Oklahoma, I ♥ you.

I'm not a particularly religious person. Ask me on any given day, and I'll tell you a la Jimi Hendrix, "Rock-n-roll is my religion."

That said, I have strong musical ties to Oklahoma. It is where I learned about the beauty of local music. It is home to one of my favorite bands. It is where two of "the girls" live - one of them whose apartment was spared extensive tornado damage by the grace of a mere quarter mile today. (Her parent's home - my "Okie parents" - spared, relatively speaking, by an even smaller margin.) I watched live as her town was shredded to pieces by mother nature, feeling helpless because there's absolutely nothing you can do in that situation. Nothing.

Even now, after providing as many updates as I could, I still feel helpless. She is safe. Everyone I know in Oklahoma is safe. I am grateful.

But so many are not safe, not okay, not even alive. I am not a particularly religious person but I ask you...say a little prayer, send a good thought, play a song for Oklahoma tonight. My second home, the state that gave me so much, is hurting. They could use a little help.

You can help by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. If you're in the area, News9 and KFOR are accepting donations and NewsOK has a list of how to help.

#bestsongallweek - Friday, May 16, 2013

"Wendy" by The Beach Boys

I'm not a big fan of summer. Which seems sacrilegious for a girl who lives for The Beach Boys, right? But here we are. I blame it on humidity. Nothing is more miserable than getting up, taking a shower and getting ready for the day...only to walk outside and instantly sweat so much you feel like you're swimming through air.

So every year in an effort to remind myself about the fun parts of summer, I dive into The Beach Boy's catalog...and I'm always reminded of songs I seem to forget about the rest of the year, like "Wendy." It's one of those little gems that's oh-so-good and yet not heard very often, which is why it's my pick for #bestsongallweek.

What's yours?

The Good Groupie's Pinteresting Things

Over the last couple of months, I've been quietly playing around on Pinterest. At first I saw it as a great spot to share blog posts, music by bands I love, articles I read and enjoyed. In short, Pinterest was all business and no play.

So I started playing around more and pinning fun things - musical truths, music humor, lyrics I love. And you know what? Pinterest became a lot more fun. New people who had probably never heard of my blog started pinning things I found and following me. I followed them and found a new community of music fans.

You can feel free to head over to Pinterest and follow me if you have an account - and let me know in the comments (you can use Facebook and Twitter to comment on the blog now!) if you have a cool music board or one you love following. I'm always looking for more.

In the meantime, here's a few of my favorite pins:

Musical Truths