Phranc

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Phranc


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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Susan Gottlieb
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Born = August 28, 1957
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Years_active = 1970s -
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Phranc (born Susan Gottlieb on August 28, 1957 in Los Angeles, California) is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned several decades.

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'.Fact|date=October 2007 In 1980 she left Nervous Gender to join Catholic Discipline, in which Claude Bessey, journalist for Slash zine, was the lead singer. She was also in Castration Squad, an all-girl punk band.

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.citation |title=Flat-top Fantasies, Post-punk Politics from Folksinger Phranc |periodical=The Advocate |url=http://www.monkeychicken.com/AdamBlock/1986_7_22phranc.pdf |date=July 22, 1986 |first=Adam |last=Block] She opened for music acts such as The Smiths, Hüsker Dü, Violent Femmes, and Billy Bragg. She styled herself the "All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger"citation |title=Phranc |periodical=The Advocate |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_n742/ai_20139108 |date=September 16, 1997 |first=Michael |last=Kort |accessdate=2008-02-10 ] 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.citation |title=Of Flattops, Fake Fags, and Real Benefits |periodical=The Advocate |url=http://www.monkeychicken.com/AdamBlock/1989_6_20phranc.pdf |date=June 20, 1989 |first=Adam |last=Block] 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."citation |title=Phranc Talk |periodical=The Advocate |url=http://www.monkeychicken.com/AdamBlock/1990_2_27phranc.pdf |date=February 27, 1990 |first=Adam |last=Block] Her third full-length recording, released in 1991, was "Positively Phranc".citation |title=Positively Phranc |periodical=Entertainment Weekly |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313986,00.html |date=April 12, 1991 |first=Jim |last=Farber] citation |title=Lavender Wave |periodical=The Advocate |url=http://www.monkeychicken.com/AdamBlock/1991_3_26lavender.pdf |date=March 26, 1991 |first=Adam |last=Block]

Phranc was an important influence on the Queercore movement,Fact|date=October 2007 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. 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 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305762 "Lifetime Guarantee"] , directed by Lisa Udelson, chronicled Phranc's life with a focus on her day job as a Tupperware consultant. Phranc lives with her partner and children in Santa Monica, California, and continues to sell Tupperware. She performs occasionally, but spends more time working on creative visual art projects, including the [http://phrancthecardboardcobbler.blogspot.com/ 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 Oldenberg and Andy Warhol.citation |title=Art in Review |periodical=New York Times |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/arts/design/21gall.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all |date=December 21, 2007 |first=Martha |last=Schwendener]

Discography

References

External links

* [http://phrancthecardboardcobbler.blogspot.com/ Phranc's blog, focussing on her cardboard sculpture]
* [http://hrmusic.com/artists/part.html Phranc's Phlattop]
* [http://www.myspace.com/phrancmyspace Phranc's music on myspace]
* [http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1204507430&ref=ts Official Facebook]
* [http://www.queermusicheritage.us/sep2005pd.html Phranc's discography on queermusicheritage.us]
* [http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article/Phranc-The-All-American-Jewish-Lesbian-Folksinger.html Crawdaddy! interview]