7 May 2014 Dr Sketchy DJ Set List

/ Striptease icon, the cat-faced Lili St Cyr (1918-1999), aka the Anatomic Bomb. (The perfect cleft in her chin rivals Ava Gardner's). Read about her stormy life here /

In a celebration of red-headed mamas, all the performers this evening at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern were gingers: emcee Ophelia Bitz, burlesque performers / models Amelie Soleil and Sophia St Villier and even the DJ (my bad self!). In tribute, I could have played endless back-to-back tracks by ultimate atomic era auburn vixen Ann-Margret – but I didn't.

The night witnessed saucepot mistress of ceremonies Ophelia at her juiciest, most debauched and Tallulah Bankhead-esque. Barefoot in Capri pants, black sequinned beret cocked at a jaunty angle, she looked like an earthy 1950s beatnik poetess en route to an Allen Ginsberg reading. “Draw with your non-dominant hand,” Ophelia challenged the crowd. “If you’re right-handed, draw with your left hand. If you’re left-handed, draw with your right hand. If you’re ambidextrous please see me after the show. I have plans for you.” At one point she invited the audience to stub out their cigarettes on her body, James Dean human ashtray-style. Following Sophia St Villier’s stunning performance, Ophelia picked up her discarded bra from the stage floor, sniffed it, inhaled deeply and purred something about “the moist patch spreading towards my knees.” 

Ophelia introduced the first act of the night with, “Welcome to the stage my dear friend and wank fantasy, Amelie Soleil.” This time the stage fans were switched off beforehand and Amelie successfully did the same macabre carnival freak show act from last month. It incorporated some nonchalant fire-eating (Amelie shrugged like it was no big thing) and then she “ate” some razor blades as casually as if they were Pringles. (I was torn between watching Amelie and the frozen, aghast expression of one of the guys in the front table).

Happily, the night also featured the return of statuesque (5’10”) showgirl deluxe Sophia St Villier. Jessica Rabbit lookalike Sophia (New Zealand’s finest export) used to be a Dr Sketchy stalwart but these days she’s occupied with her own ventures, like Naked Girls Reading.  Anyway, her serpentine old-school burlesque performance was totally bewitching and left the audience awe-struck.

/ Children of the Damned: the ghostly harmonies of sisters Patience and Prudence /

Musically, I shook-together disparate elements like exotica, greasy rhythm and blues, grinding burlesk tittyshakers and sophistiqué Continental divas like Hildegard Knef and Juliette Greco - and then stood back to see how they landed. As the night progressed I veered toward an eerie spine-tingling David Lynch-ian noir vibe, especially when Amelie and Sophia were posing. The evocative soundtracks of both Lynch and Kenneth Anger are eternal sources of inspiration for me. Considering Sophia’s spectacular stage outfit was iridescent royal blue, playing versions of “Blue Velvet” felt apt – and of course the 1963 Bobby Vinton classic is where Lynch and Anger overlap (it features in Anger’s homoerotic experimental Scorpio Rising (1963) as well as the 1986 Lynch masterpiece). Isabella Rossellini as abused masochistic nightclub chanteuse Dorothy Vallens in the latter, crooning an endless (tuneless) Nico-like rendition of “Blue Velvet” in her bouffant wig is goose bump-inducing. The brushed drums, melancholy trumpet and prowling basslines of 1950s Cool Jazz (the sound of one finger snapping – in a morgue) is as synonymous with Twin Peaks as backward-talking midgets. (Doomed Cool Jazz icon Chet Baker’s instrumental version of the jazz standard “You’re My Thrill” from his 1965 album Baker’s Holiday: Plays and Sings Billie Holiday is one of my Dr Sketchy staples). The crystalline, ethereal voices of Julee Cruise, Francoise Hardy and The Paris Sisters (sighing and cooing about their elusive “Dream Lover” in Kenneth Anger’s 1965 film Kustom Kar Kommandos) are angelic verging-on-ghostly. Hell, even the sugary harmonies of 1950s novelty act Patience and Prudence have a blank-eyed Children of the Damned quality.

/ "She wore Bluuuuue Velvet ..." Kenneth Anger's underground homoerotic classick (sic) Scorpio Rising (1963) /

/ "I like to sing "Blue Velvet" ..." Isabella Rossellini in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) /


KUSTOM KAR KOMMANDOS - KENNETH ANGER (1965) from Tanya Muzanovic on Vimeo.

