The Golden Viral: Leslie and Ly's

[marc]

On the day of love, I stood on an old dirty couch and watched a Midwest diva rap about the powers of her shoulder pads and sweater appliqué. The low-budget big-impact show was all flash with projections, heavy electro beats complete with backup singers. It was the Leslie and Lys show at the Mercury Lounge in New York City, and it was sold-out: people dancing, laughing, singing along to her not-so-underground hits, and getting the chance to touch her red rouge cheeks. CDs, t-shirts and other crap were being sold near the front door. How did this happen? In a city of million dollar rat holes, how does an underground phenomenon emerge? Simple: she unleashed her shtick via the internet, exploiting her talent for visual art, music making, dance and performance. Well, the dancing is not going to make her a star, but her moves are fierce and funny.

Her entrance that night:

In front of skewed videos of chubby aerobic classes, dog grooming, and other weird 80s cultural ephemera, I felt like I was watching a genius. There were low tech effects, like a giant black sock to disguise her dramatic entrance, and the music was courtesy of her laptop, which sat right to the side of the stage. It was technological full disclosure, low and hi-tech. And she shakes and strokes her full-figure beauty/booty in a tight gold-lame confection…a space suit for her alien glamour. Again: nothing to hide. Nobody laughs at her, they dance with her. There were fans with gem-sweaters, called up on stage to get letters of gem-sweater authenticity and then dance: performance pop art without the pomp.

It’s Americana from hell. But so lovely are Leslie’s talents that what could be simple kitsch becomes a sophisticated commentary on body-image, whiteness, celebrity and DIY technologies and culture: she didn’t name her CD ceWEBrity for nothing. And, it’s a shit load of fun.

See this article about her formative gemness: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2005/05/24/bedazzled/
http://www.lesliehall.com/#

[Mathew Heggem]

Integrity & creativity - inspired, so thank you.

[Ashley A. Friend]

Hi Marc. I'm glad you posted this. It is Americana from hell forging the internet with sparkles in an oddly non-threatening way. All we can do is embrace this passing frontier of information communication and see where our culture can change for better (accepting and embrassing the self) and for worse (people exploiting the opportunity to express their extremely critical hater-selves.)