As someone who’s got a bit of a jam band jones (well, when they’re not ponderous and boring,) it should be no surprise to you that I like Guster in a casual “yeah they’re cool and I have a few of their albums” kinda way.
However, after viewing the PBS web series featuring Guster’s endearingly goofy lead vocalist, I’ve gotta say my fandom has kicked up a coupla notches.
I found “Making Friends With Ryan Miller” on Guster’s Facebook page, and watched one episode as a lark. The basic premise is: Miller has recently transplanted to Vermont from New York City and is looking for cool people and cool things to do. As someone who has been to Vermont once, I think I can say with some education that HOLY SHIT CULTURE SHOCK. Hell, moving to Boston from NYC was culture shock for me. Although I wouldn’t mind a VT vacation, it’ll be a cold day in hell before I move to a place that unglued from city life.
Anyhow, as you may expect from Vermonters, the folks Ryan meets are a pretty colorful bunch. Definitely some hyper-intelligent, quirky cultural outlier shit happening here, although I think my favorite has to be when Ryan has a conversation with a robot that strangely resembles S. Epatha Merkerson. Ryan seems like a very cool guy with a kid’s sense of excitement. Also, I’m willing to bet he smokes a lot of REALLY good weed.
In actual musical news, Guster is allegedly in the studio recording a new album.
In other other news, Vermont’s not terribly far from Boston. Ryan, let’s be friends!
Check the trailer out below. You can find the other episodes on YouTube.