Pleasant Gehman Interview -- HIP Magazine

Interview with

Interview with Pleasant Gehman

by Vladik Cervantes

(with photos by Gary & Pierre Sylva)

Pleasant Gehman has made a name for herself among the great literary crowd of alternative writers that L.A. has produced in the last decade, and its not just because of one or two or even three books shes written but because shes managed to create four of them, one of which spent nine weeks on the LA Times Best Sellers List.
           Ive been a fan of Ms. Gehman since the late 80s, before she had any books out with ISBN numbers, just chapbooks. I read her column in the LA Weekly religiously and any other writing that I came across of hers in the various local LA papers that she often wrote for, like The LA Reader, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, BAM, and especially any poetry or short stories that appeared in the local underground literary rags, of which weve actually appeared in the same pages together a few times in the past.
           I especially tried collecting the many chapbooks of poetry she put out either by herself or with her literary sewing circle, The Ringling Sisters, who would later quickly turn into a real band that dealt ferociously with the spoken word, as equally great live as they were in print. Her chapbooks appealed to me so much because of their DIY punk rock purity. Here was an insanely creative woman staying true to her underground roots. She was practically clamoring, Fuck it! I dont need the establishment! Ill do it myself! These chapbooks were like the fanzines that I myself published and obsessively collected. I was too young to ever come across Lobotomy , the L.A. fanzine she published during the old school punk rock days of the era when The Masque and The Cathay De Grande were the ultra-hip happening places to be, of which she was an all-too important part of, hanging out with great legendary icons like Darby Crash, Pat Smear, Brendan Mullen, Craig Lee, and too many others to even begin to mention.
           Plez comes from a large creative family (her parents were published authors) and is one of those rare multi-talented individuals who is a real master at everything shes good at, be it writing and music, acting and dancing, or sex and drugs. For a long time I thought that she only began to take her writing seriously after her band, The Screamin Sirens, broke up in 1990, but I was wrong. Unlike many other alternative writers, she was actually writing before she got into music, of which she credits her drag queen babysitters of her childhood for. Thats not to say that a lot of her literary following doesnt come from her Ringling Sisters days, but Im willing to bet she gathered just as many a fan from her thick steady stream of articles, interviews, and other writings. Even though shes now a highly respected writer with four books under her (garter) belt, she still has the music in her and theres talk about a Ringling Sisters Fundraiser reunion show this coming Christmas. But even though I love the music she's created in the past, I wanted the focus of this interview to be more literary than musical, so here is the interview with the current Pleasant Gehman: writer, poet, and literary princess of Hollywood.

