farewell lady. thanks for all your inspiration for so many years. she seeded so many love songs i wrote and i even had the honor of seeing her live with my sister at the house of blues, rocking the stage hard as she neared 70. i’ve never met her, but i feel like she’s been the soundtrack to a lot of important parts of my life.

look at me getting sentimental – it was bound to happen sometime

etta james
1938 – 2012

ok so i know this is tardy and this song is definitely not about a teeny tiny dog, but here is a brand new one that has come together in the last few weeks. i wrote this in the middle of the night in a fit of pure inspiration which meant another sleepless night. sigh. on the bright side, i’ve never claimed to be a morning person anyway… so i would say i was no more grumpy in the following AM hours than usual.

this was recorded in a shell beach living room with justin and mike. par for the course indeed.

unraveled by reesegalido

hope you’re enjoying the winter darkness, the night owl in me rejoices in short days so keep an eye out for yours truly lurking in a coffee shop near you. oh if you’d like to hear this tune live, i’ll be at the kruezberg on Tuesday 12/13 at 6:30 with the lovely folks of songwriters at play. i’ll be the lady drinking both a hot beverage and a cold beverage at the same time.

okay so maybe i’m suffering from a teeny bout of songwriter’s block. even my insomnia hasn’t come up with anything creative (or even just plain weird) that i can use as a starting point so i’m going to have to ask you all for a bit of assistance.

cast a vote and i’ll give it a shot. whatever song i come up with using the prescribed method will be posted here. i’m at your mercy!

NO VOTING MULTIPLE TIMES!!!
(poll closes on sunday 10/2)

update: sigh. looks like i’m writing a song about a teeny tiny dog.

i reserve the right to wear my sunglasses at any and all radio performances, especially ones at 8am. Thanks to Jeff and Jeremy at KZOZ for having us. what a way to start a friday.

check us out at the cal poly tailgate party tomorrow at 1pm and at the kreuzberg later that day at 8pm for the reese and mel show!

ok so maybe seven shows in nine days wasn’t such a good idea, but i’ve found that wonderful things spring into existence amid the hysteria. for a while there it felt like i was creating hours in the day for the express purpose of ridiculous pursuits. oh but what a beautiful two weeks it was, on the wrong side of midnight, ears ringing, and with even more music on the horizon night after night.

sigh. the next time i think purposeful sleep deprivation is a good idea, will you please punch me in the face (i know, violence is not the answer but i feel like we’ve had this conversation once before already)?

the flip side is that the down time i’ve been enjoying as of late has been absolutely delicious – it’s nice to resurface and see what the world is like after a good bit of reclusiveness. so i’m back in the land of the living, with a show tonight and another this Saturday (9/17) at the kreuzberg in san luis obispo with my good friend, melody klemin, at the ungodly hour of 8pm.

oh and for good measure, let’s make the 17th a double header – i just got word the kicks may be playing that afternoon too.

alas, the insanity never stops. good thing i wouldn’t have it any other way.

i’d be remiss if i didn’t tell you all about what an awesome time we had at the kreuzberg | ca opening party last weekend. there was much fun having and carrying on by all including a raucous and riveting performance by the incomparable Delilah followed by Cottrell Freeman and company blowing my mind by performing some of my favorite tunes. what killer mix of music, food, and people – the new digs are ridiculously rad mobile and i can’t wait to come back and play again in september. love you guys!

also… i may or may not have planked the buffet, but that is neither here nor there… i don’t really want to talk about it.

photo courtesy of becky sloat

with the help of friends, i’ve finally found a way to combine my inner nerd with my music geek (who has a healthy dose of exhibitionism). we’ve been guerilla gigging our way through the shops and streets of san luis obispo. here’s one that we recorded in the garden at linnaea’s cafe with the vines and the koi fish as witnesses.

call it a warm up for our show at linnaea’s on august 27 or call it an excuse to do silly things in public places with instruments. either way, you’re right.

truth be told i don’t think i’ve ever been there during the morning hours (the morning hours with daylight at least) and it looks pretty awesome sauce. stay tuned for more uploads!

here’s a not-so-secret secret:

performing with the kicks? no problem. i don’t care if there are two or two thousand people there – i can roll out on stage without a care in the world, let the music take me, and simply enjoy sharing music with people kind enough to listen (and dance. i heart the people who dance).

performing as reese galido? scares the living daylights out of me – and although i’ve never really understood what exactly “living daylights” are, i’m pretty sure you’re supposed to keep those. without them, i am jumpy and i’ll talk too loud. i will fidget until mikeC tells me to cut it out because it’s making him nervous. i’ll over caffeinate which definitely doesn’t help and will hide outside the venue until it’s time to play. oh and while i’m setting up, i’ll pretend that i’m just helping with the setup and not actually performing.

what does this all mean? i think it means that i’m out of my mind.

and if you’d like to witness all this and more, i’m playing the kreuzberg coffee lounge in SLO on august 6th for their grand opening.

please help me to remember to use my inside voice.

this may seem paradoxical to you, but i am at times a really intensely private person. after a series of shows more often than not i will drop off the radar for a while and wander somewhere new, retreat and write or enjoy some awesomely terrible b-movies… consecutively. as it is, i always find myself fumbling on the microphone when i introduce songs because the reasons why a song came to my life get stuck in my brain (somewhere on the right side i think) and refuse to exit via an amplified sound system.

my solution? without skipping a beat, i will tell you where and when i wrote a song. i can recall where each melody was dreamed up, what kind of night it was, if i was standing or sitting, and which guitar that the song materialized out of. I will also tell you with a smile, that the song was written for no one.

but if you have a moment to spare and a pot of coffee, i’ll gladly spin my tales for you and maybe, between one steaming cup and the next, that “no one” will gain a name.