Becky Reyes: Journal

I just posted two new songs on my jukebox. They are scratch tracks that we recorded for Sean Trachtman at Bisbee Sound Studios. I liked the way they came out so I posted them. They will be on the new CD but not these particular recordings.

Threads of Steel was written years ago, but it applies so much more to my life now that I am closing in on 50. When I was younger, 30 or so, a sociology professor from Brockport, NY asked, “…you know, you’re too old to make it in the music business, don’t you?”

I was floored by this remark, I mean, I wasn’t trying to be say, Madonna. I just wanted to sing my songs. I was really pissed off for a long time. He really hit a nerve. So I wrote this song, with a little nod to Jerry Garcia who had just died and I was just all pissed off at life and death and everything. After I wrote the song, I felt much better. It was OK that Jerry was gone. He, more that anyone seemed to go with the flow and be happy with it. It was OK that Professor Brockport said what he said. Gave me something else to rebel against. Let's see, go with the flow, rebel, go with the flow, rebel. Let's do both!

We Are Always Evolving came via the tune first. I was just humming it and really liking that particular progression and changing times and such. I wanted to put words to it but couldn’t really think of anything in particular I wanted to say. Then I remembered a letter I had written to this gorgeous young thing who reminds me so much of myself in the prime of my youth. The letter was all about just learning to trust one’s own counsel. We do have the wisdom it takes to get along in life. We don’t always believe we’re worthy, though. And we don’t always see how much we’ve changed over the years. I’m 50 and I’m still learning this.

Well, I hope you guys like them. I’ll see you when I see you… -Becky

I don't drink very often. I'm a lightweight, I'll admit so I don't drink very often. And I don't really like the experience of a "good drunk". In high school I was always the first one at the toilet (sorry to be so crass) so I learned early to avoid getting drunk.

Over the years, I've let down my guard a bit and have acquired a taste for a few liqueurs but particularly good tequila. When administered correctly (for me) there is a warm blush that happens after about 2 ounces (I told you I'm a lightweight). This is when I stop drinking and start sipping (I may nurse a third the rest of the night just to keep the volatile oils present in my sinuses - heaven).

About 15 years ago I was introduced to tequilas that were very palatable and over the years have had some favorites. Dos Rosales, Herradura, Patrón, even some of the Sauzas were delicious though they weren't produced by the Sauza family anymore (I think Domecq are the owners of Sauza tequilas but don't take my word for it).

Well last Saturday, after a long but wonderful day playing music (7 hours all together!), I was invited to crash the remnants of a party that was winding down and was told there was fine tequila involved. Well, never one to pass up the opportunity to savor fine tequila, I high-tailed it over to the Otero house. When I got to the Otero House, our dear friends, Christine (from Pancho's Design at Tubac Golf Resort) and Erich Priester were there, Christine's dad and his wife, Rebecca, Dennis Rowden who is also a partner at Pancho's Design, another couple and (I'm being deliberately facetious here) some guy named Guillermo who had a little distillery that made what they called, artisan hand-crafted stone-ground tequilas. "Hmph", I thought, "...we'll see. I've had artsy overpriced oh, so chi-chi tequilas before".

Christine was trying hard to explain to me what they had been celebrating, though I couldn't focus on her words because the aroma in the room was beckoning to me (turned out to be a fund-raiser of some sort, but I still don't have it straight so I won't elaborate here). Then she turned my attention to a beautiful hand-blown bottle with a cork that looked like the agave plant after they have cut all the leaves and is ready to be processed. It was a stunning little piece of art. The label said Los Abuelos and was made at a small distillery in Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico using traditional techniques. Inside this bottle was a pure liquid that my friend Garry Hembree poured into a wine glass (all the shot glasses had long-since been used and carted away by the staff). I raised the glass greedily to my lips first but I stopped just short of filling my mouth because the bouquet (is that the proper word for it?) hit me like a delicious warm wave. I was compelled to stop and savor it. I swirled it in my glass and held the glass up to my nose and let the aromatic essences fill my nostrils and sinuses. The warm feeling radiated to my heart chakra. I basked in this for a moment, then took a true sip. Just enough to wash gently over the tongue, mouth closed, sinus passages open, exhaling ever so slightly while rolling the tongue to release the aromatic essences. Exquisite. Then as I finally swallowed the liquid and took a small breath, there was an after effect that was woody, sweet, almost fruity. It was divine. I remember thinking and saying aloud, If Bacchus had tasted this, he would have become a tequila drinker. It was hands-down, the best tequila I had ever tasted.