/ Essential viewing /



/ I know I've posted this clip before, but screw it! Another Dr Sketchy perennial: France's Francoise Hardy crooning in German and channeling Marlene Dietrich with her top hat, cigarette and mesh hose. Haunting /

Ebb Tide - Al Anthony (Wizard of the Organ)
Love Song of The Nile - Korla Pandit
Virgene del Sol - Yma Sumac
Intoxica - The Revels
Egg Man - Edith Massey
Mamma's Place - Bing Day
Ain't That Good? George Kelly and Orchestra
Letter from Tina - Ike and Tina Turner
The Coo - Wayne Cochran
Tonight You Belong to Me - Patience and Prudence
I Learn a Merengue, Mama - Robert Mitchum
Fujiyama Mama - Annisteen Allen
Anasthasia - Bill Smith Combo
All of Me - Mae West
Jungle Drums - Earl Bostic
Tear Drops from My Eyes - Ruth Brown
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
It- The Regal-aires
Strolling After Dark - The Shades
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Khrushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Fever - Nancy Sit
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
Kiss Me Honey Honey - The Delmonas
Scorpion - The Carnations
A Cheat - The Earls of Suave
Your Love is Mine - The Ikettes
I Love How You ... Lydia Lunch
If I Should Lose You - George Shearing
Champagne Taste - Eartha Kitt
Crawlin' - The Untouchables
C'est Moi, C'est Lola - Anouk Aimee
Blues in My Heart - The John Buzon Trio
Hot Toddy - Julie London
You're My Thrill - Chet Baker (instrumental)
Give Me Love - Lena Horne
The Stripper - John Barry (Beat Girl soundtrack)
Heartbreak Hotel - Ann-Margret
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Revellion -The Revels
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
Mon coeur n'était pas fait pour ça - Juliette Greco
Where Flamingos Fly - Linda Lawson
Blue Velvet - Bobby Vinton
Traume - Francoise Hardy
Up in Flames - Julee Cruise
L'eau à la bouche - Serge Gainsbourg
Hiasmina - Jean Seberg
Wind Up Doll - Little Peggy March
Little Darlin' - Masaaki Hirao
Dream Lover - The Paris Sisters
Kiss - Marilyn Monroe
Blue Velvet - Isabella Rossellini
Love for Sale - Hildegard Knef
Chattanooga Choo-Choo - Denise Darcel
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Hit The Road, Jack - Ray Charles
Drive Daddy Drive - Little Sylvia
Wipe-Out - The Surfaris
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo

Obviously I can't miss an opportunity to plug my own club! The international sin set has been waiting - and I can confirm the first Lobotomy Room of 2014 is Saturday 31 May 2014 in the subterranean basement sex dungeon of Ryan's Bar in Stoke Newington (call it "the fringes of Dalston." I do). Cram a lifetime of squalid thrills into one night - at LOBOTOMY ROOM! Full details on the Facebook events page.

10 March 2012 Dr Sketchy Set List

/ When Marilyn met Marlene: Monroe and Dietrich photographed circa the mid-1950s. Dietrich (born in 1901) could have comfortably been Monroe’s mother (Marilyn was born in 1926; Dietrich’s own daughter, Maria Riva, was born in 1924), not that you’d know it judging by this photo. Dietrich, of course, was a “joyous(ly) bisexual Good Time Charlene” (description courtesy of Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon). I forget the source now, but I remember reading an account of Dietrich being at a Hollywood party when Marilyn arrived late and already tipsy. Monroe was wearing a white fur coat, and there was a smear of her bright red lipstick on the collar. Dietrich told a friend afterwards that she found it “maddeningly erotic.” I’ve always remembered that expression: maddeningly erotic /

For this relaxed, enjoyable (and sold-out!) afternoon Dr Sketchy at The Old Queen’s Head, the performers / models were burlesque starlets Slinky Sparkles and Emerald Fontaine, with the raucous Ophelia Bitz (the Tallulah Bankhead du nos jours) on emcee duties. “Release the repressed sexual urges you’ve been holding back all week ...” Ophelia urged the audience, only to later accuse them of “leering and touching yourselves under the table.”

/ Ms Bitz and I. I'd been sweating to the oldies behind the DJ booth. Ophelia is placing her hand to cover my arm pit sweat patch. What a woman! Photo by Clare Marie /

Emerald and Slinky certainly facilitated the leering and self-touching. I’d never worked with raven-haired, bullet-bra'd, pencil skirted and hardboiled bad girl Emerald before. Her act was very much a tribute to the cinema of trash auteur John Waters (Ophelia introduced her as “John Waters’ wet dream”), which obviously won my instant approval. The music for her burlesque number was “Jungle Drums” by Earl Bostick (from the Cry-baby soundtrack); it started with a lollipop-sucking Emerald as a hitchhiking runaway trying to thumb a ride, holding a sign emblazoned “Baltimore” (think teenaged delinquent Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble running away from home, or sulky Traci Lords in Cry-baby). For her poses, I happily wallowed in songs from John Waters’ soundtracks (his sleazy musical selections have always been a huge inspiration for me anyway) from films like Pink Flamingos, Cry-baby and A Dirty Shame, as well as tracks that sound like they could be from a John Waters film.

 / She's got it, ooh baby she's got it: Emerald Fontaine photographed by Andrew Hickinbottom (all photos from the day are by him unless indicated) /

Later, platinum blonde Marilyn Monroe lookalike Slinky Sparkles did a spectacular fan dance routine. For her poses, I raised the tone a bit with twinkly cocktail music cooed by sex kittens like Marilyn Monroe (playing at least a few tracks by Marilyn is de rigueur when Slinky models), Julie London, Ann-Margret, Diana Dors and Jayne Mansfield.

