13 minute read
How internet ceWEBrity Leslie Hall crafted her way to our hearts
from June 5 - 11, 2024
by Dave Hamilton
Fans of Leslie and the LYs can find it hard to easily describe the internet sensation from Ames, Iowa. She is a plus size rapper/ singer/songwriter/author who focuses on the simpler things in life, such as crafting, gold pants, kittens, and gem sweaters (vintage knit sweaters bedazzled with rhinestones and/or sequins). The self-proclaimed “Mother Gem” or “Midwest Diva” is a musician, but so much more. She has crafted her sometimes silly, always fun-loving persona over decades, and has brought joy to her fans with countless videos that have turned her into an internet legend and a gay icon. Frontwoman Leslie Hall joins me via Zoom as she crafts a boombox-inspired cape in neon-colored felt. “Entrepreneurs can never sit still.”
StreetWise: On April 20, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you made a triumphant return to the stage - performing your first concert in 10 years! The audience was sending you so much love. How did it feel to be up there again?
Leslie: Oh, it felt incredible! I currently would describe my physical activity as "onces" a week pickleball and stationary, so anytime people paid to watch me do cardio I’m in! It was so fun and exciting and liberating. I just cannot describe how good it feels when I am on stage. It felt like I could do anything, and the audience would laugh or point and giggle. It's the greatest. I made them sweat, and they watched me humiliate myself with fabulousness.
And boy, does that put a spark in your brain to keep going! I want more honeys. I want it.
How did you begin your career in entertainment?
If you want to go all the way back to high school… This was in the '90s, and I wanted to buy some domain names and create my own website. I wanted to buy girlsjustwanttohavefun.com, because it is one of my favorite movies with Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker. I was gonna do a fan site (that was what was popular on the web at the time), but it wasn't available. I was like, “what else do I collect?” Well, I have a lot of gem sweaters, so I will buy gemsweater.com, and put up pictures of me posing in my gem sweaters. I did that and it went viral. By viral, I mean, it was passed around through email. It's a different viral from today. I ended up getting this really high bandwidth bill from GoDaddy. I think it was like $20,000 or something crazy, just because so many people were visiting my site.
I wasn't making any money from the website. I was just putting stuff out there and then I came to the realization that I have to sell something. At the time, people were buying songs for a dollar, and I thought, well, I'll just make up some songs, and people can buy them. I came up with some silly songs, “Gold Pants” and “Ring-a-ding-ding” were the big ones. The performer in me was like “I could sing these songs and wear my gem sweaters.” I started playing anything I could book. A played a lot of open mics, and from that we got invited to a house party, and from that the venues started to ask “Hey, do you want to open up for this band,” and then I started to get the opportunity to do my own shows, and the sets kept getting bigger and bigger.
But the gem sweaters really started it on the Internet. My big break was in Vice Magazine. My brother was at a bar and met the editor and told him to check me out. He put me in the magazine, and that really legitimized the act.
You have had a very devoted cult following, especially from the gay community, who have been supporting you right from the start.
Yes, it's true. I was just so lucky to be one of the early ones to find fame on the internet. I do think I came out at a good time. Would I stand out now? Probably not. But back then, to see an art student with that much content helped me stand out! I really am trying to be a diva or a star. All the mess ups you see during the live show are because I'm not very good at being a diva or a star, and my crew is not professional. You really are watching a woman try her hardest, and I hope that reads! Gay men have always turned out for me. They have great taste, I like to say. They see someone who's gonna dance till they're dead, just for a good show. I will give you it all.
You sold out Berlin Nightclub on Halloween, that's the epitome of gay Chicago.
My God! It was an honor to do that!
At StreetWise, we are always helping people to become entrepreneurs. Do you consider yourself an entrepreneur?
Absolutely. My first taste of business was selling ranch crackers in elementary school to other kids. Oh boy! There's something about making a buck that makes you want to keep going. I was making this art, but I needed something to exchange money, so making merch is definitely one of my favorite parts of this. I love product design. When my shirts kept selling online, I realized there are other people out there that are interested in this, which kept me going.
I'm obsessed with screen printed shirts, even though that's the most expensive. I'm definitely a sucker for the handmade limited edition band merch. There's many different ways of producing merch now, the internet and fancy printers have really lowered costs and made it very accessible. But I'm doing it the old way, which to me is more artsy and more fun. I don't make as much money, but I think my customers appreciate it and keep coming back.
Do you have any fond memories from Chicago?
I'm in the Midwest, so Chicago is like my New York City, capital of the world, you know. That is where they have the dirtiest streets, the trains, the (lack of) parking… It's like, I don't know how people live there, but they do. Chicago was always an exciting stop. It seems like everybody in Chicago is a hustler or a go-getter.
Laurie Metcalf, I think, is the most famous person I know that came from Chicago. Stars are born in Chicago! It is so cool to think that somewhere in the Midwest you can get discovered and become a superstar!
We would always pull really good numbers in Chicago! I felt that if the Chicago people like us, we might be able to do this in other places. So it was a big confidence boost. I think I went around the country at least 4 or 5 times when I look back. And then I went out a few times with “Yo Gabba Gabba,” too.
Speaking of, how did you get involved with “Yo Gabba Gabba” (a children's show that ran on Nickelodeon that is going to be revived on Apple TV+ this fall)?
They found me off the Internet. I don't know if it was [my song and music video] “Tight Pants, Body Rolls,” or what exactly, but they thought I fit their wacky show. It worked so well. They are such artists and creative guys.
Was it “Yo Gabba Gabba” that sparked your desire to entertain children? Did it inspire your “Yarn House” show on YouTube?