-- Vladik Cervantes

HIP: Being a successful writer, how much of it has to do with also having the right connections?
Well, I dont know. I never really had connections, I just sort of made connections. My father died when I was like twelve and I hadnt seen him since I was four, so its not like I got any help from him having been a writer. Once in a while I would get a letter from someone that had worked with him because they had seen my name in a magazine or something, and said, You must be his daughter because your writing is you know, that kind of stuff. The first time I ever tried to get published I couldnt even type because Id been cutting typing class to get high. I just hand wrote some shit on notebook paper and sent it in, then it wound up getting published and they were like, Can we see more of your work? and then I said, Well I can just send it in ink and so I did but they were like, Do you think you could type it next time? (laughter) Working, writing, and believing in yourself and not being scared to get your work out there or have it read or seen or that kind of thing. If your stuff is good and if you believe in yourself you will go somewhere with it, you know.
V.C.: I read that you were actually writing before you got into music.
Yeah, I was writing and drawing all my life. I was writing about music and stuff before I actually started a band.
V.C.: When exactly did you get into music?
Oh god, when I was like eleven or twelve. I mean for real. I had like been inducted into music by different babysitters. I knew a little bit about rock n roll from my babysitters but I started going really ballistic with it when I was about twelve probably, and then it like took over my life.
V.C.: Babysitters? How did babysitters manage to influence you that way?
Well, my babysitters influenced me a lot because I had all these drag queen babysitters. They taught me a lot about film, about music, rock n roll about life. I mean I had babysitters that were guys who would be painting my toenails with blue glitter nail polish telling me about John Waters and David Bowie and Andy Warhol, when I was like twelve and thirteen . It was kind of its own unique crazy education in itself. Plus I read a lot, you know. Those babysitters--who actually Im still in touch with a couple of them, really shaped my life a lot. They showed me that there was more out there in the world than the small town in Connecticut where I was growing up.
V.C.: Tell me about The Underground Guide to L.A. Was it hard to be editor and choose writers for that book? Did anyone get left out or did you not have room to include others you wouldve liked to include??
Actually I just three or four days ago got done doing the second edition of that, and I also now have Tendonitis because of it! (laughter) Yeah, that was a little bit hard. Id never edited anything before and people have always wanted me to edit things. Theyd say, Youd make a great editor because youre such a good writer and I was like, I dont want to edit anything you know what I mean? Then I did the Underground Guide and I really thought, Im never going to fucking edit anything ever again in my life because its so much work and then by the time you do edit something and even if you show it to the people a lot of the people will take some of the edits like really, really personally. It was just a matter of trying to get the whole book to have the tone that I wanted. Id say to some people, You know, I need this to be about 1500 to 2000 words and then theyd hand me like 22 pages, you know. Its like, Hello?? Im going to edit it, you know. I mean, were not doing the Encyclopedia Britannica!
V.C.: Was there anyone who was really hard to handle? I mean, I can imagine Vaginal Davis being really hard to handle.
Well, it was hard getting his piece in, but once it was in it was so great and sick and funny. Wait until you see the second version of the whole book. Its so much better than the first. I mean, I like the other one and it was actually on the (L.A.) Times Best Sellers list for nine weeks but this one is so much better than the first one.
V.C.: Why? Whats new in it?
Theres like seven brand new; totally new chapters that werent in it and then all the other chapters are not just updated, but completely rewritten.
V.C.: That stayed in the Best Sellers list for nine weeks. How did that feel?
Well, when it first was on the best seller list, that was like April 3rd, and my friend called me up and left me these long messages saying, Oh, by the way your books on the best sellers list and I said to the phone, Ha ha! April Fools! (laughter) and then Jen (Joseph) called me the next morning screaming about it but then I was like, Oh well, thats nothing because its not the New York Times Best Seller list but then everyones going, Oh my god! I cant believe you know what I mean? Screaming about it. I kept thinking of that when I was in editing hell for the second edition, which will be out in September.
V.C.: Did the idea for that book come about from the top ten lists you do for the LA Weekly? Theyre sort of similar.
Yeah, its kind of like that but I just thought it would be good to just have a whole giant book of everything for someone because whenever I have gone traveling Id get guide books and they would always tell you about the most obvious stuff, and always like the way I found better things was by meeting people in cafes or something--you know, people that lived there. Or from like asking for directions and then, Is there anything really cool going on tonight? and then someone saying, Well, you might want to check out that show but you should definitely go to this place and that would always come from someone that lived there. That kind of stuff just doesnt make it into real travel books, or legit travel books.
