Lobotomy Room DJ Set List 28 February 2020

/ Make new friends - at Lobotomy Room! Pictured: Bay Area chapter of the Hells Angels, 1964 via /

From the Facebook event page:

For your dancing pleasure, the strange’n’sleazy sounds of Lobotomy Room return to the basement Bamboo Lounge of Fontaine’s bar on Friday 28 February!

Lobotomy Room! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! Sensual and depraved! A spectacle of decadence! A night of Vintage Sleaze-o-Rama! Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Rockabilly Psychosis! Twisted Tittyshakers! Wailing Rhythm and Blues!! Punk cretin hops! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and Other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs the Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

Admission: gratuit - that’s French for FREE!

Wow - we are living through scary and gruesome times. This was the first Lobotomy Room club of 2020 and it's hard to gauge when there will be another one. (The next Lobotomy Room is meant to be last Friday of May 2020, but in this uncertain current COVID-19-ravaged hellscape, who knows?). Like all of London's bars and clubs, Fontaine's has shuttered for the time being. When life does return to some semblance of normality, please come back and show us some love.

/ Rat your hair up like a teenage Jezebel and come to incredibly bizarre rock’n’roll dance party Lobotomy Room! Photo by the great Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger (1921 - 2006) /

What’s extra-bittersweet: this was one of the best Lobotomy Room clubs in ages! As you can see from the playlist, I DJ’d for hours because the krazy kittens on the dance floor were shakin’ their asses until about 2 am. And they were impressively hip and broadminded: no matter what freaky shit I threw at them (No Wave noise, greasy Ike and Tina Turner b-sides, surf obscurities, amphetamine-induced hillbilly rock’n’roll), they just kept dancing!

Anyway, here's what I was laying-down.

Twenty Thousand Leagues - The Champs
Katanga - Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Intoxica - The Revels
Ocean's Devil - Hawaii's Samurai
Adult Books - X
Thunder Cloud - Al Casey
Surf City - The Ramones
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Gostaria De Saber (River Deep, Mountain High) - Wanderlea
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Three Cool Chicks - The 5,6,7,8s
Dangerous Charms - The Delmonas
Magneto - Messer Chups
Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega
Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch
Riding with a Movie Star - L7
Apache 95 - Satan's Cheerleaders
Strychnine - The Cramps
Black is Black - Big Maybelle
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Nothing Means Nothing Anymore - The Alley Cats
I Don't Need You No More - The 5,6,7,8s
Let's Go, Baby - Billy Eldridge and The Fireballs
Killer - Sparkle Moore
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
Be Bop A Lula - Alan Vega
I Can't Believe What You Say - Ike and Tina Turner
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Egyptian Shumba - The Tammys
Party Lights - Claudine Clark
The Swag - Link Wray and The Wraymen
Miserlou's Dream - Satan's Cheerleaders
Nausea - X
Your Phone's Off the Hook - The Ramonetures
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Forming - Germs
C'mon Everybody - The Sex Pistols
Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Cha Cha Twist - The Detroit Cobras
Ultra Twist - The Cramps
Bird Dance Beat - The Trashmen
They Call Me Zombie - Messer Chups
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
Batman Theme - Link Wray and His Wraymen
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Train to Nowhere - The Champs
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo
You Give Me Worms - Turbonegro
Club Delight - Jack Jolly
Garbageman - The Cramps
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
Boss - The Rumblers
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
Juvenile Delinquent - Ronnie Allen
Wailin' - The Fabulous Wailers
Year 1 - X
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Whistle Bait - The Collins Kids
Action Packed - Ronnie Dee
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Breathless - X
Wild, Wild Party - Charlie Feathers
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramonetures
Surf Rat - The Rumblers
Pedro Pistolas Twist - Los Twisters
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Gunnin' for Peter - The Fabulous Wailers
Bop Pills - Bill "Skip" Macy
Shucks Baby - Tiny Topsy

/ The mighty Ike and Tina Turner Revue freaking TEARING IT UP at The Skyliner Ballroom in Fort Worth, Texas in 1964. Check out the Ikettes' electric green cocktail sheaths, with shoes dyed to match. So fierce! /

I've knocked-together a Spotify playlist based on what I played, but the usual caveats apply: 1) the Spotify playlist isn't 100% representative, because not everything I DJ'd is on there. It pains me that Lydia Lunch's magnum opus Queen of Siam has been deleted from Spotify. How can the oeuvre of Masaaki Hirao (the Japanese Elvis) not be represented on there? Or atomic-era Brazilian pop siren Wanderlea's Portuguese language version of "River Deep, Mountain High"? For shame, Spotify - for shame! And 2) disable "shuffle" option and listen to it in sequence for the "you were there" experience. Anyway, you can listen to it here.

