Reflections on ... Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London exhibition

 

/ Portrait of Leigh Bowery at home (note the Star Trek wallpaper) / 

Finally getting around to posting a few shots I snapped from when I visited the Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London exhibition at London’s Fashion and Textiles Museum a few weeks ago. The exhibit documents the wildly vivid, creative and fertile post-punk, post-New Romantic period when edgy nightlife bled into and informed street fashion and youth subcultures (and the emerging style press like i-D magazine) and ultimately high fashion. Outlaws locates the epicentre of this scene as Taboo, the hedonistic and anarchic anything-goes club night organised by freaky and inspired drag terrorist / performance artist Leigh Bowery (1961 - 1994) in London’s Leicester Square from 1985. (Bowery is definitely enjoying a cultural moment: a major retrospective exhibit devoted to him opens on 27 February at Tate Modern). Anyway, some of the names and reference points you’ll encounter at the exhibit include Bad boy of dance Michael Clark. Judy Blame. Princess Julia. Pam Hogg. Boy George. Mark Moore of S’Express. Scarlett Cannon. John Galliano. Neneh Cherry. Sue Tilley. Susanne Bartsch. Lana Pellay. Kinky Gerlinky. Lloyd Johnson. Kensington Market. The show closes on 9 March 2025 so don’t delay!

/ Mannequins representing Scarlett Cannon and Leigh Bowery /

/ Mannequin representing Pete Burns of Dead or Alive /

/ Ensemble by Pam Hogg /

/ Polaroid of adorable young Princess Julia - the queen of my heart! /

/ Can't vouch for everything the mannequin is wearing, but I know that the gold leather fringed biker jacket and matching jeans are definitely by Lloyd Johnson and that Lux Interior of The Cramps wore this outfit in the 1980s /

Cockabilly DJ Set List 9 October 2013

/ Nice 1950s beefcake "ass shot" of delectable young Tony Curtis /

Cockabilly (London’s only monthly gay rockabilly night!) triumphantly returned to its ideal venue / spiritual home The George and Dragon earlier this summer after a lengthy hiatus.  (Epicentre of East End bohemia George and Dragon is my favourite bar in London – close second is the nearby Joiners Arms). Happy times! It was great to guest DJ at the October 2013 Cockabilly. DJ’ing at one of these nights always feels like getting back to basics: it was at the earliest Cockabillies circa 2008 I gradually started easing myself into the dark art of DJ’ing. I've been addicted ever since! Cockabilly (and the two guys who organise it, Mal and Paul) will always have a place in my heart for setting me on my demented and inept path.

Having said that, the night was quite messy: 1) I got pretty drunk early on and 2) there was technical issues a go-go. The George and Dragon recently underwent some renovations and moved the DJ booth from its traditional corner by the bar to an upper mezzanine level. DJ’ing up there certainly feels glamorous and the view is great but ever since the relocation the audio has been weirdly muted. (I’d seen nightclubbing royalty Princess Julia DJ at The George and Dragon just before this Cockabilly and kept thinking, "Does she realise how quiet the volume is?"). This time Mal and I had the volume cranked up as high as it would go (it was jammed in the red!) and yet my friend Eric (seated with my friends Pal and Phil) was texting me from his table below, “Turn it up, grrrl!” It was really frustrating, playing some of my most rancid and blistering tunes and knowing it was muffled! Finally savvy Elma Wolf (of Twat Boutique notoriety), one of the night’s co-DJs, arrived and immediately declared she could barely hear what I was playing. She knelt down, fiddled with some secret dial I didn't even know was there, and instantly remedied the sound problem! Suddenly the music was blaring – loud, confrontational and obnoxious, just the way I like it! Which was a relief, but I was bummed out the entire first half of my set had been barely audible! Elma recommended I might as well play the same tracks all over again - no one would know the difference.  Aaack!

