A Little Bit of Love: A Band Shirt, A Concert, and Lasting Light

Lauren Nixon-Matney • March 1, 2026
A Little Bit of Love: A Band Shirt, A Concert, and Lasting Light

Weezer: A Little Bit of Love

Retro style pixel art illustration of a girl growing into adulthood and dancing with her partner, set against a blue background with

We were just kids in Dallas, singing our lungs out somewhere under the night. I can’t tell you the name of the venue, or the setlist in perfect order, but I remember the feeling: like joy had a pulse, and it was thumping through our shoes. It was my first concert without parents, bought the tickets myself, rode there with friends, and somehow just somehow it felt like becoming a person. Dashboard Confessional played as well, two emotional worlds colliding in one perfect, unforgettable show.


Weezer was the band for me then. My brother had played me the Blue Album in his car, and that was it. I wore the red shirt he handed down, silhouettes of the band printed across the chest like saints in some alt-rock stained glass. I wore that thing like armor. Wore it when I met some of my best friends. Wore it when I didn’t know who I was yet, but knew I wanted to feel the way that music made me feel… alive, loud, and entirely real.


And now, decades later, a song like “A Little Bit of Love” radiates with that same strange warmth. Like the sound of something blooming again. Like an old key turning in a new lock. It’s simple, yeah. But there’s something sacred tucked into that chorus:


“A little bit, a little bit of love

Goes a pretty long way…”


Maybe that’s why it feels like it matters so much. It’s not a song trying to be deep, it just kinda is. It’s the kind of song that doesn’t need a dramatic crescendo to move you. Just a little rhythm. A little harmony. A little reminder of the thing that holds us up and carries us forward.


Weezer’s always had layers goofy and genius, messy and masterful, all at once. But somewhere along the way, Rivers started building myths with the music. You can hear it in the SZNZ project: four seasonal EPs, dropped on solstices and equinoxes, each one shaped by ancient ideas, liturgical rhythms, and classical melodies disguised as pop hooks. It’s weird, and bold, and honestly kind of beautiful.


Like, who does that? Who turns an entire year into a musical cycle with angels, harmonies, and shifting emotions mapped across spring, summer, autumn, and winter? It made me realize: this band I first fell in love with was actually doing something sacred in their own way. Creating modern folklore. Spinning meaning through melody.


Which is probably why songs like In the Garage still land with so much weight. Because even in the early days, they were already telling the truth.


There’s a line in In the Garage I used to sing under my breath like it was mine:


“In the garage, I feel safe

No one cares about my ways

In the garage where I belong”


Back then, I didn’t fully know why it meant so much. I just knew it did. Now? I get it.

The garage is where I go when the world’s too loud. It’s our garage, mine and Jamie’s. It holds our business. Our gym. Our weird little oasis of quiet purpose. It’s where I move my body, steady my mind, breathe out the noise. Where I write. Where I work. Where I craft things with my hands when I need to feel real again.


It’s not glamorous. But it’s sacred.

And yeah Weezer still sometimes lives there, too. On playlists. In echoes. In the way certain songs feel like old friends who just change shoes.


Maybe that’s what this song “A Little Bit of Love” really is to me in a weird way…a friend. One that shows up at the end of a long week, claps along with you in the kitchen, and reminds you:

You’re still here. You’re still light. And love still matters.


That’s the thing. I believe it. Like, deeply.

Not as some corny Instagram affirmation. But as a life principle, the kind you build a mission around.


That’s kind of what Searching for Stars is for me. It’s my way of pointing back toward the light. Through story. Through music. Through memory and heartbreak and joy. It’s about looking for beauty in disaster. Not because the pain didn’t happen but because we’re still here.

Still breathing. Still dancing. Still choosing joy when grief would rather swallow us whole.


My dad used to talk about the Book of Enoch.

Not in a churchy way more like an old-school storyteller with dust on his boots and a glint in his eye. He talked about the parts of scripture that got left out. The watchers. The light. The ones who fell. The ones who rose.


I was young, but I listened.


And something about it stuck. Not the specifics, maybe. But the idea that some truths live in the margins. That maybe what gets edited out still holds fire. That maybe the most important gospels are the ones we feel in our bones, even if no one canonized them.


That’s how this song feels to me.

A Little Bit of Love I t’s not grand, not loud, not trying to be anything other than what it is. But it knows something. About healing. About joy. About how just a flicker of love in the dark can turn the whole room gold.


Same with Searching for Stars.

It’s not a sermon. It’s not a doctrine.

It’s a love letter to the sacred things we almost forgot.


