Sundown Salon #08: HOT RODS 'N HOT PANTS

July 27th, 2003, 2:00 – 9:00pm

organized by:
Kelly Besser, Blinker, Anna Sew Hoy, Lucas Michael, Young Chung, Sabrina Smith and Karla Zombro with Tranny Fest director Christopher Lee

art auction and bazaar with works by:
Lida Abdullah, Andy Alexander, Atwater Pottery, Dakota Bertrand, Broken Arm, Lynn Chan, York Chang, Erica Cho, Susan Choi, Phyllis Christopher, Young Chung, Sarolta Cump, Trinie Dalton, Lecia Dole-Recio, Cirilo Domine, Lala Endara, Su Evers, Eve Fowler, Will Fowler, Laurel Frank, Vince Golveo, Matt Greene, Fritz Haeg, Nguyen Hoang Thuy, Ashley Hunt, Byung-Ok Koh, I.H. Kuniyuki, Viet Le, Christopher Lee, Ruben Lorch-Miller, Michelle Matthews, David Meanix, Tony Meredith, Lucas Michael, Max Miller, Sandeep Mukherjee, Cathy Opie, Poole Cosmetics, Dean Sameshima, Anna Sew Hoy, Chloe Sherman, Devon Slininger, Laura Splan, Nguyen Tan Hoang, Tam van Tran, Thu Ha Vu and Amy Yao

performances by:
Deadlee, Che'la Demuir, Sean deLear, Hot N' Heavy, Dred King, Janet Pants Dans Theater, Giles Miller and Miss Yo

WELCOME TO THE TRANNYDOME
(from the L.A. Weekly, Aug. 8-14th, 2003, by Sandra Ross)
Several hundred sweaty art swingers, trannies and trannie chasers turned out for HOT RODS N' HOT PANTS, a daylong fund-raiser for TRANNY FEST, a biannual San Francisco film festival. The geodesic dome-shaped Mount Washington home of FRITZ HAEG, renamed TRANNYDOME for the occasion, boasted an indoor stage area where performance poet MARCUS RENE VAN, dance group JANET PANTS DANS THEATER, hip-hopper DEADLEE and techno-disco queen MISS YO tread the boards for short sets. The recently reunited SHIMS tore into a hard-charging version of BTO's "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" before a raucous crowd that included Tranny Fest co-directors CHRISTOPHER LEE and AL AUSTIN, Outfest's SHARI FRILOT, model JENNY SHIMIZU, actor GUINEVERE TURNER and artist REX SAIZ. Between performances, MC CHE'LA DEMUIR encouraged bidding in the silent auction for paintings, photographs and videos donated by artists including CATHY OPIE, LUCAS MICHAEL, EVE FOWLER, DEAN SAMESHIMA, ANNA SEW HOY and MATT GREENE. A bazaar featuring items such as unisex G-strings and baseball caps, many of which featured transgender pride slogans, was set up in the garage, while outside the house attendees munched hot dogs and tit cakes (cupcakes with frosting nipples) and drank ample quantities of beer. One neighbor did gripe about the excess traffic generated by Hot Rods N' Hot Pants. But no one was complaining about the daisy dukes.

HOT RODS 'N HOT PANTS! A TRANS QUEER AND LADY FRIENDLY EVENT! FEATURING HOT ART, STEAMING PERFORMANCES & SIZZLING TRANNIES! TO BENEFIT SAN FRANCISCO'S TRANNY FEST!

{As recounted by co-organizer Kelly Besser} Giles Miller, the crew’s sound technician testifies to the tight performances which began with the floetry of Marcus Rene Van followed by the Shims with Flipper and Slade from Tribe 8 rocking hard before:

6:30 Deadlee - hardcore sexy queer hiphop rep'n El-A. Deadlee was serious as mutherfuckin' ever. Deadlee and his boys were completely thugged out and hard. His dancer reminded me of the dancer for the band Happy Mondays in the movie 24 Hour Party People, the skinny white dude who knows how to swing. Awesome soundtrack, a great bunch of songs.  Soon Deadlee had his pants around his ankles, still rapping. Hardcore sexy queer striptease rap!

7:00 Sean deLear on the Rocks - gLue's legendary lead singer lounges cabaret style. This was pure Sean, nothing but Sean, a stool, a bottle of whiskey and a microphone.  Beautiful, sexy, a little trashy. Have you seen that car she drives, the huge American coupe? I pressed play on the cassette deck, and she sang a number of tunes, real singsong manner. I don't know if the tape was made by her band but it sounded good. At times it's honky-tonk, there was piano. I remember heels, a short dress, a jacket, good hair. It was a short swank set — touché.

7:30 Hot N' Heavy - cute conscious electro punk. Hot N' Heavy came out looking so soft, with their keyboards and cables, all busy getting set up. Then they kicked out the booty bass, and things got serious. Those two get busy. It was real dancey for a while, and they were being rude between songs, talking about people, like how Deadlee's dancer had ketchup stains on his shirt, trying to diss him for it. Rivalry is awesome!

8:00 Dred King – world-renowned dragalicious diva. Larger than life, complete permutations of gender, done with real class. I can't remember how it unfolded; it was so subtle, one minute afro disco king and next moment sexy voluptuous woman with a completely commanding presence. 

8:30 Miss Yo - disco-techno orchestra kaleidoscope. Yo and her universe of projections and dresses and me on sax.  Miss Yo because you’re nasty. I never saw Yo get nasty, but she does start to get naked sometimes. 