/ In the meantime, before signing off ... an urgent public service announcement from Francine Fishpaw. Via /

Further reading:

In August 2018 I spoke my brains to To Do List magazine about the wild, wild world of Lobotomy Room, the monthly cinema club – and my lonely one-man mission to return a bit of raunch, sleaze and “adult situations” to London’s nightlife! Read it - if you must - here. 

Follow me on twitter!

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

I have serious issues with the frankly homophobic, puritanical, hypocritical and censorious Tumblr these days, but you can follow me on there. 

And I'm now spreading my message of filth on Instagram!

The Next Lobotomy Room Dance Party - Friday 28 February 2020

For your dancing pleasure, the strange’n’sleazy sounds of incredibly bizarre rockn'roll party Lobotomy Room return to the basement Bamboo Lounge of Fontaine’s bar on Friday 28 February!

Lobotomy Room! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! Sensual and depraved! A spectacle of decadence! A night of Vintage Sleaze-o-Rama! Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Bad Music for Bad People! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues!! Punk cretin hops! Twisted Tittyshakers! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and Other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs the Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

Admission: gratuit - that’s French for FREE!

Facebook event page

 / Original source material for the beautiful new 2020 Lobotomy Room flyer: 22-year old starlet Barbara Windsor as the stripper Pony Tail in the 1960 British sexploitation movie Too Hot to Handle /

New flyer designed by Sam Oakley

/ Make new friends - at Lobotomy Room! (pictured: members of the Hell's Angels, 1964) /

Further reading:

In August 2018 I spoke my brains to To Do List magazine about the wild, wild world of Lobotomy Room, the monthly cinema club – and my lonely one-man mission to return a bit of raunch, sleaze and “adult situations” to London’s nightlife! Read it - if you must - here. 

Follow me on twitter!

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

I have serious issues with the frankly homophobic, puritanical, hypocritical and censorious Tumblr these days, but you can follow me on there. 

And I'm now spreading my message of filth on Instagram!

Lobotomy Room Dance Party DJ Set List 8 November 2019 plus Dirty Shame 9 November 2019

From the Facebook event page:

Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll - when incredibly bizarre dance party Lobotomy Room returns to the basement Bamboo Lounge of Fontaine’s (Dalston’s most unique nite spot) on Friday 8 November 2019!

Lobotomy Room! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! Sensual and depraved! A spectacle of decadence! A night of Vintage Sleaze-o-Rama! Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Bad Music for Bad People! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted tittyshakers! Punk cretin hops! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and Other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs the Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock! Grainy vintage black-and-white erotica projected on the big screen all night for your adult entertainment!

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!

“Hell-o? What’s that? Incredibly bizarre punkabilly dance party LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to Fontaine’s bar (Dalston’s most unique nite spot) on 8 November? And admission is FREE?” /

Good lord! With 2019 careering to an imminent close, I’d better get postin’! Note: there was meant to be one final Lobotomy Room dance party of the year on Friday 13 December – but it got cancelled because someone has reserved the entire venue (both floors of Fontaine’s) for a private party. Friday the thirteenth is genuinely unlucky – who knew? So, by default, the November 2019 Lobotomy Room was the last club night of 2019! Here is my scene report from the night - a jolting, dramatic human document ripped from the pages of life! Told with the intensity of white heat! Read it if you must!

