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)! 

I'm a Twit.

I am now on Twitter, folks.  Yes, I judged it at first, but two months of tweeting for my new job later, I am hooked.  I'm pretty much thinking in tweets now anyway.  Joys!  Now I can follow my few but favorite celebs, stalk Guster & other musicians with whom I'm obsessed, and creep even more on my friends than I do on Facebook.  I suspect my tweets will be something like my blog on crack, so maybe you should be afraid.  Or just find me so I can follow you and fill up my TweetDeck!

Find me at @abwalds!

Floating in Space

Wow.  Remember that time I had a blog?  I don't know what is going on-- it is quite strange.  I am usually full of words but over the past month or so, I have been feeling empty of wisdom and share-able energy.  I shall re-discover my inspiration soon... perhaps some resolutions, revelations, or something of that sort for the New Year.

In the meantime, I hope everyone's holidays were/are will be happy.  Mine was not as festive as usual, with everyone in the family more spread out every year.  I has some pictures to show how awesome I made the more involved evenings:

Potatoes + gallons of oil = latkes

Latkes, wine, and menorah.  Successs

Night 8!

Oh, also, I haven't mentioned that I had completed a life goal this month.  Call me crazy, or a weirdo groupie (I don't deny it), but I can finally say I have met, chatted with, and hugged all current members of Guster!  In combination with the photos from my November 1st entry, I can add these to the mix after a  short set they played in my hometown earlier this month:

Thundergod 

Adam!!!

VIP-ness is thanks to the fantastic Luke Reynolds, who is not only a kick-ass musician but also one of the coolest guys ever (and whose new album, "Maps", is a gem).  The title of this entry is a nod to my favorite song on the album, which is on repeat in my car as of last week.  It is also comparable to the way I've been lost in my blogging ways, but remembering that yes, I DO still exist in the blogosphere!

More soon.  Thanks for not giving up on me.

Guster is Gorges

It's November?  What?!  When did this happen?  I'm not complaining, though.  I find November to be quite the mediocre month.  A pretty solid balance between the happy and the sad.  Happy November = big sister's birthday, the prime time of crunchy and colorful leaves, leftover Halloween candy, the end of obnoxious political ads on TV, killer sales on fall clothing, primetime Facebook material of Halloween photos, and the anticipation of Grandma's Thanksgiving mashed potatoes.  Not so happy November = Black Friday is forecasted to come WAY early and this year I'm working in retail, Republicans are looking likely to take over the New York political scene, and snow tires.  And really, Mother Nature, you couldn't hold back the half-hour of sharp sleet until the kiddies were done trick-or-treating last night?  Cruel.

Guster.  My hands down favorite band since 9th grade.  Why do I love them?  Because they make videos and songs like this and people use their songs to make videos like this.  Last weekend marked my 5th time seeing the boys play live.  And on this monumental occasion was the opportunity to get up close and personal with Ryan, Brian the ThunderGod (he plays with his hands!), Adam, and their newest member Luke Reynolds!  Thanks to familial connections (through marriage, Luke Reynolds and I are related!) and a coincidental run-in in downtown Ithaca, I got the chance to hang out with Luke a little bit and meet Ryan and Brian after the show, get autographs and pictures, and even taping a video message for my twin sis, a fellow Gusterrhoid who missed the show since she's doing awesomewaycool things like teaching English in South Korea.  To put it lightly, I flipped.  After running into Luke Reynolds in front of the State Theater the afternoon of the show and introducing myself (despite the fact we're family, we hadn't met yet) and making plans to have a meet-and-greet after the concert, I was on a crazy high for the rest of the day.  Shaking and heart pumping and all that.  ```Not only was I still psyched that I had a personal connection, but I get crazy star-struck. This was probably the equivalent of any 13-18 year-old girl meeting Robert Pattinson (sleezeball) or my friend's mom meeting Bruce Springsteen.

Jammin' on the State Theater Stage

Luke Reynolds!

Sup Ryan Miller

It was also a balmy 70 degrees all weekend, making for a perfect day for idol musican meet-and-greets and thrift-store shopping for my Halloween costumes.  A kick-butt weekend indeed!

Less materialistic highlights of the weekend: photographing my grandma's house and the incredibly eco-friendly community where my one of my sisters lives.  There's nothing like Ithaca in the falltime, I'm telling you:

(more on my flickr photostream)

We were young, 21, all those years ago

*NOTE: I totally wrote this back in November, and for some reason it has remained a draft. Better late than never-- sorry, Guster!


I guess it's fan-based week for me. It's only appropriate to follow up Newsies with another entertainment loves of my life, in my hopes to introduce them to those who have not yet been fortunate enough to stumble upon them. Their names are Brian Rosenworcel, Adam Gardner, and Ryan Miller. They are Guster.

It's funny how the whole music fan thing works, isn't it? You find a band who you like for one reason or another--delightful harmonies, creative and relatable lyrics, hot bass player, your friends like them-- and then at some point, they become your "favorite" band. You know every single lyric, own every single version of every song they've ever recorded, seen them in concert as many times as you possibly can, and be sure to include at least one track on every mix you make. And you never get sick of them. For me, this band is Guster.

I can't really explain it. There's just something about them. I never even understood all of their lyrics--things went over my head when I was younger, and even now some of their stuff I just listen to and think, "what the hell?" Despite their off-the-wallness, their music always brings me a sense of comfort. Maybe it's because I've followed them since I was about 13, and seen them 5 (going on 6 in October!) times.  


I've been attached to their music for what feels like my whole life. So when I listen in my car, when I'm chilling at home, or in concert, it makes me feel whole and comfortable.  Like I'm right where I am supposed to be.  Certain songs remind me of moments and people in my life and everything just settles in my mind.  I stop worrying about the little things and just remember that everything is going to be okay.  And to me, that's exactly what music is supposed to do.  So, thanks, G-Dog.


Never heard of them? Let me introduce you.  This is from their newly released album.  Enjoy it in all its quirky glory.