Here’s another picture of Andrew Hardin and me at Union Station in Washington DC at the conference of rheumatologists.

What a fascinating weekend. I was invited to give a speech and perform at the Amgen “Million Patient Year” celebration at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual conference. Sounds weird, huh? But it was beautiful. The event was held at Union Station in Washington DC, which was LOVELY. There were about 700 folks there – a rowdy crew of rheumatologists! I got a very warm response and had a great time.

Four main highlights of the trip:

1. Touring Washington DC with my husband Bill and Andrew Hardin, whom Amgen flew in to accompany me. We had a blast. And then getting to perform with Andy…oh my god, he’s such an amazing guitar player and a great person, even if he did say that I was a constant source of amusement to him. I’ll have pictures soon and will post them.

2. A guy walked up to me after the performance and said “I worked on the Enbrel clinical trials – I’m a researcher, so I’m way, way in a back room and I never see patients. What you said made me feel like what I do matters.” I about fell over, it was so sweet. It took the oddness of performing at a corporate event like this and made it totally make sense.

3. Oh – Saturday, the night before the show, Bill, Andy and I went to this restaurant called “Marrakesh” and had northern african food and it was great and there was a hallway full of fascinating celebrity pictures. But let me tell you that it’s very entertaining sitting wedged between two men as they are watching a hot belly dancer…

4. Finally, little did I expect to find myself having a spirited metaphysical discussion at 1 am in a restaurant with Bill and Andy and my hostess, Laura Nicholson, from the Health Advocacy Group. In fact, i’m so happy to have met all the interesting and cool people I’ve met through this event – Laura, Beth, Michael, Sonia, Marni and the folks at Wyeth and Amgen.

Thanks, everybody!

I’ve been home from Austin for a couple of days and am doing a good job of not driving my family insane (“Omigod, it was so fun! I said this, and Mark said this, and then Andy made this joke about Spinal Tap and at night I went to this awesome restaurant, and saw this band, and…”)

What I have been talking about is how profoundly grateful I am to have found my way to Congress House, and how thrilled I am with how good the album is sounding and with the stellar collection of players and special guests. And, most of all, I’m telling how much I appreciate Mark Hallman. He’s putting his heart into my project (which I think is the only way he’s capable of working, since he has so much heart). Thank you, thank you.

So…here’s a list of the awesome folks who are making special appearances on the record: Perla Batalla, Julie Christensen, Sara Hickman, Eliza Gilkyson, Victoria Williams and Andrew Hardin. I don’t know when this album will come out – it depends on how soon I can get a publisher for the book and whether I end up releasing it on my own label (Precipitous Records) or try to make a deal with a smallish indie label. So stay tuned…

Love,
Rain