(playful music) - [Announcer] Welcome everyone to Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker series.

(audience applauds) - Welcome to the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker series.

My name's Chrisstina Hamilton, the series director.

And I am thrilled, we are at the top of a new season.

We have a dynamic roster of guests to challenge and inspire you.

All the details are listed inside the beautiful new brochures that we have available in the lobby.

So pick one up on your way out if you didn't get one on the way in, or find us online.

If you're not a paper person, you can go to pennystampsevents.org, or sign up to get email announcements from the website, or just join us on Instagram, or X, or your favorite social media at Penny Stamps Speaker Series, and plan to join us here most Thursdays.

We will be delving into the theme of Nuance.

Yes, the finer details, tones, shading, and complexities.

It is this rich context of life which connects us.

And today we present a plethora of nuance, all-American, Jewish, lesbian, folk singer, and Cardboard Cobbler, Phranc.

(audience cheers) Yeah.

(laughs) I wanna thank our partners today.

We have our longtime series partner, the Institute for the Humanities, for collaborating on this event.

Truly an exceptional partner.

In addition to the support from series partners, Detroit PBS and Michigan Public.

Michigan Public, I have to get used to that.

That's a new name.

Phranc's appearance today happens in tandem with the exhibition, the Butch Closet.

This is at the Institute for Humanities Gallery, which will open this evening, folks.

Yes, this evening, right after festivities here.

You should join us directly after.

It's a great moment for this deeper dive to fully experience the work and meet the artist.

So join us at the gallery at the Institute for Humanities.

It is at the corner of Washington and Thayer.

There will be a reception, and a meet and greet, and questions can be asked.

And for even more Phranc fair, on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM at the State Theater, just across the way, there will be a free screening of "Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventure in Plastic."

Phranc will be there.

She'll be joined by the filmmaker, Lisa Udelson, who is a U of M alumni as well.

And there will be also a Q&A following that film.

Or next Tuesday, you can join Phranc for Bow Tie Making, a Bow Tie Making Workshop at the Institute at 5:00 PM.

So all of this deeper engagement around Phranc's visit brings us a great opportunity as a community, and so much preparation goes into it.

But first of course comes the vision.

And I wanna thank and commend a collaborator and dear friend, the singular and savvy curator at the Institute for the Humanities Gallery, Amanda Krugliak, for all of that.

(audience applauds) Yeah, Amanda.

Phranc is also here as part of Gender Euphoria.

(audience cheers) Yeah.

Gender Euphoria is a semester-long explosion of queer artists and art making, including performances, exhibitions, conversations, and provocations, exploring how to make art and find queer joy in a state of emergency.

I think, yes, you will see, there's a QR code, there's lots of stuff.

And, of course, Nayland Blake will also be appearing here on this stage as a culminating event in November.

So now, do remember to silence those cell phones.

There will not be a Q&A here today because you're gonna join us directly following at the Institute for the Humanities' corner of Thayer Street and Washington.

And now to introduce our guest, please welcome the progenitor, the purveyor of Gender Euphoria, and infamous performance maven, Professor Holly Hughes.

(audience cheers and applauds) (Holly Hughes shouts) - Yeah.

- [Participant] Yeah, Holly.

- Oh, louder.

I can't hear you.

Woo.

Thank you so much, Chrisstina, for, you know, that fabulous welcome.

I am Holly Hughes.

I'm a professor at the Penny W Stamps School of Art and Design, where I direct the BFA in inter arts performance.

Got any inner artists out there tonight in the audience, any inner artists?

Woo.

All right.

So it is my great pleasure to be kicking off this fantastic series with my friend, longtime friend, an artistic hero, singer, songwriter, visual artist, and queer icon, Phranc.

And I'm not gonna give my long rigamarole about Gender Euphoria.

That was really covered.

There was a QR code that was here a minute ago.

And there's gonna be a person, Leah Crosby.

They are tall.

They have yellow hair.

They're unmistakable handing out flyers with a QR code to find out about our next events, which are on November 1st and 2nd at the Stamps Gallery, a day of conversations with amazing queer artists, including Chris E. Vargas, creator of the Museum of Trans Hirstory and Art, and many other artists.

And on November 2nd, are you ready for a queer haunted house?

(audience shouts) Yes.

You're so ready, right?

To get your gay gula on at six o'clock, free at the Stamps Gallery, and including performances by our in-house band, Iconic Chronic.

It's gonna be fabulous.

And you'll find out more about it when you get the QR code.

So Phranc is perhaps best known for her decades of music making, mostly in the folk rock tradition.

Years before any of her contemporaries, like Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet, Phranc was out there, touring the world, making music about her experience as a butch lesbian, what we might call transmasc in today's parlance, for record labels, large and small.

She was the first out lesbian to be signed to a major record label.

And she toured internationally with bands like the Popes, the Smiths, and Morrissey before he, you know, went sideways.

(audience laughing) I thought about not including that, but, you know, it was a different Morrissey.

Her complete catalog has just been made available.

And she wants to point out that while she's available, you can stream her on any of the streaming platforms.

if you actually want her to get paid for the work she's made, you'll listen to her on Bandcamp.

