BUTCH Nation Evening of Performance
This year’s BUTCH Nation is going to be HOT! Join us for a super sexy and talented performance line-up! Keynote, Jay Toole will take to the stage to tell you a story or two as this show sizzles with music, performance, and cool raffles. Wait, that’s not hot enough? Well, perhaps you need a little bit of fashion in your life? No worries, Saint Harridan Suits will be there strutting about and representing in the BUTCH Nation Fashion Show!
Join us, show starts at 7pm… be there early!
FREE for conference attendees
Saturday August 17th, 2013
7-9pm
Location: Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, 410 14th Street, 1st floor, Oakland, CA
2 blocks from 12th Street Bart and the BUTCH Voices Conference Host Hotel
Tickets: http://butchvoices2013.eventbrite.com/
BUTCH NATION PERFORMERS INCLUDE:
DELICIO DEL TORO: El Rey de Sucio y Queer. This round, brown, and handsome café con leche heartthrob was kicked out of Menudo for one too many pelvic provocations. A recovering Catholic school boy Delicio Del Toro, has a weakness for showtunes, gardening, engaging in la joteria, and devouring both cupcakes and men in uniforms. As the reigning Mr. Gay East Bay & Mr. SFDK14 he practices community service by making monthly donations of baby daddy batter at local banks and shaking his well-endowed bon-bon throughout the Trans Francisco Gay Area with the chunky hunks of CHUBB. “El Rey de Sucio y Queer” has also shaken his culo on the stages of the International Drag King Extravaganza, Trannyshack, International Ms. Leather, BUTCH Voices and National Queer Arts Festival.
Noelle Duncan aka Sapphic Lasers is a queer-as-fuck, dapper punk long-haired butch/boi with country roots and a citified mouth and is one half of queer electro band, GAYmous. Sapphic Lasers has been a performer/songwriter for over 17 years and her music has been featured in Kink.com films, on MTV’s Road Rules, XLR8R.com, KQED, KPSU, KAWL, SFStation, Berkeley Community Media, etc. and she was recently commissioned to write/perform a hymn for Annie Danger’s “Church of the Holy Fuck.”
As a founding member, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in the gender-bending acoustic pop quartet Girlyman, Tylan Greenstein distinguished herself as a powerful lyricist and a magnetic presence both on the band’s recordings and onstage. Founded in 2001, Girlyman went from playing for tips in coffeehouses to headlining and selling out 400-500 seat venues across the country; the band also toured internationally, graced festival main stages, and opened extensively for folk luminaries such as Indigo Girls and Dar Williams.
As a solo artist, Tylan’s Kickstarter campaign for her CD “One True Thing” created a tremendous buzz and reached its goal of $20,000 in just 36 hours. It went on to become the second highest grossing Kickstarter campaign ever in the Folk/Country category. Of “One True Thing,” Relix Magazine says, “The poignant honesty that [Tylan] brings to these tunes gives them an emotional intensity that’s as bracing as it is moving.” At Butch Voices she is performing with Ingrid Elizabeth of Coyote Grace, who is also her sweetheart. Check out Tylan’s CD and upcoming tour dates at www.tylanmusic.com.
Damnyo Lee is a Los Angeles native, born and raised. Very rare breed, since no one is actually raised in LA. Has been performing poetry and spoken word since 2001 and is a U. S. Navy Sailor since 2011. Has hosted several Los Angeles open mic venues, produced numerous shows including Elements, El le Mental Sol, and the Damn Slam.
Raquel Gutiérrez is a writer, live performer, film actor, curator, playwright, arts administrator and cultural organizer; writes on art, music, film, performance and community building and creates original solo and ensemble performance compositions. Raquel earned her MA in Performance Studies from New York University in 2004. She is an expert in creating artist-community partnerships for a range of institutional and community-based organizations.
Raquel is a co-founding member of the retired performance ensemble, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan (BdP), a community-based and activist-minded group aimed at creating a visual vernacular around queer Latinidad in Los Angeles. Raquel also co-founded other Los Angeles-specific art projects: Tongues, A Project of VIVA and Epicentro Poetry project. Raquel has published work, most recently in The Portland Review and Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing (edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano). Visit www.raquelgutierrez.net to stay in touch!
