HOLESTAR

Calling yourself 'tranny' is the new club kid...

Thanks to Ma Butcher for this

Me and my big mouth..... I posted the above subject line on Facebook last night and hilarity ensued.

(Things is, others have said the same, yet as I moan publicly, the bitcherati get a fall girl.
And to clarify...this comment has nothing do to with transgender people but those on the alternative drag scene (myself included) who refer to themselves as trannies.)

Tranny....the word is prefixed with TRANS...transform, translate, transport, transmutate ...to change or go from one thing to another. When someone refers themselves as a tranny, I'd like to think they start out one thing and end up something completely different.

Now this can take form in various ways...some spend vast amounts of money on couture, others go the local pound shop or rifle through bins to source their look. Some craft their makeup like sculpture, others throw some glitter on and hope for the best. It's all good. I don't believe in label snobbery and anyone who transforms with a smile and challenges mainstream dross deserves applause and love.

However....

This weekend, I worked and performed at the worlds best club, NYC Downlow at the Lovebox Festival. On Saturday, the girls pulled some great looks, worked their butts off and were rather marvelous.
Sunday, some turned up, shoved a nasty wig on their heads, didn't contribute to the Downlow in any way, expected special attention, bitched, complained and moaned . These are the people I have a problem with.
They sat backstage being louche, pouty, did sod all and drank all the booze meant for those who were working. Honey...why sit back there? If you're dressing for attention, get out there and take it to the people because that's where the party is.

I've worked at the Downlow from it's first outing at Glastonbury in 2007. Maybe I shouldn't, but I care about it being fabulous and successful. When you book an actor, DJ, comedian, acrobat or anyone from the field of entertainment, you expect them to have knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for their craft. I blindly hope trannies, regardless of experience, to have the same. I'm really not arsed if they're polished or not, just that they bring something instead of taking.

This isn't a dig at club kids or trannies..just a moan about the lazy. I shouldn't care but I do. So there.

Holestar and Jonny Woo Photo by Tony Wood

On a lighter note....overall, was a great weekend and we were relativity unscathed by the weather. I missed Chic, Chaka and Grace but performed a new Warboy track, Dressed as a Girl with Jonny Woo on the main stage, introduced legends Optimo, Andrew Weatherall and Penny Arcade at the Downlow before dragging myself home (had planned for after party but the bones said no.)

I'm going all establishment tomorrow evening (Thurs 21st June) and DJing at the National Portrait Gallery for their Queen exhibition where I'll be playing 60 years of pop queens. Well jiggle my tits!

x

The dull face of the 'generic gay'

Really should be rehearsing for tonight’s shows but I'm annoyed....(gets out soap box).

Gaydar (whose radio show I have appeared on and am never likely to again after this) placed a vending machine of men in Soho. So far, so good PR stunt.

Now I have nothing against those who spend every waking hour worrying about their perfect abs and buns or those who lust after them but where is the diversity here? It'd be like walking up to a sweet machine and find they only provide one type of candy. Something I'd always admired about gay males is the range of diversity on offer (unlike lady lovers who still have the populist clichés of femme and butch).

Gays, queers, trans and other have always been outsiders from the majority. I'd hope that by being an outsider, we'd know what it is to be different and able to embrace and celebrate that diversity. It appears that we've been through so much liberation that what used to make us unique has been reduced down to everything looking and being the same...in a pair of pants.

I'm first to fight for my queer siblings against homophobia but I find myself drifting further and further away from what mainstream gay culture is offering me. Soho makes me wince with embarrassment and Vauxhall (except the RVT and Eagle) make me cringe. I love the idea of doing one of my events at a big gay super club but with the same old stuff being pumped out again and again, it's looking very unlikely.

Using my fathers fruit analogy of when I came out to him (“Well...I always thought you were a bit fruity”), queers, we're a bunch of fruits. Fruit comes in a wide selection of sizes, shapes, colours and tastes and we should be represented as the wonderful variations we are. Give me a fruit salad, not just a pair of plums.

From the reaction on my Facebook after posting this image, I am not the only one, so wake up Gaydar....not all gay men lust after hunks in trunks, give us a fruit salad.

