Pleasant Gehman

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Pleasant Gehman is a magazine writer, poet, and musician from Los Angeles. In the 1980s, she was the singer for the punk rock band Screamin' Sirens, and later, The RIngling Sisters and Honk If Yer Horny. All three bands have released numerous titles on vinyl, as well as cd. Her articles on rock 'n' roll, American pop culture, sex, the arts and human interest have appeared in L.A. Weekly, The Los Angeles Reader, Spin, Genre, as well as many others, including online publications. Her poetry, essays and short stories have been widely anthologized in a number of literary journals and collections. The Village Voice called her writing "... startling; full of passion", USA Today described it as "A wildly fascinating walk on the wild side!" while Ray Gun raved: "…tough and tender, with a trademark air of seen-it-all innocence that makes it glow". In 1994, she recorded a collection of her poetry and spoken-word routines entitled Ruined. A professional belly dancer since 1991, and a burlesque performer since 1995, she was a seminal member of America's premiere burlesque troupe, "The Velvet Hammer", and appears in the 2001 documentary film "The Velvet Hammer Burlesque". She has appeared dancing and acting in many other films, television shows (including the sitcom "The Nanny") documentaries on punk rock and exotic dance and music videos both under her own name and under her stage name, Princess Farhana. Her music video credits include work with Madonna and Ricky Martin. In 1989, she co-wrote and starred in MGM's film "The Runnin' Kind", and also appeared as Estelle in Steve Balderson's film Firecracker. Under the name Princess Farhana, she has released a series of eight belly dance and burlesque instructional and performance Dvd's. In 2006, she recorded the lead vocal for Blacklite Sleaze with British house music duo Peace Division.

[edit] Books

• Escape From Houdini Mountain And Other Stories (Manic D Press)
• Senorita Sin (1994, Incommunicado Press)
• Princess Of Hollywood (1997, Incommunicado)
• The Underground Guide To Los Angeles (1999, Manic D Press)-which spent nine weeks on The Los Angeles Times Best Sellers List. Since then, The Underground Guide To Los Angeles has had all new up-dated editions publshed in 2002 and 2006.