She's also been working for years as a visual artist.

And the show, which opens tonight, 2001 South Thayer Street, curated by the amazing Amanda Krugliak, is the kind of retrospective of the work she's made under her artist name, the Cardboard Cobbler.

And I first saw the incarnation of this kind of retrospective in LA where it got an amazing rapturous review in the LA Times, "Working In Paper And Cardboard."

Phranc remakes objects associated with her childhood in the 1960s and/or with the queer community.

The childhood objects, usually clothing or toys, fall into a couple of categories, the things she wanted but couldn't have, like button-down plaid shirts that her brother got to wear, or her brother's little league uniform, versus the things that she was forced to wear as somebody who was assigned female at birth, like ultra freely dresses with wide skirts, kilts, things like that, and occasionally the objects that don't reinforce the gender binary, mostly toys, costumes, like an adorable tiny toddlers' lamb chop costume.

My favorite, which Sally is not in the show, someone bought it because it's fabulous.

A baby quilt that she remade in paper with sort of non-binary woodland creatures frolicking around.

She recreates all of these objects in painstaking detail in paper.

First painting the fabric pattern on brown craft paper, and then sewing the garments on a Singer sewing machine.

And, of course, it's a nod to her ancestry of Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, but make it queer, make it feminist.

And Phranc, like most queer people then and now, had to confront at the earliest stages the collision between who she understood herself to be, in her sense of herself and her body, and the collision with the expectations of who she was supposed to be enforced at a very early age by the family of origin.

And when that collision just got too loud and too inescapable at 16 years old, when she claimed fully her female masculinity, she was thrown out of her home.

I wish I could say this is something that only happened in the, you know, way back machine, isn't something that happening now.

But, in fact, a huge percentage of the homeless teens are LGBTQ+.

LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk for self harm and violence.

She made her first paintings of food because she was hungry.

She did find, however, a group of other queer people, queer artists, squatting in buildings.

And that is what allowed her to build a life and reimagine herself, become an artist and musician, and eventually repair her own family ties.

So it's great pleasure.

No further ado, Phranc?

(audience applauds and cheers) (Phranc playing guitar) ♪ It's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old in LA ♪ ♪ I do it every day ♪ ♪ So take your facelifts ♪ and your implants ♪ ♪ I'll get a wheelchair and a bus pass ♪ ♪ And for as long as I can ♪ ♪ I'll eat at the Apple Pan ♪ ♪ 'cause it's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old in LA ♪ ♪ That's where I'm gonna stay ♪ ♪ I've got some friends ♪ that I've been missing ♪ ♪ So I'm grateful just to be living ♪ ♪ And breathe everyday ♪ ♪ The sweet smog of LA ♪ ♪ 'cause it's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old in LA ♪ ♪ I can surf every day ♪ ♪ So take your Botox and your Maalox ♪ ♪ I'll go see Albert and ♪ get a fresh flattop ♪ ♪ I'm not moving away ♪ ♪ My barbers, they're in LA ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old ♪ ♪ It's cool to get old in LA ♪ ♪ And if I'm going gray ♪ ♪ I'll do it on the freeway ♪ ♪ But I'm in Michigan today ♪ ♪ But I'll grow old in LA ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) - Thank you.

It's so great to be here.

I'm Phranc with a Ph and a heard, see, your basic average, all-American, Jewish lesbian folk singer.

And it's a thrill to be here with all of you to talk a little bit about making, making stuff and doing stuff, and trying to describe the magic of making and what a great survival tool art is.

And when I'm making something with my hands and I'm sewing, I'm not thinking.

And it takes me to a special place, takes me to a place where there is no self doubt, there's no depression.

I'm just kind of in this wonderland where I'm not thinking and I'm creating.

And that's kind of magic.

And so to be able to create and create these fantasies things from my head and turn them into objects that are special to me, those fantasies are the same fantasies that I had as a kid, you know?

And fantasies as a child can keep us alive.

You know, we can take ourself to places.

And one of the places where I found the most magic was in a cardboard box.

And that's really how I came to be here today, a cardboard box.

So I'm gonna talk a little bit about the box.

I'm gonna talk a little bit about the Butch Closet, which is my memoir.

And on, oh, Phranc Talks, so I'm Phranc.

And I'm talking about the Butch Closet.

So the Butch Closet, what is it?

It's not a place to hide.

It's kind of the opposite.

It's a place to get ready.

It's a place that's special.

It's a place to keep, you know, totems and things that are precious.

It's a place to get ready, and it's a place to grow.

So I'm gonna share a little bit about the Butch Closet, why I made it, you know, why I'm making a memoir in paper instead of writing a book.

And I'll share with you a few pictures, and then we'll get to go, and hopefully you'll come to the exhibit and actually get to see the Butch Closet and open the door and come on in.

Okay, so I'm old, but I'm really young here.

I'm about three years old, and I look like I'm happy.

But, you know, underneath there is that seed.

I know I didn't choose that outfit for that picture.

But in the next picture, we'll see, I'm very determined.

This is kind of my Prince Valiant bathing suit.

I look like I know where I'm going, right?