Songs.

Memories.

Laughter.

Grief that teaches.

Friendships that save you at 14 without even trying.

And the quiet belief that love is the real meaning of life… to have it, to give it, to feel it, to leave it behind.


I probably still have that red shirt somewhere.

Faded, maybe. Soft from time. Silhouettes a little blurry now. But it’s still part of me. Like the concert. Like the first time I heard Buddy Holly in my brother’s car and felt something spark.


I think we all have those things, artifacts of when we first felt seen.

For me, it was that shirt. That song. That moment in Dallas when everything felt loud and alive and like it was just beginning.


And now, years later, the songs haven’t stopped meaning something. They’ve just shifted where they live. From the backseat of a car to the hum of a garage. From headphones to kitchen speakers while my kids dance barefoot on the floor. From a high school soundtrack to a grown woman’s reminder that love is still worth showing up for.


Because that’s the thing:

You don’t have to have it all figured out.

You don’t have to shine all the time.

You just have to carry a little bit of love.


That’s enough.

It goes a long way.



RESUME THE RHYTHM:

DRIFT THROUGH A CONSTELLATION OF MEMORY

Searching For Stars

By Lauren Nixon-Matney July 5, 2026
Buddy Holly : Last Kiss Pearl Jam: Last Kiss Cover
By Lauren Nixon-Matney July 5, 2026
My favorite literary phrase of all time is spoken by Josephine March, written by Louisa May Alcott in Little Women. “I like good, strong words that mean something.” You, my dear, you say good, strong words that mean something. You put good, strong words that mean something into the world, and I thank you so very sincerely for that. You have made such an incredible impact on my life, and on my outlook on beauty and aging. ⸻ I stumbled across your incredible fashion sense on Instagram and was completely hooked on your vibe. I absolutely love fashion. I always have. I’ve definitely had my own kind of zany style over the years. So when I saw you, I was like, OK, yes, she is amazing. I love this energy. ⸻ The way you put things together, the confidence, the energy, it makes you wanna get up, go into your closet, and actually enjoy getting dressed again. And for a woman approaching 40, who’s had three children and has had many of her own struggles with who am I, what’s my fashion, what’s my energy, or what’s my style, You just felt so damn refreshing and inspiring. So I hung around, but what really hooked me wasn’t just the style, it was you, the essence of you. The way you talk, the honesty, the fact that you just say things straight, no fluff, no sugarcoating, no trying to be anything other than exactly who you are.. and somehow that makes everything you say sound even more profound. ⸻ The impact your message was having in my life became undeniable. It wasn’t just something I watched for enjoyment anymore, it was something I actually began feeling, and carrying with me. I grew up in a time where it felt like there was an expiration date on women. Like if you didn’t fit into a certain mold, or size, or type… your worth somehow became less. And then life happens. You grow up. You age. Maybe have kids. Your body changes. Your priorities change. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, you can kind of lose your sense of… who am I now? What’s my style? Who am I supposed to become? Am I too late for something? What even feels like me anymore? So for a while, I think I actually bought into that idea without even realizing it. The idiodic notion that maybe I had passed some invisible point where things were supposed to quiet down. Tone down. Fit into something more “acceptable.” Or the grand illusion that I was out of time to follow my passions! But watching you… that narrative just started to fall apart. The way you show up, the way you speak, the way you move through the world so fully as yourself… it made me realize that aging isn’t something to fear or shrink from. If anything, it’s where things start to get really good. It’s where you get bolder. More comfortable. More you. More beautiful. ⸻ What you’re doing matters so much. The way you show up, the way you speak, the way you fully own who you are, it doesn’t just stay on a screen. It carries through pixelated waves. It reaches people like me, in real life, in real moments, and shifts something quietly but powerfully within us. So I just wanted to say thank you. For your honesty, your energy, your style, your voice… all of it. You have inspired me, Searching for Stars, and undoubtedly countless women all over the world more than words can truly translate. Thank you, for being you!
By Lauren Nixon-Matney May 6, 2026