/ Series of photos of Ophelia Bitz and I ogling Slinky Sparkles in action. Photos by Andrew Hickinbottom /

Otherwise, a loose “chicken”-related theme cropped up (remember the scene in Pink Flamingos where Cookie and Crackers have sex and a live chicken gets involved in the action? I’m sure you’re still as traumatised by it as I am. Anyway, the song used in that sequence is “Chicken Grabber” by The Nite Hawks) and also a Latino / Mexican theme (which perhaps climaxed with Eartha Kitt’s berserk version of “La Bamba”, from her Eartha canta en Espanol album). As is my wont, I also went on a gynaecological musical journey to the centre of a girl with a series of single-entendre "pussy" songs (from Faye Richmonde's "My Pussy Belongs to Daddy" to "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?" by The Cramps).

/ Emerald Fontaine and Slinky Sparkles together. Photo by Leigh Van Der Byl /

Not to get nostalgic on your asses, but I know both Slinky and Clare Marie (Dr Sketchy’s imperturbable promoter / stage manager) in the first place because we all worked together at deluxe faux vintage lingerie emporium What Katie Did when its London boutique first opened in 2007. (They worked there full-time; I was just the occasional “Saturday boy” who worked the till, ran to the post office, climbed ladders and yes, occasionally, when necessary strapped semi-naked women into a corset with trembling hands). None of us work there now (although Slinky still regularly models for What Katie Did), but if it hadn’t been for my brief but fun stint there, I would never have met Clare Marie, who went on to promote Dr Sketchy and helped instigate my DJ’ing career (now you know who to blame! The reason I got my Saturday boy position is because way back in the 1990s, Katie Halford, What Katie Did’s founder and boss lady, and I used to work together for a fetish mail order company – but that’s a whole other sordid can of worms).

Anyway, What Katie Did continues to go from strength to strength, and recently even opened a “sister” boutique in Los Angeles. On Sunday 4 March 2012, What Katie Did held an in-store party and fashion show to launch their Spring/Summer 2012 range. It was all very chi chi and frou frou: gin cocktails served in vintage tea cups, chocolate cupcakes branded with the WKD logo, etc. The party was a blast. Here’s just a handful of pics (by me, except for the one I’m in, which I swiped from Facebook!).



/ Surrounded by bullet bras and suspender belts – my natural habitat! Left to right: Therese (Swedish rockabilly, my George & Dragon drinking buddy – we enable each other!), me, Katie Halford herself (the founder of What Katie Did), and Katie’s adorable daughter Poppy. Expert bartender Poppy poured out the drinks into vintage tea cups without spilling a drop. I drink gin out of a tea cup so daintily /



/ This photo is a bit of who's who of burlesque / cabaret starlets on the rise: Sophia St Villier (who'd actually modelled in the What Katie Did lingerie fashion show earlier), Ava Iscariot (both Sophia and Ava are frequent Dr Sketchy models and performers) and Luna DeLovely /



/ Kayee and Therese having a cigarette break outside /

See more photos from the party (and the actual lingerie in the fashion show) here

Finally: speaking of Sophia St Villier, she recently did a smouldering photo session inspired by the paintings of Tamara De Lempicka, which is well worth checking out here. NSFW alert!


Make the World Go Away - Timi Yuro
Torture - Kris Jensen
Stop and Listen - Mickey and Ludella
The Fire of Love - Jody Reynolds
Riding By - The Majestics
Oop Shoop - Big John and The Buzzards
Matilda, Matilda - Robert Mitchum
When I Get Low, I Get High - Florence Joelle and Her Kiss of Fire
I Put A Spell on You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Give Me Your Lov - Ike and Tina Turner
Rock It - The Rockin' Brothers
Screwdriver - Luchi
Chicken Boogie - Ralph Marterie
Kiss Me Honey Honey - The Delmonas
Souvenir, Souvenir - Johnny Hallyday
Salamander - Mamie Van Doren
Blockade - The Rumblers
Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave
La Bamba - Eartha Kitt
The Mexican - The Fentones
Surfin' Snow Matador - Jan Davis
Eso - Conjunto TNT
Chihuahua - Mina
Besame Mucho - Betty Reilly
Chicken Talk - Yma Sumac
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
The Girls in Paris - Lee Hazlewood
Night Scene - The Rumblers
I Would if I Could - Ruth Brown
A Cruise to the Moon - Lydia Lunch
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Boss - The Rumblers
I'm a Bad, Bad Girl - Little Esther
Save It - Mel Robbins
Hand Clapping Time - The Fabulous Raiders
Drummin' Up A Storm - Sandy Nelson
Cry-baby - The Honey Sisters
Let's Go Sexin' - James Intveld
Chicken Hawk - The Nite Hawks
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Uptown to Harlem - Johnny Thunders and Patti Paladin
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
Roll with Me Henry - Etta James
Jim Dandy - LaVerne Baker
Lucille - Little Richard
Maybe Baby - Esquerita
Kruschev Twist - Melvin Gayle
8 Ball - The Hustlers
Fever - Nancy Sit
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
La valse des si - Juliette Greco
Mondo Moodo - The Earls of Suave
Harlem Nocturne - The Viscounts
Kiss - Marilyn Monroe
A Kiss and a Cuddle - Diana Dors
Love Me or Leave Me - Lena Horne
Go Slow - Julie London
Slowly - Ann-Margret
Little Things Mean a Lot - Jayne Mansfield
Two Little Girls from Little Rock - Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
Bikini with No Top on the Top - Mamie Van Doren and June Wilkinson
My Pussy Belongs to Daddy - Faye Richmonde
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
The Pussycat Song - Connie Vannett
Can Your Pussy Do the Dog? The Cramps
Boots - Nero and The Gladiators
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Wondrous Place - Billy Fury
Witchcraft - Elvis Presley
Early Every Morning - Dinah Washington
Love Me or Leave Me - Nina Simone
Let's Get Lost - Chet Baker