And my grandmother always said to me, "You can go anywhere.

Just look like you know where you're going."

And my grandmothers were very, very special to me because they were the ones that stuck out for me when my parents weren't on my side.

They always had my back.

In fact, we'll go to the next slide where I'm developing my style.

(audience laughing) This is my sixth grade style with love beads.

And there was a dress code, which I'll talk about in a second.

And you had to wear a skirt.

So I got very creative.

My skirts always matched my knee socks and my shirts.

And I had a lime green skirt that matched that shirt.

But my grandmothers were great because they let me be who I was.

And if we go to the next slide where I've really developed my style, this was in high school, that time where I was making multiple trips to the library.

One summer, all I did was go to the library and get out tons of books.

There was no Google.

There was nothing to research.

I had to go to the library to do my work.

And I'd come home.

Every queer, gay, and lesbian book I could find, I brought home.

And then I'd schlep them back to the library.

And one day I was with my mom and my grandma, and we were in the station wagon.

And we were taking the books back to the library.

And my mom made a crack about the books.

And my grandmother turned to my mom and she said, "Jackie, don't knock it if you haven't tried it."

(Phranc playing guitar) ♪ Don't tell me what to do ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to say ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to wear ♪ ♪ Or how to cut my hair ♪ ♪ Don't lay your dress code on me ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to do ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to say ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to wear ♪ ♪ Or how to cut my hair ♪ ♪ Don't lay your dress code on me ♪ ♪ And you don't have to prick me ♪ ♪ I bleed anyway ♪ ♪ No, you don't have to prick me ♪ ♪ I bleed anyway ♪ ♪ So don't tell me what ♪ to draw, what to paint ♪ ♪ Who to sleep with, what to think ♪ ♪ What to film, what to see, ♪ ♪ What to watch, who I can be ♪ ♪ What to eat, what to read ♪ ♪ What I want, what I need ♪ ♪ What to think, what to be ♪ ♪ Who I can be ♪ ♪ Don't lay your morality on me ♪ ♪ And you don't have to prick me ♪ ♪ I bleed anyway ♪ ♪ Oh, you don't have to prick me ♪ ♪ I bleed anyway ♪ ♪ So don't tell me what to do ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to say ♪ ♪ Don't tell me what to wear ♪ ♪ Or how to cut my hair ♪ ♪ Don't lay your dress code on me ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) Thank you.

Do we wanna change the guitar thing, Scott?

- [Scott] (indistinct).

Try that, please.

- Okay, hang on.

Technical difficulties.

We're gonna fix it.

You are so respectful.

(audience laughs) Oh, oh.

Uh, there we go, hand.

All right.

(Phranc playing guitar) What do we think?

Are we good?

Magic.

Yes?

Okay.

All right.

So where were we?

Oh, we were in high school.

Okay, so in high school, I had the most amazing journalism teacher.

Now, if we're lucky, we get at least one good teacher when we're in elementary school or high school, that turns us on to all the things that we need to know.

And my teacher, Barbara Bradshaw, turned me on to a lot of women poets that were wonderful, and also to Jill Johnston who wrote "Lesbian Nation."

And then I was like, "Yeah."

So I had my tie, I had my sweater, I carried that under my arm like a Bible 'cause I knew I was a lesbian.

But at my high school, there were two other lesbians.

And they wore dresses, but there wasn't a lot going on at my high school for me.

So I lied to my mom, and I told her that I was going to the library.

And I went to the Women's Center in Venice.

And I went to a drop-in lesbian rap group.

I was 17, and the women were a lot older than me.

And they were sitting in a circle.

And I sat down, and they said, "Hey, why are you here?"

And I said, "'cause I like chicks."

(audience laughing) And they were like, "Okay, but you know why you're here, right?"

And I said, "Yeah, 'cause I like chicks."

And the room started going pee, pee, pee, pee, peep.

And I was way over my head.

Finally, a woman kindly said to me, "Women are not chicks.

Chicks go pee, pee, peep."

So that was my first consciousness raising lesson.

It started at the women's center there.

And then I made my way to downtown LA to the feminist studio workshop at the Women's Building.

And the Women's Building was incredible.

It was started by Judy Chicago, and Arlene Raven, and Sheila Levrant Brettevill, and there were all these incredible women artists that came from all over the country to participate in this program.

And I was in heaven.

So I started working on my music.

I just had this, I had community.

Community is what saved me.

If there's a through line through everything in my life, it's community.

There was community at that women's center.

There was the lesbian history exploration where I cut my hair and I changed my name.

And then I was at the Woman's Building, and I learned to run an offset press and silkscreen, and started working on my songs.

And this next video is my very first day at the Feminist Studio Workshop, introducing myself as Phranc.

I'm Phranc, and, um.

(all laughing) P-H-R-A-N-C. And I'm a musician and an artist.

I'm a musician, and I'm an artist.

And I'm 17 years old.

And I know who I am.

You know?

So everything in my life comes from this feminist foundation.

You know, when I came out, my whole life changed.

It saved my life coming out.

Go to the next.

So I was living on Normal Avenue in this picture.

And go to another shot at the Woman's Building, I'm singing.