/ Rockabilly royalty: Sparkle Moore with Gene Vincent /

“Rockabilly bombshell Sparkle Moore was born Barbara Morgan in Omaha in 1939. The quintessential bad girl, she dressed in leather (and often in men's clothes), with her short blonde hair greased back in an Elvis Presley-styled pompadour. Dubbed "Sparkle" in honor of a supporting character in the Dick Tracy comic strip, she signed to the Cincinnati-based Fraternity label to issue her debut single, the hiccupping "Rock-a-Bop," in late 1956, and though still just 17 years old she toured the US in support of the record, even opening for Gene Vincent at the peak of his fame. (A planned appearance on radio's Grand Ol' Opry was canceled due to a bout with laryngitis, however.) The sultry yet sinister "Killer" followed in 1957, but soon after Moore learned she was pregnant and abruptly quit performing to focus on raising a family. No subsequent recordings are known to exist, although an unreleased Fraternity ballad called "Flower of My Heart" subsequently appeared on several compilations, most notable among them 2004's Good Girls Gone Bad: Weird, Wild & Wanted, the first to assemble her complete recorded output in one disc (including a handful of alternate takes).”

/ From Allmusic Guide /

Enigmatic platinum blonde rockabilly icon - and perennial Lobotomy Room favourite - Sparkle Moore (born 6 November 1939) turned 80 just before this dance party! Sing along with me: “You should be labelled with a skull and crossbones / You’re a jinx to my soul …” Needless to say, I dropped one of Moore's tracks in tribute to the birthday girl. 

 / “The violence that was normally only a promise (or threat) in rock'n’roll was realized in Esquerita’s sound.” Charles Gillett in his book The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock‘n’Roll / 

Also born in November: the flamboyant, pompadoured king (or should that be “queen”?) of outsider rhythm and blues Esquerita (born aka Eskew Reeder Jr on 20 November 1935 in Greenville, South Carolina. He died in 1986). Esquerita was such a beauty (and – alongside Jayne Mansfield – is one of the patron saints of my Lobotomy Room dance party club night). Photo via Norton Records’ Instagram page.

I won't lie: the crowd this night was small but ardent (people were dancing until almost 2 am). And the attendees included fabulous burlesque VIPS Mysti Vine and Trixi Tassels. For me, there is no greater compliment than having off-duty striptease ultra-vixens like this duo dancing to my music!

Snooker Final - Low Rocks
I Don't Need You No More - The Rumblers
My Boyfriend from Outer Space - The 5,6,7,8s
Sugar Town - Lara and The Trailers
Mau Mau - The Fabulous Wailers
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Katanga - Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm
Monkey Bird - The Revels
Jungle Drums - Earl Bostic
I Would if I Could - Ruth Brown
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Let's Go Sexin' - James Intveld
Uptown to Harlem - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Hanky Panky - Rita Chao
Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramonetures
Gunnin' for Peter - The Fabulous Wailers
Touch the Leather - The Fat White Family
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Bombie - Johnny Sharp and The Yellow Jackets
Garbageman - The Cramps
Strychnine - The Sonics
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Little Queenie - Bill Black Combo
I Don't Care - The Ramones
You're Phone's Off the Hook - X
Riding with a Movie Star - L7
Cha Cha Twist - The Detroit Cobras
96 Tears - Big Maybelle
Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! - The Bostweeds
Woodpecker Rock - Nat County and The Braves
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Party Lights - Claudine Clark
Rockin' the Joint - Esquerita
I Can't Believe What You Say - Ike and Tina Turner
I'm Blue - The Ikettes
Boss - The Rumblers
C'mon Everybody - The Sex Pistols
Let's Have a Party - Wanda Jackson
Wild, Wild Party - Charlie Feathers
Love Me - The Phantom
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret

I've knocked-together a Spotify playlist for the songs I played. The usual caveats: disable shuffle for the full grittily authentic "you were there" experience. Let me take you on an aural journey into deep vintage sleaze-o-rama! The Spotify playlist is strictly approximate: much of the stuff I play isn't available on there and the tunes to select from shrinks all the time. Frustratingly, Spotify "purges" tracks on a regular basis, presumably for licensing reasons. But for now, it's the best medium for creating playlists. Listen to it here.

Dirty Shame - Saturday 9 December 2019

/ The sultry bad girl pictured above giving major badittude is Fontaine's boss lady, Emerald Fontaine  /

Bonus material! The following night, I just about scraped-together a few brain cells to drag my tired ass back down the stairs to Fontaine's Polynesian-themed Bamboo Lounge to DJ again! (Honey, I was exhausted! DJ'ing - and boozing - two late nights in a row is brutal at my age). This time I was doing a guest DJ'ing spot as part of Dirty Shame - a  confrontational "bad taste" evening of cabaret inspired by the twisted imagination of The Peoples' Pervert, John Waters! Emceed by Benjamin Louche, the festivities incorporated performance artists, exotic dancers, potent cocktails, free popcorn - and a screening of Waters' most infamous celluloid atrocity, Pink Flamingos (1972)! For the post-film club night, I played a set loosely inspired by the cinema of John Waters. Let's just say I spun music for juvenile delinquents of all ages! Dirty Shame is due to become a regular event in 2020. Be sure to "like" and "follow" the Fontaine's Facebook page to find out when the next one is.

Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Little Queenie - Bill Black Combo
Salamander - Mamie Van Doren
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Let's Go Baby - Billy Eldridge and The Fireballs
Be Bop A Lula - Alan Vega
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
What's Inside a Girl? The Cramps
Johnny Are You Queer? Josie Cotton
Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones
Big Girls Don't Cry - Edith Massey
Pedro Pistolas Twist - Los Twisters
96 Tears - Big Maybelle
Johnny Hit and Run Pauline - X
Media Blitz - Germs
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
The Swag - Link Wray
Aw Shucks Baby - Tiny Topsy
Comin' Home Baby - The Delmonas
She Said - Frank Scott and His Scottsmen
Drive, Daddy, Drive - Little Sylvia
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
Intoxica - The Centurions
Revellion - The Revels
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Twistin' the Night Away - Divine
Ultra Twist - The Cramps
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Juvenile Delinquent - Ronnie Allen
Wailin' - The Fabulous Wailers
Stranger in My Own Home Town - The Earls of Suave
Killer - Sparkle Moore
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Mrs Miller
How Does That Grab You Darlin'? - Nancy Sinatra
53rd & 3rd - The Ramones
Contact - Brigitte Bardot
My Way - Sid Vicious
One Night of Sin - Elvis Presley

Here's the Dirty Shame Spotify playlist! Once again - compiling this was a major bummer as so many essential tunes are missing from Spotify, such as "Johnny Are You Queer?" by Josie Cotton, punk granny Edith Massey's version of "Big Girls Don't Cry" and Lydia Lunch's magnum opus Queen of Siam (1980). C'mon, Spotify - raise your game!

Next Lobotomy Room film club: Wednesday 18 December 2019 

“It’s Got the Heat! And The Beat!” Yes! For the last film club of the year, let’s end things on a high with a FREE screening of the irresistible Mercedes Benz of rock’n’roll musicals – The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)! Starring perennial Lobotomy Room favourite, squealing and cooing sex kitten-gone-berserk Jayne Mansfield in one of her most iconic roles! And featuring performances by a star-studded who’s who of 1950s rock’n’roll greats including Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Fats Domino – all captured in glorious DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope! Wednesday 18 December!

Lobotomy Room Goes to the Movies is the FREE monthly film club downstairs at Fontaine’s bar (Dalston’s most unique nite spot!) devoted to Bad Movies We Love (our motto: Bad Movies for Bad People), specializing in the kitsch, the cult and the queer! Doors to the basement Bamboo Lounge open at 8 pm. Film starts at 8:30 pm prompt! Remember: the film is FREE so you can enjoy more cocktails! Speaking of which: Fontaine’s signature pink “Jayne Mansfield cocktail” will be available on the night for special price of £6.50! Event page.

Further reading:

In August 2018 I spoke my brains to To Do List magazine about the wild, wild world of Lobotomy Room, the monthly cinema club – and my lonely one-man mission to return a bit of raunch, sleaze and “adult situations” to London’s nightlife! Read it - if you must - here. 

Follow me on twitter!

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

I have serious issues with the frankly homophobic, puritanical, hypocritical and censorious Tumblr these days, but you can follow me on there. 

And I'm now spreading my message of filth on Instagram!

And just in case I don't post again before Christmas - here is your official Lobotomy Room Christmas playlist! A festive "vintage sleaze" Christmas soundtrack featuring all our Lobotomy Room favourites like Mae West, Ike and Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, Eartha Kitt and Ann-Margret! Think surf instrumental, rhythm and blues, punk and rockabilly Christmas tunes! No Mariah Carey, no Wham, no tired old "Fairtyale of New York" by The Pogues - guaranteed!! (Play it on "shuffle" for maximum seasonal pleasure). 

