Lobotomy Room Set List 13 July 2013

/ Shake it!! Another Day, Another Man (1966) directed by Doris Wishman /



Empress of Fur at the 13 July 2013 Lobotomy Room. Photo by Chris Magee of Bopflix

From the Facebook events page:

Out of the gutter and into your arms – LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to Paper Dress Vintage! It's the fourth ever Lobotomy Room: a Mondo Trasho evening of Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted Tittyshakers! Punk Cretin Hops! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs The Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell (Dr Sketchy London’s resident DJ). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

And featuring a rare London appearance by special musical guests... the vicious EMPRESS OF FUR! Led by the Bettie Page-tastic Venus Raygun (a one-woman Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!), Empress of Fur answers the musical question “Why do the sweetest kittens have the sharpest claws?” – and rasp your freakin’ face off in the process with their raunchy Cramps-y punkabilly assault! Imagine the musical equivalent of a 1960s Russ Meyer film about go-go dancers on a homicidal rampage, and you’re on the right track. 

Admission is FREE!! If you're working that night -- call in sick. If you're in prison -- BREAK OUT!

Saturday 13 July 2013 was the hottest night of the year – in more ways than one!

Sure, there were a few strikes against me that night: it was so off-puttingly, oppressively Tennessee Williams- melodrama-hot that I suspect loads of people opted to stay home rather than venture to an un-air conditioned nightclub. It also didn’t help that the entire Northern Line (which services Old Street, the closest tube station to the venue Paper Dress Vintage) was down for engineering work all weekend. And desiccated monkey skeleton billionaires The Rolling Stones were playing in Hyde Park on the same damn night and stole some of my thunder (couldn't they have consulted me first?).  But every time I do a Lobotomy Room it feels like a triumph against adversity, and in spite of all that, the fourth-ever Lobotomy Room was pretty damn successful, with Paper Dress Vintage full and buzzing with the hip in-the-know bohemian elite.

In the beginning: the original line-up of Empress of Fur in 1995

Having the mighty Empress of Fur as the special musical guest at Lobotomy Room was a bit of a dream come true. I've known these crazy mofos since the mid-1990s, when I first started exploring the crème de la crème of London’s subterranean rock’n’roll clubs like the much-missed More than Vegas, the Frat Shacks and Virginia Creepers (which very much influenced what I’m trying to do with Lobotomy Room). In fact, when I interviewed Empress of Fur for quintessential American hardcore punk zine MAXIMUMROCKNROLL (I was their London correspondent, covering mostly garage punk and rockabilly, throughout the 1990s), it was at More than Vegas. The issue of MRR with my Empress of Fur interview came out in July 1995 – talk about coming full circle! What I wrote about them then remains true:

Empress of Fur – England’s sexiest band? The question is rhetorical. Of course they are. Check out their recently-released six song debut CD How Does That Mad Bad Hawaiian Voodoo Grab You? (Raucous Records) for proof. The band (who have every line in Elvis’s 68 Comeback Special memorised) twang-out vicious rockabilly-burlesque, while perma-pouting front-woman Venus Raygun is like both Elvis and Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas morphed into one shapely body. Appropriately enough, I cornered them for a drunken, rambling (well, on my part anyway) interview deep in the bowels of London’s More than Vegas club, where they’d come to catch a performance by their friend Helen Shadow and her new band The Queen B’s.

I’ll always remember the first time I saw Empress of Fur, which was purely by accident. It was at the Water Rat’s in Kings Cross. The band stirred my brains with a spoon, stylishly incorporating aspects of so many of my favourite things (Link Wray, The Cramps’ school of punk-y rockabilly, Russ Meyer sexploitation films, 1940s and 50s exotic burlesque dancers); Venus was a scathing front-woman, invoking the likes of Bettie Page and Tura Satana. At one point there was a technical glitch, the band all left the stage except for Venus, alone and scantily-clad in a sensational showgirl outfit. A drunken woman in the audience (a total mouse burger / turdette) started heckling her, and a riled-up Venus (glass of brandy in hand) was snapping back at her. It was so antagonistic, confrontational and rock’n’roll, it gave me goose bumps! I've always loved bands that create a sense of tension and drama. In fact, I've always thought a typical Empress of Fur gig evokes the opening moments of Russ Meyer’s 1965 B-movie masterpiece Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! when Varla, Rosie and Billie are frantically go-go dancing while sweaty, leering men are shouting, “Go baby, go!” Imagine that sustained for a whole hour.

