Lobotomy Room at Fontaine's DJ Set List 29 January 2016

/ Lobotomy Room - it leaves a taste of evil in your mouth! Seriously - who is this woman? What film is this from? Anyone who knows, get in touch! /

From the Facebook events page for the 29 January 2016 Lobotomy Room:

Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll - at LOBOTOMY ROOM!

Yes! Leave all sense of shame and propriety at the door - when LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to the subterranean Bamboo Lounge of Art Deco vice palace Fontaine's! Friday 29 January!

LOBOTOMY ROOM! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! A spectacle of decadence! Bad Music for Bad People! A Mondo Trasho evening of Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted Tittyshakers! Punk Cretin Hops! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs The Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell (of Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly notoriety). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock! Now with vintage erotica projected on the wall for your adult viewing pleasure!

Admission: gratuit - that's French for FREE!

Lobotomy Room: Faster. Further. Filthier.

It's sleazy. It's grubby. It's trashy - you'll love it!

A tawdry good time guaranteed!

/ Ai chihuahua! Flyer (of Jayne Mansfield and canine companion) by Ego Rodriguez Illustration /

Yikes! I’m catastrophically behind with my “art projects”. I’m only getting around to posting about the January 2016 Lobotomy Room now. This one was actually pretty successful! Not thanks to any of my friends turning up or any promotion on my part – a girl opted to have her birthday party downstairs on a night that coincided with Lobotomy Room and her friends packed The Bamboo Lounge out! I asked beforehand, Will she be cool with the music I play? What if she requests stuff I don’t have? I’m pretty “niche” after all! Fontaine’s ultra glam boss lady Ruby assured me she already told the girl what to expect from Lobotomy Room – but perhaps I shouldn’t play any of my vintage fifties and sixties homo porn on the big screen this time! In fact, I needn’t have worried. As the night wore on and they consumed more and more cocktails, the crowd really loosened-up and they began to thrash, flail and contort themselves to some of my more hardcore and outré selections (they seemed to particularly love Edith Massey and The Germs!). 

As you may have gathered from my posts, endeavouring to do your own regular club night requires advanced masochism. I’m currently embroiled in an epic ongoing battle with faceless corporate behemoths Facebook. If you want your event to reach a wider audience (as in outside of your own circle of friends), it’s pretty much compulsory to pay capricious internet overlords Facebook to “boost” it (something I can ill afford to do!). Before your proposed ad goes “live” online, you submit it to Facebook for their approval. For my March Lobotomy Room (Friday 25 March! Downstairs at Fontaine’s!) I’ve so far submitted about six potential ad campaigns now - and each one has been rejected for the following official reason: “Your ad wasn't approved because it doesn't follow Facebook's Advertising Guidelines for language that is profane, vulgar, threatening or generates high negative feedback. Ads can't use language that insults, harasses or demeans people, or addresses their age, gender, name, race, physical condition or sexual preference.”

Now pretty much everything connected to my club nights like Lobotomy Room and Cockabilly is vulgar, “blue”, adult and overtly sexual by nature. That’s just how my mind and guiding aesthetic works – but I’m no moron! I ensure the ads are relatively tame while also giving a titillating flavour of what to expect.  In February I tried to use this striking portrait of a (clothed) bouffant-haired 1960s stripper. Facebook vetoed this image as being too “sexually explicit”. Bear in mind I cropped the picture so tight in landscape rather than portrait format it was essentially an extreme close-up of her beautiful face (not even a glimpse of her cleavage). It was essentially an examination of her thick liquid eyeliner and false lashes. But apparently her lolling tongue alone was so lewd it violated Facebook guidelines! So I withdrew that photo, substituted it with a brutally-cropped close-up of Divine’s acid-scarred screaming face as Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble – and that did get approved.

/ Unsafe for Facebook! Apparently her name was Aminta. I'd love to know more about her! Hopefully this image will wind up being a Lobotomy Room flyer at some point /

My initial attempt for the March club was this photo with the strap line:

“Lobotomy Room! Come for the cocktails, stay for the putrid music and dirty movies!”

That was instantly rejected. I suspected Facebook didn’t appreciate me flagging up that I show raunchy films in the ad. I re-submitted it again with the wording changed to: “Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll at Lobotomy Room!” Once again it was vetoed.

Next I tried again with this shot of a hillbilly offering beer to a chicken with the same wording. It was declined for language violations, too. (I thought maybe Facebook would reject the photo it for “animal cruelty”!). It dawned on me including the word “sleaze” in my blurb is potentially problematic for Facebook. So I kept the shot of the hillbilly and beer-drinking chicken, but changed the wording to just “Incredibly strange dance party Lobotomy Room! Downstairs at Fontaine’s! Free!” Unbelievably, that got refused for language violations. This time I’ve officially appealed their decision and asked Facebook to report back to me about what precisely is offensive about the wording “Incredibly strange dance party Lobotomy Room! Downstairs at Fontaine’s! Free!” Whose feelings could that possibly hurt?! I’ve had no response and I suspect won’t be getting one any time soon. Facebook is quick to reject, but not to actually respond! I also don’t know whether these decisions are made by an actual human individual or algorithm-based software.

