NOH8, folks! Time to represent.

We've come a long way since I last posted, as a movement and personally. The Prop 8 Trial is nearing completion in the Ninth Circuit, Washington D.C. is issuing same sex marriage certificates and my wife and I have moved back to the East Coast, where I'm eagerly pursuing a masters in Queer Media Advocacy, hoping to change the world through the sites and sounds we imbibe.

In my journalism class, where we were hotly debating our own responsibility as minorities to represent our respective peoples, my classmates basically threw up their hands in disgust and surrender, saying there's no way to fight mass media's marginalization. I begged to differ. I was shouted down. But I still get out and about and do things like Abam Bouska's NOH8 Campaign photo shoot, which recently made it to NYC. When people criticized my film The D Word for not representing them (just as I criticized The L Word for not representing me), I encouraged them to pick up a camera and document their world, just like I had. If you can make them think while they're laughing, all the better. Just don't sit on your a** and complain fatalistically in a classroom. DO SOMETHING. Represent, people.

Shoot me now

Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of NJ Turnpike kept me from joining the 3rd day of shooting on my latest script, here in NYC. From one emotional roller coaster to another, happily.

I am so many people...

New Yorker.  - just spent my last night in my NYC pad for the next 2 years. (I miss it already.)

Aunt. - just created a play in one hour with my nieces and nephew which we performed 1.5 times in one night. (It was a hit.)

Writer. - just checked-in with my lead actress/producer after the 1st day of shooting in NYC on my latest script. (All went well.)

Daughter. - just shopped for provisions for my parents in the wake of an orthpaedic mishap. (Everyone will be OK.)

Peace Child. - just arrived at the 25th Anniversary Reunion of Peace Child (it's my 20th anniversary) and hung out with many old and far-away friends, like Ella & her daughter Dasha (pictured below) all the way from Moscow. Last time I saw Ella was in Baltimore in 1988, clutching my white graduation dress, in which she went on to get married. (Many more emotional reunions to come tomorrow...)

Just to name a few...

How many more people will I be tomorrow?

It's All Good...

Yep. That's me in the NYC snow. Happier than a pig in sh*t. Not quite the balmy L.A. I've been inhabiting for the past 3 months. This trip back is: many birthdays (and parties) of many loved one's, Valentine's Day, and the 1st Anniversary for me & my sweetie. And I love snow, too. So, it's all good...

Aroma

Simmering Tunisian Eggplant Appetizer, smoky Sundried Tomato & White Bean dip and the aromas of a whole host of other goodies have been wafting through my bungalow for the past few days. That, and the smell of blood (hammered my thumb), sweat (it ain't easy hanging curtains), and tears (did I mention the thumb?) have filled this humble abode in preparation for a little shindig last night. Apparently it smells a lot better here, than in my NYC 'hood at the moment. I hope the stink is gone by the time I'm "wheels down" @ JFK tomorrow night. At least everyone's OK back East, noses crinkled. And my party didn't stink, either...

Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts. Literal creature comforts. I think if I'd had my pets with me in L.A. for the past 3 weeks, I wouldn't have been so distressed about every little thing that went wrong or was done wrong to me. It's just been a rolling frustration train. The flight back to JFK was 3/4 turbulent. I get back to NYC and try to unwind by seeing a movie w/my sweetie, and instead my mobile phone gets flushed down the toilet @ the theater (yes, I reached in and rescued it, but it's a soggy goner). See? Even in NYC (or on the way to NYC), things go wrong and infuriate. The difference being, I get to come home to my apartment of 12 years, cuddle with my cats and kiss my girlfriend. Instant anti-anxiety pill. Did I mention my meds were stolen by the infamous TSA personel as they handled my bags? So, I'll get another prescription and then a pedicure at my neighborhood nail place where they know my battered feet well... I can let it roll off my back, or feet or cats. You get the point.

The reason for my return East (aside from the need to aleviate extreme withdrawal symptoms)? The screening of "Two Hands," a doc short by Nathaniel Kahn about the remarkable pianist Leon Fleisher. How's this sound for a swanky evening?
1. Private screening of "Two Hands" @ Makor.
2. Triumphant concert by Leon Fleisher @ Avery Fisher Hall.
3. Celebratory dinner with extraordinary people @ Cafe Des Artistes.


