London Cabaret Awards Nominated

I've been long listed in the Best Drag Act category for the London Cabaret Awards......




While I'm not a fan of awards, I appreciate the nod and find it rather surprising.  I've not been particularly embraced by the cabaret circuit but I've never tried to place myself in that or any scene.


Whether its singing one of my own pop dittys or reinterpreting someone elses, DJing, performing one of my monologues or hosting....I'm simply an entertainer of differing genres.
No week is ever the same and I love that I'm able and accepted to work among many different scenes, wouldn't have it any other way.


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Queen of F***ing Everything EP

OUT NOW!!



Listen to whole EP
Queenof F***ing Everything EP by Holestar



Download now from iTunes and Amazon
iTunes UK
iTunes US

Amazon UK
Amazon UK


Available internationally...search your country's store

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The Best Performance Art I've Seen


Not a cool opinion but the vast majority of performance art is frequently pretentious, boring and so seeped in theory or exaggerated emotion it lacks entertainment value. I hate art snobbery, the idea that entertainment is for the ignorant masses and art for the elite. I believe in art for all...but I want it to make me feel something...ideally something positive.

Just got back from a gig in Vienna (where I lived for four years after my degree...with the intention of being a 'decadent artist' which resulted in the birth of my drag persona) and saw one of the most endearing pieces of performance I've seen. The performer (who I'll call Bernard...he looks like a Bernard) is simple in his approach....minimal costume (gold crown and a cape), a small box as a stage and technically, nothing but a boogie box. Bernard stands on the box and dances wildly...that's it.

What I love is his childlike innocence, energy and obvious love of cheesy pop music. So much street art consists of gold statues or forcing “wacky”, this is abstract and honest; entertaining for entertainments sake.

For the 20 minutes I watched him, many walked past confused and disturbed by his unconventional performance. Then there were those who were excited and amused by his frantic movements, some joined in (as in the video). They may have been doing it for a photo op or curiosity but they all seemed genuinely entertained and surprisingly respectful of what he was doing.
You don't get that with someone painting themselves with a used tampon while singing French feminist theory in Swahili.......

Unpretentious, unscripted and unintentionally conceptual..thank you Bernard....you make the world of performance far more interesting and happy.

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Open notes to Lauren Harries

I don't wish to have a go at you, I'm a fan and own one of your paintings, but feel I have a right to reply in more than 140 characters on Twitter.

I don't agree with your binary definition of Trans, in that to be a Trans person, one has to surgically transition from one gender to another. In your continuing argument on Twitter, you state “when you feel like a woman-to have male genitalia is repulsive to you”. This might be appropriate in your case but is unfair to those out there who do not wish to completely transition, especially young trans people who might not want to change their genitals, it's a personal choice.

The word trans often means to go from one to another (transform, transition, transport etc), but this isn't necessarily permanent in black and white terms. Society places labels upon us from birth, why should we conform? If individuals choose to, that's their prerogative, as it is mine not to.

I was born biologically female, yet blood tests reveal I have a high level of testosterone in my system but I've decided I can be who I want to without surgery. As a 'Tranny with a Fanny', I adopt the façade of a drag queen temporarily, reclaiming over the top codes of femininity from decades of misogynist drag queens to the female body and hope to challenge the concept of perceived gender binaries through entertainment. By calling myself a Tranny, I'm asking people to look beyond what they think they know about gender, perhaps their own and ultimately celebrate gender diversity.

I would like to see 'Tranny' reclaimed by the Trans community and not the negative it has become. The word Queer was a term of abuse and reclaimed as political and positive by the gay community. Why not Tranny?

When it's used by ignorant idiots in the street, why not respond with “yes darling, and bloody proud” instead of demanding politically correct terminology. I have an amazing Trans friend who confronts people when they negatively question her gender and explains that she is in-between and that it doesn't matter, she's human...I believe this is a positive way forward.

I'm lucky I live and work in the progressive East London where the current alternative scene is made up of all manner of queers, trannies and trans people who don't conform to strict gender or sexual binaries. This Sunday, as a community, we held a Boob-A-Thon for one of our Trans sisters and raised a lot of money. I hope this is representative of a future where it's not gender or sexuality that defines a person, but who you are.