/ Unsafe for Facebook! Beer-drinking chicken. Surely to reject this shows discrimination against hillbillies? /

Since then, I've experimented with a few more combinations of words and images and each one has been refused. Now what I’m increasingly thinking is the very fact my club night is called “Lobotomy Room” is the issue for Facebook. Does the word “lobotomy” breach their taste guidelines? (If so, this is a new development as previous ads for Lobotomy Room have been approved and I’ve stayed entirely consistent in my wording). In which case, any ad I possibly submit for Lobotomy Room will be refused – and a forum for reaching a new audience for my club will be closed to me.  It's scary how powerful Facebook is in 2016. For me to even attempt to promote Lobotomy Room there is no other equivalent to Facebook!  

Anyway - this is what I played at the January 2016 Lobotomy Room:

Night Scene - The Rumblers
Dangerous Lips - The Drivers
Beatnik - The Champs
Beat Generation - Mamie Van Doren
Monkey Bird - The Revels
Taboo - The Shangaans
Fujiyama Mama - Annisteen Allen
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Bohemian - The Twilights
Little Queenie - Bill Black's Combo
Sheba - Johnny and The Hurricanes
Point of No Return - Gene McDaniels
Jungle Drums - Earl Bostic
Slow Walk - Sil Austin
Mambo Baby - Ruth Brown
She Wants to Mambo - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Babalu - Yma Sumac
Misirlou - Bob Kames
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Mau Mau - The Wailers
Bossa Nova - Elvis Presley
Dona Wana - Wanda Jackson
I Learn a Merengue Mama - Robert Mitchum
Go Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
Wiped Out - The Escorts
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Dance with Me Henry - Ann-Margret
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
The Coo - Wayne Cochran
Mama's Place - Bing Day
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Mrs Mills
Yummy Yummy Yummy - Rita Chao
I Wish I Were a Princess - Little Peggy March
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Meu Bem Lollipop - Wandrelea
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Lee Hazlewood
How Does That Grab You Darlin'? Nancy Sinatra
Wailin' - The Wailers
Let's Go - Billy Eldridge
Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio? The Ramonetures
It's a Gas - The Rumblers
He's The One - Ike and Tina Turner
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
I Live the Life I Love - Esquerita
Drummin' Up a Storm - Sandy Nelson
Booze Party - Three Aces and a Joker
Here Comes The Bug - The Rumblers
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Love Me - The Phantom
Raging Sea - Gene Maltais
Wiped Out - The Escorts
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Batman - Link Wray
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Breathless - X
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins
Jukebox Baby - Alan Vega
Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Howling at The Moon - The Ramones
Science Fiction - Divinyls
Contact - Brigitte Bardot
Your Phone's Off The Hook - The Ramonetures
Year One - X
Whistle Bait - The Collins Kids
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Beat Girl - ZZ und der Maskers
Hanky Panky - Rita Chao and The Quests
Gostaria de saber (River Deep Mountain High) - Wanderlea
Under My Thumb - Tina Turner
Boss - The Rumblers
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
I'm a Woman - Peggy Lee
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette
Ah Poor Little Baby - Billy "Crash" Craddock
Lover Boy - Gene Wyatt
Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave
Deuces Wild - Link Wray
Bottle to The Baby - Charlie Feathers
How Much Love Can One Heart Hold? Joe Perkins and The Rookies
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Krushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Twist Talk - Jack Hammer
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Pass The Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Harley Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
Forming - The Germs
Margaya - The Fender Four
Aphrodisiac - Bow Wow Wow
Intoxica - The Centurions
Twistin' The Night Away - Divine
Big Girls Don't Cry - Edith Massey
Can't Stop Thinkin' About It - The Dirtbombs
Johnny Are You Queer? Josie Cotton
Cry-baby - The Honey Sisters
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramonetures
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Action Packed - Ronnie Dee
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Can Your Pussy Do The Dog? The Cramps
My Way - Nina Hagen

Further reading:

Dates for your social calendar!

Time to start contemplating your Spring / Summer 2016 wardrobe?

In the meantime ... drag a comb through your quiff, swallow a fistful of bop pills and rock around the cock – at COCKABILLY!

COCKABILLY is triumphantly returning to a new venue on Wednesday 9 March 2016: the louche surroundings of The Bloc Bar in Camden! And every second Wednesday night of the month henceforth!

Leather boys, gay greasers, cry-babies, prison wives and juvenile delinquents of all ages are welcome at Cockabilly - London’s only regular queer rockabilly night! With DJ Mal Nicholson and I (Graham Russell) spinning all your favourite rancid vintage sleaze classicks! Think rockabilly, rhythm and blues, surf, punk and tittyshakers! Daring and virile! Chains, whips, knives and leather belts all swished around together in bone-jarring rock and roll! Way-out sex and sin for those who like it that way!

The Bloc Bar: 18 Kentish Town Road London NW1
8-midnight
FREE

The featured presentation of the next Lobotomy Room Goes to The Movies film club downstairs at Fontaine's is Wednesday 23 March. The featured presentation this month will be John Water’s ultra-twisted punk-y black comedy Desperate Living (1977). It's one of his relatively lesser known gems (probably because his usual muse and leading lady - three hundred pound drag queen Divine - isn't in it). The genuinely nasty Desperate Living has something to offend everyone! See the film that Variety lambasted as “amateur night on the psycho ward” and that Waters himself has called “the worst of all my films. And it’s the grimmest!” The events page.

/ Pictured: the fabulous Liz Renay (1926 - 2007) as Muffy St Jacques in Desperate Living /

The next Lobotomy Room club night in The Bamboo Lounge is Friday 25 March. Events page.

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"Like" the official Lobotomy Room page on Facebook if you dare!