Then Christine leaned over and whispered in my ear, "This is HIS tequila (gesturing to this Guillermo guy). His name is Guillermo Sauza".

Now listen here, the Sauzas were major deities in our family. EVERYONE on both sides of my family drank Tequila Sauza. There simply was no other. Even after the distillery switched hands, my family drank it out of sheer loyalty to the name. I nearly fell off my seat. I was having a weird, surreal moment, as if I had suddenly found myself lunching with Andy Warhol, or singing with Duke Ellington. I kept thinking, My dad's gonna flip when I tell him!

After recovering from my initial shock, and relaxing enough to introduce myself and join the conversations, I continued to savor the liquid. It is truly spectacular. I'm afraid I'm spoiled now. Guillermo Erickson Sauza, you've ruined it for me you know. Alas, the closest distributors are in California and a bottle will run between $80 and $100, but well worth the investment if you love fine tequila.

As the party was breaking up, I felt a beautiful blush rise up through my body. We all said our good-nights and thank you's and wandered off to different locations. The two hour ride home was a blissful, peaceful ride. As the blush faded, I was left with warm feelings about the day, our performances, our friends, and the good people at La Fortaleza distillery, and I remembered the smell, the taste and the blush.

I was really blessed tonight. There was a lot of resistance to overcome, but I got a little push from a new friend, Melo, who is promoting local original songwriters. She approached me about doing a whole night of original music and to my horror, I said yes. You see, doing my own original stuff is often a little like hanging out my dirty laundry. Naked. Yikes!

I had a week to remember 28-odd songs and last night I went through the lot of them and organized my notes. What I noticed this week was that after I got over all the angst, I started to remember why I wrote these songs and certain things I liked about each song. I really enjoyed reconnecting with them. And I had a great time introducing them and singing them out.

I haven't written much in 8 years, but in the last week, I have 3 new songs.

We had a pretty good night.

I have 3 more new songs started.

I'm pretty happy about it.

Hideaway just played the Benchmark Tournament at Tubac Golf Resort. It was a charity tournament to benefit St. Andrew's Children's Clinic in Nogales, Sonora (look 'em up - they're pretty wonderful).. There were a lot of familiar faces from last year. We all had a great time.

Hideaway played strictly jazz standards during dinner, and after the awards and announcements, we rocked 'em a little harder, though we didn't play anything more recent than 1967 and it was mainly jazz and blues. It was great fun.

Hideaway is shaping up nicely. The addition of Scott Baekeland and Cordell Dentler has been a blessing. They have worked together before and they have great rapport already established. Baekeland has also worked with Muleman (that's my husband Scott Muhleman for the newcomers) on and off for the last 25 years. They were both mentored by DC Minner (you can go to his page from my links page) but 10 years apart. Poor DC and Selby, they lost 2 great musicians to Bisbee. But when Bisbee calls, it's so hard to resist.

Dave Resto, our drummer, of course gets along with everyone. I love working with him. He surprises me a lot when we're performing. I catch myself grinning alot when I play with him. Actually, I'm really happy playing with all these guys. They each bring distinct personalities to the band. And they're all gooood.

We are scheduled to play on 4th of July this year. I'm not sure where we'll be but the 4th promises to be a HUGE night. They are expecting a very large crowd of people. We are going to play after the fireworks display and continue until well into the night.

Muleman will also be singing. It'll be a chance for eveyone to see him the way he sees himself. Singing those blues songs he loves so well. He'll have the band backing him up and he'll be playing the harp the way he learned it. Straight up and blue as can be. I'll also be singing. I'm doing a bit of blues and soul and a whole lot of jazz.

We'll see you in Tubac on the 4th of July, ok? -B

My mind is blowing! I knew this year was going to be wonderful. We are booked again for next New Year's Eve at Tubac Golf Resort. We had such a wonderful time. Oh, the fun we shall have...
I also have quite a few private parties booked for the coming year, some booked into October! Scott and I had to make a decision about private parties on Saturdays. I would love to do every private event I am offered, I love what I do so much, but I really feel the need to honor my regular Saturday evening show at Tubac Golf Resort. We are so grateful to have that job, we love the folks we work with and we have become quite fond of the folks who come to see us. The community has really embraced us and you know, the feeling is mutual. We also have friends now in Green Valley, Rio Rico, Nogales, Sahuarita and Tucson. We look forward to seeing each other. We even check in with each other at times. We even look forward to seeing folks from out of town ("We're the Wisconsin people!") who frequent the resort. I'm trying to work out a suitable solution, perhaps take only one Saturday private event per month and scheduling great alternatives (how about a Latin Night, or Western Music, or a great jazz guitarist).