Lobotomy Room DJ Set List at Fontaine's 26 April 2019

From the Facebook event page:

Wilder than you can imagine! Explicit beyond belief! Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll - when incredibly bizarre dance party Lobotomy Room returns to the basement Bamboo Lounge of Dalston’s most unique nite spot Fontaine’s! Friday 26 April 2019!

Lobotomy Room! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! Sensual and depraved! A spectacle of decadence! A Mondo Trasho evening of Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Bad Music for Bad People! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted tittyshakers! Punk cretin hops! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and Other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs the Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock! Grainy vintage black-and-white erotica projected on the big screen all night for your adult entertainment!

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!

To start with, the bad news. You may have noticed I vanished from the blogosphere for quite some time (or may not have noticed – I’m not presumptuous!). As of beginning of March 2019, I’ve been struck down with mysterious chronic pain radiating from my neck, down my right shoulder, back and arm, with constant pins-and-needles in my hand. It’s been a grim, distressing and life-changing period. I’ve had an x-ray and blood tests (an MRI scan is still impending) but not been given an official diagnosis yet. The x-ray revealed some damaged discs in my neck and the vague expression “skeletal wear-and-tear” has been thrown around. The worst side effect is the tingling and throbbing in my right arm and hand: the single most agonizing thing I can possibly do is sit at a desk, type and click a mouse – which is precisely what my office job entails all day long! I’ve been on a series of powerful painkillers to try to cope with this. Tramadol to start with (I don’t recommend it. The side effects include waves of nausea and mood swings a-go go) followed by Pregabalin (which is also used for treating epilepsy and anxiety, bizarrely! I've been warned it's extremely habit-forming. Just call me Neely O'Hara!). Not working isn’t an option, but it means blogging is pretty much out of the question for the time being, so I’m massively behind with the stuff I want to post. (Like my scene report from Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender 2019 over Easter – I doubt I’ll be able to remember much of it when I ever get around to writing about it! It already feels like a distant memory). On the plus side, I’ve started seeing a local osteopath and an NHS physiotherapist, who both suspect I’m suffering from nerve pain. The osteopath’s (expensive!) treatments in particular seem to be making a difference (I’ve seen him twice so far). Let’s hope normal service resume relatively soon. In the meantime, I’ll inevitably be posting less, and the blog entries will probably be significantly shorter!

I arrived back in London from Las Vegas on Tuesday 23 April (brutal journey with tediously lengthy stopovers in Mexico City of all places! The cheapest deal I could get was via Aero Mexico) and reported straight back to work on Wednesday morning. So, I was a jetlagged zombie for the Lobotomy Room club on Friday 26 April. Fortunately – like the March dance party – it was another great night! It was a pleasure to DJ for such a stylish, sexy and appreciative crowd. And for once, you can see them for yourself! In between expertly shakin’ up cocktails, Fontaine’s fearsomely glamorous platinum blonde German bartender Justyna whips out her camera and expertly snaps pics of the attendees. Here is a mix of them. (Some of these are from March 2019 – I didn’t get them in time for the March blog post). Look at them - with your eyes!!

/ Above: the vivacious Sophia (with buxotic Cherry Knight visible on the screen behind her!!) /

/ Above and below: girls gone wild! /

/ Above: Helen (a devilish redhead in the tradition of Ann-Margret!) /

April seems like a lifetime ago at this point, but let’s celebrate some notable birthdays relating to beloved icons in the Lobotomy Room pantheon! These people are my role models for life! 

/ The fabulous Liz Renay (14 April 1926 – 22 January 2007) – burlesque performer, B-movie actress, naive outsider artist / self-portraitist, gangster’s moll, jailbird, authoress of trashy volumes of memoirs and all-round super vixen. She’ll forever be remembered as the petulant lesbian murderess Muffy St Jacques in the 1977 John Waters punk masterpiece Desperate Living. Renay’s essential literary canon includes My Face for the World to See, How to Attract Men, My First 2000 Men and Staying Young /

/ Ultimate atomic-era sex kitten-gone-berserk and “the punk Marilyn Monroe”, Jayne Mansfield (19 April 1933 – 29 June 1967). Amazing to think Mansfield would be 86 this year if she hadn’t perished in that car crash en route to New Orleans – younger than her 88-year old sex goddess contemporary Mamie Van Doren, who’s still very much alive and posting sassy selfies on social media on a daily basis! Mansfield is and will always be the sacred patron saint of Lobotomy Room /

