Two Hometowns

So Susan's got a song called "Two Hometowns" which, taken out of context, applies to our trip this past weekend. The first stop was Amarillo, her old stomping grounds, where she played at the Golden Light and I witnessed something I thought I'd never see: a partial Groobees reunion. I first found Susan through the Groobees records because that's all that was available my freshman year of college. She hadn't quite released the solo record yet, I don't think. So I had every song memorized, and was a big fan of the band as a unit. Gary Thomason, the guitarist in the band, lives in Amarillo so he played with Susan at the Golden Light this weekend. He is amazing. He can play anything and he hops around like a 7-year-old on Pop Rocks and Dr. Pepper. It's awesome to see. They were joined for a tune by Todd Hall, the Groobees drummer, hence the "reunion," hence my fangirl glee. If you can get yourself a used copy of any Groobees CD, do so. They sound great. Then it was off to my hometown of Albuquerque for the yearly house concert we deem "The JP Project," whereupon my friends from all walks of life show up and we have a reunion of our own. A lot of them know Susan by now, so as the special guest there was some familiarity but also a lot of hilarity because we do things like talk in British accents and I collect ceramic pigs and she puts change in them for my 401k plan. It was another great show and it's nice all those folks have stuck with me since moving to Texas, which...well, I'll say it...most New Mexicans hate Texas, haha. They tolerate the transplants who come back for green chile, though. We kidnapped our friends Amy and Kate and took them along to show them the views and make them haul our gear. They are impressively accommodating! Kate also plays a mean guitar, so we made her play for her bottled water. You never know what will happen or what hitchhikers you'll pick up. And now my tasks involve a lot of booking for next year and paperwork and web site work and yadda yadda. I will probably take a break on my birthday and sleep. Oh yeah, we're working on EP 2 this week, too! More on that, too....