MLP on RNR

I just watched Mary Louise Parker on David Letterman. He showed a photo of her walking down the street, walking away from the photographer, her arms were interlocked with the man walking to her left (I'll give you one guess who that was), and her dress had ridden up revealing her derriere. I swear it was the same dress she was wearing when she was in the RNR studio's on Saturday, and that street sure did look familiar. So what I want to know is, who took a picture of Mary Louise Parker's assets?!, and than sent it to David Letterman! cause I can't find a trace of it on the internet and I've googled every form of the word buttock I can think of.

   The fact is, it's hard not to behave a little star struck or in the case of the photographer paparazzified in the presence of someone who's been in Woody Allen movies, accepted Emmy's and written articles for Esquire (amongst other things she's done in Esquire). I myself spent a good part of The RNR Charlie Mars Rocking River Cruise trying not to get caught staring at Mary Louise Parker (henceforth referred to as MLP). Angels In America is one of my favorite movies. I have it on DVD and have watched it many times, it's six hours long. I've been an avid Weeds smoker....I mean watcher since the series began in 2005. I've seen her in Woody Allen movies, in movies with Brad Pitt and Drew Barrymore. So...I looked, I was drawn to the movie star on board the Harbor Queen. The guy who invented the internet could have been standing right next to me, but he's never been in People Magazine and he's not Al Gore. I wanted to see what she was wearing; a cute black mini, with a white tank top and a black vest. I wanted to check out who she was with; she was a guest of Charlie Mars and had her brother and two best friends on board with her. I was curious how people would react to her; with cordial delight, and alot of pictures. I heard her tell Tobias Russell, the local musician that opened up for Charlie Mars, she thought he really had something special. She let her hair down and danced and seemed to being doing just about the same as the rest of us, enjoying a summer night on the Severn, with good friends and great music. At one point I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to find MLP balancing/excusing herself as she passed me. I looked up at her and said, "You're much taller in real life". "Real life", she repeated and laughed, than she pointed to her heels. Later I briefly had the chance to meet her and talk to her about seeing her the next day in the studio. She told me how much trouble she had narrowing the music from her 7 ipods down to an hour long show and we went our separate ways.

   That night I dreamt I was in the studio with MLP and couldn't get the microphone or my mouth to work, and she kept quizzing me, "What's track 4 on The Rolling Stone's Sticky Fingers? What's track 7 on R.E.M.'s Green Album?" It was a nightmare.

   The next day when she showed up in the RNR studios she couldn't have been more like an everyday person than she was. She looked like a woman who had been out on a Rockin' River Cruise the night before. Her hair wasn't done, she wasn't wearing any make-up and she looked like she was wearing the most comfortable thing she owned. In short she looked much the same way I do when I'm in the RNR studios. She was still lovely, she's got beautiful porcelain skin, she was long and graceful, and her smile was infectious.

   I had assumed that I would introduce her, establish who she was (to those who have been living without t.v., papers or gossip rags) and than kind of hang back, engineer the show and let her take over the broadcasting reigns. When I opened the mic, as I've done so many times before and looked across at Mary Louise Parker sitting in front of me, my dreams from the night before started to bleed into reality (I'm psychic). Even though I had thought about that moment a hundred times, I drew a blank. As much as I'd like to think I'm cool and confident enough to hang with Mary Louise Parker, I was star-struck and nervous. Her down- to- earth attitude quickly put me at ease. I regained my composure and we muddled through the introduction. When the mic was turned off we continued to talk about music and the more we talked about a subject we're both so passionate about the more her persona, or the persona I had created for her disappeared and the more she became just another music lover. I found out she's never met her idol Tom Waits, the closest she ever got was to get a wave from him outside one of his shows, and she said that was enough for her. We talked about our kids and shared photos. She said her son loves Wilco and The Josh Ritter song "To The Dogs Or Whoever" because he says 'underwear' in it. We actually talked quite a bit about Josh Ritter, it seems I'm not the only one who's smitten with him. When we were on air she talked about writing an article about Josh Ritter for Esquire, she said she and her editor had a running joke but didn't say what it was. Off air she admitted the joke was, "Why doesn't Josh Ritter love me?!" A sentiment I can relate to. We talked in-depthly about his girlfriend. We talked about Angels In America, she said it was her favorite role. We talked about the dream scene in Angels in America, which also includes Justin Kirk, the actor who currently stars with her on Weeds as Uncle Andy. She said they filmed that scene in one take. She said they work really well together and her scenes with him on Weeds are the most fun to film. I told her I liked her alot better than Nancy Botwin. We talked about what a terrible mother her character on Weeds is, so much so that it's sometimes difficult to watch and she said that's exactly what she's going for even though the creators try to keep the viewers sympathetic to Nancy. She said they cut alot of her lines. She mentioned Elvis Costello several times. She said she'd been a guest at one of the tapings for his show Spectacle, the one with his wife Diana Krall. She said they had to keep stopping and  re-shooting because Krall was singing the wrong lyrics. She seemed disappointed that she wasn't able to fit an Elvis Costello song into her set list but she had a plane to catch. I in turn was disappointed I never asked her what her favorite Elvis Costello song is. She talked about some other artists she didn't get the chance to play; Wilco, NRBQ, Ricki Lee Jones. She was obviously moved by the music she chose, music she loves, music that means something to her. She was singing along and even danced to Stevie Wonder. She made me feel welcome to share it all with her and I even danced a little bit too.