/ Streetwalkin’ cheetah with a heart full of napalm / runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb / world’s forgotten boy / chairman of the bored Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg Jr, 21 April 1947) turned 72.  Aside from Joe Dallesandro, did anyone have a more beautiful torso than Pop in his prime?! He was like a punk version of Michelangelo's David. Pictured: Iggy performing at Max’s Kansas City in 1973, captured by Lynn Goldsmith /

/ Bonus naked clip of Pop onstage. He certainly is blessed! /

/ The spiritual father / filth elder / role model of us all - John Waters (born 22 April 1946) - turned 72. Where would we be without “the peoples’ pervert” and his deliriously twisted worldview? It doesn't bear contemplating! If you haven't already, read my wide-ranging epic 2010 interview with sinema's sleaze king here / 

/ Finally, yet another atomic-era sex-kitten-gone-berserk celebrated a birthday in April: Ann-Margret (born 28 April 1941) turned 78! Here is the young starlet and red-headed vixen on the cover of her 1962 single “Jim Dandy” (a song I regularly drop when DJ’ing at Lobotomy Room!) – when she was quite possibly The Prettiest Girl in the World. I've screened two Ann-Margret films at the monthly Lobotomy Room film club so far (Viva Las Vegas and Kitten with a Whip). Both times everyone in the audience filed out with a crush on her afterwards! Read my account of seeing Ann-Margret's cabaret revue at The Stardust Casino in 2005 here /

Playlist for April 2019:

Beat Guitar # 2 - The Fabulous Wailers
Let's Go Trippin' - The Lively Ones
Teardrops from My Eyes - Ruth Brown
Adult Books - X
Twenty Thousand Leagues - The Champs
Katanga - Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Mau Mau - The Fabulous Wailers
Monkey Bird - The Revels
I Learn a Merengue, Mama - Robert Mitchum
Go, Go Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
Dona Wanna - Wanda Jackson
Aw! Shucks Baby - Tiny Topsy
Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega
Crawfish - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Three Cool Chicks - The 5,6,7,8s
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
Train to Nowhere - The Champs
Killer - Sparkle Moore
Scorpion - The Carnations
Papa Oo Mow Mow - The Rivingtons
Bop 'Til You Drop - The Ramones
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo
Bikini Girls with Machine Guns - The Cramps
Your Phone's Off The Hook - The Ramonetures
I Don't Need You No More - The Rumblers
Vampira - The Misfits
She Said - Hasil Adkins
Let's Go, Baby - Billy Eldridge
Love Me - The Phantom
The Swag - Link Wray
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Let's Have a Party - Wanda Jackson
Wild Wild Party - Charlie Feathers
Surf Rat - The Rumblers
Hanky Panky - Rita Chao and The Quests
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Club Delight - Jack Jolly
Garbageman - The Cramps
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
96 Tears - Big Maybelle
Cha Cha Twist - The Detroit Cobras
Riding with a Movie Star - L7
Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch
Be Bop A Lula - Alan Vega
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Margaya - The Fender Four
Wipe Out - The Surfaris
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Somethin' Else - Sex Pistols
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Breathless - X
Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Rockin' Bones - Ronnie Dawson
Action Packed - Ronnie Dee
Dance with Me, Henry - Ann-Margret
Rock Around the Clock - Sex Pistols
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramonetures
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
Comanche - The Revels
I'm a Woman - Peggy Lee
Comin' Home Baby - The Delmonas
How Does That Grab You Darlin'? Nancy Sinatra
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Mrs Miller
Shake Appeal - Iggy and The Stooges
Aphrodisiac - Bow Wow Wow
Under My Thumb - Tina Turner
My Way - Nina Hagen
One Night of Sin - Elvis Presley

Revel in the strange’n’sleazy sounds of Lobotomy Room! I’ve knocked-together a playlist on Spotify based on my DJ set list at the April 2019 Lobotomy Room dance party for your listening pleasure. (For the full “you-were-there” experience, disable shuffle and play it in sequence!). Some major caveats: this playlist is only an approximate reflection of what I DJ’d. Sure, Spotify is a valuable resource and in many ways a treasure trove - but loads of stuff I play simply isn’t available on there! (How can “Bop ‘Til You Drop” by The Ramones not be on Spotfiy?!). And aggravatingly, since I last compiled a playlist on Spotify, they’ve seemingly had a major purge of tracks which used to be on there (essential Lobotomy Room staples like “My Way” by Nina Hagen, Ann-Margret’s “Dance with Me, Henry” and Tina Turner’s 1975 cover of “Under My Thumb”), presumably for legal or copyright reasons! I’m not sure I’ll bother with these Spotify playlists moving forward! 