V.C.: It seems like youre always involved in so many projects, where do you find the time?
Yeah, I dont know. It just seems that anything Im interested in turns into something Im working on, you know? I dont know where I find the time, but I dont have a TV (laughter).
V.C.: Well, that might have something to do with it (laughter).
And I dont sleep a lot. I mean Im starting to need to sleep more right now. I dont know, I just dont like to waste time. Actually Im kind of going crazy right now because I have these Tendonitis little cast things on my arms you know? I was bumming because I cant type, I cant play finger cymbals, I cant paint, I mean its only for a few weeks but I guess that was from just being a workaholic. I just now just completed the busiest most insane fucking month Ive ever had. I mean I was doing like three dance shows a night on the weekends plus teaching and rehearsing, and editing the book and doing regular writing assignments. I was just going nuts all the time and in the middle of it I actually fell in love with someone that Ive known for ages who I just saw for the first time in years. So its been a kind of crazy couple of months.
V.C.: I know you released 2 chapbooks, one of which I still have: Esthers Orbit Room and Fire Engine Blue. Did you release many of these?
Well, The Ringling Sisters did three chapbooks before we did a record or anything. We did The Ringling Sisters, and then one called Without a Nut, and then one called Threes a Charm. I did Fire Engine Blue, Esthers Orbit Room and Buena, Bonita, y Boracha. I had a couple of other ones, one called Black Nylon. We used to do tons of chapbooks all the time. As long as I was working in offices or knew someone that worked in an office where we could steal Xeroxing, there was a lot of chapbook action going on. A lot of not white-collar but white-out crime. I mean thats how corporate America funded most of the American underground.
V.C.: And you always released the chapbooks under the name Carnival Knowledge Press. What about that? I almost expected that to go into competition with the other alternative publishers like Manic D-Press, Incommunicado, and 2.13.61. What happened to that?
Well, it would be nice if it did but you know what happened it was like the reason it never did was that I was always more interested in the creative part rather than the business part you know? Thats like one of the ways that I divided my time or got time. Its like I would do something and then Id rather have someone else put it out. I mean it would be nice if I could put it out but I could never afford a secretary or an assistant and I was always a little bit reluctant about having an intern because I work from my house. I didnt have a ton of money so if I wouldve put something out under Carnival Knowledge, I, or me and Iris (Berry) wouldve had to do be doing absolutely everything and then that wouldve cut into the creative time. You know, if youre sitting there keeping track of sending things out or orders I mean I know a lot of people can do that but people who do stuff like that usually theyre a writer that has a press or something. Theyre not also running a couple of bands at the same time or belly dancing, you know what I mean? It was just too much for one person to do so I just would rather do the creating part than the marketing part.
V.C.: Im asking this next question because I also had a fanzine. Do you think having a fanzine helped your career in any way? Because it seems that theres never really any money in it, its always for artistic purposes
I think the only way that it even kind of did was because it taught me how to do stuff and taught me about writing, but you know I have one now, its called Puppet Terror. I mean this is the first time Ive had a fanzine in maybe two decades or something. Its pretty funny, we just got written up in Spin. Were on page 52 of the new Spin, which astounded us because you see that just started out as a joke and it turned into this full blown thing. Its a magazine for anyone whos ever been terrorized or terrorized others with puppets. Now people are giving me ventriloquist dummies and sending scary puppet pictures and albums and stuff. Its the same concept as the Ringling Sisterswe called it the Ringling Sisters because we were scared of clowns and then people just kept giving us clowns all the time so now my house is like full of them.
V.C.: Who are you doing that with?
With Shawna Kenney--she wrote I Was a Teenage Dominatrixand Iris Berrys involved too.
V.C.: Oh, Iris! Youve really worked with Iris Berry on a lot of projects.
Yeah, I just saw her today and we were just talking about how insane it is that weve known each other for like 22 years and always worked together and weve lived together and been in bands together. Its a really awesome friendship!
V.C.: Besides Iris, who else do you always find yourself working with?
Well, Annette Ive worked with a lot, Annette Zilinskas--who was in the Ringling Sisters. She was actually in an early incarnation of the Screaming Sirens, and then she was in Honk If Yer Horny with me, and weve done some other stuff together. Ive worked a lot with S.A. Griffin, I did a spoken word tour with him and weve done a lot of readings together and I wrote the back cover for his last book that came out. Ive been working a lot with Shawna (Kenney) lately, collaborating. Oh yeah, Clint Catalyst! I just did a story for this book he has coming out next year, Thrills, Pills, Chills, and Heartaches. I just did a reading with him in San Francisco. Also, Michelle Tea.

Continued....

Pleasant Gehman, Screamin' Sirens, Ringling Sisters, Honk if Yer Horny, ESCAPE FROM HOUDINI MOUNTAIN, Princess of Hollywood, Se�rita Sin, The Underground Guide to Los Angeles.