Anyway, at this Lobotomy Room the truly majestic Empress of Fur took to the stage to the introductory music of Link Wray’s twangy Batman theme and finished by rampaging through “Garbage Man” (The Cramps’ finest moment), comprehensively rocking the freakin’ house (and freaking out a few squares) in between. Venus cavorted like a sex kitten gone berserk - think Ann-Margret in Tommy, minus the baked beans and soap bubbles.

Empress of Fur photos by Chris Magee of Bopflix (loads more great shots on my flickr page. In that second last one you can see me in bottom left corner, wearing a fez)

Musically, I pretty much cleaved to my established template of creating a sense of the exotic, pagan and taboo with kitschy Mondo Tiki exotica, gradually cranking up the tempo with more raucous rhythm and blues and rockabilly, until finally blasting everyone’s faces off with punk freak-outs at the end of the night when we’re all liquored-up and feeling aggressive (I may just be speaking for myself here). Why mess with the formula?

As I've said before, leather-clad punk grandma Edith Massey (1918-1984) is the patron saint of Lobotomy Room. Playing two essential statements by her (“Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Punks Get Off The Grass”) felt de rigueur. Massey’s wonderfully awful voice suggests cockroaches scuttling over a trash can lid – which is the sound of Lobotomy Room.

/ Flyer for Edith Massey (aka Pink Flamingo's Mama Edie) performing a club gig towards the end of her life -- accompanied by an all-girl punk rock band! And a screening of Desperate Living! Ah, for a time machine. (Via) /

Beautiful women dancing at Lobotomy Room! The glamorous Joelle (in leopard print dress) and friend. I seem to recall they were dancing to "Little Girl" by John and Jackie





Other noteworthy tracks I played: obviously the music of the tempestuous Ike and Tina Turner is like oxygen for me. I’m currently obsessed by “Tina’s Dilemma”, the B-side to the Turners’ stone cold 1961 classic “I Idolize You” which deserves to be far better known. It’s a great rhythm and blues rave-up, the sound of Ike and Tina at their most frenzied, with Tina and the Ikettes wailing like their lives depend on it. (With the scary and unstable pistol-packing Ike behind the production desk, maybe their lives were depending on it). I particularly love the campy, sarcastic call-and-response vocals exchanged between Tina and the Ikettes: “Hey, Tina!” “Yes, ‘ettes?” which builds until queen bee Tina gets exasperated (“But Tina!” “Now what?!”).

Another eternal source of inspiration is the soundtracks of sleaze king filmmaker John Waters. So it was like Christmas day when journalist and man-about-town Kevin Allman, my friend in New Orleans, emailed me an mp3 of American doom-grunge maestros The Melvins’ slow, sludgy and metallic death-punk deconstruction of the theme tune to Waters’ epic Female Trouble (1974). The Melvins take the original (sung of course, by raspy-voiced Divine) and filter it through their trademark awesomely heavy, post-Black Sabbath grind’n’caterwaul sensibility.



Anyway, it sounds like luxuriating in dark, fetid slime and fits perfectly alongside Lobotomy Room staples by Turbonegro, The Dirtbombs and The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. (Speaking of which: it was gratifying to look up and see people enthusiastically moshing and singing along to Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black’s “Underwear Drawer.” The song is surely a putrid classic in-waiting).

There are loads of photos from the night, and I look sweaty, puffy and blotchy in every single one of ‘em (but at least they are documentary evidence of the vintage fez I bought in San Francisco in April 2013 – although I suspect it was askew much of the time). You can see them all – raw and uncensored – on my flickr page. Thanks to the very talented musician, photographer and filmmaker Chris Magee of Bopflix for his beautiful shots of Empress of Fur in action. (On flickr his pics are interspersed with my own pretty pedestrian photos; I don’t think you’ll have much difficulty distinguishing them! Follow the amazing work of Bopflix on tumblr, Youtube or Facebook. He does a pretty astonishing job of documenting the international rockabilly scene. Check him out). I was busy behind the decks pretty much all night, so thanks as well to my friend Lauren (one half of the blues-punk duo Spanking Machine, stars in the making) for taking some truly berserk pics of the sweaty clubbers on the night.