You could see I was at the Los Angeles League for Lesbianism in the Arts.

And what happened was I went to, I finished my two-year program, the Feminist Studio Workshop, and I needed to find some more lesbians.

So I went to San Francisco.

And I went to San Francisco, and I didn't find any dykes.

I found punk rock.

So I came back home to LA, and I didn't know anybody that was into punk rock.

And so I go to these shows and I'd put on a suit and tie, and I'd stand up against the wall and try to look cool.

And one day, this guy came up to me, and he said, "You wanna be in a band?"

And I said, "Yeah."

And he says, "Great.

It's called Nervous Gender."

♪ So mommy and I we ♪ never know what to do ♪ ♪ So mommy and I (indistinct) ♪ ♪ So mommy and I get stoned ♪ on Librium and glue ♪ ♪ My daddy brings home the booze ♪ ♪ My mommy's chest, my mommy's chest ♪ ♪ I get all that I want ♪ from my mommy's chest ♪ ♪ My mommy's chest, my mommy's chest ♪ ♪ I got to get home to ♪ her medicine chest ♪ (audience applauds) Nervous Gender was a super queer band of Gerardo, Edward, Michael, and me.

Three fags and a dyke, and we made a lot of noise.

And, you know, here I am, playing acoustic guitar.

It's all synthesizers in this band.

We created a lot of noise.

It was really pretty incredible.

Let's go to the picture of, there's the band.

We were in the bathtub at Gerardo's House.

Michael was taking the picture.

And there's another one of us playing at, I think, Club 88.

So I was in a bunch of bands.

I was in Nervous Gender.

Then there's some flyers from some different shows.

And then I was in another band called Catholic Discipline.

And Catholic Discipline is in the film, "Decline of Western Civilization."

If you've seen that, it's a documentary about 1979 punk community in Los Angeles.

So Catholic Discipline's in that band, in that film.

And then I was in another band called Castration Squad.

(audience laughing) And that band was a lot of fun, too.

Some great women in that band, Shannon, Mary Bat Thing, Alice Bag, and myself.

And during that time in Los Angeles, the punk scene started out really like family.

A bunch of people that didn't fit in anywhere bonded together.

And all of a sudden, I had these peers that were my age, and we were all angry.

And we all liked to have fun.

And some of us taught ourselves instruments and how to play.

Some of us already knew how to play.

But the environment got kind of agro after a while.

And people started wearing swastikas.

And the mosh pits started getting a place where you got hurt instead of having fun.

And as a reaction, I decided to write the song, "Take Off Your Swastika," and played it on the acoustic guitar so that you could hear the words.

Because punk rock and folk music, to me, they're the same.

It's just the volume.

It's so hard to hear the content sometimes.

So that's why I returned to, (Phranc playing guitar) ♪ Take off your swastika ♪ ♪ You're making me angry ♪ ♪ Take off your swastika ♪ ♪ It really nauseates me ♪ ♪ You say, "Phranc, it's just a symbol" ♪ ♪ "It's just an emblem" ♪ ♪ "It's just a righteous decoration" ♪ ♪ Well, it means ♪ ♪ A little more to me ♪ ♪ Because I'm a Jewish lesbian ♪ ♪ And you're saying ♪ ♪ Fascism isn't anarchy ♪ ♪ Fascism isn't anarchy ♪ ♪ Fascism is not anarchy ♪ ♪ If it was you in those ovens ♪ ♪ You wouldn't think it was so cool ♪ ♪ And if it was you in those ovens ♪ ♪ You wouldn't think it was so cool ♪ ♪ If it was you in those ovens ♪ ♪ You wouldn't think it ♪ was so goddamn cool ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) So that's when I started introducing myself on stage as the all-American, Jewish lesbian folk singer.

And I say all-American, not to be patriotic, but if you are an athlete and know sports, you know how important all-American is.

All-American, when you're all-American, you're like in the top 10.

So I've always aspired to be in the top 10 Jewish lesbian folk singers.

(audience laughing) So I was playing solo now, was going out and playing all these punk rock venues with all the same bands.

I was just playing this guitar.

And I wanted to make a record.

I didn't know how to make a record.

But I had friends that had made records.

And Craig Lee from the Bags and Ethan James from Radio Tokyo Studios took me into the studio.

And I made this record folk singer that came out in 1985.

♪ Oh, give me a pair of ♪ pectorals like Diana Nyad ♪ ♪ I wanna swim 89 miles ♪ ♪ Give me a set of deltoids ♪ like Katie Ledecky ♪ ♪ I wanna be strong like those Amazons ♪ ♪ I wanna learn to dribble ♪ like Brittney Griner ♪ ♪ I wanna learn to shoot ♪ like Caitlin Clark ♪ ♪ I wanted to play for ♪ the Dallas Diamonds ♪ ♪ And live with Martina ♪ like Nancy Lieberman ♪ ♪ Strong, strong ♪ ♪ Strong, strong like an Amazon ♪ ♪ I wanna play badminton ♪ like Utami Kinard ♪ ♪ I wanna smash that ♪ birdie like Kristie Cook ♪ ♪ I want to acquire ♪ the perfect drop shot ♪ ♪ Have total control ♪ over that shuttlecock ♪ ♪ Strong, strong ♪ ♪ Strong, strong like an Amazon ♪ ♪ And I wanna learn to ♪ drive like Janet Guthrie ♪ ♪ I wanna zoom zoom ♪ like Cha Cha Muldowney ♪ ♪ I want to be strong like those Amazons ♪ ♪ I wanna be strong, ♪ strong like those Amazons ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) Thanks, and then there are some of the girls from the swim team.