Further reading:

In August 2018 I spoke my brains to To Do List magazine about the wild, wild world of Lobotomy Room, the monthly cinema club – and my lonely one-man mission to return a bit of raunch, sleaze and “adult situations” to London’s nightlife! Read it - if you must - here. 

Follow me on twitter!

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

I have serious issues with the frankly homophobic, puritanical, hypocritical and censorious Tumblr these days, but you can follow me on there.

And I'm now spreading my message of filth on Instagram!

And the next installment of Lobotomy Room lunacy is Friday 12 July. Note: the dance party is now second Friday of every month, not the last Friday of every month! Read full sordid details on the event page here. 

Lobotomy Room DJ Set List at Fontaine's 29 March 2019

From the Facebook event page:

Fancy an evening of sex, liquor and degradation? Of course, you do!

Yes! Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll - when incredibly bizarre dance party Lobotomy Room returns to the basement Bamboo Lounge of Dalston’s most unique nite spot Fontaine’s! Friday 29 March!

Lobotomy Room! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! Sensual and depraved! A spectacle of decadence! A Mondo Trasho evening of Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Bad Music for Bad People! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted tittyshakers! Punk cretin hops! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and Other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs the Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

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!

It’s that time again! I fly to Las Vegas for the 22nd Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender tonight (16 April)! (I skipped 2018, so this is my first time since 2017. I've been attending off and on since 2003). And as per usual, I’m packing and un-packing and checking and re-checking everything in jittery OCD-style! One particular source of anxiety: I’m flying with Aeromexico – an airline I’d never even heard of until now! They depart from Heathrow and the agent at Flight Centre assures me they’re 100% legit! The flights in and out will be brutal with long stop-overs in Mexico City airport. (This is probably the closest I'll ever come to experiencing Mexico!). I’ll be glad to get the draining travelling stage over with. But I’m mostly looking forward to reunions with my American and Canadian friends (and drinking Mai Tais at Frankie’s Tiki Room!).

So, this blog post is a bit of a rush job to get the March 2019 Lobotomy Room scene report online before I split! You may have noticed there was no January 2019 scene report. To re-cap: the November and December 2018 club nights were pretty damn triumphant! Then the January 2019 club was absolutely catastrophic and soul-destroying (no one came! My worst fear was realized!). There wasn’t a February Lobotomy Room (the Bamboo Lounge was reserved for another event that night), so it felt like a lot was riding on the March 2019 club! Happily enough, we pulled a decent-sized crowd – and they were stylish, sexy and keen to drink, dance and carouse! Fingers crossed they return in April!

/ Hair hopper role model: the regal Wanda Jackson in the early 1960s /

One of the headliners at this year’s Viva Las Vegas was meant to be the truly great and much-loved 81-year old veteran First Lady of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson. Last time I saw Jackson perform, it was at the 2017 Viva Las Vegas. She was visibly frail and sang sitting down (and relied on a wheelchair offstage) but was still in ferocious raspy voice and radiated earth mother warmth and grit. It had been noted that Jackson – who still tours regularly – had recently begun cancelling engagements. Then in March her official social media page issued a statement confirming that after over sixty years of performing, Jackson is retiring for health reasons. I hope Wanda Jackson enjoys a serene well-earned retirement. I will treasure my memories of seeing her onstage over the years.  (I played her track “Mean, Mean Man” at this Lobotomy Room). Intriguingly, Jackson is currently recording a new album due out later this year - produced by Joan Jett! I wonder what that will sound like! 