Okay, so I asked God for a sign this week… and I didn’t make it easy on Him. I had just seen this video about asking for a sign, about how God answers, about how He delights in it… and something in me just… recognized that. Like, oh. I’ve felt that before. Lindsey, it was your video. And the second I heard it, I remembered something. I remembered a time, years ago, back in that early, foggy, pinkless season of motherhood, when I had asked for a sign too. I had prayed, really specifically… really honestly… “God, just show me I’m okay. Show me I’m on the right path.” And I asked for a blue butterfly. I didn’t see it right away. I waited. I wondered if I had imagined the whole idea in the first place. And then, not long after, life moved us somewhere new. A new place, new energy… the kind of move that feels exciting and terrifying all at once. They handed us the keys… and right there on them… was a blue butterfly. And I remember feeling that same quiet recognition. Like… okay. And then, a couple months after that, with prayers inside us building for a second child, we went to a park. One of those ordinary days that turns into something you don’t forget. And there were butterflies everywhere. Hundreds of them. Yellow, filling the air, lifting all at once like something out of a dream. And right in the middle of it… one blue butterfly. I just stood there, overwhelmed, because I knew. I knew I had been heard. Nearly one year to the day later, our second child was born. And then… life kept moving. Time passed. Things got busy. Full. Loud. Beautiful… but a little hazy, too. Somewhere along the way, I think I stopped asking like that. Fast forward. I’m sitting with my kids on New Year’s Eve, going into 2025, talking about goals and dreams. The kind of things you say out loud but don’t always fully claim. “I’ve always wanted to write.” And my daughter, so sure, so certain, just looked at me and said, “Then make it your New Year’s resolution.” And something about the way she said it… she didn’t question it. she didn’t overthink it. She just… believed it was possible. So I did. I started building something I’ve carried in pieces since I was in high school. Old notebooks, scattered thoughts, songs, memories… things I’ve never really known how to explain out loud. And for the first time, it felt like someone actually got it. So I got to work. Writing with a baby asleep on my chest… voice notes, typed drafts, music playing in the background… piecing together old memories with new ones. And I love it. I really do. But if I’m being honest… I started to wonder. Is this meaningful? Is this worth the time? Is this something good… or just something I want? And more than anything… I wanted to know if it was something God saw as good. Not just something that looked meaningful… but something that was. So I sat down, quietly, and I prayed. And I said, “God, if this is something I’m supposed to keep building… if I’m on the right path… if this is your will for me… please just show me. Give me a sign.” And I paused… because I knew I couldn’t ask for something easy. I had asked for butterflies before and blue jays have been unusually common in our backyard lately. I needed something specific. Something I wouldn’t just brush off. I looked over… and saw this little pink and white poodle sitting on my daughter’s shelf. And I laughed a little and said, “Okay God… show me a poodle.” almost sarcastically thinking… well, this one’s going to take a little more effort. But of course… Not even 48 hours later, we ran into Burlington. We were just there to grab socks and shoes for my toddler, her sandals were bothering her. Quick in, quick out. We ended up wandering a little. We’re headed to checkout… and my husband steps down an aisle, picks something up, and goes, “Okay, I know this is ridiculous… but we need this for the office.” And he had no idea. Nothing about my prayer. Nothing about the poodle. I’m barely paying attention yet. And then he turns it around. It’s a painting. Of a poodle. Not just a poodle… a poodle in a full business suit… sitting at a desk… reading a newspaper. I just… stopped. A business professional poodle, for the office we’re building together, a space where I can write. Like everything in me went quiet for a second. Because of all the things in the world I could have asked for… of all the ways that prayer could have been answered… it was that. I remember thinking, smiling, fighting back tears of joy… of course it is. Because I had asked for something specific. And apparently… He has a sense of humor. Also, just to make sure I didn’t miss it… because let’s be real, God definitely knows how to show out… the very next place we went… was Petco. And there was this real poodle. Then again. And again. Every aisle I turned… I kept running into it. And that feeling came back. The same one from before. Quiet. Certain. seen. beloved. Lindsey… Thank you so much, you reminded me to ask. You reminded me that God doesn’t just hear us… He answers. Not always in big, overwhelming ways… but in ways we’ll recognize. In ways that feel personal. Specific. Sometimes even funny… like they were meant just for us. And Lindsey… I just want you to know how much I appreciate all of what you’re doing. Your energy, your humor, the way you show up so fully as yourself… it matters more than you probably realize. You make people laugh, you make motherhood feel seen, and you bring light into spaces that can feel heavy sometimes. But there is also so much more than that… God really radiates through you. In the way you speak, in the way you encourage, in the way you remind people to keep going and to keep believing. It’s powerful. And it’s beautiful to witness. What you’ve created with “get your pink back”… that message, that reminder… it’s reaching people. It’s lifting people. It’s giving something back to women who feel like they’ve poured everything out. And that matters. It really does. I’m so grateful I came across your video when I did. And I’m really looking forward to everything you create next… especially your writing. You’re doing something good here. Keep going. Please never stop casting your light into the world… it really does break through the darkness.
Show More