And so I made that first record and Rhino Records put that out.

And then I went into the studio, and I made this next record.

♪ I am a girl and by ♪ me that's only great ♪ ♪ I am proud that my silhouette is curvy ♪ ♪ That I walk with a ♪ sweet and girlish gait ♪ "I Enjoy Being A Girl," this came out on Island Records, and there were some other artists that were queer and lesbian, but they were not out.

And my label was really fantastic.

They were trying to figure out, how do we market this nice Jewish lesbian folk singer?

So they had all kinds of campaigns.

They cooked up, you'll see, you know, how many people have a record company that's gonna shave their legs with them?

There was a promo shot with the label.

And then they had the great idea, PAPER Magazine for April Fools wanted to be in drag, well, for April Fools.

And because Francesco Scavullo was gonna take the picture.

I said, "Sure."

So we had lots of pinup photographs.

And they did a great job of marketing this record.

And then I made another record for them called "Positively Phranc," which was starting to get a little bit of airplay.

We're starting to get a little bit of traction.

This was the cover of the single that came out in Europe for "I'm Not Romantic," for "Positively Phranc."

And then they went the extra mile and they made a TV commercial for MTV.

♪ When you went blonde ♪ ♪ You looked just like Kim Novak ♪ ♪ You looked like her when ♪ you were Brunette too ♪ ♪ And I cried a million tears ♪ when I watched Vertigo ♪ ♪ 'cause both of her ♪ look so much like you ♪ I'm just being Phranc.

- [Announcer] "Positively Phranc," available now.

(audience applauds) - I think this is the third time it's been shown, but it's pretty cool that they made it.

Yes, I'm just being Phranc.

And that was the promotion for this album, "Positively Phranc."

And when this album came out, I was off to the races.

I was out on tour, and then I went on tour with Morrissey, on the next slide.

It's kind of funny postcard that we made because it was hot at soundcheck and all the guys had their shirts off.

So I just took my shirt off too.

But that was a really fun tour.

We were gonna go around the world.

I did most of the dates with them.

I had a great time.

It was amazing.

And I got to come out every night on stage as a Jewish lesbian folk singer.

That's my job, to come out and be who I am.

So if there's anyone else in the audience anywhere and they see me come out, hopefully they might identify.

So I was off on this tour.

It was great.

Show another picture of me in the Moz.

Yeah, we were hanging out, and things were great.

It was right before we were gonna play Madison Square Garden.

And I was doing a radio promotion show, and I got a phone call when I was on the air that my brother had been murdered, and everything stopped.

That's my brother, Gary, at my cousin Jason's Bar Mitzvah.

But everything, everything stopped.

I came home.

I didn't wanna be in front of anyone.

I didn't wanna sing.

And at that time, the 18th Street Art Center in Santa Monica offered me a studio, just to go to and make stuff.

And so I went from having a very public life to a very private life.

And I just spent time alone going back and making things out of cardboard again.

Because, to me, there's great comfort in cardboard.

You can find it anywhere, and you can make anything out of it.

So I hold up in this little studio, and I started making art.

First, I started making two dimensional art, like these butch boxers.

And then somebody gave me a glue gun and I went crazy.

(audience laughing) And there I went.

So I started making these objects because I love pop art.

In fact, when I was nine years old, I went to an exhibit where I saw Claes Oldenburg's Pool Balls.

And I was nine.

So they came up to about here on me.

And it was the first time I realized that art could be something other than a painting or a drawing.

It could be an object.

And I loved that.

And I've always been drawn to it.

So I started making a lot of stuff, making sculptures.

And they started out as just being kind of abstract things that I love because of the way they looked.

And then they started to becoming more personal.

But the cherry pies, not very personal.

And neither is a bucket of Lard.

But here we go, there's an all-American pie.

And now we come to my self portrait, which you've seen around campus, I believe.

And when you come to the Butch Closet, you'll see it.

And I'm wearing them tonight.

Here they are.

Can you see my shoes?

(audience applauds) And why do I wear these boots to this day?

Because Jill Johnston had these boots laced all the way up to her knee.

And ever since I had my first copy of Lesbian Nation, I have worn boots.

So here's a picture of my 18th Street Studio with all of the cardboard in it.

So you can see, some of the pieces you'll see when you come to the Butch Closet.

So I was making stuff, I was starting to feel it better, but I wasn't quite ready to go on stage as Phranc.

However, I decided to go on stage as somebody else.

So I came on stage as Hot August Phranc.

(audience laughing) My tribute of sorts to Neil Diamond.

And we had a lot of fun.

And then I started having a blast on stage.

