Report from The Road:

 

Our Southwest tour has been full of adventures and successes! Phoenix welcomed us back with open arms. We performed for the Cave Creek Coffee Company for the first time with much applause and dancing. The Northwest and Fountain Hills Libraries had us back with wonderful friendly audiences and the MesaArtsCenter's "Out To Lunch" series was so well attended they had to cram people in on the sides!

 

The Tucson Celtic Festival was a huge success again this year. We played the Ceili Friday evening and had people dancing in the aisles (especially our friend Donjia!) and we played the main stage the next day to a packed tent with standing ovations and calls for an encore. We were nearly wiped out of CDs and T-shirts and we signed more autographs than we've ever done in one day. Becca was very well received by the audience and we had the pleasure of having Michi Regier join us with her fine fiddling. As a quartet, we were quite the powerhouse and had a great time performing both as "The Muses" and as part of the general Musicians Jam during the afternoon. We met lots of new friends and got to see all our old friends too. We expect to be back again next year for our 3^rd year of performance.

 

.

 

 

Unfortunately into every happy life a little rain must fall. Tanya's grandmother passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease the day after the Tucson Celtic Festival and she had to fly home to Minneapolis that week for the funeral. She wrote a song for her grandmother's memorial service. The lyrics can be found on our website www.themusesmusic.com if you look at the side bar you will see "Pepper's Song" listed there. Feel free to read them and to learn how wonderful Tanya's grandmother was and how she will be missed.

 

California is always an adventure for us. We started out at the Newark Library and then headed up to Sonoma, CA where we were lucky enough to be hosted by the librarian of the Springstowne Library in Vallejo at his house. He and his family welcomed us with open arms and we got to have 3 dogs for a couple of days. (We had to leave ours at home and we miss him very much!) We performed at the Springstowne Library and then headed for Sacramento, CA for the FAR-West conference       

 

The Folk Alliance Region - West Folk conference was our 2^nd folk conference and we LOVED it! We met so many wonderful people and learned a lot. We also learned that we're doing the right things in many cases, which is very nice and affirming to know.

Becca and Tanya took several songwriting courses so look for new songs in the near future. Matt and Becky both took Marketing and Radio courses, so look for us and listen for us wherever you go. We hope that with all the new contacts we have made that we'll be playing in lots of new places soon

 

We performed to a full house at our first House Concert at the Green Acres Lavender Farm in Atascadero, CA. www.greenacreslavenderfarm.com They have a beautiful setting there with a huge living room. We crammed 58 folks in there and they all loved us! Standing ovations and requests for encores were the norm for the evening. We hope to be back there next year. Check out there website for wonderful Lavender products. (We got some soap and some essential oil, they are wonderful!)

 

At the MontereyMaritimeMuseum, we had Frosty the Snowman come to listen to our concert! (There is nothing funnier than seeing Frosty the Snowman sign your email list!) Everyone enjoyed our afternoon of Sea Shanties and related songs. Frosty happens to be attached to "Lewis & More" which is a British shop around the corner from the MaritimeMuseum and I am pleased to say that they are now carrying our CDs. They can be found at the following address:

Lewis & More

251 Alvarado Garden Mall

Monterey, CA

831-372-3158

 

 

They are working on a website and hope to have it up soon!

 

We will finish this tour off in the next couple of weeks by performing for the Santa Barbara County Public Libraries November 28^th and 29^th and the Coffee Gallery Back Stage on November 30^th. (All shows listed below.) Please come and see us live if you're in any of these areas. We then head back to Colorado for about 5-6 days and then we're off to Minnesota for a quick end of year tour. (Again, shows listed below.)

 

Hope to see you out there!!!

Tanya, Matt, Becca and Becky

 

Tuesday November 28th 7:00 pm

Santa Barbara Central Library

40 E. Anapamu Street

Santa Barbara , CA93102

805-564-5638

www.sbplibrary.org

   

Wednesday November 29th 10:30 am

Goleta Library

500 N. Fairview Avenue

Goleta , CA93117

805-964-7879

www.sbplibrary.org

 

Wednesday November 29th 7:00 pm

Solvang Public Library

1745 Mission Drive

Solvang , CA93463

805-688-4214

www.sbplibrary.org

 

 

Thursday November 30th 8:00 pm

Coffee Gallery Backstage

2029 N Lake

Altadena , CA91001

626-398-7917

Tickets $15.00 (space is limited, please call!)

www.coffeegallery.com

 

Saturday December 9^th 7:30 pm

The Music Loft at Hobgoblin Music

920 State Hwy 19

Red Wing, MN55066

877-866-3936

Tickets $12.00

www.stoneyend.com

 

Sunday December 10^th 2:00 pm

Chanhassen Library

7711 Kerber Blvd.

Chanhassen , MN55317

(952) 227-1500

www.carverlib.org

 

Here is the one member of the team you haven't met yet! This is Becky Lloyd, our manager!  We asked her to write an article introducing herself to you and here it is!:

 

An article about me . . . hmmm, an interesting request.  You see I'm the one that isn't in the spotlight and doesn't mind keeping it that way.  However, The Muses, or as I affectionately call them, "my" Muses asked, and so I obey.

 

 

 

 

Born and raised in Colorado, I met Matt in high school.  We became fast friends based on our mutual love of the mountains, theater and music.  Where Matt continued his creative journey with Tanya, I blazed my own path, with a husband, three kids, two grandkids, two dogs, and a cat.  There is never a dull moment in our house.

 

Anyway, my path and Matt's seem to continue to overlap in life, and on one of those occasions, Matt asked, "How do you feel about booking?"  I replied, naively, "I don't know, sound like fun."  The next thing I know, I'm pulled into this windstorm of phone calls, e-mails, schmoozing, road trips, and good friends. 

 

Thank goodness Tanya is a patient teacher! 

 

So, now I book "gigs", that word still sounds strange to me; and I manage this amazing trio from Colorado.  The experience is just beginning, but it is an experience like no other and one for which I will be eternally grateful.  I'm blessed to be able to call these three exceptionally talented musicians, friends.   I wouldn't change a moment
Come see The Muses the next time we are close to your home.  With any luck, I might be along for the ride and have a chance to meet you.  If not, I know you will still enjoy an evening filled with spectacular music!
Cheers,
Becky