14 February 2012 Anti-Valentine's Day Dr Sketchy

/ Happy Valentine's Day, Darling: Sophia Loren having an orgasmic reaction to a bouquet of yellow roses /

I’d been looking forward to the Valentine’s night Dr Sketchy at The Old Queen’s Head for ages. All the ingredients were in place: The night had sold out long in advance. The crowd was buzzing, rowdy and enthusiastic. The talent for the night was top notch: emcee Claire Benjamin (in character as Freuda Kahlo), two sizzling burlesque performers and models (and Dr Sketchy veterans), Sophia St. Villier and Honey Wilde.

Weirdly, for me (and I'm speaking excusively for myself!) the night wound up feeling anti-climactic, stressful, and not one of the more memorable or enjoyable Dr Sketchy nights in recent memory. For some reason the sound was murky and muffled and no one at the Old Queen’s Head seemed to know how to fix it (it improved somewhat later in the night). It got things off to a bad start for me and I stayed jangled the rest of the night. As per usual, I got one of the long-suffering Claire Benjamin’s musical cues wrong. Musically, I wasn't on top form - I suspect things sounded disjointed and abrupt rather than smooth and flowing, as I obviously prefer! In my head I had intended to go for a lush, romantic 1950s Cool Jazz-inspired set in honour of Valentine’s Day, but wasn’t feeling particularly on top of things so it didn’t wind up being that for the most part at all. (Like the 2011 Valentine's Day Dr Sketchy at The Old Queen's Head, though, I did make a point of dropping in three different versions of the Rogers and Hart standard “My Funny Valentine” at climactic moments: the Chet Baker instrumental, the Chet Baker vocal and finally Nico’s morbid dirge-like interpretation). Obviously, the main thing is, all three performers were brilliant and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves.

/ Above: Sophia St. Villier with her favourite portrait of the night. To me, it evokes Ann-Margrock (aka that other red-haired vixen, Ann-Margret) from her guest appearance on The Flintstones -- but Ann-Margrock making the rude, universal pussy-eating gesture! Photo by Honey Wilde /

Death, death, DEATH: this Dr Sketchy was after all called an “Anti-Valentine’s event”, so why not get ghoulish in this post? I recently posted about the demise of Jennifer Miro, icy platinum blonde chanteuse for pioneering San Francisco punk band The Nuns. Obviously music fans have been rocked by the recent deaths of soul legend Etta James and troubled superstar Whitney Houston since then. For me, 4 February 2012 represented two grim anniversaries: foaming-at-the-mouth Cramps frontman (front lunatic?) Lux Interior died 4 February 2009 aged 62. Snarling Russ Meyer leading lady and burlesque artist Tura Satana died 4 February 2011 aged 72. Between them these two pretty much defined for me not just timeless cool, but a whole realm (parallel universe?) of vital, lurid low-life sleaze-allure. Certainly both Tura Satana (and the films of Russ Meyer) and Lux Interior (and the music of The Cramps) shaped my worldview at an impressionable age. RIP.

/ Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of The Cramps: The much-loved Addams Family of punk. Or were they The Munsters of punk? Let's have a heated debate! /

/ Tura Satana ... awesome /

I never got to meet Ms Satana (although I know people who interviewed her). I did, however, have a wonderful encounter with The Cramps as a callow youth in 1990. They were touring in support of their Stay Sick! album (so it was the line-up featuring Bettie Page-tastic brunette Candy Del Mar on bass) and I interviewed them prior to their gig at The Rialto in Montreal for my university newspaper. I’ll never forget the heart-stopping spectacle of The Cramps arriving for their sound-check that afternoon: a zombie-pale fetish-y outlaw gang, a symphony of leopard skin, glistening black rubber and seriously insolent dark shades. These weren’t costumes or personas they wriggled-into for the stage – The Cramps lived it full-time! In fact I seem to recall the 6’3” Lux was already wearing a pair of women’s size 13 patent leather pumps when he arrived for the sound-check. Watching their sound-check gave me goose bumps, then afterwards I interviewed Poison Ivy alone. She apologized that Lux wouldn’t be joining us, but he wasn’t feeling well. I got the impression he had a thunderous hangover. Earlier I'd overheard an employee of The Rialto showing him the catering on offer. “There’s bagels, there’s doughnuts, there’s muffins ...” and Lux suddenly barked, “I just want coffee!” Sometimes only strong, black coffee (life's rich black blood) will suffice. Who amongst us can’t relate to that?

