13 June 2012 Dr Sketchy Set List

/ The sublime Jayne Mansfield looking as understated as ever in Too Hot To Handle (1960) /

This Wednesday night Dr Sketchy at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern featured two Dr Sketchy doyennes: bad girl of cabaret emcee Ophelia Bitz and bump-and-grind artiste Cherry Shakewell. The outrageous Ophelia was on especially raunchy form. “I am and probably will Ophelia Bitz,” she introduced herself. Sporting an especially short micro mini-dress, she apologised in advance to the audience members by the front of the stage if they copped an eyeful of more than they bargained for. Truly, she is the Tallulah Bankhead du nos jours.

Cherry Shakewell’s act incorporated a bubble machine, and her spectacular green and gold outfit and headdress evoked an under-the-sea vibe, implying sexy mermaids, a Sea Queen or (as Cherry herself described it) Lady Neptune. (Unfortunately there was no one taking photos tonight, but Cherry looked a lot like this ... in fact, this tune was the cue for the bubble machine to start).



Ophelia used this as inspiration for suggesting themes when people drew Cherry. She paraphrased a line from a song in The Little Mermaid (“It’s better down where it’s wetter”) in a way that Disney almost certainly didn’t have in mind. Another of her suggestions was “Something Fishy, Starring Cherry Shakewell.”

I haven’t made any serious technical blunders in a while, so I guess I was overdue for one. There was a horrifying moment at the beginning of the night when I botched Ophelia’s music cue. Because there was just one model and burlesque performer this night, Ophelia treated the audience to a few songs from her cabaret repertoire. When she arrived and said her musical backing was on her iPhone rather than on a CD, my heart sank. I don’t have an iPhone myself so am panicky and unfamiliar with operating ‘em. And even at the best of times, I screw up musical cues (just ask poor long-suffering Claire Benjamin/Freuda Kahlo!). Ophelia quickly ran through with me what her musical cue would be but I still completely misunderstood it (I thought she was singing a song at the end of the night, not right after she introduced herself at the start!). So she stood there staring at me from the stage when her music was due to kick in, and I was staring back at her blankly before I realised, Oh! She means now! Luckily, Ophelia is such a seasoned and unruffled pro we quickly got back on track and she rocked the house with her first song.

Needless to say, we mostly get a great crowd at Dr Sketchy nights: fun, open, talented, smart, perhaps a bit drunk – and always respectful of the performers. Wednesday night we had a garrulous group of newbies (apparently some gals from the office on a night out) who were pounding back glasses of rosé or something and seemed not to be au fait with basic etiquette about not talking while a performer is singing (and bear in mind the RVT is a small venue, so it was right in Ophelia’s face). To her credit, Ophelia rose above it and handled it in her stride (well, she did tell them to shut up mid-song), but it made my blood boil. Obviously these are the same ilk of people who probably talk and text all through films, too. It’s unlikely any of them will read this, but seriously ladies – STFU!

Musically, it didn’t occur to me until midway through Cherry’s first pose I should try to play some underwater/sea-related music. Doh! I quickly remedied that by slapping on "Atlantis" by high emperor of Mondo Exotica, Les Baxter. Elsewhere, while she posed I cranked up cooing sex kitten tunes by Cherry’s platinum blonde spiritual predecessors like Mamie Van Doren, Brigitte Bardot, Jayne Mansfield and (token redhead) Ann-Margret. I decided long ago that “Cherry” by The Jive Bombers is Cherry’s unofficial theme song. For me Cherry’s 1960s go-go dancer look (tousled blonde mane, frosted pale lipstick, false eyelashes like thick black tarantulas) always suggests Nancy Sinatra and Russ Meyer’s sexploitation masterpiece (and what John Waters calls “beyond a doubt, the best movie ever made”) Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Of the trio of homicidal, vengeful go-go dancers, Cherry most resembles the fun-loving blonde femme one, Billie).



