Storm Miguel Florez, self-portrait

Meeting up at the Dolores Park Cafe a few months ago, Tranny Fest Artistic Director Shawna Virago was approached by Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory Artistic Director Dwayne Calizo. “Yerba Buena wants me to put on a series of events centered on queer performance. Wanna curate one of them?”

asked Calizo. “Can I invite whoever I want?” questioned Virago. “Yes,” said Calizo. “Even if they’re raunchy and act like bitchy divas and spill glitter on the ground,” asked Virago. “That’s required,” replied Calizo, and the result is “Tranny Noise!” It’s a history-making transgender and queer performance event taking place Friday Aug. 21 at Yerba Buena’s Room for Big Ideas at 701 Mission Street. Tix are $10 at the YBCA box office or online www.ybca.org.

“Tranny Noise” features some of the Bay Area’s leading trans and gender-queer artists including the soulful twang of guitarist Storm Florez; Landa Lakes, a former Miss Gay Indian Nations as well as the current reigning SF Grand Duchess; singer Josh Klipp, who blends the hottest elements of R&B and hip-hop into a sexy package; Butch Tap, a loose collective of Oakland based queer performance artists who combine 1930’s soft shoe expertise with post-modern “draglesque,” and transgender songwriting goddess Shawna Virago, who manages to channel Joe Strummer through a Candy Darling-like persona. 

“I wanted to curate a line-up that demonstrates the professional level of talent San Francisco’s transgender community has, and also invite performers who are proud about being out and don’t equate success with assimilating into the dull, vanilla world of the gender binary,” says Virago. Sean Dorsey, artistic director of Fresh Meat Productions and event co-sponsor, says, “I’m elated - Yerba Buena is an incredible venue and we’ve never had transgender and gender-queer programming like this there before. This is not only a super hot event; it’s historic.”   

Singer Joshua Klipp, who has been featured on the Tyra Banks Show, says, “’Tranny Noise!’ is an event that, decades from now, people will realize just how pioneering it was in that moment.” Florez adds, “I’m excited to be one of the trannies taking over Yerba Buena! I hope that we draw a large crowd of trans and queer people. It would be neat if straight people came too; I’ve always been curious about them, and diversity is a really good thing.”