Anyway, interviewing the gracious Poison Ivy (a strikingly beautiful ageless enigma in a leopard skin coat and a pair of diamante-trimmed cat’s eye sunglasses) was a dream and a memory I treasure. I haven’t had a record player in many years, but I still have the Bad Music for Bad People and Stay Sick! albums Ivy autographed for me. The Cramps were one of those bands you assumed would be around forever. They formed in 1976; it was only Lux’s death in 2009 that split them up. Hmmm -- one of these days I should get my act together and post the interview as a blog on here.

The audio and visual quality isn't great (this is the only version I could find on Youtube), but "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns" is one of The Cramps's essential statements, and it dates from when I interviewed them in Montreal.



I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos
Life is But a Dream - The Harptones
Willow Weep for Me - The Whistling Artistry Of Muzzy Marcellino
Melancholy Serenade - King Curtis
Dansero - Don Baker Trio
Anytime - The Bill Black Combo
Town without Pity - James Chance
Sea of Love - The Earls of Suave
Drive In - The Jaguars
Wiped Out - The Escorts
Train to Nowhere - The Champs
Jungle Drums - Earl Bostick
Pass The Hatchet - Roer and The Gypsies
Dance with Me Henry - Ann-Margret
Born to Cry - Dion
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Follow the Leader - Wiley Terry
Baby, I'm Doin' It - Annisteen Allen
I Ain't Drunk - Jimmy Liggins
Rockin' Out the Blues - Musical Linn Twins
Green Mosquito - The Tune Rockers
The Mexican - The Fentones
Pretty Good Love - Big Maybelle
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita
Are You Nervous? The Instrumentals
Czterdziesci Kasztanów (Forty Chestnuts)- Violetta Villas
Virgenes Del Sol - Yma Sumac
Cherry Pink - Bill Black Combo
Sexe - Line Renaud
My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker (instrumental)
Deep Dark Secret - Lizabeth Scott
Lonely Hours - Sarah Vaughan
You're My Thrill - Dolores Gray
La Javanaise - Serge Gainsbourg
Handclapping Time - The Fabulous Raiders
Vesuvius - The Revels
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Khrushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Drummin' Up a Storm - Sandy Nelson
Fever - Timi Yuro
Anasthasia - Bill Smith Combo
My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker (vocal)
You're Crying - Dinah Washington
I'm Through with Love - Marilyn Monroe
My Funny Valentine - Nico
I Walk like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Caterpillar Crawl - The Strangers
Boots - Nero & The Gladiators
Sick and Tired - Lula Reed
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard

In conclusion: my good friend Sparkle Moore recently posted this video on my Facebook wall, suggesting the berserk operatic Austro-German diva Marika Rökk could be an alternative for much-missed berserk operatic Polska diva Violetta Villas (death -- again!). Watching this, Sparkle might have a point! It's from a 1958 German musical called Bühne frei für Marika (which translates as something like The Stage is Set for Marika -- so in theory she's playing herself!). Sadly, I somehow doubt this title is available on LOVEFiLM. This clip of Rökk as a sexy alien singing "Mir ist so langweilig" ("I'm So Bored", according to Google Translate), crash-landing her space ship on earth -- and then wrestling with a snake and cavorting with a group of spear-carrying Africans in the jungle is so trippy, bizarre and kitsch ... it's beyond words! You have to experience for yourself ...



As an added bonus, listen to a track by Rokk on The Homoerratic Radio Show blog

20 August 2011 Dr Sketchy DJ Set List

Rare glimpse of Jayne Mansfield as a brunette (her natural colour. Great line in the film Kiss Them For Me: Cary Grant compliments Jayne on her beautiful hair, and she coos, "Thank you. It's all natural. Except for the colour.")

On this occasion we were back at The Paradise in Kensal Green for an intimate and private Dr Sketchy as part of a woman’s hen party. (I’ve been living in the UK for almost twenty years now, but I seem to recall in North America these are called bachelorette parties: a party organised for a woman getting married and her female friends).

It may have been a small-scale Dr Sketchy, but the bride-to-be lucked-out, because it was quite star-studded, featuring the urbane Dusty Limits as emcee (he was splitting to perform at The Edinburgh Festival the next day) and for the models, pulchritude of both the male and female variety (burlesque elite Hooray Henry Higgins and Sophia St Villier respectively, both seasoned Dr Sketchy veterans). (Speaking of male pulchritude, I noted that The Paradise has a strapping, lanky broad-shouldered new bartender: Sonic Youth t-shirt, black nail polish on one hand like early 1970s Lou Reed circa Transformer, punk-y safety pin in his ear. Sigh. But if I’ve learned anything in 2011, it’s to stay the fuck away from the bar staff where I DJ).