I corralled some friends into coming to this Dr Sketchy: Christopher, Paul (these two used to be in art-punk band Matron together) and Ilana. (Ilana in fact won one of the main prizes at the end. Ophelia couldn’t decipher the signature scrawled at the bottom of Ilana’s sketch and announced her as “Lana”). After Dr Sketchy itself was pretty much over, I dashed outside where the three of them were standing smoking cigarettes like a bunch of delinquents. I said I’d just play one or two more songs to wind things up then I’d be free to join them. They had the nerve to say No, they’re going back in and they want to listen to me play more. So I continued DJ’ing for another 25 minutes or so for their pleasure while they drank beer. What can you do with people like that, huh?


Christopher and Paul photographed at the 2 November 2011 Cockabilly at The George and Dragon

Simba - Les Baxter
Run - Jeri Southern
Cocktail for Two - Cliff Duphiney
If I Love Ya Then I Need Ya, If I Need Ya Then I Wantcha Around - Eartha Kitt
Love is Comin' My Way - Myrna March
Trash Can - Ken Williams
Madness - The Rhythm Rockers
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
Rompin' - Jerry Warren
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Leave Married Women Alone - Jimmy Cavallo
I Want Your Love - The Cruisers
Good and Bad - The Gauchos
Pink Champagne - The Tyrones
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Surfing Snow Matador - Mickey and Ludella
Shomblar - Sheriff and The Revels
Intoxica - The Centurions
Fever - Nancy Sit
It - The Regal-Aires
Scorpion - Jimmy McConville
Miss Irene - Ginny Kennedy
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Mambo Baby - Ruth Brown
I Learn a Merengue, Mama - Robert Mitchum
Wimoweh - Yma Sumac
Esquerita and the Voola - Esquerita
Delilah Jones - The Thunderbirds
Little Miss Understood - Connie Stevens
Beaver Shot - Hollywood Hurricanes
Drummin' Up a Storm - Sandy Nelson
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Atlantis - Les Baxter
Boots - Nero and The Gladiators
Let Me Entertain You - Ann-Margret
Harlem Nocturne - The Viscounts
Handclapping Time - The Fabulous Raiders
Margaya - The Fender Four
Chop Suey Rock'n'Roll - The Instrumentals
Kruschev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Ain't That Loving You, Baby - The Earls of Suave
Comin' Home, Baby - The Delmonas
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Bombie - Johnnie Sharp and the Yellow Jackets
I Was Born to Cry - Johnny Thunders
Lucille - Little Richard
Tall Cool One - The Wailers
I Gotta Get Out of This Town - Nancy Sinatra
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The Bostweeds
Woman - Empress of Fur
Cherry - The Jive Bombers
Angel Face - Billy Fury
Je Me Donne A Qui Me Plait - Brigitte Bardot
Crawlin' - The Untouchables
The Girl Who Invented Rock'n'Roll - Mamie Van Doren
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Vesuvius - The Revels
Beat Girl - Adam Faith
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Torture Rock - Rockin' Belmarx
Drive, Daddy, Drive - Little Sylvia
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
The Chicken Scratch - The Commandos
Chicken Shack - Ike and Tina Turner

15 February 2012 Dr Sketchy Set List

/ Brigitte Bardot, the ne plus ultra of sex kittens /

“What a difference a day makes.” Dinah Washington really knew what she meant when she sang that. Like I said last time, the Valentine's night Dr Sketchy at The Old Queen’s Head was a bit of a stressful ordeal. Because it had sold out so far in advance, there was sufficient demand (and enough disappointed punters who couldn't get tickets) for Dr Sketchy’s glamorous promoter Clare Marie to quickly organise an extra Dr Sketchy (this time at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern) the following night – which also promptly sold out. (Yes, we’re on fire at the moment). And this one was one of the best Dr Sketchies ever. The whole night was one of those Dr Sketchies where everything flowed smoothly, felt relaxed (certainly DJ’ing this time felt as effortless as pissing. How elegant!), and was just fun to do (bear in mind I'd DJ'd two nights in a row plus got up at 7 am for the office job. I was feeling like a zombie) -- something Clare Marie and I agreed about afterwards.

