Dissecting Hannahbolector

Beaux aka Hannah aka @hannahbolector wears many hats (and looks amazing in all of them). We met briefly while she was in town for Savannah Stopover, and she later mailed me one of her poetry zines. At the onset, Beaux seemed very chill and obviously very gorgeous, but I found out later there is a lot more underneath. She is a musician, dancer, writer, performance artist, and so much more. There seems to be nothing that she can't do? Had to interview to find out more.

How would you describe yourself in a sentence?

Captain of my own ship. 

What projects are you currently in, and what are they like? Anything on the horizon for them?

Two world-class bandz: Lowtown (@__lowtown) and Ladybusch (@ladybuschofficial)! How to create together from a distance? is the question. Everyone here at Lowtown (all four of us, currently) are calling it post-cowpunk. We are a motley family uniting under one banner for the sake of strange circumstances, the apocalypse, I don't know but I love them deeply. Lowtown has also been described as introspective death twang, doom country, and "earnest rock n' roll" har har.

Ladybusch is the only known band in the world (as far as I know) making pubic hair metal and rewinding ground beef. We have a lot of material, and we were just integrating another guitarist pre-corona. Haven't seen 'em since, but I think it's important we take this time to stay home and grow/trim our bushes in seclusion. 

Lowtown finished recording a debut EP (mixed by Graham Tavel at Mirror Mirror Recording, mastered by Jesse Mangum at The Glow) and we just released a single from that, "Take No Prisoners," today 4/20/20. Link to listen here: https://lowtownofatlanta.bandcamp.com/releases!! We were hoping for a release show. Maybe next 4/20, the one in 2021. I'm continually inspired by our fictional post-apocalyptic horse town psychedelia so the full-length should be crazy. 

If you were a vegetable what would you be?

Broccoline, pronounced just that way, that long-legged broccoli that tastes like candy when you sauté. The sapphic one. 

Do you prefer playing music or dancing? 

I prefer shaking my ass and singing and trying to maintain a beginner's mind. What I enjoy most in life are basic human activities like eating, moving into strange shapes, and pretending to be different people that are in some way self-inflated. Life is a performance. 

How are you dealing with the corona pandemic? 

Pandemicking. Waiting for the first person to throw the molotov cocktail, so I can join them. My coping mechanism for stress tends to be action, running as fast as I can, sometimes in the wrong direction, and then when I've worked myself up, exhaustion, sedation. My corona resolution is that I would like to become a preacher, a porn star, and also a lawyer so I can appeal to multiple demographics who might still be OK/passive about the erasure of prisoners, sex workers, undocumented immigrants, human beings.  

I loved reading your poetry zine you sent me! Your style is so unique, abstract yet tangible. What is your writing process like if there is one?

I often start with a single turn of phrase I think I can expand and repeat it like a beat. I really like walking and writing poems. Other times, poems are concepts, other worlds, or entirely based on sound. Other times, I masturbate and play the guitar instead of writing poems. Writing is sometimes circling back and cutting/trimming as I go along. I don't think you're supposed to do that with poems/prose, edit as you write. You're supposed to write, then edit, submit, be disciplined about it, and actually get published. Does any of that really matter? No, as long as you're doing the work you feel called to do. 

What is your favorite emoji?

The one where it's head is tilted to the side and it's eyes are different sizes and it's sticking it's tongue out. My friend and I were thinking of proposing a zoom feature where you can just plaster your emoji of choice over your face. The Purge: Take Back The Data edition.  

Are you friends with your exs or would you rather a hex be placed on them? 

These days I'm more into peacefully sending vibrations over the invisible airwaves (no 5G). I don't want to hold on to the dumpster fire I've been, that other people have been. I've made mistakes, and I also don't wish anyone ill-will--I'm over that shit. Side note: cancel culture is fucking toxic. We're all stumbling through this awful dystopia. More kindness, more honesty, more compassion. 

How would you describe your sexuality? What do you personally identify as if you were to put some kind of label?

I personally and professionally identify as Captain Jack Sparrow. 

What is it like personally being a sex worker? How did you get into it and how has it evolved with time?

I got into it because it's livable money, most of the time. There were many other inklings along the way--I realized that my attention is a gift, that I should be paid to talk to some men because they will never stop attempting to suck at the teet of my time. I had some shit I needed to work through and still do. The learning curve was terrible, I was very green because I was raised in an environment where the signals were: you can't start your own business, be small, do as told, arise in your institution and become your institution. There are always risks and I felt the impact of some of those immediately, though I am privileged to be less at risk. Nowadays I mostly have fun because I take a lot of pride in my work and know my angle of entry (oops). I love showing off my body and my presence and creating a sensual experience.

This has to be repeated until it sticks: sex work is hard work, valuable, and essential. It can be healing work for both sex worker and client. Moreover, it deserves the utmost respect in the eyes of the law, especially the portion of the government/upper financial echelon that's gotten their dick sucked or visited a strip club and is still trying to deny sex workers, "legal and illegal," their basic human rights. We have to do more to protect/fight for SWs who are more at-risk, especially those who are operating from a position of homelessness. I'd like to pay forward the healing, advice, money, and strength I've gotten from it as much as possible. Hmu.  

What herbs would you use to season the rich that will soon be slaughtered for equality and freedom?

Milk thistle for the liver, which will help with detoxifying the silicone particles from the silicon valley. Lavender for chill. If they're festival types, wash it down with some Kratom.

Do you have hope? What would your dream world be?

I do have hope. I think everyone has a little if they let go of control, if they put themselves in the place of another and take enough time to sit with their own pain. Hoping and dreaming are sometimes incompatible. 

My dream world is one where we can play many parts and express ourselves exactly as we are without fear. It's a world that burns down again and again, but we don't live in ignorance in the wake of that. 

You find a portal to a fantasy dimension. What are you bringing along?

All of my friends and my bone/skull collection, we ride at dawn to the promised land on Mars with Elon Musk's communist clone and universal healthcare and all of the trash, frozen and compacted into a glorious art feature. A few references, for aesthetic purposes: I'd pick that one bar scene in Star Wars. That bar and a mix of Harmony Korine's absurdism, the flamboyant 90s, the flamboyant 80s, Hawaiian shirts and slushies and bad sunburns and oysters without Florida culture.  

How can people support you? Got a Venmo, Paypal? Onlyfans link?

Venmo is @hannahflem. Cashapp is the same but with a money sign because brands. Onlyfans is trash, more on that later...still in the research/approach/freak-out phase. Platforms are techtopia scum. They can change their terms at any moment and end your livelihood, you are an ant to them. 

Ask me to write things for you. I want to write you a love letter. 

Any final words? Advice? Favorite quote?

"Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another." 

- Tom Robbins