The Ta Ta Weenie Club

The Ta Ta Weenie Club is a homespun collection of twenty-one stories which take place in Vermont during the ’60s and early ’70s, an era before car seats, airbags, and childproof caps. A time and place when a kid could leave the house in the morning to go out and play until dusk with loyal friends and tolerated family. From county fairs and middle school dances, to loving hound dogs, and mean teachers, it was a period where a parent’s authority was the law and was backed up by real means. This humorous story collection reveals life’s lessons that shaped the future of a young man.

Bill Torrey of Jericho, Vermont

Bill Torrey is a sixth generation Vermonter who's kin were at Fort Ticonderoga with Ethan Allen in 1775, making his roots deeply attached to the forested hills of the state.  He grew up on his family's farmstead in Essex during the 60's and early '70's.  By following the rugged heritage of his family, Bill was led to a life working in the woods of Vermont.  When he was 19, he was working as a lumberjack earning eighty cents a tree and all the sawdust he could eat. 

He soon went off on his own with small, light on the land equipment to better serve the forest and his conscience.  His stewardship of the land is regarded as some of the best practiced in the state of Vermont.  Bill has supplied certified, sustainably harvested timber on construction projects for the University of Vermont, Middlebury College, The Vermont Maritime Museum, Shelburne Museum, and the Green Mountain Club.  In the fall of 2013, Bill retired from logging with most of his sanity and darn near all his fingers and toes.

Bill wrote a monthly column for Outdoor Magazine for more than three years.  He's been published by the North American Hunting Club and was a member of The Burlington Free Press Writer’s Group.  Northern Woodlands magazine solicited an article from him that it plans to publish in an up coming issue.

In the spring of 2014, Bill decided to give oral storytelling a try. He had spent most of his life working alone in the woods, talking mainly to trees, and decided to branch out.  He entered five Moth Story Slams in Burlington, winning three.  He also won The Vermont Pubic Radio's 2014 Listeners Appreciation Party Story Slam Competition.

In 2015, Bill he entered five Extempo Storytelling Competitions, winning three ( www.extempovt.com). He won the December 2015 Moth Story Slam as well.  Bill has performed by invitation at The Flynn Theater in Burlington, Middlebury College, The Vermont Folk Life Center, and the Vermont State House.