Phranc

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Phranc

Phranc
Background information
Birth name Susan Gottlieb
Born (1957-08-28) August 28, 1957
Origin Santa Monica, California
Years active 1970s -
Associated acts Catholic Discipline
Nervous Gender

Phranc (born Susan Gottlieb on August 28, 1957 in Santa Monica, California)[1] is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned several decades, and is also known for her cardboard and kraft paper fine art.

Biography

She began her performing career in the late 1970s and early 1980s punk scene in Los Angeles. She had a bleach blonde crewcut and wore male attire creating an androgynous persona for her first band Nervous Gender, which formed in 1978. The writer V/D wrote of her for the punk fanzine Slash, "On stage, Phranc looks like a 14-year-old runaway from a boys' reform school." The band was influential in the development of what later came to be known as 'Synthpunk'. In 1980 she left Nervous Gender to join Catholic Discipline, in which Claude Bessy, journalist for Slash punk fanzine, was the lead singer. She was also in Castration Squad, a feminist, all-girl punk band that was involved in the punk movement.

Phranc appears with Catholic Discipline in The Decline of Western Civilization, a documentary by Penelope Spheeris.

In the 1980s Phranc pursued a solo career. She performs in Paul Morrissey's film Madame Wang's (1981) as Phranque. She began playing an acoustic guitar and released Folksinger on Rhino Records in 1985.[2] She opened for music acts such as The Smiths, Hüsker Dü, Violent Femmes, and Billy Bragg.[2] She styled herself the "All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger"[3] and with a wry sense of humour released the LP I Enjoy Being a Girl in 1989 on Island Records, appearing on the cover with her trademark 'flat top' hair style.[4] Describing a live performance, Adam Block wrote "Phranc's unnerving androgyny (expressed with easy confidence) and her fervent opinions (couched in sly, laconic wit) make her a fascinating performer."[5] Her third full-length recording, released in 1991, was Positively Phranc.[6][7]

Phranc was an important influence on the Queercore movement,[citation needed] being acknowledged as such by Team Dresch in their song for her, "Uncle Phranc". In the 1990s many queercore bands and musicians involved in queercore music began collaborating with her. She appeared as a guest on the Team Dresch LP/CD Captain My Captain and, as well, members of Team Dresch, Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill, Patty Schemel of Hole and others have played with Phranc on her EP Goofyfoot and other songs. Phranc performs and is interviewed in the queercore documentary She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane and she has appeared frequently at queercore events such as Olympia's Homo-a-go-go festival. In the 1990s Phranc performed "Hot August Phranc", performing as Neil Diamond.[8] On her full-length CD of 1998, Milkman, she is joined by Steve MacDonald of Redd Kross, who plays bass. Her most recent releases, including Milkman, appear on her own independent record label, Phancy Records.

The 2001 documentary film "Lifetime Guarantee", directed by Lisa Udelson, chronicled Phranc's side job as a Tupperware demonstrator and Manager. The documentary showed that despite Phranc's high sales and high profile, her enthusiastic and sincere approach to the job, and her engaging manner and popularity among the sales force, Phranc was disappointed to find that the Tupperware corporation itself did not celebrate or even acknowledge her genuine achievements in sales and marketing for the company. Phranc was still selling Tupperware in 2008,[9] but as of 2013 her online store was closed.[10]

She still performs occasionally, but spends more time working on creative visual art projects, including the Cardboard Cobbler sculptures. In December 2007 she had a solo art show at Cue Art Foundation in New York City curated by Ann Magnuson; the New York Times review compared her work to Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol.[8] Phranc had her first major West Coast solo show, at Craig Krull Gallery, June 18 to July 23, 2011, an exhibition made of beach themed cardboard and kraft paper works. She continues to work in her Santa Monica studio and is represented by Krull.

Personal life

Phranc lives in Santa Monica, California. Having maintained a website and having been a prolific blogger and Facebook user in the mid-2000s, as well as selling Tupperware products through an official MyTupperware page, Phranc appears to have now closed all her online activities, although the blog is still available in archive.

Discography

Albums
Singles
  • "Amazon" (1985), Stiff
  • "The Lonesome Death of Hatty Carroll" (1986), Stiff
  • Bulldagger Swagger b/w Hillary's Eyebrows 7" single (1994), Kill Rock Stars
Compilations
  • "My Favorite Women Newscasters" on The Best of the Radio Toyko Tapes (Chameleon 8608, 1987)[11]
  • Some Songs (1997)
  • Hang Ten Double CD on American Pop Project, Phranc with Satan's Pilgrims
  • "Dumb Hairdresser" on Milkshake - A CD to Benefit the Harvey Milk Institute (1998), timmi-kat ReCoRDS
  • "Tupperware Lady" on Kat Vox:A CD to Celebrate 20 Years of timmi-kat ReCoRDS (2011), timmi-kat ReCoRDS

References

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 453
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Block, Adam (July 22, 1986), "Flat-top Fantasies, Post-punk Politics from Folksinger Phranc", The Advocate 
  3. ↑ Kort, Michael (September 16, 1997), "Phranc" (– Scholar search), The Advocate, retrieved 2008-02-10 
  4. ↑ Block, Adam (June 20, 1989), "Of Flattops, Fake Fags, and Real Benefits", The Advocate 
  5. ↑ Block, Adam (February 27, 1990), "Phranc Talk", The Advocate 
  6. ↑ Farber, Jim (April 12, 1991), "Positively Phranc", Entertainment Weekly 
  7. ↑ Block, Adam (March 26, 1991), "Lavender Wave", The Advocate 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pener, Degen (August 15, 1993), "EGOS & IDS; Phranc, As in Frank Or Neil", New York Times 
  9. ↑ http://unusuallife.com/2008/02/04/tupperware-party-by-phranc/
  10. ↑ http://my2.tupperware.com/pls/portal/www.my_site_global.wrapper?fv_land=PHRANC
  11. ↑ Doyle, J.D. (September 2005). "Queer Music Heritage: Phranc Discography". Retrieved 2008-04-08. 

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