And guess what, Phranc became the opening act for Hot August Phranc.

So now I'm back.

I am making art.

I am Hot August Phranc.

And I'm Phranc.

So, you know, art is an incredible thing.

It can be so healing.

That grieving process and aggrieving process is so difficult.

But art saved me because I could take myself to that other place that I talked about, the place where I didn't have to think.

And it really is, I know I've used the word magical a lot, but there is a great salvation in making.

So it healed me quite a bit.

I know I have to show you this next picture, because, ♪ The captain's wife she being on board ♪ ♪ She seemed in great joy ♪ ♪ To see her husband had engaged ♪ such a handsome cabin boy ♪ ♪ And now and then she'd slip a kiss ♪ ♪ Said she would have liked to toy ♪ ♪ But the captain found ♪ out the secret of ♪ That's the handsome cabin boy, which is a very old sea shanty.

And it just goes to show you that trans folks have been around forever.

And that's a picture of me at the GI Joe Convention dressed as a GI Joe.

We'll still have my GI Joe collection.

I went surfing.

I always surfed.

When I was making the art, I was surfing.

That was part of my healing thing, being in the water.

Oh, no, we don't have to go back.

And then, you know, Homework Corps was happening, and Riot Girl was happening.

And I was getting reinspired by this music to make more music.

So this record, well, first of all, "Bulldagger Swagger" came out on Kill Rock Stars.

And then this record came out, "Goofyfoot."

And that is not photoshopped.

That picture is pre-Photoshop.

And, yes, the guitar got wet.

I put it on my back, I paddled out, flipped it onto my back, and then I popped around and stood up, and Ken Seno took that picture.

So, once again, I'm out performing again.

Played with Bikini Kill.

And then I learned a really good lesson because I thought, "Oh, well I can make these records myself.

I can do a better job."

So I put out this record.

You probably never even saw it.

"Milkman," I put out on my own fancy record label.

And I knew nothing really about marketing, or production, or distribution.

And so I learned the hard way taking out a huge loan to make the record that, you really need a team.

You really do need a community.

I need a lot of help.

So I'm not gonna make that mistake again.

So, you know, I'd taken out this big loan, I'd made this record, didn't really fly, needed a job.

Just had started a family with my partner.

My daughter was two years old.

And I did not wanna go on the road and promote "Goofyfoot," or, "Milkman," or anything.

And I opened the phone book.

Yes, there were phone books.

And I found Tupperware.

♪ Hey, I'm your Tupperware lady ♪ ♪ I'm your Tupperware lady, oh ♪ ♪ I'm your Tupperware lady ♪ ♪ I'm your Tupperware lady.

♪ ♪ You can buy it from me ♪ ♪ It's got a lifetime guarantee ♪ ♪ Against chipping and breaking ♪ ♪ Cracking and peeling ♪ ♪ So if you're feeling ♪ like you are a square ♪ ♪ Just get yourself some ♪ Tupperware from me ♪ ♪ Your Tupperware lady, oh yeah ♪ ♪ I love Tupperware baby ♪ ♪ And I'm gonna show ♪ you how to microsteam ♪ ♪ How to crystal wave ♪ ♪ Rock your Rock N Serve ♪ ♪ Spin your spin and say ♪ ♪ Tupperwares are always (indistinct) ♪ ♪ So, hey, get some ♪ Tupperware baby from me ♪ ♪ Your Tupperware lady ♪ ♪ Date a party with me ♪ ♪ I'll give you a hostess gift free ♪ ♪ I'm so glad you're here with ♪ me at the Tupperware party ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) So I became the all-American Jewish lesbian, folksinging, surfing Tupperware lady.

And I went everywhere and sold Tupperware even to Donny and Marie.

And the Tupperware film, Lisa Udelson's here tonight, She is an alum of Michigan.

And we are gonna be screening "Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventures in Plastic," which is her documentary feature about my first year selling Tupperware.

So it's Sunday night, I hope you can join us.

So it was a lot of fun.

And, well, where am I again?

I'm in a women's community.

I'm in the women's community of Tupperware.

So I've got Tupperware going.

I'm making my art.

I am writing my music.

And I started working on this project called Phranc'n'Stein where it's, it was like an opera that I collaborated with four other women on this where we wrote music to "Tender Buttons."

So that was really great.

And then a little bit about the process of how I make art is, or how I make my work, I started with the cardboard.

And then I thought, "Oh, it'd be really cool if I could sew these pieces together."

But I didn't know how to sew.

I failed sewing three times in school.

And why would a butch need to know how to sew?

I mean, it's just ridiculous.

But I got it in my head that I really wanted to know how to sew.

And a mom at my daughter's preschool taught me how to use the machine.

I got my nana's machine.

And I learned how to straight stitch.

The first thing I made was a teddy bear cape.

And then I started taking paper.

And you'll see, I take brown craft paper.

And I lay it out, and I paint it to look like fabric.

So it takes a long time to get a piece of paper to look just right, especially if I'm doing a plaid.

And then once I've made enough, so if you're a sewer, you know what?

You need two, three yards if you're gonna make a shirt, or pants, or something.

And then I cut it and I sew it into a garment.

