General Schmeneral
You might have class with Adrienne Herrera, GS, but you might never know that she once sang with Fleetwood Mac, belly-danced professionally, or performed with a Mexican Elvis impersonator. Students in the School of General Studies are often enigmatic, but it took several sessions of an English seminar before I realized that Adrienne was quite a character. Once, discussing a production of Hamlet she had seen, she said that she felt unconvinced by the actor playing Hamlet. “I mean, did you really believe,” she said emphatically, “that he was, like, a melancholy Dane?” And when our class read Oscar Wilde’s Salome, Adrienne spontaneously revealed that she had once played the title character (who is famously seductive and intense) in a Los Angeles production. Needless to say, I was impressed.
So when did you start acting?
Right out of high school. Well, I started at community college where I was taking all these classes like biology and I think I lasted about two classes and then I dropped out. I mean I had had no intention of going to college—none whatsoever.
Because you wanted to be an actress?
I don’t think I wanted to be anything. I think I just was an idiot. My dad bribed me into going to college and he bought me a car—that was a good bribe.
But you dropped out?
He didn’t say I had to stay in! And I decided I wanted to go to acting school. I’d moved back to Orange County and there was this good acting school in Los Angeles and with my new car I would drive every day to study acting. And I couldn’t really afford the classes ’cause they were really expensive so I would sweep the floors and empty garbage and stuff like that.
Did you start working professionally?
Yeah. And at that point I was like literally right out of high school. It wasn’t like I cared so much about being a star, I just wanted to be a good actor, and I was, like, wow, there are people that think I’m a good actor! And that’s a huge thing when you’re very young.
So you did mostly theater?
Yes. And I did a lot of music videos and some commercials…
What kind of music videos?
I was in a Counting Crows video and REM videos—like three REM videos…
Wow, were you the “hot girl”?
In a couple of them ... I did one PM Dawn one where I was one of the hot girls and I was in a Foo Fighters video and I was ... well, I don’t think there were any hot girls, it was kind of a creepy video.
What song?
This song called “Everlong.” I think I had like a little streak there for a year or two when I was really skinny and I was, like, taking diet pills and I might have filled that role, but ... No, I never thought that about myself. I always wanted to be an actor, I never wanted to be the, like the…
Babe?
Yeah, ’cause the babe was never the interesting character. Like even in Hamlet: if you had to pick between Hamlet and Ophelia and all other things were equal, who would wanna be Ophelia? She croaks!
Oh, but Ophelia is pretty cool.
Yeah, but she doesn’t have all the speeches.
What were your favorite roles that you did or most interesting ... and also like weirdest or also like worst and most horrible?
Most horrible, I did a movie like a B B B minus movie and I played this woman who comes and takes pictures at a restaurant. So I was supposed to go [sings, and simulates holding a camera] “Hello, my name is Tamara and I’ve got this camera and if you really love her you’ll want a picture of her,” like that. And the guy in the scene was like a second-rate TV actor and the woman was a Playboy Playmate and so the two of them proceed to coach me on how to do my thing and I’m thinking, like, “Oh! These lines are so despicably bad and the premise of this film is dreadful and there is this Playboy Playmate coaching me. She’s giving me, like, direct line readings, she’s singing ...” Horrible!
So did you say that you had played Salome?
Yeah. That was interesting. I had done some belly dancing…
Like, professionally?
Yeah.
So what was your dance of the seven veils like?
Well ... I wasn’t a great dancer then, so I would say it was very searching and sort of, um ... well, I was doing my best.
Were you naked under your veils?
No! I had, like, a top with some things coming off of it. I think I was pretty uncomfortable.
Why did you decide to come back to school?
So, I had done acting for a long time and I sang in a rock band, a couple of different rock bands, and I was a backup singer…
For whom?
Well, I was in a, uh ... Mexican Elvis impersonator’s band called El Vez.
Wow. Is it in Spanish?
Well, what he does is he takes Elvis songs and changes the lyrics to make them about Chicano positive themes and I was one of his background singer/dancers.
And then I worked on the road crew for Fleetwood Mac and Jane’s Addiction and I actually got to sing with Fleetwood Mac.
Wait, what do mean on the road crew? Did you move heavy stuff?
No, it was catering… No, I set up the dining room. My job was, like, literally setting up the chairs and tables and doing little flower arrangements and making sure that this person had their wine and this person had their soda water and this one had her brussel sprouts.
How did you end up singing with Fleetwood Mac?
One of their singers was ill and I just ... well, background singing is, you know, it’s not like being the lead singer. And with a band like Fleetwood Mac they have like nine or 10 people on stage.
Why Columbia?
Because if I was going to go back to college I was going to do it in a big way. Like, I wasn’t going to go to community college or some state school. Because to me, going to college at this time is extremely subversive. Extremely subversive. None of my family members went to college. My dad was always trying to get me to go and I was always resisting and, you know, none of my friends have done it. It’s been amazing. I’ve had some really great experiences with books.