/ Wanda Jackson and I in London in 2007 / 

In other news: in a cruel twist, we lost both King of Surf Guitar Dick Dale (4 March 1937 - 16 March 2019) and ineffably raunchy high priest of greasy rhythm and blues Andre Williams (1 November 1936 - 17 March 2019, aka “Mr Rhythm”) on the same weekend. Like most honkies of my generation, my introduction to Andre Williams came via The Cramps. The most famous song Williams ever wrote will always be soul standard “Shake a Tail Feather” (I’d argue Ike and Tina Turner’s version is the definitive!), but I particularly treasure his lewd and flamboyant low-life compositions like “Jail Bait”, “Bacon Fat”, “Sweet Little Pussycat” and “The Greasy Chicken.” He was a poet of the gutter! As The Guardian’s obituary concludes, Williams was “an innovator with a smile on his face and a hard-on in his pants.” Andre Williams was one suave fuck! (Rest assured I dropped Williams’ essential tittyshaker “Sweet Little Pussycat” at the March Lobotomy Room in tribute).

More recently, I was saddened to hear about the death of Angel Walker (18 September 1944 – 11 April 2019), aka fierce doyenne of exotic dance and veteran burlesque royalty Satan's Angel, the Devil's Own Mistress. I got to see Satan’s Angel perform and briefly meet and talk to her at Viva Las Vegas in 2010. She was great – a raspy-voiced, hard-boiled but sweet tough cookie and a true old-school, straight-talking broad. What a life and what a woman! A true ultra vixen! As a defiantly out-and-proud lesbian on the Mafia-ruled striptease circuit in the 1960s she endured her share of prejudice. (Apparently her female lovers included Hedy Lamarr and Janis Joplin!). Satan’s Angel also used to play bass in a topless all-girl rock’n’roll band called The Hummingbirds who did a residency at the nite spot Tipsy’s in San Francisco’s North Beach. (How Beyond the Valley of the Dolls / Russ Meyer-esque! Oh, for a time machine!). I would have loved to corner Walker with a tape recorder and get her to divulge all the juicy details of her life and career! At one point she spoke of writing her memoirs – I wonder if she ever completed them? I know a documentary was made about her in 2013. Satan’s Angel features prominently in Peaches’ 2015 video “I Mean Something” – a nice way to remember her. She will be missed.

/ Satan's Angel and I at Viva Las Vegas, 2010 /

Anyway, here's what I played at the March 2019 Lobotomy Room:

Prancing - Ike and Tina Turner
Little Queenie - Bill Black's Combo
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Road Runner - The 5,6,7,8s
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Aw! Shucks Baby - Tiny Topsy
The Whip - The Frantics
Boss - The Rumblers
Let's Go Baby - Billy Eldridge
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega
Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch
Surf Rat - The Rumblers
Eight Ball - The Hustlers
I'm a Bad, Bad Girl - Little Esther
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Scorpion - The Carnations
Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramonetures
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-a-Teens
Love Me - The Phantom
Garbageman - The Cramps
I Don't Need You No More - The Rumblers
Riding with a Movie Star - L7
Cha Cha Twist - The Detroit Cobras
Breathless - X
Be Bop a Lula - Alan Vega
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave
Mean Mean Man - Wanda Jackson
Wild Wild Party - Charlie Feathers
The Swag - Link Wray
Tornado - Dale Hawkins
One, Two, Let's Rock - Sugar Pie and Pee Wee
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell and The Aristocrats
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Vesuvius - The Revels
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Year 1 - X
Ultra Twist - The Cramps
96 Tears - Big Maybelle
How Does That Grab You Darlin'? - Nancy Sinatra
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Bossa Nova Baby - Elvis Presley
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
A Fool in Love - Ike and Tina Turner
Wipe Out - The Surfaris
Pedro Pistolas Twist - Los Twisters
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
I'm Blue - The Ikettes
That's Life - Big Maybelle
One Night of Sin - Elvis Presley
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita

You can hear the set list on Spotify here. I feel torn on whether to continue with these Spotify playlists. Spotify is a hideous, soulless corporation who rips-off musicians (although, to be fair, many of the artists I play are dead). I’m not sure how many people actually listen to these playlists and whether they help promote the club night in a meaningful way. And plenty of the songs I play aren’t even featured on Spotify, so the playlists are very approximate! We’ll see.

Remember: the next Lobotomy Room dance party downstairs at Fontaine’s is Friday 26 April 2019! Full squalid details here. 

Further reading: 

In August 2018 I spoke my brains to To Do List magazine about the wild, wild world of Lobotomy Room, the monthly cinema club – and my lonely one-man mission to return a bit of raunch, sleaze and “adult situations” to London’s nightlife! Read it - if you must - here. 

Follow me on twitter!

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