Cockabilly may be billed as a gay rockabilly night, but really the emphasis is on keeping things rowdy, good-natured and boozy rather than sticking to any particular genre. As per usual at Cockabilly, I whipped together a pagan, primitive and taboo tsunami of vintage musical sleaze: 1950s rock’n’roll, surf instrumentals, punk, kitsch-y weird shit, obscure cover versions and rhythm and blues (I played Ike and Tina Turner twice!). I'm always really critical looking back at my set list wondering, why the hell didn't I play this instead? (For example I'd packed Charlie Feathers, Hasil Adkins, Wanda Jackson, Esquerita - and didn't play a single track by any of 'em! Ah, well - next time). 

/ No one fused hardcore punk thrash and rockabilly quite like Los Angeles punk band X - one of my favourite groups of all time. Playing a track by them at  Cockabilly or Lobotomy Room is freaking essential /

In other news, I can now add “glamour model” to my CV. I had a “red hot camera session” with the insanely talented Adrian Lourie for Meat magazine the night before Cockabilly. How much did I take off? You’ll have to wait for the next issue (due end of November 2013) to find out. (Presuming I make the cut and am included!).  The photo shoot was a lot like this. I was channeling Jayne Mansfield the whole time, and sucking in my stomach so hard my eyes were popping out of my head.

Further reading:

Read about previous Cockabillies here, here, here, here and here.

Follow me on tumblr for loads of vintage kitsch, smut and homoerotica (NSFW to the max!)

Dragon Walk - The Noble Men
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Welfare Cheese - Emanuel Lanskey
Batman Theme - Link Wray and His Ray Men
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
He's The One - Ike and Tina Turner
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Whistle Bait - The Collins Kids
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave
Margaya - The Fender Four
Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
Year 1 - X
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Chicken - The Cramps
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
Roll with Me Henry - Etta James
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
C'Mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Boss - The Rumblers
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades

Cockabilly DJ Set List 5 October 2011 at The George and Dragon

/ Dress to the right ... /

One of the things I love about DJ'ing at Cockabilly (London’s only gay rockabilly club night!) is the opportunity to play some frantic hardcore rockabilly (it’s not really part of the titty shakin’ burlesque vibe at Dr Sketchy, my regular gig ), so I really seize it when I get the chance. I did a pretty brief “guest” set (about 30 minutes long), but I went perhaps too heavy on the abrasive / kitsch / punk / hillbilly side of rockabilly this time, and am not sure it went down so well! Obviously I was hoping to look out from the DJ booth and see people dancing like this...



Have learned my lesson: if I get to DJ at another Cockabilly, will ensure to vary it more and play some more user-friendly stuff (i.e. more 50s rhythm and blues. Everyone loves 50s R&B, especially female singers: people don’t need to even know who, say, Big Maybelle, Lula Reed or Annisteen Allen are to instinctively respond to them).

Mal and Paul: the brains behind Cockabilly

I’d also packed my DJ bag while in a hung-over / zombified state (I’d had a late one the night before; my friends the punk band Matron had played at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern) and when I started my set I realised to my horror that I’d packed one of my favourite CDs (You Better Believe It 1955-1969: White Trash Rockers) but not the insert with the track listing, which didn't help. Then my very first song wasn’t cued quite right, which rattled me. I don’t think my set ever quite recuperated from that shaky start!

/ Getting ready for Cockabilly /

Anyway, it was still a great night. Princess Julia – the eyebrow-less high empress of East End bohemia – was in attendance (the George and Dragon just doesn’t feel right when she’s not there). The two Alexes were also both there, which always guarantees a fun time (the last time I saw them was at the 2012 Butt magazine calendar launch party a few weeks ago!). Both Alexes keep hilarious blogs, which are highly recommended: find them here and here. And Mal secured some great branded promotional Cockabilly merchandise: nice and threatening-looking juvenile delinquent spring-release novelty flick combs! To be kept in the back pocket of your Levis and whipped out to either smooth back your pomaded Gene Vincent quiff or to menace squares with. Don’t make me cut you!