Nathaniel Kahn, Leon Fleisher & Katherine Jacobson

I think I can handle whatever L.A. throws at me for the next stretch. I'm Big Apple-fortified for now.

Thanksgiving out West

Sitting here watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV (all 13" of it off of Craig's List) gives me a little reprieve from the West Coast. It brings up giddy memories of watching the inflation of the parade balloons, tethered on the Upper West Side by the AMNH, thousands of kids agog at the nearness of a gigantic Kermit. Me agog, too.

There's Ballet Hispanico - they're on my block on the UWS! There's Sesame Workshop, my former awesome workplace. Big Bird looks a little deflated... My friend Liz Warner used to work the parade every year, putting around in a golf cart up & down the route with dignitaries in tow. Now Liz is here in L.A. as a morning DJ for 103.1 FM, and a friendly presence for me.

I've been in L.A. for 2 weeks, now. I've got an apartment, a car, (most) furniture, food, non-working cable TV and an intermittent internet connection. And a neighbor across the way with a rooster (and attendent chickens) that crows starting around 4am, and then whenever he feels like it after that. My immediate neighbors have all been incredibly nice and helpful and welcoming. I've also got great friends, new and old, who've been looking out for me as I take my first baby steps in the City of Angels.

As I spent the past 3 days in misery and anger on the phone w/Time Warner Cable on my upstairs neighbor's borrowed phone (I've only got my NYC mobile phone, so when I call the L.A. TWC, the message says "It appears that you are calling from a number outside of California, please hang up and try the East Coast number. Click.), on hold for hours, complaining about no-show technichians and their general lack of service, I realize that as flawed as they are on the East Coast, at least they answer the phone in under 30 minutes and show up for appointments. The Angelenos to whom I bemoan this eggregious behavior aren't surprised at all. Every one of them, nonplussed, explains that there really isn't a concept of customer service out here. Oy!

I made the most of my time, while waiting 8am-6pm for technicians everyday, by building furniture, cooking/baking and putting up curtains. Setting up a home here just makes me long for the one that's already set-up back there, and the gorgeous talented redhead who's baking cookies in it. If my internet connection decides to stay mostly "on," I'll video-conference with my sweetie and family, all gathered together in Baltimore. If I can't be with them, at least they can be with each other. I'll be with family friends from synagogue back in Baltimore, who are kindly taking me in. As my new neighbor Guin said "You're a Thanksgiving orphan, huh?"

I know I'll start thinking of this place as home eventually (the comfy new mattress helps), but for now, I'm counting the days - 7 - until I go back to NYC, my adult home. I need my family, my sweetie, my pets, my friends. I need my fill of the East Coast. Withdrawal is a bitch. And I'm thankful for the heartache of it all, and the means to pursue my dreams.

Like The Way I Do

Tasha and the other Lesbian Overtones rock the Go NYC house!

Well, I did it. I sang my first solo with The Lesbian Overtones at the Go NYC Magazine 4th Anniversary Party! I belted out Melissa Etheridge's anthem of adultery "Like The Way I Do." Too bad nobody could hear it.

I was the lone Overtone at the soundcheck, and the monitors and mics were great, but during the show there was a ton of feedback on the mics and nada on the monitors. We couldn't hear ourselves and only the first row or so of sweaty lesbians caught an earful. It's a shame, because we rocked in a newly reconstitued form - 2 of our beloved 'Tones went off to pursue their educational and filmmaking dreams - to be replaced with 2 new sparkling musical personalities. I will be the next to go. So, our gig at Mo Pitkins this Tuesday night will be my tearful last. I'll always be a Lesbian Overtone at heart, even on the Western shore of this Sapphic country.