Anyway, it shaped up to be a fun time: the girls in the hen party were rowdy, good-natured and up for a laugh. The bride-to-be won a pair of nipple tassels at the end of the afternoon and was happy to model (and twirl!) them for us. And the performers were great. For the second part of the afternoon Sophia St Villier was to perform her big burlesque number, then pose. I’d cued some typically sleazy Las Vegas Grind-type titty shakers to play while Sophia posed, but promptly re-considered when I saw her startling outfit: jet black sequinned nipple tassels and thong, black feathered headdress and – the pièce de résistance -- a sensational, kinky black lace mask across her eyes. The contrast of the black lingerie against her pale complexion and Rita Hayworth-red hair was stunning. As Dusty Limits suggested, “She looks very True Blood!” Imagine a 1950s burlesque pin-up / vampire priestess hybrid. So instead I played some macabre and mondo mood-y stuff, like Freddie & The Hitchiker’s unearthly “Sinners” (with its eerie screaming theremin) and spine-tingling instrumentals (“Black Tarantula” by Jody Reynolds, "The Rat" by The Ventures). The cluster of male-female duets towards the end (literally climaxing with the Bardot-Gainsbourg version of "Je t'aime ...") was for while Sophia and Henry modelled together. I also cranked up the raunch factor (and lowered the tone) by playing “Ice Man” by Filthy McNasty and “The Pussy Cat Song” by Connie Vannett (the latter personally requested by Dusty) – the two filthiest single entendre novelty songs I own.

In an ideal world, when I look out from the DJ booth, this is what I'd see ...



How life-affirming is that? "Jaan Pehechan Ho" by Mohammed Rafi: 1965 Bollywood heaven. The surf guitar sound on that slays me. And doesn't the masked singer with the black pompadour and sleazy little moustache look a bit like an Indian version of El Vez?

Sano - The Revels
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Wait a Minute, Baby - Esquerita
Rock-a-Hula Baby - Elvis Presley
Honolulu Rock and Roll - Eartha Kitt
Tic, Tic, Tic (The Lost Watch) - Robert Mitchum
Go Calypso - Mamie van Doren
Rum & Coca-Cola - Wanda Jackson
Bombie - Johnny Sharp & The Yellow Jackets
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Elle est Terrible - Johnny Halliday
Night Walk - The Swingers
Cherry Wine - Little Esther
Club Delight - Jack Jolly
Train to Nowhere - The Champs
When Did You Leave Heaven? Jimmy Scott
I'm a Fool to Want You - Billie Holiday
Tony's Got Hot Nuts - Faye Richmonde
Take it Off - The Genteels
Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad - Betty Hutton
Ice Man - Filthy McNasty
The Gentleman is a Dope - Diana Dors
The Stalk - The Giants
Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby - The Earls of Suave
Your Line Was Busy - Big Bob
Trouble - Jackie De Shannon
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Cry-Baby - The Honey Sisters
I Was Born to Cry - Johnny Thunders
Love Letters - Ike and Tina Turner
Don't Be Cruel - Bill Black Combo
Jaan Pehechaan Ho - Mohammed Rafi
Sinners - Freddie & The Hitchikers
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
Shadow Woman - Julie London
The Rat - The Ventures
Crawlin' - The Untouchables
Assez - Marlene Dietrich
Charge It - The Playboys
You're the Boss - Elvis Presley and Ann-Marget
Pussycat Song - Connie Vannett
Je t'aime...moi non plus - Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot
Can Your Pussy Do the Dog? The Cramps
Beaver Shot - The Periscopes
I Stubbed My Toe - Bryan "Legs" Walker
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard

30 May 2011 Dr Sketchy DJ Set List

/ Tough Cookies. Gotta light? Wonderful pic courtesy of the red hot A Queens' queen blog /

Because this Dr Sketchy fell on a Bank Holiday Monday, it was scheduled as an afternoon one from 4 pm until 7 pm. But apparently there was a misunderstanding with the management at The Paradise in Kensal Green, who assumed we wanted the venue from 7 pm till 10 pm like normal. For one thing, that meant there wasn’t enough staff to work behind the bar upstairs: Dr Sketchy customers would have to go to the downstairs bar for their drinks and to order food – not the end of the world. More worryingly, apparently a few people had called The Paradise enquiring about Dr Sketchy and been told to come at 7 pm like normal! Dr Sketchy promoter Clare and I felt a sense of mounting panic: the tickets hadn’t sold out in advance and people had been told to come at the wrong time -- was anyone even going to come? So it was a massive relief when people started filing in by 4 pm and in fact everything went off fine. The info was correct on Twitter, Facebook and the Dr Sketchy website and obviously that was what most people referred to. Phew!

Clare herself was the emcee this time, and she's getting more assured onstage all the time. The model and performer was the reliably excellent Sophia St Villier, a Dr Sketchy veteran. The ethereal Sophia looks like a pale-skinned redheaded English rose (although she’s actually from New Zealand!): think of the beautiful red-haired English actress Moira Shearer in the film The Red Shoes. During one of Sophia’s poses, it felt compulsory to play a slinky sex kitten track by that other red-haired vixen – Ann-Margret. It may have been the pose while Sophia was wearing a glistening emerald green latex dress. (Yes, Sophia St Villier even looks ethereal while wearing rubber).