A sampling of glamour shots of Lobotomy Room attendees:



Bettie Page fringe convention: Mandy and Sally



The Dan-ster and Mia, Guatemala's finest export



Gritty Yorkshire lass Rachael, flashing me her polka dot What Katie Did bullet bra. The low point of the night was leaning over to speak to a seated Rachael later on -- and splashing my beer all down her chic black dress in the process. Can you say cringe! Luckily she was (relatively) forgiving



Mamie Van Doren-style platinum blonde Lauren and French silver fox Dominique



Dominique and Christopher (we get cute boys at Lobotomy Room)



Mia and I (don't look at my sweat patches; and my fez is on crooked), with Martin and Rachael gurning in the background



Two Welsh hunks: Pal and Julian



Tattoo convention: Julian and Sally



Rachael and Michael Diop



Rachael and I (this was after I'd splashed her with beer. What. A. WOMAN).



Off-stage / post-show Venus Raygun and Matt



Pal throwing some shapes



Heavy petting: Lauren and Pal



Venus and I (Empress of Fur drummer Edward on the right)



Charlie



Lauren collapsed at the end of the night (I can relate to how she felt)

Taita Inty (Virgin of The Sun God) - Yma Sumac
The Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish - Martin Denny
Monkey Bird - The Revels
Voodoo / Voodoo Dreams - Les Baxter
Camel Walk - The Saxons
Misirlou - Laurindo Almedia and The Bossa Nova All-Stars
Night Walk - The Swingers
Slow Walk - Sil Austin
Kizmiaz - The Cramps
Hanky Panky - Nancy Sit
Drive In - The Jaguars
Little Miss Understood - Connie Stevens
Little Queenie - Bill Black Combo
Mama Looka Boo Boo (Shut Your Mouth - Go Away) - Robert Mitchum
Don' Wanna - Wanda Jackson
Go Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
Train to Nowhere - The Champs
Tonight You Belong to Me - Patience and Prudence
People Ain't No Good - The Cramps
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Kruschev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Uptown to Harlem - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Mambo Baby - Ruth Brown
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita
Rawhide - Link Wray
Dance with Henry - Ann-Margret
Intoxica - The Centurions
The Whip - The Frantics
Salamander - Mamie Van Doren
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Vesuvius - The Revels
Margaya - The Fender Four
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Boss - The Rumblers
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Breathless - X
Caterpillar Crawl - The Strangers
Tunnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Big Girls Don't Cry - Edith Massey
Mean Muthafuckin' Man - Wayne County and The Electric Chairs
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Bombie - Johnny Sharp and The Yellow Jackets
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
Club Delight - Jack "Big Daddy" Jolly
Get off the Road (She-Devils on Wheels theme song) - Herschell Gordon Lewis
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
The Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
Hand-clapping Time - The Fabulous Raiders
Roll with Me Henry - Etta James
Punks Get Off The Grass - Edith Massey
Mamma's Boy - The Ramones
You Give Me Worms - Turbonegro
Can't Stop Thinking About It - The Dirtbombs
Underwear Drawer - The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Female Trouble - The Melvins
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Devil In Disguise - Elvis Presley
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Elle est terrible - Johnny Hallyday
Skull and Crossbones - Sparkle Moore
Go Motherfucker Go - Nashville Pussy
Media Blitz - The Germs

19 June 2013 Dr Sketchy Set List

This was the first time I’d DJ’d for a Dr Sketchy at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern since the Valentine’s one in February 2013.  As a freaked-out casualty / terminal worry wart I was sure I would have forgotten everything I ever knew about using their decks. Then when I unpacked my DJ bag I quickly realised my headphones were missing the little “adapter” attachment that makes them compatible with the hole in The RVT’s console, so couldn’t use them at all. (I must have left it behind the last time I DJ’d, which would have been at the May 2013 Lobotomy Room at Ryan’s in Stoke Newington). Obviously this meant I couldn't listen to the track first in my headphones before playing it – so I had to ensure I cued the right one every time and hope for the best! (Luckily, all night I only played the wrong song once – not that anyone else would have been the wiser!). Plus I drank three pints of lager on an empty stomach (I went to the venue straight from work) – a recipe for things getting potentially sloppy. But in fact, I felt exceptionally relaxed and in control and (if I do say so myself!) think it was one of my tightest, most flowing and consistent sets ever. Maybe drinking three pints of lager on an empty stomach is the answer!

