finally.

it seems next to impossible to come within a mile of paying appropriate homage to the feelings of giddy and thrill i have at the thought of this release. that may sound a bit extreme. granted. but not unwarranted.

guster has not only owned my ipod (i am forever indebted, aimee) since i was 16, but the three, and then 4, boys (some reports claim they've reached their 40's, but who's counting?) might as well have chipped in for gas for as many times as they accompanied gentry, robin, and i in our cars in high school. they gave us merit for album-long sing-a-longs and they made our summers seem endless.  throw in getting to spend quality time with the boys after a show at stubb's in austin (o.m.g.) and you've got unbreakable bonds... and/or a fan base faithfully feeding their families. did i mention it's been four years since the last album?

and as if you needed another reason to love. they give it to you.

On Oct. 1, Guster embarks on month-long tour of clubs and theaters. The group travels in a biodiesel-fueled bus, caters its backstage meals with food procured from local farms, and urges      fans to carpool to concerts, using a service called Zimride that matches drivers with passengers. All this is an outgrowth of Mr. Gardner’s side job as a co-founder of Reverb, a company that helps music acts, including Red Hot Chili Peppers and Arcade Fire, counter the environmental impact of touring.                                                                                  - the wall street journal

i beseech you. enjoy the thrill for yourself. viva la guster.

pairs.

fresh.

well-seasoned.

         congratulations, you four.

happy 40th.

can you get enough of this?

happy 40th birthday, earth day.

happy 4.5 billionth birthday, earth!

{care of Christoph Niemann}

excerpts. love, leo.

{via still upside down}

so, my dear friend shaine, handed me an extra copy of living, loving, & learning by the late leo buscaglia a few weeks ago. and it has been a difficult maneuver to put it down. the man is an ocean of fondness. he is unequivocally fond of the magnificence of the messy, the wondrous, the indescribable uniqueness of personhood. and he lived to tell by invitation about what that could be like for us. 

here, have a taste...

Saint Exupery, the French philosopher said, 'Perhaps love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself.' i have no definition of love, but that comes the closest to being the healthiest one I've ever heard.

+

I think if i had a single wish in all this world, it would be to give you back to you. not in terms of egocentricity, but in terms of the fact that you know that you can make that person - you- the most wondrous, the most remarkable, the most open, the most beautiful, the most creative person in the world. not to store it away, but to give it away because you can only give to others what you have. if your're ignorant you teach your ignorance; therefore, you must work at wisdom. if you're chained, you teach your prejudice and therefore you must work at your own personal freedom. it all comes from you. if i do anything for me, i do it for you, the closer i come to loving me, the more love i have to give you. i think we need to tell children this very early.

+

we are so much less without each other.

{emphasis added}