I don't expect you to agree with anything I've said here and there'll probably be opposition from members of the Trans community but I'm not going to change how I define myself. In the eight years I've been performing in this guise (five years as the 'Tranny with a Fanny'), I have never intended to insult or ridicule Trans people but to empower and support them (especially since Stonewall have stopped supporting Trans people). I'll publicly stand up for any Trans person and defend their right to be who they want to be and define themselves however they want to.

I've even set up an arts community, Hot Laser (Queer Arts Community) . We're making a film (Hot Mess) and still in the early stages but has been set up to promote and encourage creativity of queer and trans people.

Stay positive girl....sod the ignorant and celebrate who you are....just as I will continue to do.


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Queers in Pop Culture

Getting jiggy with this vlog lark.

Not that I can't be arsed to write...just easier to ramble to a camera.

Queers in Pop Culture..where are they?

HOT MESS Teaser

It's here!! We need money and support to finish it and send it out into the wide world.

All info at www.hotl-laser.com




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP3bh3M4_4E

RIP Loleatta Holloway

Yesterday, my favourite singer, Loleatta Holloway passed over. Many know her as the sampled voice on that Black Box ditty but to me she was the ultimate disco diva and a massive inspiration.

Belting it out on stormers like Love Sensation, Runaway, I May Not Be There When You Want Me and Hit& Run, spitting out dontmesswithmyman warnings in Dreamin' or dripping with emotion on ballads like Two Become A Crown, her voice was real, and full of pure soul. A lot of the over processed pop tartlets of today would do well to listen and learn.


Ride on Time aside, I first discovered her in 1994, giving it attitude on The Queens Anthem. I then did my homework and fell in love.

Possibly the most sampled voice in dance music after James Brown, I now cringe when yet another house track samples her amazing vocals as very little can compare to the original arrangements and lush sounds of her Salsoul Records days.

Rest in peace you wonderful woman. You inspired me to be a belter and proud to be a fierce woman.

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Respect...Colin Rothbart

I first met Colin when I lived in Vienna. He was directing the BBC's Holiday show (RIP), we were introduced just as I was about to return to the UK and exchanged contact details. You frequently meet people along the way in this business we call show and never expect to hear from them again but just as I'd moved to London, he emailed me, we ended up on a long, lost London weekend and a friendship was formed.

He has an amazing ability to bring together a varied bunch of party people and I've performed or DJed for all of Colin's birthday parties since I moved to London, all being truly memorable in terms of dressing up, bad taste and pure hedonism. Colin owns private party venue 'The Shed' where East End creatives, posers and freaks mix and mingle, celebrity DJs pop up unannounced and an off duty performer might do a number. In the future, The Shed will be one of those places people will boast about going to like The Blitz, Taboo, Kinky Gerlinky and Kashpoint.

Colin is a true British eccentric. He doesn't appear extraordinary in an obvious attention seeking way, it's to know him to understand his unclassifiable quirks and that he is a legend in his own lunch time. He's been known to wear some truly criminal outfits in his bid to drag up for a party and his adventures in modern cosmetics is quite something, botched botox and his recent mullet weave being the most memorable.

During a trip to India in 2009, I asked Colin if he would be up for directing my film about the East End alternative scene (more info on www.hot-laser.com), of which he agreed. Nothing quite like a business meeting while floating in the Arabian Sea. We've been filming since Glastonbury 2009 and continue doing so, following fabulous queer freaks from the scene.

Besides being a reputable TV director, Colin has a past in front of the camera and was in one of the UK's first reality shows 'The Living Soap' and presented mid 90s club show 'Trainspotters'.

Colin presenting Trainspotters with Chrissy Darling and Twiggy

The Living Soap. You'd better werrrrk (and drink)


Thank you Colin. Your generosity astounds me as does your diet. Your antics make me smile and I promise to get some funding sorted for the film...eventually.

www.rothbart.co.uk