The evening wasn't a total bust - my picture kept flashing overhead and on monitors throughout the club as one of the 100 Women We Love (always good for an ego boost) - while I hung out with many of the women I love:

Dasha, Laura, Sarah, Erin       and        Liz Dahmen a.k.a. Terry Tone

Jen Howd, Michelle Wolff, Julie Neumark

So, be there for my farewell performance, because really, no one does it Like The Way I Do:
Coming Out
October, 24 2006
8:30pm at Mo Pitkin's
34 Avenue A, New York, 10009
Cost: $5

New Yorker at heart

image from CBSnews.com

Just as I'm getting down to the nitty-gritty planning of my move out West, a grim reminder that I'm truly a New Yorker at heart: A plane crashes into a hi-rise building in Manhattan, killing a Yankee pitcher, no less. I was at a doctor's appointment in a hospital complex when the news broke; ambulances streamed out of the hospital and down to 72nd Street - that's what prompted me to check the latest news on my mobile phone. Instant horror on a tiny screen. I'm sure I'm not the only person shaken by 9/11 flashbacks.

Of course we all remember exactly what we were doing when 9/11 occured - I believe it was the beginning of the end of my love relationship at the time. I stood frozen in front of the unfolding terror on TV while she went out for groceries and cash in anticipation of shortages. When she got back I said "I'm a New Yorker." She said "I really miss Seattle." She always said that she couldn't imagine me living anywhere but the Big Apple. But she was wrong. I would've moved anywhere to be with her. Now I'm moving for myself.

Yes, LA scares me - mostly because there are earthquakes and people who don't read the New York Times. I'm scared that I'll develop road rage and skin cancer. I'm terrified that I'll go nuts without my pets, girlfriend and family (not neccessarily in that order). I'm anxious about finding a car and a place to live. Until today, I feared that I'd lose my New York-iness. So, a trauma solidified my NYC credentials, but they were minted by the love of Broadway, the hum of the subway and the beautiful diversity of its inhabitants.

You can take the girl out of New york, but you can't take New York out of the girl. Westward-ho!

Under The Pink Carpet

And the press never ends... Back at our beloved Drunken Pussycat, Henrietta Hudson's alter ego in "The D Word," some cast and I sat down to chat about our little film that could to Robin Cloud of "Under The Pink Carpet," a cable access show like the gay "Entertainment Tonight." It's been nearly 2 years since we shot in HH, but it still feels like home. The nicest part about it all was hearing my actresses (yes, I use the possesive), Mellyss'ah Mavour and Victoria Soyer, talk about how wonderful they felt about the experience of shooting our little show. Like I said then, and I'll always believe: no matter what crap went down on set that day, I always went to bed with a smile on my face - knowing how lucky I was to be making MY movie with cool people. May I always carry that joy.

PS - notice that "212" shirt? That's my way of saying "I'm a New Yorker, dammit!" and why I made fun of LA...

Terrorists Suck; Liberty Rules

I'm a die-hard NY Liberty fan.

I keep going to games even though they do things like lose by 33 points to Indiana this week. I cheer like a maniac in my season subscription seats. I throw away my $10 Nalgene water bottle after standing in line for nearly 10 minutes to get through security at Madison Square Garden.

Wait. I did what?

Yeah, I trashed my favorite H2O bottle filled with my own home-Britta-filtered water, just so I could get in the door to watch my beloved 2nd-to-last place team in their 2nd-to-last game of the season. It used to be that security would confiscate bottles of soda and water at the door for 2 obnoxious reasons: 1. So that you'd be forced to buy liquid refreshment at insanely inflated prices from their concession stands inside and 2. To prevent the nasty bottle-cap-throwing incidents of Men's games, whereby irrate fans would toss trash onto the court. When you buy a bottle of water inside MSG, they take the cap off and hand you the bottle. Annoying to say the least. So, when they took my Nalgene bottle off of me at the gate this evening, thanks to the most recent terrorist plot in the news, it was more of a test than I'd imagined it to be. Many penny-pinching patrons like myself, when presented with the choice of their sodas or the game, chose to turn around with their pop in hand. As if the attendence at Liberty games wasn't dismal enough due to their abysmal record...!

As a person with a history of Kidney stones, I carry and chug water at all times. It is nearly impossible to separate me from my water bottle. I was so pissed-off that, parched, I refused to buy a beverage through the first half. But then my thirst got the best of me, and I plunked down $4 for a Dasani Water with no cap. Bastards! It was at that moment I swore that the Liberty were going to win this game, dammit.

