In The Berkshires

So I headed North to The Berkshires among other places this weekend. I got to spend 2 days with my friend Nicole in Lennox. Then we went to see Stephen. He was the Production Assistant in Arkansas, which was the last time I had seen Nicole. Lennox is beautiful. We went to a book sale and I bought 8 books for $15! Among them? Valley of The Dolls, Handmaid's Tale and The Color Purple. I love cheap books!

I Hear The Bells...

Mike Doughty. That's about all. I'm totally obsessed with this song right now. I enjoy the whole album. I enjoy what I know of Mike Doughty. So now, I share.

I hear the bells
Down in the canyon, it's
Snow in New York
Some blue December, I'm
Gone to the moon
Without you, girl, and I'm
Calling to you
Throughout the world and well I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and


I hear the bells
They are like emeralds, and
Glints in the night
Commas and ampersands
Your moony face
So inaccessible
Your inner mind
So inexpressible

I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and

I'm seeking girls
In sales and marketing
Let's go make out
Up in the balcony
Your business dress
So businesslike and I'm
Tossing the blouse
Over a chairback and

I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and

I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and

You snooze, you lose
Well I have snost and lost
I'm pushing through
I'll disregard the cost
I hear the bells
So fascinating and
I'll slug it out
I'm sick of waiting

I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and

I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and

I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and I can
Hear the bells are
Ringing joyful and triumphant and

WVPT 07- I forgot.

So I forgot. My roommate in WV is awesome. This was my second year as her roommate and she is cool as shit.

So everyone knows I made the dress I'm wearing. I made it to go to a wedding and I was following the pattern but obviously it was made for a girl without my particular endowments. Anyway, it wasn't until I had attached the top to the dress that I realized I had skimped on the fabric, and then I was almost out of time, so I wore it as is. My intention was to wear it to the wedding and then fix it to make it more suitable for everyday consumption. But then it seemed silly to bother and I left it as is. I'm careful about where I wear it. Now it is pretty much an opening night thing.

Anyway, I was wearing it to an opening and my roommate says, "Wow, that dress is very Tit-tacular!"

That is my new favorite word. So, this is me, in my tit-tacular dress and something funky is happening with my hair...

WVPT 07

Another summer over. Boot-camp summer-stock complete! And yes, I did A Chorus Line in 8 days with 18 newbies. Yup you read that correctly. There were only 5 vets in the cast. 42 hours of rehearsal. Think on that. My cast was AWESOME, no doubt.

This picture is me with Michael. Michael was my late night tequila buddy, my personal 411, and the man under the clothes. So our most fun work moment? It was an exchange that went like this:

TARA: Michael raise your hand
MICHAEL raises his hand
TARA: Cast, this is Michael. Don't talk to him

I could explain, but that would be no fun.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Madison!

So my friend's daughter just had her 3rd birthday, and she is cute. And this little video just proves how kooky kids just are!

Oh, Tara

So, when I was a kid I used to watch tv and WISH that the women on Romper Room would say my name, she never did. I wanted a song with my name in it to play at birthdays. I wanted someone famous to be named Tara. I wanted a television character to be named Tara. I mean it was bad enough that there were never things with my name on it and that still seems weird to me, I mean my name was your average name. Tara. Growing up people used to (and still do) associate me with Gone With The Wind. They always assumed my name came from that movie. My mother has never seen the movie. She opened a baby book and found a name that sounded good with my last name and she hadn't heard it a lot so she chose it. I was so annoyed by this association that up until a few months ago, I had never seen the movie either. I actually only saw it because I was working on a show about writing the screenplay for GWTW and we watched it as part of the information day. Then in 1991 enter Tara Kemp. I can't remember what she sang but I know she sang it on 90210. Unfortunately, she wasn't very good and she wasn't around too long. Then there was Tara Lipinski, but I was never into figure skating (except in the movie The Cutting Edge), and not enough people I knew were into it either so even though she did her 1st competative skating in 1994, I'm not sure I heard of her for a few years. And even though she is still skating today, you have to be a little hard core to remember her. Anyway, moving on... Then in 1998/1999 enter Tara Reid, by far the biggest thing to happen to the name since GWTW. She was the hot blond girl in American Pie and Urban Legend. (Incidentally she is only 18 days older than me). Right around the same time there was a character introduced on Buffy The Vampire Slayer name Tara, but I wasn't watching the show then so I had no idea. But she was pretty cool, at first she wasn't she was shy and awkward and a witch, literally; then she was cool, then she was killed. So much for that. Right around then Tara Reid, became associated with being a totally party girl, right when all of a sudden people couldn't get enough of Paris Hilton and the people she hung with- one of which was Tara. Then it became Tara Reid passed out drunk on a beach in Ibiza. Then It became Tara Reid bad plastic surgeory victim attempts to get her life back, but pretty much it was just formally drunk Tara Reid. Then people stopped talking about Taras. There were no interesting ones. I did in this time manage to find a song by The Knack called "Oh Tara" it's from their 1979 studio Album "Get The Knack", which also has "My Sharona" on it. Who knew? I guess if someone I knew had owned the album I could have played it at my sweet 16. Anyway...