While you're at it, can you sort out your music policy? That's all rather one dimensional too. Thanks.

x

P.S. Self loathing is eating people up. Be who you want to be. No matter what your body shape, build, lack of this or too much of that, love yourself first and fore mostly. You know I'm right ;-)

UPDATE Received this on my Twitter from Gaydar

@Holestar Thanks for your feedback! This was the vending machine's first outing, so watch this space for a variety of new 'stock' in future.

Which is rather odd. Still treating gays as commodities..sigh......

Queens in Time Out Magazine

Varda her eek!
The others were The Queen (who was considered London's best with 28 Corgies out of 30), Maisie Trollete, Titi La Camp, Myra Dubois and Son of a Tutu, all well established on the gay cabaret circuit.
I'm somewhat of an outsider here but its still nice to get a nod in mainstream press and that my gender isn't relevant here.

For Jubilee weekend, I'll be DJing disco and Hi-NRG on Saturday at QUEEN. Then premiering new work on the cabaret stage at The Apple Cart Festival on Sunday.

x

Apple Cart Fest & Podcast

Mainstream, me?

Last night I was told three things.

1) I should go on a diet (Yes I could do with getting fit but diets do. not. work. and I'm not too bothered about my size).

2) I was the most beautiful woman in the room (By the legend that is Lady Miss Kier herself).

3) That I should go mainstream. (Wah?!)

Now while I'm not adverse to crossing over (on my own terms of course) the likeliness of this happening is utterly minuscule. Can you imagine....”And coming up next on This Morning, Tranny with a Fanny, Holestar shares her tips on boil washing nappies and making shortbread”.

But where would I be placed if I wanted to pursue mainstream success especially as I've chosen not to specialise in just one thing?

Pop star....It's highly unlikely I'll ever be a mainstream pop star; I'm over 30, plus sized, rather outspoken and lets face it, a bit odd.

Realistically, there’s no place for me in the current market. Blandness reigns supreme and pop producers have raped the recent history of dance music and churn out sound-a-like drivel with the same pumping beat and lyrics such as 'get on the floor, put your drinks up, drink, get sexy, yeah we living it big time' ad nauseum...

So you know what, I'm going to keep on making music DIY style, perform as and when because I love it, rather than wanting to be a bland pop princess.

DJing... After my early rave education, delved into house before that turned to tacky trance. Learnt about pop, bootlegs, disco and electro which informs what I play out now.
I was recently accused of taking DJing seriously...well yes I do. Even if I'm “just playing pop”, I still want to entertain and create as much as a storm on the dance floor as if I were performing or playing any other genre (though my ideal set would be a bit like 2 Many DJs in their early years, quality music across genres. Essentially, fun).

I bloody love music. As long as people keep booking me and dancing to my musical concoctions, then I'm more than happy to continue.

Entertainer..... It seems incredibly tough to break the cabaret circuit as a woman unless you're doing burlesque (yawn..) or a sultry singing chanteuse and I'm neither. I gave up performance art some time ago, some of the work I did was terrible. I'm creating and sculpting every time time I drag up anyway.

At the moment, I'm currently in the midst of putting new work together that could be considered cabaret but is quite simply performance.

My early performances were live bootlegs/mashups (long before they started doing them on TV talent shows) so taking that concept and paraphrasing The Residents concept for their Commercial Album (that the best of a pop song can be summed up within a minute), I'm creating pieces of storytelling, by compiling themed megamixes made up of various pop songs. I'll be singing cuts of different songs with a smattering of spoken and hopefully doing something a little different to standing still and singing full songs.

So as for going mainstream, pah. Nothing I do could be placed in the current Cowell culture and I'm not inspired to adapt or chase it. I know my place, way down in the lower regions of entertainment. The best I could ever hope for is some kind of minor queer cult status, travel a bit more and continue to do what I love.

The première of my new work will be at the Applecart Festival and a few other gigs I've on the horizon (all listed on my website), festival season looking juicy too.

See you in a tent, club or on the dancefloor.

Calling yourself 'tranny' is the new club kid...

The dull face of the 'generic gay'

Queens in Time Out Magazine

Apple Cart Fest & Podcast

Mainstream, me?

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