And they did, in a nail-biter. With the game tied at 62, the ball in NY's possession, Barb Farris sunk the winning basket with 1.7 seconds to go. A thrilling victory, made possible, in part, by angry loyal fans willing them victory as compensation for lost goods. And with this win my bumbling lovable team became the third-to-last team in the Eastern Conference. We still got some pride, you know.

I Heart My Lesbians

Why would I get up before the Sun on a Sunday, trek down to a sandy field on the bank of the East River, don a shirt 5 sizes too small and dance around a softball diamond? To shoot a comic video with friends, of course! Laura & Nicole, the dynamic duo who brought "His Name Is Cosmo" to the LGBT film festival circuit, have teamed up again to film an hysterical music video for Clay Drinko's single"I Heart My Lesbians."

"Cosmo..." screened with "The D Word" at the Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival earlier this year and the fest's director asked us in the Q&A afterwards if there was a small lesbian filmmaking mafia (the "Muffia" as it were) in NYC. We laughed it off, but if you're hitting the queer festival circuit, the connections seem clear. The Muffia is as tangled-up as the dyke dating scene in Park Slope. An example of 6 Degrees of Dasha Snyder:

- Dasha Snyder (that's me) took an editing class at Dyke TV, taught by Erin Greenwell.
- Erin Greenwell edited "The D Word" and wrote/directed/produced "Mom" starring Julie Goldman.
- Julie Goldman (was also stared in "The D Word") is a writer for Mr. Murray Hill.
- Murray Hill has hosted "The Lesbian Overtones" (all lesbian, all a cappella, all the time) several times at his show.
- "The Lesbian Overtones" is made up of several illustrious voices, including it's founder's, Elizabeth Dahmen.
- Liz Dahmen has appeared in many queer shorts, including "Bar Talk (also starring Alix Olson who made "Left Lane" with Samantha Farinella)" "His Name is Cosmo," & "Mom" which brings us back to Erin Greenwell and Dyke TV, which leads to Jules Roskam who made "Transparent" and Sam Feder who made "Boy I Am" which were both shown at NewFest, where Dasha works and met Cherien Dabis who made "Little Black Boot" which was funded by Power-Up, etc...

So you can see how the connections pile up for the Muffia. No wonder they put me in the "Muffy" shirt for the shoot...

Fear is just a lack of imagination

That really IS Melissa Etheridge jamming at MSG

Melissa Etheridge concerts, like the one last night at Madison Square Garden, are like primal scream therapy: cathartic, felt in the gut, deeply emotional, and in this performer's case, unabashedly sexual and spiritually uplifting. Hair still closely cropped after her bout with breast cancer treatment, "The Ridge" rocked the house with oldies, indignant anthems and joyful tributes. Thank you American Express Gold Card Events for the awesome seats!

For a brief moment, my sweetie and I thought we might get to actually meet the rock goddess as tag-alongs to Shelly Mars and Urvashi Vaid, also sitting in our section, but the opportunity vanished as quickly as it was proffered. We had mused on our way to the concert how we might get to meet with Melissa Etheridge and her wife Tammy Lynn Michaels, not just as fans, but to talk some business for "To Do:" - a script about a young lesbian with breast cancer with a plum role for Tammy in it! We laughed it off as an impossibility, but when the slim chance of success appeared, we both wondered at the coincidence of speaking that which you desire, and it's appearence in the realm of possibility. No more excuses: as Melissa said from the stage last night: "Fear is just a lack of imagination."

I'm a writer; I've got plenty of imagination to go around.

New York Jacuzzi

You're looking at a New York take-over of the most prime real estate at the OutFest Filmmaker Pool Party in the Hollywood Hills. Atop a gorgreous home on Mulholland Drive, a clutch of NYers's took the dive into the jacuzzi with a view of Universal Studios. This was my first function as a screenwriting lab fellow, bright pink credential around my neck to make it official.