Speaking of JAZZ... I am working with a friend of Scott's who is a wonderful jazz guitarist. We are hoping to put together a show doing jazz standards and schedule a regular engagement somewhere on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. His name is Scott also, so for clarity's sake, I'll refer to him as Scott B. We have been rehearsing songs like Willow Weep for Me, Skylark, Lover Man and Moonglow. I've always wanted to sing jazz. My dad introduced us to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Hoagy Carmichael, Louis Jordan, Tommy James, Ella, Peggy, Satchmo, Fats Waller and so many others from the 20's through the 40's. Scott B also has a love for this music and he's got a really nice touch on the guitar.

Hideaway is recovering nicely. Scott B joined us as our guitarist and we are working with a bassist from Bisbee, Cordell Dentler. Dave Resto is still with us, and we will be playing our first band gig in May for an annual charity tournament.
The sound of the music is closer to my original vision of what we want to play. The songs we've chosen are classic songs, but not necessarily the most popular songs. A lot of them were "b side" songs (for those of you who remember 45's and 78's). We are also turning the volume down a bit. It occurred to me that a band doesn't have to be loud to be good. Does anybody else feel this way? I just don't like coming out of a show with my ears ringing. If anyone has any thoughts on this, let me know. I want to know what you think.

And with that, I'm going to say good-night. Thank you so much for your feedback, your support, your love. We feel so fortunate to be working jobs that we love so well. Scott is slowly weaning himself off his "regular job" (he's down to 3 nights a week). He's sending along his thanks...

New Year's Eve was so much fun. I didn't even have the champagne at midnight but I was higher than a kite. I love my job.

We started our weekend playing our regular Saturday evening gig at Stables restaurant in the bar (it was too cold to play outside, even with heaters). We got to play some songs for Faith, our regular Saturday evening bartender and dear friend. We had a wonderful crowd, the bar was packed most of the evening and we played long sets because we just didn't feel like stopping! By the end of the evening, a whole group of folks had gotten up and were dancing! Now, if you haven't been in the bar at Stables, let me tell you, it's a pretty small space as far as bars go, so to see these guys making room on the floor and dancing was really heartwarming. These folks really made our night, and to see Sandy and Dick (two of the most courageous people I've met) dancing together made me positively giddy with joy. What a great start to the weekend.

On New Year's Eve, we headed to the resort early and began setting up sound equipment and lights. We saw a lot of the folks who had come to see us the night before and everyone was in a wonderful mood. We also got to work directly with the staff who pulls this event together. They are so wonderful and everyone there has each other's backs. I've never experienced that to this degree. Everyone's looking out for everyone else - what a concept! Jeff Clock, Dave McGehee and Armando Valencia our restaurant and bar managers were out there with the rest of us taking care of details and pulling things together. I love working here with these people. I love these people!

The West River Band arrived to back us up (don't ask, Hideaway blew up, but we're working on getting her back together - I have a vision for my band. I'm excited, but for now, West River Band will be backing us up - they're fantastic), we did our sound checks and left to go have dinner with my son Gil, and our dear friends Cha Cha, Ron, Mariah and Nina from Bisbee. We went to our hotel rooms, got ready for work in our finery, all black and sparkly and left for work (I can't believe I do this for a living).

When we got there, I had enough time to go to tables and talk with folks and when I entered the ballroom, folks were clapping. I wasn't sure why they were clapping, but the clapping didn't stop, when I turned to see what they were clapping for, they were looking at me! Some were even standing! I knew that we were going to have a really fun night, these folks were raring to go. So after a lot of heartfelt wishes, kisses and hugs we got up on stage and did our show.

First of all let me say that the West River Band is wonderful. Richard Thompkins, the lead guitarist is just wonderful. His renditions of Moondance, Under the Boardwalk, Up on the Roof and everything else he sang was so soulful. And I got to sing harmony! I love singing harmony but I don't often get a chance to do it. Neil Thomas, the bass player, has that Merle Haggard thing down to a T. His vocals were so lonesome at times, and at others, just raw and exciting like John Fogarty. Warren Lazar knocked my socks off with his keyboard. I have never worked with a keyboard player before and I have to admit I was floored and can't wait to work with him again. With all of them again!

We did 4 sets that flew by. It seemed that we had just gotten started and we had to break again (I was pretty proud of myself, I really stuck to the breaks this time to make sure we were all properly hydrated and energized for the entire evening). Warren counted us down and in the packed Geronimo rooms, we all ushered in the new year with love, kisses, tears, joy, MUSIC!

