  Their songs represent so many happy things in my life and I had the chance to thank them in person, genuinely, for what they are doing.  In a world of superficial fans and materialistic rewards, the opportunity to appreciate great art at this level is the opportunity of a lifetime.

Onward to the next Guster adventure in August, when they're back in Baltimore (with Jack's Mannequin)!