He’s a Rock ‘N Role Model
Andrew Reitz, you’ve stumped us. You're a drummer but also a Zen worshipper; a music teacher and a perpetual student. Not so crazy, but there's more. You say that you drive for free. You tell us you fill your tank with vegetable oil. You go on to say that it smells like French fries and it's awesome. So now, we're thinking, okay, 20-something boy-on-dope, what planet are we visiting today?
Planet Earth, thank you very much, on which Andy’s feet are firmly planted (with no dope either). Because if you talk with Andy you will discover there are layers to this guy that began with banging pots and pans as a 4-year-old in Sherborn and evolved into finding the meaning of life, love and all things green. His corporate-guy dad and artist mom always encouraged their floppy-haired boy to pursue what he loved, but it wasn’t until he studied with Berklee College of Music professor Dave DiCenso that Andy understood that chasing passion runs over to everything else.
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel was one of Andy’s first assignments in DiCenso’s class. Archery doesn’t have much to do with pounding a bass drum, but Zen can transform even changing a light bulb into an “aha” moment. “If one really wishes to be master of an art,” Herrigel writes, “technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an ‘artless art’ growing out of the unconscious.” Those words hit Andy. He drummed with abandon—he didn’t just play, he emoted. He expressed. He lived in the moment. Drums are his passion and passion is music and music is art. Very Zen.
He joined a rock band called Plan B, took his art on the road, toured the country. But as we all know, art usually doesn’t bring in the bucks. Even though he joined several other bands— Sluts, Ashers, Casey Desmond—the high price of touring killed him. Gas kept going up, so he researched alternatives. For six weeks, he studied how to convert a diesel engine from using gasoline to vegetable oil. He bought a diesel van, a green Ford, and installed the equipment himself. The next tour, his fuel cost him a couple of bucks. He posted the news on his Myspace page, and 50 bands signed up to rent his van for their tours.
Andy now has himself a business, GreenVans. Sees a fleet in his future. He could rent his vans to bands, schools, whatever. You could call it “artless art,” as Herrigel puts it, but for Andy it’s a lot more. It’s giving back, uniting a community, creating a way of life —through music, living green, sharing passion. Sounds a lot like religion…or at least Zen. Happy Earth Day.
http://www.rentGreenVans.com
Additional info:
www.andyreitz.com
Myspace.com/slutsdotcom
Myspace.com/caseydesmond
www.Caseydesmond.com
www.myspace.com/asherstheband
myspace.com/bostonplanb