Then all of sudden, Tara popped back into the headline, except it was Tara Connor, Miss USA making out with Miss Teen USA. (Sidenote: They are giving her a second chance- does anyone remember when Miss America dethroned Vanessa Williams for posing nude prior to her reign, her pictures only resurfaced because someone sold then to Penthouse-- I'm not making judgements either way, I'm just saying...) I give up. At least in college when people called me Pinky, there was a funny, however dim-witted, lab rat with the same name with a goal- try to take over the world. Anyway, my disappointment in my fellow Taras is ongoing. We've got a failed pop star; a figure skater; a dead, fictional, witch; a sort of reformed party girl with a botched boob job; and a drunk pageant queen who makes out with teenage girls in bars... I want a Tara to become famous and be awesome and scandal-free, or at least scandal-lite, or maybe just scandal that doesn't involve being drunk... anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading... (and I know, lots of people don't have famous namesakes, but for a reason that I don't remember- It was always really important to me... oh well.

Tune in next time when I talk about much more exciting things like shoe laces and cheese...

Paging Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable

So, last night I was watching Nick At Nite- my ultimate tv late night nostalgia stop. I've watched it since I was little. I remember they used to show black and white shows. I've probably seen every episode of "Mr. Ed", (Who knows that theme song?) "The Patty Duke Show", (How about that theme song?) "The Donna Reed Show"... then the shows started to be in color and started to be shows I thought I remembered being in first run, although it's likely they were already in re-runs and I just thought they were first run. Shows like, "The Brady Bunch", "Bewitched", and "I Dream of Jeannie" after that they start getting hazy because they were definitely shows I watched in real time, like "Wings", "Full House" and the point of me writing this "The Cosby Show"... I watched every episode of this show, every Thursday night as it was airing...

Anyway, I was a sophomore in high school. My brother's son had just been born and my he had just left for Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield (which would turn into Operation Desert Storm in less than 2 months). I was in student council and one of my best friends was a girl named Diana. We were in Student Council together and we were co-chairpersons of Operation:Cards Because We Care... We organized students to write cards and letters to soldiers during Christmas. We got our pictures in the school paper for it and a mention in the alumni news letter, it was a very big deal... Anyway, that was me. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought it was journalism, although I had just joined the theatre program in school and was really enjoying the thought that I could be Rudy rather than watching her on tv...

Anyway, The Cosby Show, the name of the episode was "It's A Boy!" Here is the blurb about it: "Having broken up with Slide, Pam sets her sights on Aaron, a new student whose brains, compassion and integrity are all top of the class. Meanwhile, Alfred, a nervous expectant father turns to Cliff for tips on how to play basketball with his future son. Alfred also gets some insights from Theo on how boys view their fathers when it comes to sports. And both Alfred and Cliff get an enlightening lesson from their wives. Finally, Olivia announces her intention of becoming a doctor as well as a professional football player." Alfred has pretty sizeable role. More than just the single shot in Cliff's office with his wife, he hangs around during the entire episode trying to learn to play basketball so he can teach his son (when he's born)... Anyway, just another guest star played by a NY actor that got to be on the show, his name is Ray DeMattis. At first I thought it was Joe Pesci but this guy was funnier and more familiar and I when I realized why.. I'll get to that in a minute. Go to IMDB- he's done a bunch... most recently I saw him in West Virginia I was his stage manager and he was playing Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly. Not really a huge deal, I work with actors all the time and most of them have been on Law and Order and many of them have been doing this a long time. I've been the intern to 3 stars of MASH and a 70s disco singer, but it was the fact that I watched him when I was younger and had no idea what life had in store for me. I don't know, I guess the whole point is just that it's good. I feel like a commercial. Life is cool and it just feels like a story you tell you kids and since I don't have any of those... I blogged! Whatever don't be mad at me, you are the one reading blogs!