Heartbreakin' Special - Duke Larson
Club Delight - Jack Jolly
Snow Surfin' Matador - Jan Davis
Bottle to the Baby - Charlie Feathers
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
Breathless - X
Willie Joe - The Mystery Trio
Settin' the Woods on Fire - Hank Williams
Poor Little Critter on the Road - The Knitters
Lonesome Me - Ann-Margret
Raging Sea - Gene Maltais
The Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
De Castrow - Jaybee Wasden
Beat Party - Ritchie & The Squires



/ The mighty Los Angeles punk band X tear apart Jerry Lee Lewis's "Breathless" on The David Letterman Show in the early 80s. Awkward interview (Letterman doesn't seem to know what to make of them), awesome performance. X was one of my favourite bands as a teenager and I still listen to them today. They remain the perfect punk-rockabilly hybrid. /

5 July 2011 Cockabilly DJ Set List

He was there!

She was there!

OK, maybe not -- but she definitely was there!

And so was she! (My escort for the evening was Swedish Therese. I took this photo of her at The Virginia Creepers club a few years back).

Cockabilly is London’s only gay rockabilly club night. It was its organisers Mal Nicholson and Paul Dragoni that really gave me the confidence to pursue DJ’ing when they first launched their monthly Cockabilly night in 2008 and graciously let me make some tentative guest appearances. (So now you know who to blame for unleashing me on the world).

/ The Early Days: Leee Black Childers and I at Cockabilly in 2008 when it was still at The Moustache Bar in Dalston /

Mal and Paul themselves describe Cockabilly as "a rockabilly disco with homosexual tendencies, aimed at juvenile delinquents, homo reprobates, high school drop-outs and everything in between." Over the years Cockabilly has alternated between various venues (like the Moustache Bar and Dalston Superstore in Dalston and The Haggerston in Hackney). In summer 2011 it was re-launched at Shoreditch’s louche George & Dragon: the epicentre of East End bohemia and surely Cockabilly’s natural habitat and spiritual home. (Cockabilly’s patron saint is John Waters. Part of the George & Dragon’s shabby chic/kitsch decor is a gilt-framed poster of Divine in Pink Flamingos, garlanded with twinkling Christmas lights. ‘Nuff said).

It’s been ages since I guest DJ’d at Cockabilly, so I jumped at the chance when Mal and Paul invited me to at the July Cockabilly (plus it was dreamy to make my George & Dragon debut). The whole night was a blast and I really regret not having brought my camera to document it (I came so close to bringing my camera, but at the last minute I decided humping my DJ bag was enough – doh!). The crowd was really buzzing and it turned out to be quite star-studded: George & Dragon regular Princess Julia was there, and The Gossip’s Beth Ditto turned up and danced her ass off. In the flesh, she's much tinier and more beautiful than you might expect, with an incredible alabaster complexion. With her teased black beehive hairdo, Ditto looked like someone out of a John Waters film – which is meant as a compliment.

/ Grainy shot of me on the night taken by Mal with his phone. I don't know what I would have done without my DJ'ing assistant /

My modus operandi at Dr Sketchy is to create a sleazy cabaret / burlesque / titty shakin' vibe. It was a nice change to go for something a bit more abrasive and punkier and to play some full-throttle rockabilly, too. Anyway, this was my quick, tight, lager-fuelled 45-minute Cockabilly set:

Heartbreakin' Special - Duke Larson
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Khrushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
All You Gotta Do - Tracy Pendarvis
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby - The Earls of Suave
Breathless - X
Salamander - Mamie van Doren
Little Lil - Mel Dorsey
Juvenile Delinquent - Ronnie Allen
Cooler Weather (Is A-Comin') - Eddie Weldon
Skull and Crossbones - Sparkle Moore
Tornado - Dale Hawkins
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Save It - Mel Robbins
Beat Party - Ritchie & The Squires
One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers
Comin' Home, Baby - The Delmonas
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Little Things Mean a Lot - Jayne Mansfield
The Fire of Love - Jody Reynolds

In honour of Cockabilly, Kenneth Anger's sublime 1965 film Kustom Kar Kommandos. The Paris Sisters cooing "Dream Lover" will give you instant erect nipples.