And what's crazy, you sewers know that it's right sides together.

So when you sew anything, it's right sides together.

What does that mean?

You have to inside out it.

But it's paper.

So it gets really crazy, because if it tears, it can't go back to Joanne's and get more.

I have to make it.

So here's a little clip of me making the blue plaid jacket that you'll see later tonight.

And this just goes to show you how I make it and how I inside out it.

(audience applauds) So many things that I have made out of paper, paper life jacket, that won't save you.

(audience laughing) In my art making and in my music making, I think you can tell by now that humor is a very big component.

I find it the best component to communicate.

Whether it's in seeing something visually or hearing something audibly, it just kind of changes things.

And when I come out and introduce myself, you know, saying that I am Phranc in introducing myself, it's the greatest icebreaker because it lets people know that I have a sense of humor.

Yes, it's all about identity, but it's also about communication.

So the polka dot trunks were from a piece called, it was a show called Phranc of California.

And Phranc of California happened because I talked about my Tupperware job, but I was with Tupperware for about 10 years.

But then I didn't wanna stay with Tupperware.

But I still needed a job.

So I decided I was gonna be a cake decorator, and I was gonna learn how to decorate cakes at the supermarket because it would be free.

I wouldn't have to go to culinary school.

So I went to Ralph's and I tried to get into the bakery.

And the bakery was tough, couldn't get into the bakery.

And I had to do my penance as the courtesy clerk, which is basically you bag the groceries.

So I picked up all the carts, those shopping carts that are in the parking lot.

I always returned mine because I had to wear the special vest and go out and collect them every day.

And I bagged the groceries.

And I had my Phranc name tag.

And, you know, I mean, there I am, Phranc bagging your groceries.

Very humbling.

And one day I was bagging my groceries, and this guy came through my line.

And I started putting his groceries in the bag.

And he said, "I'm a big fan of your work."

And I was like, "Wow, really?"

You know, like, "How do you know?"

He said, "Oh no, I've been, I've been following you."

I said, "Oh, well, who are you, an artist?"

And he says, "No, I have a gallery."

He had a gallery across the street.

So that on my lunch break, in my supermarket uniform, I ran over to that gallery.

And they said, "Always have your portfolio with you."

Well, now you have your portfolio on your phone, really, pretty much.

I hope you have an album of your work if you're an artist so you can just whip it out, and then.

But I had kept a little folder in my car.

So I had that to take over there.

And two years later, I mean we developed a great friendship.

And that's how Phranc of California happened.

And then I had a show winter and I had a show about toys where you saw the Annie Oakley outfit that I made out of paper.

And then we come to this one here, which is swagger.

And swagger is about survival.

So you can see the evolution of the work went from being pumpkins, and boxer shorts, to life jackets.

And there were nautical flags.

And the flags spelled junior dyke.

Come out.

Closet case.

And then there were a row of life jackets.

And then what was really special about swagger was we had a butch parade.

I mean, when do butches ever get honored?

I'm like, "Never."

So our opening, I made custom-made cloff life jackets that I buckled some butches into.

We had our butch flags, and we marched around and we blasted.

There ain't nothing like a dame.

And marched into the gallery.

And in the gallery, in the center of the gallery was this red dress.

My Aunt Sadie and Uncle Lou owned Sally Shops a chain of dress stores across Los Angeles that catered to middle class mothers and daughters.

They lived in a penthouse apartment in the Wilshire Towers.

And when my mom took me to visit them once a month, we'd walk through the grand lobby and into the silvery elevator that opened directly onto their lush apartment.

The decor featured gold-veined mirrors and flocked Floor De Lee wallpaper, a fountain in the shape of a little boy, peeing tinkled on the balcony that overlooked Los Angeles.

After kissing Sadie's whiskery chin and accepting a snack of stale arugula, my task was to model their store's latest line of girls wear.

An array of dresses were carefully laid out on the quilted gold bedspread in their bedroom.

There were dresses with lacy collars, garish shifts, and puffy party dresses, each one uglier to me than the rest.

After dutifully dawning each of these garments, I would self-consciously emerge in a scratchy new dress and stiffly await their assessment.

Aunt Sadie's eyes magnified by the thick lenses of her cat-eye glasses would blink in appreciation.

My mother would say, "Sweetheart, turn around."

Their mutual adoration made me cringe.

In a dress, I felt instantly vulnerable, an open bottom, falling-out feeling, nothing to guard you from anything that might wander up and inside you.

The cold steel of park monkey bars, the airy air.

There's no there, there, I mean between your legs.

If you wear a dress, you are just bait hanging in a world of sharks.

Red dress is a compilation of all the dresses I was forced to wear.

The bright red color is designed to attract attention.

The white Peter pan collar exposes a naked neck, a tiny belt cinches the waist.

I hate writing about a dress almost as much as I hate wearing one.

Dresses are for those who wish to wear them and should never be worn by those who don't.

(audience applauds) So the Butch Closet originally had the red dress in it.

The Butch Closet here does not have this baby quilt.

But the items in the Butch Closet that I created are facsimiles of, that's my actual baby quilt.