/ Sophia St Villier /

/ Moira Shearer /

I’d been to a boozy dinner party the night before – the hint of a hangover combined with it being a Bank Holiday Monday afternoon made this Dr Sketchy feel nicely mellow and low-key. (I also drank a few Bloody Marys). I eased into things with some 1950s Cool Jazz and Latin exotica before building into more raucous titty-shaking mode.

I Remember You - Chet Baker
Falling in Love Again - Billie Holiday
Dansero - The Don Baker Trio
Chihuahua - Mina
Besame Mucho - Betty Reilly
Babydoll Mambo - Belmonte and His Afro-American Music
Mambo Baby - Ruth Brown
Oink Oink Mambo - Chuy Reyes & His Orchestra
Fredy - Eartha Kitt and Perez Prado
Ou es-tu ma joie? Caterina Valente
Witchcraft - Joe Graves & The Diggers
Les Cigarillos - Serge Gainsbourg
Rum & Coca Cola - Wanda Jackson
Eso - Conjunto TNT
Misirlou - Laurindo Almeida
Maria Ninguen - Brigitte Bardot
Peter Gunn Mambo - Jack Costanzo
Night Walk - The Swingers
Imagination - Diana Dors
Anasthasia - Bill Smith Combo
Romance in the Dark - Ann-Margret
Drive In - The Jaguars
Fever - Nancy Sit
The Stripper - John Barry (Beat Girl soundtrack)
Rigor Mortis - The Gravestone Four
Mondo Moodo - The Earls of Suave
You're My Thrill - Dolores Gray
Beat Party - Ritchie & The Squires
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Denise Darcel
Jungle Drums - Earl Bostick
Sick and Tired - Lula Reed
De Castrow - Jaybee Wasden
Vesuvius - The Revels
The Coo - Wayne Cochran
Harlem Nocturne - The Viscounts
The Fire of Love - Jody Reynolds
I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos
The Stalk - The Giants
Little Things Mean a Lot - Jayne Mansfield
Honey Rock - Barney Kessel
Wondrous Place - Billy Fury
Cheesecake - The Nite Sounds
You're Crying - Dinah Washington
My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker
I'm Through with Love - Marilyn Monroe
Boss - The Rumblers
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Witchcraft - Elvis Presley
Bacon Fat - Andre Williams
Your Love is Mine - Ike and Tina Turner
Whatever Lola Wants - Eartha Kitt
Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend - Julie London
Give Me Love - Lena Horne
Baubles, Bangles and Beads - Marlene Dietrich
Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun - Mink Stole
Mack the Knife - Hildegard Knef
Begin the Beguine - Billy Fury
Petit Fleur - Chet Baker
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Gene Vincent
So Long - Ruth Brown

8 January 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List

/ Happy New Year! /

The first Dr Sketchy of the New Year! This time it was upstairs at The Old Queen's Head in Angel. Annoyingly, I was bedevilled by technical hitches for the first hour or so: the sound was coming out muted no matter how loud I cranked up the volume on the decks, which is frustrating when you’re playing desperate 1950s rhythm and blues and grinding titty shakers that need to be LOUD! At one stage early on our glamorous burlesque performer Sophia St Villier stood in a corner under a speaker across the room to test the audio for me and came back to report “it’s one step above mood music!” Luckily one of the Old Queens Head employees figured out the problem (he just whacked everything up in another room where the controls are!) and the sound quality improved dramatically for the rest of the day. Loud and confrontational – that’s the way I like it!

As previously mentioned, the featured burlesque artiste was Rita Hayworth-style redhead Sophia St Villier, who was great as always. She performed a dazzling routine that ended with her drenching herself, the stage and probably the first row of the audience with silver glitter. The other model was Bomb Voyage, our versatile door girl who occasionally steps in to model. Bomb rocks a punkier look than the average Dr Sketchy model (skintight rubber leggings, tattoos) so if you notice the music turning a bit darker and more aggressive at some points, that’s probably while she was modelling!