I had made a demo, so I had actually started “Yarn House” before “Yo Gabba Gabba.” I showed it to producers and I said, “Hey, you wanna make this show next?” But they were pretty busy.
“Yarn House” is my “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” attempt... creating a magical, artistic, visually beautiful world that you’d wanna visit.
I see the influence, what is the backstory of “Yarn House”?
While we were on tour, we would go to thrift stores just to kill some time. Somewhere in Idaho, there was a giant house made out of yarn. We had no room in the van, but we cov-
ered it in garbage bags, strapped it to the roof, and we did bring it back to Iowa. I was like, “I don't know why I want this, but it's gonna be important somewhere later.” And then it did. I was like, what if I went inside this yarn house and I lived in it, cause I mean sweaters, yarn, crafty, it all makes sense. Then I was like, “I gotta have a sidekick.” So I decided to use one of my pet chickens. It was kind of rough. I've gotten better with video, and we're still trying to make it. I've made a bunch of different versions. Hollywood never called and said, “Let's do that.” So now we make it for our friends to laugh and have an excuse to make very silly props.
There's that entrepreneurship.
It's true! I have made maybe 5 versions of this “Yarn House,” and I'm going to keep doing it.
Your humor has always been more innocent and sweet, pretty kid friendly, never very vulgar or overly sexual.
I do get sexy, but I don't get TOO sexy. I grew up on network TV so I learned how to creatively allude to dirty deeds. I wrote some weird songs but being able to share music with a large audience at say, a grocery store. I feel more comfortable keeping it clean.
I know you kind of started doing more “Yarn House” while you're on hiatus from touring. What kind of spurred the lack of touring?
I wasn’t getting any inspiration for new songs, plus I really wanted to develop “Yarn House.” Being on the road, it's hard to develop something new.
I have another project I started right after my last tour, Neon & Nude, and I feel like that project is so good. I want to drum up more interest in it.
I thought they were great in Minneapolis. What was the concept behind Neon & Nude?
It is 2 women falling in love, adding comedy and costumes. I wanted to develop something not electronic, I was getting tired of the same digital loops. We live in a town where there's plenty of people who played in band or were in orchestra many years back, and we asked our friends to dust off their trombones and banjos. We used the experience of Kate and I falling in love in our 30s, and all the silliness of that time in your life, when you're goo goo gaga for somebody. And I just think there's not enough lesbian duo acts. We need more. I want to be more.
We're trying to be fun and light hearted. I desire to sound like Lawrence Welk. If I could I would lead a full orchestra, and Kate would be like Sissy. And I could bring Sissy out, and she could do a slow dance, and I'd tap my podium during her performance, and it could be a very fun show. Neon & Nude will be performing with us wherever Leslie and the LYs play because I think they complement each other. And they're both from me!
As you can see, I have many different projects. They're not all neon. Well, no, I shouldn't say that. They ARE all neon. They aren't all gold pants. Sometimes it's lesbians in sailor suits.
How do you measure your success?
I definitely measure success in the fact that I get to keep doing it. Being a working artist can be hard, but then you go to Chicago, and so many people are doing such cool things, and it keeps me inspired. It's been 10 years since I performed and I still get comments like “that was such a great show. I remember it from 10 years ago.” I can't help but want to see, 10 years later, if I can do it again. I want to recreate that with people. Probably a terrible idea to try to go out on the road again. I should just end on top with fond memories after all of those years. But I can’t help but think I can do better.
Hence the Minneapolis show where I did go big. You know, more skits, more costume changes, big set pieces. I just wanna take this heightened diva-character-art-project and just go for it! This is still primarily a one woman show, an insane person’s one woman show. I did it once before, it was luck and timing, and my parents bought me the van. But now I want to do it again, and bigger, and just just show everyone that it wasn't a wasn't just a fluke.
When you get older you're like, “Oh, I know how to do this.” My body cannot keep up as well, but I'm going to try and ask for the audience to forgive me later. I want more attention is what it comes down to. Remember that time I got all that attention? I'd like more of that, please.
I miss all the people every place we'd go, we'd make friends. Everybody was so nice. I want to go back and check in on people, I want to give hugs and get hugs! And I want to meet the people who buy the merchandise online and put faces to those addresses. I feel like I have friends everywhere, and I want to go see them.
How do people reach you or get to know more about you?
I'm on Patreon.com (@MotherGem). That's the best way to get in touch because I'm doing video, and they get to see everything. They're seeing what I'm working on, when I'm failing, when I'm succeeding. They're giving me ideas. People are very clever when they're at home by themselves, writing comments. I'm getting some great song ideas. I do feel like it is a bit collaborative on that in that space. I don't like the Patreon website, but I do like the concept. I needed it because for so long, I was just putting Youtube videos up and not seeing a lot of financial return. And you can't maintain that.
I am also very active on Instagram (@iamlesliehall), Facebook (lesliehallofficial), TikTok (@.leslie.hall), and I have over a decade's worth of videos on YouTube (lesliehall).
What does the future hold for Leslie?
I'm just gonna keep going! As long as people are still Patreoning me and still buying merchandise, this is something I'm going to keep pursuing. I'm looking back and thinking “Oh, my gosh! We did so much stuff that was so neat.” I want to do that again. That's happening. I am actively working on booking a Chicago gig this summer. But No. 1, I wanna get out and I wanna hug new people: the teens who watched “Gabba,” the kids who watch “Gabba,” the baby gays, all of them. I want to let them know that it's gonna be fun. Life is going to be great because we all are the best.