Trannies Testify.
By Kelly Besser
The creation of Tranny Fest, North America's first film festival and cultural week dedicated to celebrating Tranny cultures is living testament that our life stories are forms of resistance. Tranny Fest was born in 1997 by Co-Directors, Christopher Lee and Al Austin in San Francisco to create a cultural space through film and video screenings, performances, panel discussions, parties, workshops and youth programs. The festival survived for many years through grants from community-based non-profit agencies, but in 2003 its funding was cut in half. The festival’s existence was endangered, another casualty of the escalating attacks by the Bush regime on oppressed communities struggling for social and economic justice.
The City of Lost Angels crew along with Sundown Salon, decided to host an emergency fundraiser to ensure that Tranny Fest lived to speak truth to our cultures. We understood the importance of our imaginings of another world, one in which our stories of survival exist, the stories of hope and triumph, of struggle and love, of families and friends and change that each one of us needs to hear: to choose life instead of death, hope instead of despair, love instead of hate. Tranny Fest validates that our language whether spoken, written, performed or imagined visually transforms ourselves and our worlds as  we build new ideas, shape other thoughts, tell other stories, fill silences and move others to think and live in ways previously unimagined. Our language confirms and creates our culture. Tranny Fest’s testimony to this transformation was saved on Sunday July 27, 2003, when trannies, artists and allies gathered in Mount Washington at the Sundown Salon to 'Tranny Dome', for Hot Rods n' Hot Pants, a daylong benefit with a hot art auction and bazaar, steamy performances and sizzling trannies. 

Tranny Fest’s existence speaks truth to our becoming: becoming ourselves through the process of struggling to imagine identities that move beyond those of victims and survivors and toward those of creators. Together we will fight to create ourselves and our world until the dream of living our lives replaces our fight for existence.

SALON MEMORIES #08

I went with a tall lanky Texan who is bi mostly with women but hooks up with guys a lot so trannies are perfect for him. MTFs were his expectation. At one point he said, "Where are all the trannies?" He was surrounded by trannyboys at the time. I got some red hot pants with an ass silk-screened on the back that sez west Coast with a G-string. Those are my favorite short shorts. I usually wear them poolside.
Karl {tranny chaser}

I was hoping to hook up with a gorgeous guy or tranny or somebody, so when they started auctioning for spankings, I knew that this was my chance to get some kind of action. I wasn’t gonna let that night end without some kind of contact. We took it outside with a circle of people watching. She used her silver platform boots to kick me against the front door. It hurt, but I liked it. Actually, I loved it. My ass needed it and so did Tranny Fest. It was for a good cause.
Lucas Michael {City of Lost Angels crew}

We wanted to throw a party to build community between the San Francisco and Los Angeles queer and trans communities while raising money to keep Tranny Fest alive. We created an organizing committee of artists and organizers which was a dynamic process but we grew from each other: value added. I’m not trans but I traveled on an emotional roller-coaster with a trans man for many years. Tranny Fest and Christopher Lee made me feel part of a broader trans community. The stories Tranny Fest tells through panels and films always embrace partners. TrannyFest helps create a queer community through visibility and understanding and inclusion.
Sabrina Smith {City of Lost Angels organizer}

It was all new to me, all the tranny identifications. It was a learning process. Before working with the City of Lost Angels Crew, I only thought of people as gay, straight or lesbian. Gender opened up. There are a lot of people who aren’t familiar with the whole gender, sex, sexual orientation, sexuality, surgeries, hormones, drag questions that trannies face. Everyone knows what a drag queen is but really understanding what it means to be trans every second of every day is a lot. There’s a lot to learn about transgender issues and I’m still learning.
Angel Franco {City of Lost Angels crew}

I was most impressed with the generosity of artists. We bridged artists and organizers and folks with different gender politics. Straight people and queer people donated precious art because they believed in the cause. Usually artists donate for nonprofits or for disaster/disease fundraisers. It’s rare for artists to donate work for sexual and gender politics. This was one of the first where we aligned ourselves as part of the struggle for genderevolution.
Young Chung {artist and crewmember}

There were five or six performances by transgender people and they were all incredible. There were a lot of artists who gave work to auction off. The crowd was the most diverse I have seen at any event in LA. The salon raised over $7,000 for Tranny Fest. There was a lot of love there, which there usually is at the salons, but this was a real fight for the underdog, if you know what I mean.
Eve Fowler {photographer}

I was there. That shit was off the hook. I was all up in that shit. My friend bid on that badass Cathie Opie painting. I think she got it. I bought art, T-shirts, lil’ soaps. I saw Dred perform. It was a blast: beautiful weather, beautiful space.
Bootsy

What struck me about the event was that even though it was all up in the hills and away from the clubs and enclaves like WeHo and Silver Lake, it really looked and felt like LA's queer community.  I hate to use a played-out word like "diversity," but in terms of race, gender, age, etc. it really reflected the diversity that's here in the City of Lost Angels.
Karla Zombro {City of Lost Angels crew}

The performance lineup was inspiring. Everyone on our wish list said yes. It was a dream come true; tranny magic live and direct from tranny wishes. The collection of performers broke apart the predominantly white tranny paradigm. It was transnasty magic: hot and political and fun and sexy. The crowd was soooo sexy. It did not matter who or what or why you are. Ain’t Nuthin’ Like a West Coast House Party, Hey! Transexy, OK!
Christian de la Chris {Lost Angels trannyfag}

Why did this Texas cheerleader sounding like Jenna Bush, wearing tons of make up totally hit on me? She was a straight up lesbian who thought I was a trannylesbian. She was staring at me for awhile until she honed in on me, complimented my breasts, told me she didn’t usually date outside her race but I was beautiful and gave me her card. She was in her late 40s, started coming out to herself in her late 30s, passing through Los Angeles, exploring her sexuality and deciding if she wants to stay in LA.
{previously straight girl who asked to remain anonymous while she engages in lesbianage}