Intoxica - The Revels
Last Night - Lula Reed
Loberta - Bobby Marchan & The Clowns
Fool I Am - Pat Ferguson
Strange Love - Slim Harpo
Everywhere I Go - Ted Taylor
Trashcan - Ken Williams
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Don't Do It - April Stevens
Tight Skirt, Tight Sweater - The Versatones
I Was Born To Cry - Johnny Thunders
Salamander - Mamie van Doren
Boss - The Rumblers
Little Ole Wine Drinker Me - Robert Mitchum
St Louis Blues - Eartha Kitt
Vesuvius - The Revels
Baby Let Me Bang Your Box - The Bangers
Don't Fuck Around with Love - The Blenders
Jungle Walk - The Dyna-Sores
Beat Girl - John Barry (Beat Girl soundtrack)
Rockin' the Joint - Esquerita
Yogi - Bill Black Combo
Poontang - The Treniers
I Need Your Lovin' - Don Gardner & DeeDee Ford
Turquoise - Milt Buckner
Mondo Moodo - The Earls of Suave
I Feel So Mmmm - Diana Dors
The Whip - The Frantics
Fever - Richard Marino & His Orchestra
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
8 Ball - The Hustlers
Blue Moon Baby - Dave "Diddle" Day
Caravan - The Dell Trio
The Swinger - Ann-Margret
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
Cherry Wine - Little Esther
One, Two, Let's Rock - Sugar Pie & Pee Wee
Baby, I'm Doin' It - Annisteen Allen
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Taki Rari - Yma Sumac
If I Should Lose You - George Shearing
Willow Weep for You - The Whistling Artistry of Muzzy Marcellino
Strip-tease - Juliette Greco (Strip-tease soundtrack)
Street Scene '58 - Lou Busch & His Orchestra
Crazy Horse Swing - Serge Gainsbourg (Strip-tease soundtrack)
Go Slow - Julie London
Give Me Love - Lena Horne
I Put A Spell on You - Nina Simone
You're My Thrill - Dolores Gray
Petite Fleur - Chet Baker
I'm in the Mood for Love - Denise Darcel
Love Me - Marlene Dietrich
Sleep Walk - Henri Renee & His Orchestra
Shangri-la - Spike Jones New Band
Do It Again - April Stevens
Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun - Mink Stole
Love for Sale - Hildegard Knef
The Whip - The Originals
Gizmo - Jimmy Heap
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby - The Earls of Suave
Begin the Beguine - Billy Fury
Hound Dog - Little Esther
Destination Moon - Dinah Washington

A while back I wrote about the doomed jazz vocalist Ann Richards. Another obscure singer I love to play at Dr Sketchy is Denise Darcel, the French actress and singer, whose story luckily isn’t quite so tragic. I discovered Darcel by accident because I wanted to track down Lizabeth Scott’s 1957 album Lizabeth.(The elusive Lizabeth Scott is my all-time favourite film noir actress and merits a whole blog entry of her own). It turned out that when Lizabeth was reissued on CD recently, it came as a package with Denise Darcel’s album Banned in Boston. Which was a real bonus, as Denise Darcel is a blast!

Born Denise Billecard in 1925 in Paris, after suffering a turbulent period during World War II (her father died when the Nazis occupied the family home) she won a beauty contest as a teenager that garnered her publicity as “The Most Beautiful Girl in Paris” and “The Most Photographed Girl in Paris”. Darcel parlayed this notoriety into a successful career as a Parisian nightclub chanteuse before heading to Hollywood in 1947 (with a quickly-dropped American husband in tow) to pursue international stardom. While Darcel’s leading men in Hollywood would include the likes of Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor and Glenn Ford, she never achieved A-list success and her filmography reads like a real mixed bag: a few Westerns, a Tarzan film (Tarzan and The Slave Girl, with Lex Barker in 1950), an Esther Williams musical (Dangerous When Wet in 1953).

Darcel, though, proved to be a pragmatic and durable tough cookie: when the acting stint in Hollywood fizzled out (her last film was the intriguingly-titled Seven Women from Hell in 1961), she returned to night club and cabaret singing. When singing, too, stopped being lucrative, Darcel – by then in her 40s – showed true grit by turning to stripping. (The attached photo of her as burlesque artiste was taken in 1967). “Zat is where ze money is,” she reportedly explained to a reporter.

/ Shake it! Denise Darcel in her striptease years/

As a burlesque artist she performed in Las Vegas. When Darcel presumably became too old to strip, she eventually returned to Vegas and worked as a casino dealer. Darcel is now 86 and although in the few photos I’ve seen of her online she appears to be wheelchair-bound, she otherwise looks good. Someone should track Denise Darcel down and interview her before it’s too late: I bet she has a few stories to tell!

Her album Banned in Boston was recorded sometime in the 1950s (the details seem vague: The original release date is not even listed in the liner notes of the CD!) and heard today is incredibly enjoyable. It’s a risqué collection of sexy songs, heavy on the Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart, which in theory represents what Darcel’s nightclub act would have been like. On the comedic songs she works a thick French ‘Allo! ‘Allo! accent pitched somewhere between Pepe le Pew and a female Maurice Chevalier. On the more serious and sensual songs like “Love for Sale”, “I’m in the Mood for Love” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, Darcel emerges as a genuinely talented and emotive torch singer. All of the songs she delivers with real verve and individuality. The best track is the strangest: the album is predominantly tinkly cocktail lounge music, but it ends with a driving quasi-rockabilly rendition of “Chattanooga-Choo-Choo”, propelled by wonderfully sleazy blurting saxophone. Sounding like a French Marlene Dietrich, a pissed-off Darcel snarls the lyrics as if she’s simmering with anger. The results are strikingly weird – and sexy as hell. I have to admit I play this a lot, and people almost always ask, “What was that?” That was Denise Darcel!

Keep track of upcoming Dr Sketchy's here.