Certainly the line-up was a bit of a dream team. The mistress of ceremonies was the irrepressible Ophelia Bitz. Last time I’d seen Ophelia was 9 February 2012, when I DJ’d at the triumphant finale of her ArtWank! residency. (ArtWank! is the “porn chic” cabaret night Ophelia organises). Reliably, Ms Bitz was on peak form (she came out wearing a micro-mini dress, apologising to the front row for the view. Don’t worry: she was sporting leopard print panties underneath. She wasn’t giving them that much of an eyeful! Ophelia did warn something about the "ferret's head" popping out. What a vivid image). For the performers/models we had not one but two members of burlesque aristocracy and long-term Dr Sketchy favourites, Cherry Shakewell and Marianne Cheesecake.

Marianne and Cherry both have very distinctive (and completely different) stage personas, so it was a fun challenge coming up with music appropriate for them. Marianne channels 1920s flapper glamour (think Anna May Wong or Josephine Baker), very louche and decadent. (Years ago there was a biography of Josephine Baker entitled Jazz Cleopatra; watching Marianne Cheesecake perform, the name could just as accurately apply to her). Musically, I aimed for high drama and elegance: Continental types (Serge Gainsbourg, Juliette Greco, Mina, the French Francoise Hardy huskily exhaling tragic German lyrics), some slinky instrumentals. I’d mentioned before how the bleak, alienated Weimar depravity of "Lazy" by San Francisco punk band The Nuns seemed to anticipate Nico’s majestic 1985 interpretation of "My Funny Valentine." I finally got to play these two black-hearted confessionals back-to-back: imagine the aural equivalent of someone handing you a bouquet of a dozen dead roses.

I've posted both of these before ... but fuck it!




Kitten with a whip Cherry Shakewell’s image, meanwhile, is brasher and more rock’n’roll: think 1960s go-go dancer in a cage, the sexploitation cinema of Russ Meyer, or Nancy Sinatra’s white lipsticked pout and leonine mane of teased blonde hair. For her poses, I cranked up the sleazy tittyshakers and paid a mini-tribute to Jayne Mansfield. I also worked in Bardot snarling over the 1960s garage-punk of “Harley Davidson”, and what for me should be Cherry’s theme tune (“Cherry” by doo-wop group The Jive Bombers, from the soundtrack to John Waters’ Cry-Baby). When the two of them posed together at the end, as per usual I reached for one of the Marilyn Monroe-Jane Russell Gentlemen Prefer Blondes duets (apt in this case, because Marianne and Cherry are a brunette and platinum blonde combo).

/ Marianne Cheesecake and Cherry Shakewell. Photo by the very talented Andrew Hickinbottom /

Coincidentally, the very next night (16 February), Time Out Magazine held its first ever London Cabaret Awards to officially recognise just how vital, creative and exciting London’s bleeding edge cabaret / burlesque scene has grown in recent years. I’m proud to say that some of the performers who frequently grace Dr Sketchy stages won, and won big. One of our much-loved regular emcees, the perennially soigné Dusty Limits won Best Host or Compere. Epicentre of fun The Royal Vauxhall Tavern (my all-time favourite place to DJ at, especially once I worked out how to stop turning on the dry ice machine by mistake. Ah, we can laugh about it now) was awarded Best Cabaret Venue.