As usual, I initially eased into things with some Mondo Exotica (Yma Sumac, Martin Denny), hopefully invoking a taboo, primitive and sensual Tiki ambiance, and then alternated between wailing greasy rhythm and blues and rancid tittyshaking sleazy instrumentals. I also worked in some Beat, beat beatnik beatsville rock’n’roll novelty songs: Bing Day’s finger snapping, flute-laced “Mama’s Place”, Mamie Van Doren belting out the theme tune to her (frankly awful!) 1959 exploitation film The Beat Generation. I do love ersatz beatnik novelty tunes! 

Speaking of which... 

Two Beatnik poetesses (or at least, the 1950s Hollywood interpretation) in full flow. First, Philippa Fallon in High School Confidential (1958). To me, her sneering delivery anticipates Lydia Lunch:

Below: Maila Nurmi (aka glamour ghoul / horror movie hostess Vampira, out of her Morticia Addams-style drag) reciting a poem in The Beat Generation (1959) and wearing a pet rat as a fashion accessory. Sadly, the audio quality not so great on this one. I do love Nurmi's restless, swaying body language in the clip -- like someone on amphetamines. You can watch the whole film on Youtube. 

What links these two clips? The presence of character actor Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester in The Addams Family!) in both. In High School Confidential he's accompanying Fallon on piano; in The Beat Generation he's tough guy / cop Steve Cochran's partner

The emcee this time was Ebeneezer Valentine (think surly Scottish escapee from Trainspotting). There were two burlesque artistes and models: Frankie Von Flirter and Millie Dollar. For Frankie’s first pose I dove into eerie 1950s Cool Jazz (the sound of one finger snapping in an echo-y morgue) with a David Lynch-ian twist, starting with doomed heroin-ravaged Cool Jazz icon Chet Baker’s “You’re My Thrill” (he did a great vocal version of this jazz standard, but at Dr Sketchy I always play the instrumental that appears on his 1965 album Baker’s Holiday: Plays and Sings Billie Holiday. It has a sexy bump-and-grind burlesque rhythm), and then followed it with two songs from Lynch soundtracks. “Up in Flames” appeared in Wild at Heart (1990), memorably sung by raspy-voiced blues mama Koko Taylor. I opted for the more ghostly Julee Cruise interpretation, as featured on her underrated (and long out of print) 1993 The Voice of Love album (I snapped it up on CD at Amoeba Records when I was in San Francisco in April. What a coup!).  Milt Buckner’s slinky “The Beast” (a perennial Dr Sketchy favourite) appears in Mulholland Drive (2001).

In the second half, Frankie appeared in drag king mode for her Top Gun-inspired routine. Because of her military uniform, Clare Marie (Dr Sketchy’s ornately tattooed glamazon promoter) requested military-inspired music for these poses, which explains Dietrich’s “Give Me the Man” (she’s pining for a Foreign Legion soldier, ideally as played by young Gary Cooper in Morocco) and the Sadomasochism-tinged “I’d Love to Take Orders from You” by Mildred Bailey.

I’d never worked with Millie Dollar at a Dr Sketchy before, and I loved her hard-boiled, tattooed old-school stripper persona. Her big number ended with her twirling her pasties individually, and then ensemble – talented woman. Her orange spangly costume (the colour of a tequila sunrise!) had a belly dancer / harem girl look, which inspired me to journey into Middle Eastern / Turkish exotica for her poses: “Turkish Coffee” by Omar Kay, Eartha Kitt’s “Uska Dara”, “The Maharajah of Magdor” by The Blue Echos. (I also like to think I was being timely and topical, and showing solidarity with the Turkish protesters in Istanbul!).

