We Are All Where We Belong - Quiet Company

Listen here.

I never expected to fall in love with this type of a break-up record - one where the break-up isn't between two people, but between a man and a belief system that has failed him miserably. For a girl who quotes the late, great Jimi Hendrix as the foundation of her belief system - "Music is my religion" - and lives off of lyrical truths, I tend to be fairly indifferent towards the topic. It's not that I doubt it, it simply doesn't move me.

But move me is exactly what Quiet Company's "We Are All Where We Belong" does. So much so that I've sat on this album for the past month, trying to figure out how I could possibly put into words why I haven't been able to stop playing it. But sometimes, words fail and you simply have to listen to understand.

Hanson at Warehouse Live

I love Hanson.

Yes, that Hanson. I blame my little Beach Boys lovin' heart for getting addicted to their harmonies. And I love them so much, in fact, that Friday night marked the 27th time I've seen them live. And after 27 shows, you learn a thing or two - like even after all this time, it just wouldn't be the week of a Hanson show without some crazy story to tell.

If there's one thing that sticks about me with people, it's that I love Hanson. I tend to keep it under wraps until I can judge how a new person will react to this revelation, then divulge. So when a family friend messaged me on Facebook early last week, I thought she was just being nice and letting me know my boys would be in town like most people do when they see anything Hanson-related. Nope, turns out she was sharing with me that she'd come across a Facebook giveaway for tickets to their show Friday.

Everything's crazy, just how it should be...

Click collage to enlarge

It's taken me over a week to write this blog of last-last-weekend's adventure because literally, that's how long it's taken me to recover. One migraine-turned-sinus-infection-slash-pure-exhaustion spell later, I'm good as new after spending a weekend running around half of Texas. (Settle in for a monster post, kids.)

I was finishing up my aforeblogged Tulsa adventure when Angela asked if I was up for a Friday night trip to Austin to see Saints of Valory for her third straight week - bonus points for Courrier being on the bill. I love Austin shows of any variety, and that drive up and down 290 got a little too easy for comfort this summer...I said "Sure, why not?"

So last Friday after work, Angela and I piled into my car and hit the road to Austin, arriving right at dusk. We had a wonderful dinner at Galaxy Cafe of the starkest contrasts - her, the Untuna Tuna off the behind-the-counter vegan menu, me the Brie burger, cooked medium - then headed downtown to the Parish.

RadioRadio at The Hunt Club

My thoughts exactly.

It was Bon Jovi who asked, 'who says you can't go home?' I'm not even a big fan of Bon Jovi, but this song has been stuck in my head for days following my visit to what I consider my second home: Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I visited my Oklahoma friends (OKC, to be exact) over Labor Day weekend, and in the midst of deciding what should go on the weekend's "to do" list (which, I'll be honest, was mostly food), Katie threw out the idea of going to Tulsa for a day. I jumped at it, adding "We should find a show to go to."

Tulsa is where I discovered the beauty of "local" music, so it's kind of my musical home in more ways than one.

So Katie starting scouring venue websites.

"Fleet Foxes is playing at Cain's," she told me. Ah Cain's, the first place in a new world that truly made me feel at home.

The Guest Groupie: Saints of Valory & the Canvas Waiting at Monk's Coffee

I was in Tulsa at around midnight the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, getting ready to head back to the City with Sam and Katie when Angela called me to share...she'd just driven clear across Texas to see two local bands from Austin I introduced her to. My jaw dropped and I proclaimed her crazy...and then invited her to write another Guest Groupie blog because I love a girl who will drop everything to go see a band she loves. So without further ado, here's installment two of The Guest Groupie.

The Guest Groupie is back and thrilled to be! While the Good Groupie was out of the state over Labor Day, I loaded up my little black car with myself and The Boy, and we headed to Abilene to see The Canvas Waiting and Saints of Valory for the second weekend in a row.

Now don't rush to your Google map app to figure out how long it took to drive from Houston to Abilene. I will tell you. But first, you must know that about a third of the way through our journey we pulled over to find ice on my on tubes that ran to the air conditioner, and basically - we had no AC for the last two legs of our six-hour (one way) trip.

Guest Post on MelanieKristy.com

One of my oldest and best blogging friends, Melanie Kristy, writes about finding magic in every day life. Her blog is a breath of fresh air that I always enjoy reading. Recently, Melanie has been asking her friends to write about the magic they find in every day life. I was thrilled when she asked me to write about why music is my magic. Click right here to read my post, and be sure to check out the rest of Melanie's blog.