Actually, that's my paper sculpture of my baby quilt.

It's three by five.

It looks just like my baby quilt.

It's hand-batted and free motion quilted.

And the objects in the Butch Closet are very, very personal.

So this plaid coat is the same one you saw me making in that video.

It wasn't a boy's jacket or a girl's jacket.

It was the supreme coat.

My mother may have set my hair in a permanent wave in an effort to feminize my already too tomboy self, but she could not get me to take off my blue plaid coat.

The quilted plaid felt so good hugging my small body.

Little flat round brass buttons with circular grooves lined up twice to make this coat look double-breasted.

But the extra row of buttons was there to make it last and grow with me.

Thin threads of shiny gold were woven into the thick navy, blue, and white plaid cotton.

It was lined with pale gray quilting.

I wore it to nursery school, to the park, in the backyard, on family excursions.

Like protective armor, my coat saw me through all kinds of trouble.

The trouble of trying to make a kite stay in the air, the trouble of dropping a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the backseat of the station wagon, the trouble with a teenage neighborhood boy who coerced me into playing doctor in his makeshift tent.

I wore it in trouble-free trimes, too.

This coat saw it all.

I think every kid has one.

A magic coat that makes them believe, if I wear this, you can't hurt me.

(audience applauds) So you will always, also see, today you will see my lamb chop Halloween costume.

And there is a story that goes with that.

And these great little catalogs were made, and the stories are in them.

So they're there for you to read on your own.

But I think now we should just, you know, swagger a bit.

What do you say?

(audience cheers) ♪ To every young man who can pass ♪ ♪ From every lipstick lezzie-lass ♪ ♪ From every drag queen's ♪ high heeled stagger ♪ ♪ To every bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Come on do the bulldagger, ♪ the bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, bulldagger ♪ swagger, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ It's a true story ♪ ♪ I went to charm school ♪ ♪ I got a degree ♪ ♪ In full-fledged femininity ♪ ♪ You know now, I'm not ♪ trying to be a man ♪ ♪ I'm just a-bein' who I am ♪ ♪ And that's a very, ♪ very, very butch lesbian ♪ ♪ And do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Yeah, do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah ♪ Can we bring the house lights up a little bit, just in case we wanna have some swaggering in the aisles?

Don't be shy.

I know you're out there.

Let's light up those aisles.

Come on.

♪ Do the bulldagger, the ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah.

♪ - Okay.

What's happening with the left side of the house?

Come on.

Let's go.

♪ Do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah ♪ This is what you call Gender Euphoria.

(audience shouts) Oh, yeah.

♪ To every young man who can pass ♪ ♪ From every lipstick lezzie-lass ♪ ♪ From every drag queen's ♪ high heeled stagger ♪ ♪ To every bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, the ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, bulldagger swagger ♪ ♪ Do the bulldagger, ♪ bulldagger swagger, yeah ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thanks all of you for coming out tonight.

And I wanna thank, whoops.

Where's my glasses?

Here they are.

Ah, I wanna thank Holly Hughes.

(audience applauds and cheers) I wanna thank Amanda Krugliak for bringing me out here to visit you in Michigan.

This is just so awesome.

I'm looking so forward to meeting all of you.

Ed Divin, Christina Hamilton, Brittany Barnes, Stephanie Harrell, and Ika Smith.

Shanda Bunton, Asma Baban.

Matt Flave, Jeff Evans, Craig Krull.

Craig Krull Gallery, Alina Edwards, Phranc Gargani, Frederick Nielsen, Craig Rush, Bernard Cooper, Ed Rouche, Mary Dean, and Lisa Freeman.

And tonight, in the house, Scott, on sound, Greg, on lights, Erica, on video, Bill, the organist, who played "Bulldagger Swagger" on the organ.

(audience applauds and cheers) Tammy and InterVision Webcasting, and everyone that made this really happy tonight.

I am so happy.

We're gonna, we're gonna topple on over to the gallery now.

The red light went out.

You know, time's up.

We gotta go.

So I'll just play "Lifelover" as you get up and make your way to the gallery.

♪ Recently friends have been departing ♪ ♪ Permanently, but not me ♪ ♪ I plan to stick around, you see ♪ ♪ 'cause I'm a lifelover, that's me ♪ Come on lifelovers.

Up out of your seats.

We've gotta close the theater now.

I will sing you out.

♪ Recently friends have been departing ♪ ♪ Permanently, but not me ♪ ♪ I plan to stick around, you see ♪ ♪ 'cause I'm a lifelover, that's me ♪ Yet I'm lucky.

You know why?

♪ My parts that work ♪ ♪ My eyes, my nose ♪ ♪ My brain, my fingers ♪ ♪ My legs, my toes ♪ ♪ And that makes me love life ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, it does ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna go away ♪ ♪ I'm here to stay ♪ ♪ Because recently friends ♪ have been disappearing ♪ ♪ Mysteriously, but not me ♪ ♪ I plan to stick around, you see ♪ ♪ 'cause I'm a lifelover, that's me ♪ All right, lifelovers, I'll see you at the Butch Closet.

(audience cheers) (indistinctive conversations)