As well as the usual vintage sleaze, I raised the tone a bit by playing some foreign language Continental artistes: France’s Serge Gainsbourg and Juliette Greco, Germany’s Hildegard Knef (I love her world-weary, sixty cigarettes-a-day guttural voice). For one of Millie’s poses I also played Anouk Aimée’s musical number from the key nouvelle vague film Lola (1961). A friend of mine went to Paris recently and kindly brought me back a boxed set of CDs entitled Nouvelle Vague: Chansons et musiques de films, which includes this song. I've always treasured Aimée as one of the most haunting and beautiful of French actresses (I've already blogged about Aimée’s performance in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita – and her sensational cat’s eye sunglasses). She gives her career-best performance in Lola as a naive, love-struck cabaret chanteuse and single mother. Normally Aimée was called upon to be enigmatic, or to suffer eloquently (something her sorrowful dark eyes were ideal at conveying) but in Lola she plays against type, channeling effervescent Marilyn Monroe at her most childlike, and is beguiling. 

I've always loved Aimée’s delivery of this song in her sexy showgirl outfit – so it was quite disillusioning to get the CD and see that in fact, it’s not Aimée singing at all! It certainly sounds like Aimée's own hesitant, whisper-soft voice, but she’d been dubbed by  professional singer Jacqueline Danno! The liner notes explain that the director Jacques Demy knew he wanted a musical sequence for the film, and filmed Aimée “speak” the lyrics like reciting a poem – and then later on, his composer Michel Legrand knocked-up the accompanying music and Danno painstakingly sang along to Aimée's lip movements so they could be synced. Sounds chaotic, but that’s probably why the best 1960s French nouvelle vague films still feel so fresh, playful and spontaneous: they were cobbled together in a haphazard fashion and on a tight budget.

Anyway, that’s show biz!

I probably won't be DJ'ing again now until 13 July 2013 -- the next Lobotomy Room night at Paper Dress Vintage! Details here. In the meantime, follow me on tumblr -- although perhaps not from your work PC! (NSFW alert!).

Taita Inty (Virgin of the Sun God) - Yma Sumac
The Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish - Martin Denny
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Se Acabo - The Del Rio Bros
The Monkey Bird (Conga Twist) - The Revels
C'mon-a My House (in Japanese) - Eartha Kitt
One Mint Julep - Sarah Vaughan
Slow Walk - Sil Austin
Night Walk - The Swingers
Welfare Cheese - Emanuel Laskey
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
One Monkey Don't Stop No Show - Big Maybelle
I Can't Sleep - Tini Williams and The Skyliners
Beaver Shot - The Hollywood Hurricanes
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo
Greasy Chicken - Andre Williams
Mama's Place - Bing Day
Beat Generation - Mamie Van Doren
Intoxica - The Centurions
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
Hanky Panky - Nancy Sit
Margaya - The Fender Four
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Scorpion - The Carnations
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Last Call for Whiskey - Choker Campbell
I Ain't Drunk, I'm Just Drinkin' - Jimmy Liggins
The Sneak - Jimmy Oliver
La Valse des Si - Juliette Greco
La Fille de Hambourg - Hildegard Knef
You're My Thrill - Chet Baker (instrumental version)
Up in Flames - Julee Cruise
The Beast - Milt Buckner
Are You Nervous? The Instrumentals
Wait A Minute, Baby - Esquerita
He's The One - Ike and Tina Turner
Rockin' Out The Blues - The Musical Linn Twins
I'm a Bad, Bad Girl - Little Esther
Lola - Jacqueline Danno
The Immediate Pleasure - John Barry (Beat Girl soundtrack)
Some Small Chance - Serge Gainsbourg (Strip-tease soundtrack)
Turkish Coffee - Omar Kay
Uska Dara - Eartha Kitt (1960s version)
The Maharajah of Magador - The Blue Echoes
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Pass The Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Denise Darcel
Boss - The Rumblers
Club Delight - Jack Jolly
Cocktails for Two - Cliff Duphiney
Give Me the Man - Marlene Dietrich
I'd Love To Take Orders from You - Mildred Bailey
Two Little Girls from Little Rock - Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
Bikini with No Top on the Top - Mamie Van Doren and June Wilkinson
The Whip - The Frantics
Thirteen Men - Ann-Margret
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Begin the Beguine - Billy Fury
Drummin' Up A Storm - Sandy Nelson
Viens danser le twist - Johnny Hallyday
Handclappin' Time - The Fabulous Raiders
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner

Next Lobotomy Room ... Saturday 13 July at Paper Dress Vintage

Make new friends ... at Lobotomy Room!