Dasha & fellow Lesbian Overtone Laura

I'm sporting my bathing shirt (SPF 30+) from North Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia - where The D Word premiered last year. To bring home that cherished fact, I walked into the pool party and smack dab into the arms of Robyn Patterson, the brains behind "Straight Hike For The Butch Dyke." We met in Sydney and hung out again at Frameline last June, happily thrown together as our films made a nice match (2 parodies of current queer TV shows) - speaking of which, Jo Gell, filmmaker of "Candy Bar Presents Lesbian Pop Idol!", which was also coupled w/The D Word at festivals, sloshed out of the pool for a wet greeting. With New Zealand and London covered, it was without surprise that I ran into New Yorker after New Yorker after New Yorker.



Of course, being New Yorkers, we're used to things like walking and using public transportation. Unfortuantely, that means we occassionally do stupid human things like lock our car keys in the trunk. Last I saw Stephanie & Madeliene, it was puzzling over the convertable trunk on the side of the road as the police pulled-up - while they called AAA, the rental company and Chrysler dealerships to help them out of this non-car-culture mistake of tow-truck proportions.

I'm just thankful that I got GPS navigation on my rental car...

True Colors

Yes, that really IS Cyndi Lauper, posing as one of us, showing her true colors as a Lesbian Overtone last night at Murray Hill's PRIDE Show!

More to come when I'm actually awake and looked through the pictures...

OK! So, Tammy Tone's sweetie Dedi took some awesone photos (like the one above) of the night's shenanigans. Check them out here.

Murray Hill's My Man

Tasha Tone & her man, Mr. Murray Hill

Murray's my man as of late. First as host of the Miss LEZ Pageant, where I warbled with my fellow Lesbian Overtones, and again tomorrow night in the 'tones' farewell performance (we'll be on hiatus for a while) at Murray Hill's midnight PRIDE show at Mo Pitkins. After so many beautiful women and downtown celebrities, I'll be ready for the shy retiring life of a writer when I hit LA for OutFest...!


We're all stars onstage at the Kintting Factory

Fly by

Michelle Wolff & Jen Katz at the Butterfly Conservatory - Can you tell there's a Moth/Butterfly motif in the script?

"To Do:"'s collaborators cheer on the NY Liberty

How amazing it is to watch these two people who've been colaborating with me long-distance, finally meet face to face! I must admit, I've been incredibly nervous about this cinematic match I made in my head nearly a year ago. We connect so well over email and phone and now we know it all works well in person, too. It's not amazing enough that we made a great script together - we're going to make a great film together, too. Michelle from LA, Jen from Brooklyn and me from the UWS heading down to Baltimore to shoot "To Do:" will round out the dream-turned-reality filmmaking for me. Now we just need to raise $1 million bucks...

Bright Lights

Michelle Wolff lights it up at Henrietta's

See why I cast Michelle in "To Do:"? She just glows... We hit the town last night to hang and celebrate getting into the OutFest Screenwriters Lab! Yes, I'm making it official, since OutFest doesn't seem to be in any great rush to announce the lab fellows.



More big news: The Lesbian Overtones, of which I am Tasha Tone, will be performing one of our very last gigs together at the Miss LEZ Pageant at the Knitting Factory this weekend. So, GO BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW! Many shenanigans and beers will be had by all...

Rose Troche's Practical Guide to Filmmaking

Rose Troche at the 3rd Annual NewFest Filmmakers Forum

Whew! Another NewFest down. This year marked my 3rd on staff as Co-cordinator for the NewFest Filmmakers Forum. We survived roof leaks, blank tapes, DVD distortion, UPS mis-deliveries, whacked filmmakers, flooded subways and ourselves to pull off the 18th annual festival. The hilight for me? "Rose Troche's Practical Guide to Filmmaking" - the only sold-out panel, AND most informative and humorous. I'm proud to have been a part of it all. The Filmmakers Forum was another success and I can finally catch up on a little sleep. See you all next year!

You really like me...

At least Go NYC Magazine LOVES me... I'm right below Portia De Rossi and just above Stacy Codicow in the listings/rankings/accounting of lovable lesbians with a heightened profile in 2006. As my friend Jen put it "Under Portia? That's HOT." Does that make me a bottom to Ellen's sweetheart or a top to Power-Up's founder? (Or sideways to Transexual Menace's Riki Anne Wilchins?) Only my sweetie knows...