Jay Toole a.k.a. Super Butch: Born in 1948, Jay Toole grew up in an Irish Catholic home in the South Bronx during the 1950’s. At the age of 13, Jay returned home with the classic butch haircut of the day, a flat top. Her father threw her out immediately, with no one and nowhere to turn. For the next 8 years she lived on a park bench in Washington Square Park, a unique viewing perspective for the evolution of the 1960’s in the West Village. Ultimately she did not get off the streets or have an apartment to call her own until November 2000. She spent the five years prior navigating the NYC homeless shelter system. During her time on the streets she was arrested for crimes such as sleeping on a subway bench, sexual deviancy resulting from not wearing 3 articles of women’s clothing and much more. Jay was also beaten and abused by the NYPD regularly; she has visible scars on her leg to this day. She became addicted to drugs and alcohol as the only coping method available. Jay identifies the one reason she made her way out of the shelter system being the assistance of a few supportive queer individuals from the outside.
It’s precisely this kind of hands-on support that led Jay in 2002 to become a Co-Founder and the Shelter Director at Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ), a progressive non-profit org. committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation. From 2002-2012 Jay spearheaded movements at QEJ, which resulted in 2 written policy changes at the Dept. of Homeless Services (DHS) and the City of New York. In January of 2006 transgender folks were ensured the right to self determine which side (male/female) of the shelter system to enter. In 2007 a policy was created for homeless queer families to be housed and sheltered together. These policies continue to be honored today. Because of Jay’s work QEJ became the first and only LGBTQ organization to facilitate support groups for queer individuals inside the shelter system. Doors are open in these support groups regardless of gender identity, legal or immigration issues, mental or physical health needs, or substance abuse.
Jay began a new chapter in 2012, moving forward with her long time dream of Jay’s House. Currently she is working alongside her team to create the very first LGBTQ adult shelter in the country. Jay’s House will bring together a resource center, support and services, housing, follow up care, skill shares, mentorships and hold hands as people move through difficult systems, such as health care.
For more info: www.Jayshouseandresourcecenter.org
Follow us on fb and twitter: Jay’s House
Joann Cathleen Roberts, known as simply “Jo” or by her stage alias “Paradigm”, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She discovered a love for playing instruments, such as drums, bass, and guitar at the age of 10 and by 13 she was writing her own poetry and lyrics.
Paradigm has graced many stages, having had featured shows from Japan and Las Vegas, to Chicago, New York City, and Atlanta, Ga. She is the 2013 Savannah Slam champion and released her first poetry book and spoken word album in June 2012.
In her free time, Paradigm enjoys teaching and volunteering, and is very passionate about both science and spirituality, the outdoors, travel, and connecting with people all over the world. She studied Philosophy and Aviation Flight in college, and is a licensed private pilot. For more information please visit her websites: www.meetparadigm.com and www.facebook.com/meetparadigm
Her spoken word album and other recent works are available for free download or donation at: www.meetparadigm.bandcamp.com
Her poetry book is available at: www.meetparadigm.com
Lady Zen is a fusion poet and visionary force who possesses the powerful vocal agility of a mezzo-soprano and the prowess of vibrant storyteller. Her legacy as a performer is unmistakable.
Her art combines the emotive tones of jazz; the soul stirring power of gospel; the drama and pageantry of Kabuki Theater and Opera; and the swagger of Brazilian samba, with the mastery of new and old forms of poetry.
Her voice has been heard in various outfits in the United States, Canada, and stages across Europe and Brazil. Collaborating with national and internationally known organizations, hip-hop artists, house DJ’s, and producers. Her music is a unique blend of high art with commercial appeal.
Her writing fuses with visual art forms such as fashion, typography, film, drawing, sculpture, dance, and photography.
In September, The Maine Center for Creativity commissioned a piece for Glenn Close and David Shaw. Lady Zen composed a soundtrack for a queer adult feature film in conjunction with Fruit Punch Productions (http://www.fruitpunchproductions.com) under the band name: Hipstersexual. Her work will be featured at Gay Pride in Amsterdam in August. Just recently, she completed a manuscript for publication called Shoot Me!I love Fashion: The life of a Dandy Butch Queer. Currently, she is third semester creative writing grad school student at Stonecoast, MFA at the University of Southern Maine.