Pleasant Gehman - Artist, Witch, & LA Icon
Pleasant Gehman is the first person to admit that she’s a little strange. “If someone thinks I’m batshit, that’s just part of my DNA,” she joked while sharing a story from her past. Pleasant has lived the type of life that you’d have to be there to believe. From experiencing psychic abilities at a young age, to running around in the LA rock ‘n’ roll scene, to performing all over the world, Pleasant has walked the path least traveled.
It’s hard to sum up Pleasant in just a few words because she does SO much. She refers to herself as an “artist” since it’s all encompassing but she is a true Renaissance woman and Hollywood Icon. In the 1980’s she was the front-woman for several punk rock bands, the Screamin’ Sirens and Honk If Yer Horny, just to name a few. She was a music and entertainment journalist for LA Weekly and is a spoken word poet. She’s written nine books including The Underground Guide to Los Angeles and Showgirl Confidential. You may know her as an international belly dancer, burlesque performer, and instructor under her stage name, Princess Farhana. She does tarot card readings and energy healings. Most recently, she’s added podcaster to the list. I’m positive there are other accolades of hers I’m missing but you get the point, Pleasant likes to keep busy.
Pleasant has called Los Angeles home since the 70’s. Prior to that, she lived in New England with her mother. She attended boarding school and recalled being in love with rock ‘n’ roll and the Occult even back then. “I was really intelligent but also very delinquent,” she shared. At age 15, her mother informed her that they’d be moving. “I went on my bed and cried because I thought we were moving somewhere like Idaho. When my mom told me we were moving to LA I screamed “When are we leaving?!” and the rest was history.
Even at a young age, Pleasant knew she was different. “I had my first psychic experience around age 4,” she shared along with an anecdote about a voice that spoke to her and told her their family barn was on fire, which it was. This was the first “sequence of insane sequencities” as she describes, that have occurred throughout her life. Pleasant has a cornucopia of psychic powers including clairaudience, clairsentience, and clairvoyance. “I also have this crazy electrical disturbance which is what I do the healing with. People tell me it feels like magnets when I get into their energy field,” she described. Energy healing is a gift she was born with that takes away tension or physical pain. “In one case I actually saw someone get off the table where I was working on them, and they had come in on crutches, and they just started jumping up and doing pirouettes,” she proclaimed.
Despite her outwardly visible outspoken personality, Pleasant kept her abilities secret for a long time. “I knew I had all of this stuff going on but I was convinced no one else knew it,” she shared, “I discovered that people I had known and loved for ages were calling me Carrie or Fire Starter behind my back.” Once Pleasant knew her secret was out, she became more open about sharing it.
In true Pleasant fashion, she’s stayed extremely busy during the pandemic. She spends her days giving readings, healings, and dance lessons remotely as well as has her hands in several podcasts. Right before quarantine began, she started “The Devil’s Music,” which she describes as “true stories of punk rock mayhem told by the perpetrators themselves.”
When asked about Halloween, Pleasant breaks out in song to sing “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” to the tune of the Andy Williams’ classic. For her, Halloween starts in August. This year, on the 30th she’ll present the Belle, Book, and Candle “BLUE MOON,” a virtual bewitching burlesque show and on Halloween night, she’ll offer full moon tarot readings. “You can’t deny the power of it on a blue moon and Halloween,” she professes.
Over the next two weeks, Pleasant will also be prepping for the release of her ninth book Rock ‘N’ Roll Witch, “a memoir of sex, magic, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.” She hinted at several jaw-dropping stories to look forward to but I was sold at “Belinda Carlisle and I playing with ouija boards.”
Stay in the loop with all of Pleasant’s endeavors by visiting her website www.pleasantgehman.com/ or following her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
This post has been a collaboration between Strange Los Angeles and The Making Waves Project for 13 Days Of Strange – a socially distanced, Halloween photo series spotlighting spooky and strange Angelinos. Visit our homepage for more.
.Written by Brittany Rice
Photography by Robiee Ziegler
