50 Ways to be a Groupie

Brian, my husband, has done a lot of interesting extra curricular activities since we've been married.  He started as a fencer.  Yes, with the swords; his specialty was epee.   He started fencing in college and picked it up again when we lived in Virginia.  After the birth of our daughter, we moved to upstate New York.  He found a fencing group which was a good thing because he was working from home and we had no friends.  Fencing got him out of the house.

Unfortunately, it got him out of the house two nights a week and both weekend days so after about 9 months he quit.  I was home alone with a newborn during all that time so while I did try to be supportive, I was probably more like a maniacal idiot.

When we bought our house in Niskayuna, we discovered a Curling Club about 2 blocks from our house.  A neighbor belonged and got Brian involved.  Curling didn't take up nearly as much time and the place had a bar.  A win-win really.  Our daughter actually got involved as well...with curling, not the bar.

Down here in Philly, Brian started with brewing beer which is probably my favorite hobby of his.  The kids can help, he does it all at the house, and well, it's beer.  Alas, he doesn't brew anymore because he joined a band.  He has played guitar since he was 13, and had always loved it.  He met two other guys who wanted to jam and so they have every Saturday.  Now that the kids are older, I'm not such a maniacal idiot when he's gone all day.  I do miss the beer though.

Anyway, last night was their first time playing out in public.  They went to an open mic night at a bar near our house.  I went along for support; as a groupie, I suppose.  Personally, I thought they did a great job.  I called it a really great designer run.  You see, in theater, before we get on stage, we do a run-thru of the play in the rehearsal hall for the designers with do-fer props and set (do-fer, from the theatrical, meaning: it will do for now, until we get the real thing).  A really great designer run is when there are very few hitches, and you can't wait to see it on stage because it's going to be spectacular.  At the open mic, they had to use the house drum kit, amps, pedals, etc.  They only brought the guitar and bass with them, so of course there were a couple of small hiccups.  By the way, they called themselves BCJ because their names are Brian, Chuck and Jim.  I thought JCB rolled off the tongue better but no one asks the groupie.

I'm looking forward to being a groupie for their next gig, at which I will try to get pictures.  If I was clever, I would have written this post as a version of the song:  50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.  But I've only come up with 3 ways of being a groupie.  Of course, I have future gigs to inspire me and I do take requests.  Here's what I got so far:

Just smile and nod, Todd
Don't get in the way, Faye
Bop to the beat, Pete
And listen to me