Rock-tober 07, 2019

Earlier this summer, when I came across the movie Tequila Sunrise on one of our streaming services, I hit play and settled into the couch to enjoy the show. Released in 1988, it starred Mel Gibson as a reformed dealer trying to keep to the straight and narrow, and Kurt Russell played his lifelong friend and narco trying to rise in the law enforcement ranks. Michelle Pfeiffer rounded out the cast as a restauranteur and Gibson's romantic interest. My reason for spooling up the flick became obvious as a smile crossed my face when Pfeiffer made her screen debut. I called to Andrea who was standing in the kitchen, "You know, I had a major thing for Michelle Pfeiffer back in the day."

Andrea snorted and crinkled her brow, "What do you mean 'had'? I wasn't aware you outgrew that condition."

Yeah...busted. I had a couple of snarky retorts came to mind, but I thought better of it and simply smiled a goofy teenage grin, shrugged my shoulders, and slumped back into the couch.

For the uninitiated, a Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail commonly made from orange juice, grenadine syrup, and, of course, tequila. It gets its name from the colors of the different stratified ingredients resembling a sunrise. Ironically, considering the number of bar and restaurant scenes, the classic drink didn't feature prominently in the movie and was mentioned only once in a single throwaway line.

More ironic was the failure to use the Eagles's 1973 single release "Tequila Sunrise". To be clear, the song "Tequila Sunrise" wasn't about the cocktail, but rather a cowboy who started a tequila bender one evening and continued until the sun came up. One of the first songwriting collaborations between Frey and Henley, it was part of their second album Desperado. It didn't fare well on initial release, peaking at 64 on the Billboard "Hot 100". Nevertheless, it remained a favorite of Frey and became a staple in the group's concert setlists. From the liner notes of Eagles: Very Best Of, Frey said of the song, "'Tequila Sunrise' was written fairly quickly, and I don't think there's a single chord out of place."