Rebecca Dru opens Bitter and Sweet Chocolates, The Annual TASTY WORDS™ Valentine's Inspired stories

Thursday was a HUGE day for me as it was the first time in 24 years I sang live. I was invited by Wendy Hammers, the creator of TASTY WORDS™, to participate in her show as the musical guest.

Wendy had been "encouraging" me for MONTHS to sing and I finally took her up on the offer. This show was filled with stories about love and the pursuit of it, just in time for Valentine's Day; a great collection of bitter, bad date stories and romantic tales of joyful and requited love.

She had a terrific line up of writers:

Romie Angelich - Being Mrs Peter Moor

Ken Bank - Velcro Boys
Barra Grant - An Irish Hebraic Love Story
Judith Allen - The Captain (A Love Story)

Dave Kessler - True Stories of Dave Kessler, The Dating Daredevil

Wendy Hammers - Jewish Girl Eats Bacon and Finds God
Dylan Brody - True Romance
with musical guest Rebecca Dru

I loaded my gear in the morning. I'm so glad I bought a new mic. I had picked up a HEIL PR 30 at WLA Music and I love it...it's really responsive to my voice. I just didn't want to start back with a Shure SM 58....it's too abrupt. Once set up, I did the sound check with Marjorie Lewis who stopped by to listen...and dance...had a bite with her...relaxed at home with my dogs until it was time to go. I passed by my husband with a big kiss on my way out as he had just returned from an LA PHIL rehearsal...and on my way I went.

You have to understand...I was never going to sing live again...outside my home..so this was a big moment for me...either I was going to love it or not....and baby..I am BACK!! I took those 24 years...and enjoyed my life...my family..and filled it with love...and it made a difference. I'm not doing this for any other reason then for the pure pleasure of it...and let me tell you I had a blast! I did two songs....ANOTHER ONE OF YOU , I wrote with Susan Santiago, which is about meeting someone who's already in a relationship and wishing he/she had a clone. The other was a love song I wrote for my husband. It's the first song in the 25 years we've been together that I've written for him. I started working on a list of why I loved him and realized...I don't need it...I love him JUST BECAUSE. I collaborated on it with a wonderful lyricist out of New York, Carole Blake. Just to side track...I met Carole via my cousin Susan on Facebook. I haven't seen her since I was 3 (and I'm 51 now). I had never worked with someone I didn't know before...but Carole is fantastic! She connected with me on the sentiment of the song. I already had the chorus and the bridge and the line in the verse, " I love the way you...." and she finished it. Now the fun part is she just got married tonight and had been looking for a love song for her wedding.... THIS was her love song that she used for the first dance!

I'm thrilled....I'm relishing in this first performance...I was pleased.... and now I'm getting ready for the next one at The Santa Monica Playhouse on April 8th...where I"ll be doing more songs...new songs...songs that are pertinent to my life now. I'm excited!

Rebecca Dru stands at #1 on LoneBoy for the 2nd week in a row!

Do You Ever Think of Me?

Susan and I just completed our 16th song...."Do You Ever Think of Me?"
It's getting harder to pick my favorite, though this last group of 3 songs that I'll be singing in January and February Salons are just beautiful....deeper than the others. They even have my husband and daughter singing and playing them.

If you're interested in coming to one of my salons, send me a message.

Songwriting

I've been writing with Susan Santiago...she's been kicking out at least one lyric a day...sometimes two. What a great lyricist...I'm in awe of her prowess and honored to write with her...nice working someone of her caliber. I love the new songs we've written....and I'm enjoying singing again. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll have some of the new material up for a listen on my various sites. Keep you ears open as I'd love some feedback.

PROLIFIC

I'm laughing so hard...... my friend, Susan Santiago, who is my writing partner is RELENTLESS....she wants me to put this CD out yesterday and so she's popping up on my computer all day to see if I'm writing and to work on these songs....we've written 3 songs in 3 days ...except for a little polishing.... and she's got 3 more lyrics in the making...... and I have some melodies that need some bridges and some polishing....whew...it's a blast...been years since I wrote like this (like in the '80's when I spent 12 - 18 hours a day!)...barely having time to come up for air....exhausting, refreshing and GREAT fun!

I listen to the younger singers songs and they're all full of fresh young love and hope....and then you get to be my age and all of a sudden the songs are of broken relationships, friends' illnesses, passing hopes and dreams...OY! I think it's time for some up songs. We've both been in marriages that have lasted over 20 years....and I'm more in love with my husband than ever...perhaps we'll write a song about that.....

Ricardo Osorio, who produced my Lullabye CDs is fixing up my studio so I can start recording again...I'm so excited! Now if I can just settle down to learn how to use everything....I find it harder to focus on the technical things that used to come so easy.....but I'll accept the challenge.

Have FuN!

I NEED LYRICS....

I need lyrics...it's not my forte to write them, but I do know a well crafted one from one that's not and I do know how to polish it...my expections are fairly high....and of course the better I know the lyricist..the better my music (I write to the lyrics..not the other way around).

It's frustrating to me....not to have a stack of lyrics with which to work.
I might actually have to try writing lyrics again after all of these years....it's not a pleasure for me as is composing the music...but it may end up being a necessity if I can't find someone.
Any suggestions?!