This installment of Cockabilly (London’s monthly punkabilly
beer blast at The George and Dragon in Shoreditch) was notable for a bittersweet
reunion with my old friend Lisa Cunningham. I spent much of the 1990s propping
up various bars with this crazy psychobilly chick (More than Vegas at The St
Moritz on Wardour Street, the tough-as-nails Elephant’s Head in Camden Town when it was still scary good fun, assorted Frat Shacks and El Vez gigs). She’s splitting London soon to
start a new life near Wales with her husband. Much as I am excited for Lisa, I sure
will miss her pretty face! (And props as well to my friends Eric and Sarah who
also came this time.)
/ Lisa and I at the 28 March 2014 Cockabilly at The George and Dragon in Shoreditch /
/ Punk pin-up: glamorous kiss-curled Lisa in the 1990s - very much what she looked like when I first met her in the rockabilly fleshpots of London /
As always, it was a blast to guest DJ alongside Mal Nicholson and Elma Wolf, playing my most fetid vintage musical sleaze offerings at blistering volume to a heaving, sexy crowd at The George and Dragon, and the lager was a-flowing. (I was DJ’ing the next night at the mondo 12-hour John Waters-inspired Filth Fest. When I was trying to rouse myself Saturday I definitely regretted the lager had flowed quite so freely. Rest assured the triumphant Filth Fest will be a whole separate blog soon).
/ Punk pin-up: glamorous kiss-curled Lisa in the 1990s - very much what she looked like when I first met her in the rockabilly fleshpots of London /
As always, it was a blast to guest DJ alongside Mal Nicholson and Elma Wolf, playing my most fetid vintage musical sleaze offerings at blistering volume to a heaving, sexy crowd at The George and Dragon, and the lager was a-flowing. (I was DJ’ing the next night at the mondo 12-hour John Waters-inspired Filth Fest. When I was trying to rouse myself Saturday I definitely regretted the lager had flowed quite so freely. Rest assured the triumphant Filth Fest will be a whole separate blog soon).
/ It's so important to get your turn-ups just right /
/ Prime chicken: Star of Pink Narcissus Bobby Kendall. Judging by his lush-lipped, dark-eyed good looks he's got a little Mediterranean or Mexican in him. I've had a little Mediterranean and Mexican in me, too /
/ Prime chicken: Star of Pink Narcissus Bobby Kendall. Judging by his lush-lipped, dark-eyed good looks he's got a little Mediterranean or Mexican in him. I've had a little Mediterranean and Mexican in me, too /
Now:
to raise the tone - a bit of art. I’d argue Pink Narcissus (1971) is one of the
essential homoerotic classicks (sic) of underground cinema (alongside Jean Genet’s Un chant d’amour, Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Warhol’s My Hustler) all homosexualists should see at least once. I recently revisited Pink Narcissus for the
first time in over twenty years. (I’d only seen it once before - at
the now-defunct, much-missed Scala Cinema in London, which shut in 1993). Simultaneously avant-garde and kitsch,
it’s as trippy, weird and sexy as I remembered. For director James Bidgood,
Pink Narcissus was an obsessive labour of love: made on a shoe-string budget,
seven years in production (from 1963 to 1970), all filmed entirely within his
own compact Manhattan apartment (even the “exterior” street scenes). The hot
neon shocking pink and blue-hued photography is exquisite (Pierre et Gilles
swiped this whole style for their own camp sensibility). Beauteous leading man
Bobby Kendall (a teenage runaway when Bidgood scooped him up; he never made
another film) has the greatest, noblest and most poetic male ass ever captured
on film (perhaps second only to Joe Dallesandro’s). (You can watch a reasonably OK version of Pink Narcissus here. Warning - it's a porn site!)
Bottle to the Baby - Charlie Feathers
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Woo Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Boss - The Rumblers
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
I Got Stung - Elvis Presley
Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins
Shortnin' Bread - The Ready Men
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Batman Theme - Link Wray
Whistle Bait - The Collins Kids
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Elle est terrible - Johnny Hallyday
Rock-A-Bop - Sparkle Moore
I Stubbed My Toe - Bryan "Legs" Walker
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo
Lover Boy - Gene Wyatt
Intoxica - The Centurions
The Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
People Ain't No Good - The Cramps
Contact - Brigitte Bardot
We're a Happy Family - The Ramones
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
/ If you've read down this far, you're rewarded with a bonus vintage homoerotic nudie cutie. Who doesn't love a natural blond? Via /
Further reading:
Read about previous Cockabilly nights here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here
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