A Reunion with The Prince of Puke

Reunion: My mentor / filth elder John Waters and I at the book launch for the paperback edition of Role Models in May 2011

Brutal close-up of John Waters and I in December 2010, at the book launch party for the hardback edition of Role Models. Both photos by Damon Wise

I was at the launch party for the UK paperback edition of John Waters’ book Role Models last Thursday (26 May) and figured I’d better blog about it now while the details were still fresh in my mind. (Well, fresh-ish: it was a boozy night).

The venue was a tiny East End hipster art gallery called The Last Tuesday Society. The Sultan of Sleaze himself was in attendance (the publishers flew him into London for one day only). As per usual Waters was looking soignée in a Comme Des Garçons ensemble (the jacket was incredible, a pattern alternating daisies with skulls). Waters signed books in the art gallery and then went next door to a former Victorian pub renovated into an astonishing private home to give brief readings from Role Models. I’d interviewed him for the alternative arts and culture website Nude when he was last in town in December 2010 to promote the release of Role Models in hardback (that launch party was at the Comme Des Garçons store on Dover Street). I didn’t honestly expect him to, but Waters did recognise me (be still my fan boy heart!): he recalled the Nude interview and said, “That came out nice!” Even if he was simply being gracious and pretending to remember, it still made my toes curl in ecstasy. While he signed my book and we had our photo taken, I was quickly able to tell him I’d recently seen Boom! on his recommendation (Waters has enthused that Boom! is his all-time favourite film and has even toured and given lectures about it). He was curious about the audience’s reaction to it. I admitted the theatre was pretty deserted and that some people walked out during the film. Waters didn't look surprised.

Afterwards next door there wasn’t much in the way of seating, so people mainly sat on the floor in front of the podium where Waters gave his reading. Surveying the crowd he remarked he felt like he was at a Beatnik coffee house circa 1958 and proceeded to read the intro to the chapter on outsider porn. Afterwards there was a short Q&A session. Asked about his reaction to the death of Bin Laden, Waters said he loved The New York Post’s headline about discovering a stash of pornography in Bin Laden’s bunker: “Osama Bin Wankin’!” (He said his all-time favourite New York Post headline remained the one announcing the death of Ike Turner: “Ike Beats Tina To Death!”). He was also asked about his response to extreme performance artist Leigh Bowery using the name “John Waters” as an alias when he checked into the hospital just before dying of an AIDS-related illness in 1994 (he heartily approved). Finally he was asked about Lady GaGa. Waters complimented GaGa and her PR team for being so incredibly hard working (like me, Waters is a Jayne Mansfield fanatic – he presumably recognises and appreciates a tenacious publicity-seeking starlet when he sees one) and remarked admiringly that all the little twelve year old kids who think they might be gay listen to Lady GaGa and then they are gay!

I went to the party with my old friend, the ace film journalist Damon Wise who’s known Waters for years and is a something of a confidant for him. Afterwards I wound up taking Damon (who’s straight as an arrow, by the way, but hip) on a bit of a bar crawl of Shoreditch’s most bleeding-edge gay drinking establishments, starting off at The Joiners Arms and ending up at The George and Dragon (fittingly, a poster of Divine in Pink Flamingos takes pride of place on the wall there, garlanded with Christmas lights). At the latter, alternative club royalty Princess Julia was DJ’ing. With her shaved-off eyebrows, punk-y eye make-up and Sean Young-in-Blade Runner / Joan Crawford-in-Mildred Pearce 1940s pompadour hairstyle, she looked simultaneously retro and futuristic -- like a beautiful alien. By then we’d polished off several pints of lager, gin and tonics served in vintage tea cups at the launch party, whiskey and then more lager. When Princess Julia played Bobby Vinton crooning “Blue Velvet”, it was a dizzyingly weird but appropriate end to the night.