Mystery of the Walkman & Behind the Scenes on the
TABoose Tour Announcement Video
written by Lisa Governa (EGT) & Jessica Coughlin (STTF)
“Two great bands that sound great together. Trey Anastasio Band. Real, milky jams. Signature, delicious music. And Goose’s crunchy, funky, butter sound—topped with chopped peanuts” exclaimed the announcement video for TAB and Goose’s fall tour collaboration, a parody of a classic Reese’s peanut butter cup commercial from 1981.
One fan got an early tip on the breaking news… It was an average day for
Gabby Waxman and her fiancée, Greg. “I was working at my office, but Greg had been home all day. He left to go to band practice with everything normal on the home front. I got home about an hour after Greg left, and a Walkman was wrapped up on the door handle. There was no note or information to indicate where this came from. My initial thought was, ‘Well this is fucking weird… who leaves a Walkman on someone's door?’”
Photo provided by: Gabby Waxman
Photo provided by: Gabby Waxman
She brought the Walkman inside, opened it up, and found a tape that said Trey Anastasio Band. “I sent a picture to a group of phishy friends. It was at that point one of my buddies had the realization that it was the tape from the video. We knew it was someone who knew us and wanted us to have it.”
So, who is Gabby Waxman and why did this historic relic end up at her door? Gabby has been to 106 Phish shows, her first being 11/28/2003 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.
“I first heard about Phish when I was twelve or thirteen years old from my older stepbrother who was in college. I think the first song he played for me was 'Wading in the Velvet Sea.' I didn't really get into them until my Junior year of high school. One of my best friends was a huge fan, and convinced me to go to the show. The rest was phishtory!"
Gabby grew up in New York but ended up living in New Orleans for thirteen years after attending Tulane. “I love the food, music, people, and culture of New Orleans to stay away for too long. While living in New Orleans, I worked in hospitality and eventually became the sommelier/wine director for Galatoire's (a Grand Dame restaurant of NOLA). I moved back to New York for a career opportunity to work for a wine importer and distributor.”
Gabby’s relocation was divinely timed for a few good reasons. She moved back the week before the Baker’s Dozen and was able to go to all thirteen shows. Not long after, she met Greg on a dating app. “He swiped right because of the Phish and Grateful Dead lyrics in my profile, and I swiped right because of his Bowlive shirt and saxophone pictures. As it turned out, we lived ten minutes away from each other in Brooklyn Heights and had been to about seventeen of the same Phish shows without knowing each other. We started dating in August 2019, moved in together during COVID, and got engaged on a trip to New Orleans earlier this year.”
Gabby and Greg now live in Clinton Hill with their sweet puppy, Porter, named after George Porter, Jr. Her near twenty-year fandom not only brought her and her soulmate together, but also introduced her to an incredible community. “There are so many fun moments and tour memories. It's why after 106 shows I continue to go back for more! Dancing and splashing in the ocean in Mexico is an absolute blast! Everyone should experience that level of joy once in their life. During the Baker’s Dozen, most of our crew was going to all thirteen shows. Night one we established a meet up spot. For night thirteen, we posted in Phish Tour 2014 (PT14) that we would be having a medal ceremony at the spot to give medals to anyone who went to all thirteen shows. During the YEMSG New Year’s run that same year, we made another announcement on PT14 that we’d be awarding perfect attendance certificates to anyone who did seventeen of seventeen at the garden that said ‘Congratulations! You're a Wook!’ To this day, whenever we're at MSG, everyone knows exactly where to meet. That spot has spiraled out to so many different friend groups. I find so much joy in how Phish brings people together and how friends of friends of friends of friends have now just become friends.”
All of this context clearly explains the why to our mystery, but leaves one burning question— how did the Walkman find its way to her?
“I posted about it in a few groups hoping for any leads or clues. Nothing really useful came to be. We even put a note on our door asking whoever did it to please knock on our door as we'd love to thank them. No one came forward. Two weeks later we were packing up our car getting ready to go out of town for Labor Day. As Greg was going to lock the door, one of our neighbors was coming in and told Greg it was him who did it! He said he works for Phish's management company and had noticed our Phish gear so he left us that gem.”
The moment of truth: What is on that tape?! “We tried to play it, but it was blank! We still have it in our apartment. It's not on display yet, but it's truly a relic we will cherish for a long time as it's one of a kind!”
Photo provided by: Gabby Waxman
We caught up with Will Thresher, longtime friend of Vasudo/Goose and creative for the band who produced the tour announcement video,
to learn more about what went into bringing it to life:
LG & JC: How did the vision for this video come about?
WT: The idea came straight from Jason Colton from Trey’s creative team. We brainstormed on how the bands should interact, we threw around the idea of “Goose running into TAB” and how that would work, but what made the most sense was the original concept.
What’s better than peanut butter and chocolate?
LG & JC: Where was it taped?
WT: We shot this in Norwalk, CT. I walked around taking reference photos/video and we drilled those down based on a number of factors. We had two locations picked at the end but ultimately settled on the one in the video. It had the look we were going for and it was semi-private.
LG & JC: Folks might not know what goes into making a thirty second video, so how long did it take?
WT: Our timeline was quick, so from first meetings to shooting was about two weeks. The day I got the call I was leaving for Cape Cod for a week in a few days. I was sourcing, planning, renting, etc. from the beach. Running up to the parking lot to get service for calls and sending files. Not the worst “office" environment. Unfortunately, that gave me very little time when I got back so it was a wild week. Amongst other things, I couldn’t find a jar I liked so I modeled one from stills from the commercial and 3D-printed it, as well as the chocolate bar (a real one would melt). Jeff McCallister from Trey’s team was able to source the Walkmans. Scott Sweitzer (who did the "Hungersite" video) ran the camera. Eamon Redpath did sound. Both did a killer job. All together it was a small team, but we worked well together and made it happen with no headaches. Day of shoot was smooth, everyone had experience working together at this point so we were able to shoot in about three to four hours.
LG & JC: Who did the incredible wardrobe styling?
WT: Trey and Rick’s outfits were sourced by Trey’s stylist, who really nailed it. The rest of the outfits were sourced by Carina Immer.
Peter was in fact the candy maker which made his outfit easy!
Note: We are not affiliated, associated with or in any way officially connected to Goose.
We just love the band and community that much.
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