From the Facebook events page:

Out of the gutter and into your arms – LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to Paper Dress Vintage!

It's the fourth ever Lobotomy Room: a Mondo Trasho evening of Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted Tittyshakers! Punk Cretin Hops! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs The Cramps Taught Us, hosted by Graham Russell (Dr Sketchy London’s resident DJ). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

And featuring a rare London appearance by special musical guests... the vicious EMPRESS OF FUR! Led by the Bettie Page-tastic Venus Raygun (a one-woman Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!), Empress of Fur answers the musical question “Why do the sweetest kittens have the sharpest claws?” – and rasp your freakin’ face off in the process with their raunchy Cramps-y punkabilly assault! Imagine the musical equivalent of a 1960s Russ Meyer film about go-go dancers on a homicidal rampage, and you’re on the right track. 

Admission is FREE!! If you're working that night -- call in sick. If you're in prison -- BREAK OUT!

To paraphrase Little Richard: She's got it. Ooh, baby she's got it. Venus Raygun of Empress of Fur (below) shakin' it at London's now-defunct rock'n'roll night Virginia Creepers in 2007. (Photo by me, from my "nightclub photographer" days. I was the Nan Goldin / Diane Arbus of the rockabilly scene for a while!)

Empress of Fur, the early years: the original line-up as featured in their 1994 EP How Does That Mad Bad Hawaiian Voodoo Grab You? "Johnny Voodoo" is a punkabilly classick!



Below: Venus cavorting at the Dirty Water Club in 2009 (see more from this set on flickr)

Empress of Fur's Golden Jubilee gig at the 12 Bar Club in June 2012. See the rest of this set on flickr 

Read about previous Lobotomy Rooms here, here and here.

New Boots and Panties

Received delivery of a sparkling new pair of black leather engineer boots earlier this week — just like these as modelled by the delectable vintage physique/beefcake model Rock Granger (sadly, wearing them doesn't make me look like him. Granger is one of my favourite male pin-ups; I used a photo of him in a mesh posing pouch to illustrate my 6 February 2013 Wild Thing DJ set list -- and perhaps unsurprisingly, it became one of my most popular blog entries of all time!). 

As many of you know, I freaking refuse to wear anything else (give me engineer boots or give me death!) and they’re increasingly hard to find. (In the 1990s, I’d just head to The Girl Can't Help It in Camden Market!). I always have to have two pairs: I need a spare pair while one is being re-heeled. Anyway, I got my last two pairs from Rockers England in Manchester: highly recommended. Here’s their website.

Which brings us to ...

Young Marlon Brando as sullen and defiant Johnny in The Wild One (1953) remains such a potent image (or as Camille Paglia would call it, “sexual persona”). As I've said before, the clothes Brando and his biker gang members in The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club wear are so covetable they have me virtually drooling. The buckled black leather engineer boots, the perfect dark indigo Levis with the perfect turn-ups, the t-shirts, the leather jackets, the caps, the sunglasses, the quiffs, the sideburns ... Brando and his gang remain the absolute visual / sartorial ideal for male rockabillies today in the way that, say, Bettie Page or Mamie Van Doren do for female rockabilly kittens.

Unwittingly, Brando in The Wild One also set a template or archetype for the enduring and essential homoerotic biker image (perhaps second only to the homoerotic sailor image in ubiquity). Browse through any collections of 1950s / early 1960s-era vintage male physique / beefcake / early gay pornography on tumblr like this one or this one (and I highly recommend you do!) and so many of the luscious male models are sporting tough guy / bad boy variations of the black leather jacket, rakishly cocked biker cap and engineer boots ensembles that seem directly swiped from The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. (Here -- I've saved you the trouble!). And of course in his eerie 1963 queer underground film classic Scorpio Rising (a true cinematic flower of evil!) Kenneth Anger would drag the gay biker persona up from the subterranean world of porn. Anger also deliberately spliced in a flickering black and white TV clip of Brando in The Wild One, implying his speed freak anti-hero Scorpio (played by Bruce Byron) is modelling himself on Brando. In fact he links Scorpio’s corrupt homoerotic narcissism with his identifications with James Dean and Brando. Beautiful!