The next day, we arrived at the resort to break down. Dave Resto, my kick-ass drummer (and I mean that with all my heart - Dave, you rock), newly married to his beautiful sweetheart, Jen Sedlak, was there tearing down his equipment. We took the afternoon slowly, took time to reminisce about the night before, remembered to let each other know how much we appreciated each other, said so long to the others who were there, Elsa and Lorenzo (who always seem to be there making things beautiful and making things work) and left for home. Gil slept all the way home, Scott and I were very tired, but talked and kept each other awake. We arrived safely and happily at home and slept for about 24 hours.

Now I want to wish you a very special year. This year, let's stay in touch, let's be more patient, compassionate, loving to others, but mostly, to ourselves. Let's honor ourselves as much as we honor others. And don't forget to put your order in with the Universe. Be happy... -B

Did I mention I have a band? Did I say they are the best guys in the world and they love the music so much? We are having the best time learning new songs. Johnny Lange, my bass player is a whiz at detailing the songs. He's got such a good ear and he is guiding these arrangements so well. We are so happy to have found him.

Jon Messenger, my guitarist, is learning new patterns and totally retraining himself. He's blowing my mind. I'm having to run to keep up with him. Jon's forte is Western music (for more info on Jon, go to my links page and follow his link). I was in his band La Roca years ago. I told him tonight that the last time I had this much fun was when I was with his band because I was learning so much. And it just keeps getting better.

Dave Resto, my wonderful drummer, has been graciously sitting-out these practices because most of it is picking the songs apart and figuring out how we're going to play them. In December, we start rehearsals and Dave will join us and he's gonna do what he always does. He grabs the song, applies the perfect rhythm and colors it with unexpected turns and sounds. I love listening to him!

My husband, Scott, is busy working on his leads. I think his harmonica work (and from now on, let's call the harmonica a harp. It's more common among harp players and easier to type) is outstanding. It's what attracted me to him at the very beginning. He's a straight-up electric blues guy and he joined me and my band and I'm so happy he did. Whether we're playing together in the band or by ourselves on the patio at Stables, he adds just the right sound, leads and fill, that I love so well.

And the music we've chosen for this gig is so much fun. As always, we are taking songs from so many eras and genres and doing them our way. I won't say what songs yet, but I will tell you that some of my favorite performers in this life are Ella Fitzgerald, Emmylou Harris, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, oh I could go on...

Anyway, New Year's Eve is less than 2 months away. If we are having this much fun working these songs out, then I can't wait for New Year's Eve!

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to say thank you so much for your support. It's what spurred me on to build this site, go into the studio and form Hideaway, my band. You are so wonderful and encouraging and nurturing.

Scott and I are really busy these days. We are playing our little hearts out and having so much fun doing it. We've had to do some serious re-shuffling of time and making sure that our son, Gil, gets his time with us. Gil so much wants to be my regular roadie. He's 8 right now and we let him carry gear for us sometimes. We're hoping he'll get interested in the music side of the business so that he can be in our band, or maybe he'll go to college and be our business manager, hmmm. We just want him with us all the time, he's terrific.

Hideaway is working up a killer set list for the New Year's Eve gig in Tubac this year. I started Hideaway on a lark because someone asked me to put something together for a tournament. I knew enough really good musicians that I was able to round up a great line-up and we learned a bunch of great stuff from the 20's all the way through the 80's. We chose really danceable stuff that we knew people would love. Unchain My Heart, Cole Porter's Too Darn Hot, Chain of Fools, Dream a Little Dream, just to name a few. The arrangements were clean and I sang like it was the last time I'd ever have the chance - I don't know, it was magic. We had such a great time that night and we know the people there loved us. The chemistry between band members was there, too.

Sean Trachtman from Train Wreck joined us. I hired him to help me pull the band together, and he stayed on for the gig. He is still working with me, helping me learn about managing a band, and Jane, his wonderful wife and band manager has also been such a rock for us. We truly would not have made the strides we made had it not been for their help.

We decided that we really needed to keep playing together. We've had a few changes, and our current members, Jon Messenger on guitar, Johnny Lange on upright bass, Dave Resto on drums and Scott and I, all work together so well. I am so blessed to have found these guys.

Well, that sort of catches you up on what's happening on our end. Why don't you sign my guestbook and tell me what's going on with you?

-B

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to welcome you to my site. I'll be working on it over the next few weeks so bear with me. I have taken the time to list me upcoming gigs for you so please stop by when you want to know what's happening!

-B