Now I need to listen to Turbonegro. 

Lobotomy Room Playlist 17 May 2013

/ A black leather jacket and a good pair of engineer boots: the essential wardrobe staples of a 1950s bad boy greaser. What more do you need? In the case of this rockabilly angel -- nothing. (Via Vintage Gay Men) /

From the Facebook events page:  

Like the celebrants of some macabre feast, people are waiting ... waiting for the return of LOBOTOMY ROOM!

Yes, Lobotomy Room: a Mondo Trasho night of rockabilly, frantic Rhythm and Blues, tittyshaking sleazy instrumentals, punk, kitsch and exotica (weird shit, basically! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs The Cramps Taught Us), hosted by Graham Russell (Dr Sketchy London’s resident DJ). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

Admission is free, the booze is cheap and the venue is a basement in Stoke Newington. Things kick off early – stick a safety pin through your nose and come straight from the office.

  

Lauren and I at the end of the night ... (note Sarah in the corner)

For the third-ever Lobotomy Room, I went for a low-key, intimate and small-scale vibe in the basement of Ryan’s Bar in Stoke Newington. OK, that’s a positive spin on confessing not many people showed up! The March 2013 Lobotomy Room at Paper Dress Vintage was a triumph, but Saturday nights there are booked solid until later in the summer (I’m doing the next Lobotomy Room there on Saturday 13 July 2013), so I thought I’d do a Lobotomy Room at Ryan’s Bar as an experiment in the meantime. Because of its prime location in Shoreditch, Paper Dress Vintage gets swarms of passing trade. Luring people to Stoke Newington proved trickier!  I promoted the hell out of it (the ultra chi chi 1940s and 50s reproduction clothing emporium Vivien of Holloway kindly printed-up a mountain of beautiful glossy flyers -- with Lobotomy Room details on one side and Vivien of Holloway info on the reverse -- for me to distribute; Lobotomy Room was listed in Time Out online for the first time), and so did Ryan’s Bar. Ah, well – Lobotomy Room is still an unknown commodity for now. But the elite and loyal hardcore minority was there (who years from now will be able to brag they were at Lobotomy Room in its early undiscovered days!), plus there were some glamorous new faces (including some all the way from Manchester).

Anyway, as usual I eased into things with some otherworldly pagan / taboo mondo exotica (not playing a track by Yma Sumac just feels wrong) and then cranked-up my trashiest and most abrasive music LOUD. As the photos below show, things eventually descended into a drunken bacchanal. It was particularly gratifying to look up and see people moshing to “Punks Get Off the Grass” by John Waters’ character actress, Edith “Mama Edie” Massey. For me, "outsider actress" and senior citizen matriarch of punk Massey is virtually the patron saint of Lobotomy Room and everything I want it to represent.

/ Edith Massey (1918 - 1984) in one of her greatest roles -- the vicious Aunt Ida in the 1974 John Waters classick Female Trouble /





Grainy / gritty black and white art shot courtesy of the talented Phil Clark. (No, I have no idea what the black speck on my adam's apple is)



Like I know what I'm doing ... It's like handing an iPhone to an ape (photo by Magda)



Mia (aka Mayan Ruin -- The Republic of Guatemala's finest export!) and Dan (aka The Dan-ster)



Sarah and Lauren



International sex kitten and "woman of mystery" Magda and Charlie



Sally and Paddy



Eric and Phil representing the bear community



Fun and stylish couple



Manchester's Finest: The Mancunian Girls



Rock Chicks Unite! Lauren, Sally and Magda



There's no stoppin' the cretins from hoppin'!



Chrlie, Magda and Christopher



Sweatin' to the oldies



Charlie (wearing my biker cap) and La Magda



Magda and I: I've known this crazy fräulein since the 1990s, when we both used to work for the same fetish company!



Lauren and Christopher, who're in a blues-punk duo together called Spanking Machine (they recently recorded their demo). They are grasping, tenacious young starlets on the ascent. Watch out!



"The Boys on Bikes Played Shame Games with ... The Mother Truckers!" Homoerotic! Christopher and I

There's plenty more photos from the night on flickr. (For the record, I loathe the ugly, jumbled and chaotic flickr re-design. What a mess!)

Follow me on tumblr! (Warning: Not Safe for Work!)

Quiet Village - Martin Denny
Tuma (Earthquake) - Yma Sumac
Mama's Place - Bing Day
Egg Man - Edith Massey
Moon Mist - The Out Islanders
Cafe Bohemian - The Enchanters
Monkey Bird - The Revels
Rigor Mortis - The Gravestone Four
La Bamba - Eartha Kitt
Slow Walk - Sil Austin
One Monkey Don't Stop No Show - Big Maybelle
Vesuvius - The Revels
Stranger in My Own Home Town - Elvis Presley (x-rated "blue" version)
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
I Can't Sleep - Tini Williams and The Skyliners
Strollin' After Dark - The Shades
Don' Wanna - Wanda Jackson
Beauty is Only Skin Deep - Robert Mitchum
Little Queenie - Bill Black Combo
Beat Generation - Mamie Van Doren
Are You Nervous? The Instrumentals
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Save It - Mel Robbins
8-Ball - The Hustlers
Bacon Fat - Andre Williams
The Whip - The Frantics
Cooler Weather (Is A-Comin') - Eddie Weldon
Madness - The Rhythm Rockers
Sick and Tired - Lula Reed
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita
Crawlin' - The Untouchables
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Last Call for Whiskey - Choker Campbell
Beaver Shot - The Periscopes
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
Safari - The El Capris
Drummin' Up A Storm - Sandy Nelson
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Viens danser le twist - Johnny Hallyday
Little Miss Understood - Connie Stevens
Beat Girl - Adam Faith
Tonight You Belong to Me - Patience and Prudence
People Ain't No Good - The Cramps
Margaya - The Fender Four
Intoxica - The Centurions
Roll with Me Henry - Etta James
Uptown to Harlem - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Don't Be Cruel - Bill Black Combo
Whistle Bait - The Collins Kids
Fool I Am - Pat Ferguson
The Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
Little Lil - Mel Dorsey
Rawhide - Link Wray
She Said - Hasil Adkins
Shortnin' Bread - The Ready Men
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Breathless - Aarlie Neaville
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby - The Earls of Suave
Rip It Up - Elvis Presley
Heartbreakin' Special - Duke Larson
Willie Joe - The Mystery Trio
Bottle to the Baby - Charlie Feathers
She Wants to Mambo - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Tall Cool One - The Wailers
Hanky Panky - Rita Chao and The Quests
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Mean Mutha Fuckin' Man - Wayne County and The Electric Chairs
Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Breathless - X
You Give Me Worms - Turbonegro
Go Motherfucker Go - Nashville Pussy
Shopping Spree - The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Nothing Means Nothing Anymore - The Alley Cats
Khrushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Killer - Sparkle Moore
Rock'n'Roll Waltz - Ann-Margret
I Want Your Love - The Cruisers
Cry-Baby - The Honey Sisters
Human Fly - The Cramps
The Swag - Link Wray
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
I Was Born to Cry - Dion
Gonna Type A Letter - Billy Fury
Somebody Put Something in My Drink - The Ramones
Contact - Brigitte Bardot
Elle est terrible - Johnny Hallyday
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Dancing with Tears in My Eyes - X
Goin' Down that Road - Ersel Hickey
Cat Man - Gene Vincent
Handclapping Time - The Fabulous Raiders
Boots - Nero and The Gladiators
Bombie - Johnny Sharp and The Yellow Jackets
Punks Get Off the Grass - Edith Massey
Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor - Johnny Horton
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
Comin' Home - The Delmonas
The Pussycat song - Connie Vannett
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Can Your Pussy Do the Dog? The Cramps
Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Let's Go Sexin' - James Intveld
Suey - Jayne Mansfield