And Kiki Kaboom won Best Burlesque Performer. I’ve only had the pleasure of working with showgirl deluxe Ms Kaboom once way back in September 2010, but it was memorably fun. Afterwards she and I liaised about potential music for her to use on the soundtrack of her showreel video. She wanted a sexy, upbeat instrumental. I proposed the ultra-twang-y, sexily grinding 1963 number "Boss" by Southern Californian surf band The Rumblers (they named themselves after the Link Wray classic “Rumble”). Driven along by blurting saxophone, “Boss” is two minutes and twenty two seconds of tense, haven't-been-laid-in-a-week sleazy urgency, and has long been one of my DJ’ing staples. (If the song sounds familiar, it’s because The Cramps swiped it as the basis for one of their most-loved “gravest hits”, "Garbageman" from their 1980 Songs the Lord Taught Us album). Anyway, Kiki used it. I’ve posted her showreel before, but here it is again.



/ Here's a more recent sampling of the wit and wisdom of Kiki Kaboom – gleefully puncturing some of the clichés surrounding the burlesque scene. (The music on the soundrack is "Rumble" by Link Wray, funnily enough!) /




The Sneak - Jimmy Oliver
When I Get Low, I Get High - Florence Joelle's Kiss of Fire
One More Beer - The Earls of Suave
Hurt Is All You Gave Me - Ike and Tina Turner
Get Back, Baby - Esquerita
The Stalk - The Giants
Stranger in My Own Home Town - Elvis Presley (X-rated "blue" version)
Like A Rolling Stone - Mamie Van Doren
Wiped Out - The Escorts
The Fire of Love - Jody Reynolds
I Ain't in the Mood for Love - Helen Humes
Revellion - The Revels
I Stubbed My Toe - Bryan "Legs" Walker
A Week from Tuesday - The Pastels
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Fool I Am - Pat Ferguson
Go Girl Go - Jett Powers
Beaver Shot - The Periscopes
Roll with Me, Henry - Etta James
Cooler Weather is A-Comin' - Eddie Weldon
Eager Beaver Baby - Johnny Burnette
Miss Irene - Ginny Kennedy
Pass The Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
The Chase - Chaino
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Strange Love - Slim Harpo
Sick and Tired - Lula Reed
Blues, Blues, Blues - Hayden Thompson
The Strangeness in Me - The Runabouts
My Heart Goes Piddily Patter, Patter - Nappy Brown
I Ain't Drunk, I'm Just Drinkin' - Jimmy Liggins
A Cruise to the Moon - Lydia Lunch
Some Small Chance - Serge Gainsbourg (Strip-tease soundtrack)
Mon cœur n'était pas fait pour ça - Juliette Greco
Turquoise - Milt Buckner
Lazy - The Nuns
My Funny Valentine - Nico
Traume - Francoise Hardy
Make Love to Me - June Christie
Un ano d'amore - Mina
Handclappin' Time - The Fabulous Raiders
8-Ball - The Hustlers
Witchcraft - Elvis Presley
Mack the Knife - Ann-Margret
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Crawfish - Johnny Thunders and Patti Paladin
Drummin' Up a Storm - Sandy Nelson
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Boots - Nero and The Gladiators
Cherry - The Jive Bombers
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
Harley Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
The Coo - Wayne Cochran
I'm a Bad, Bad Girl - Little Esther
Two Little Girls from Little Rock - Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
La Javanaise - Serge Gainsbourg
The Pussycat Song - Connie Vannett
Accentuate the Positive - The Bill Black Combo
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
All of Me - Mae West
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Denise Darcel
Blue Kat - Chuck Rio and The Originals
So Long - Ruth Brown

21 September 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List

Jayne Mansfield letting it all hang out

This was the first Dr Sketchy back at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern since July. The two previous Dr Sketchy’s at The RVT had been marred by some truly catastrophic technical glitches (fuses blowing, performers’ CDs malfunctioning at crucial moments. You can read about them here and here if you really want to re-visit the full horror). The whole day leading up to this Dr Sketchy I was so anxious about either sound or lights going tits-up again this time that by the time I arrived at The RVT I was acting all twitchy and bug-eyed like Natalie Portman in Black Swan. And just to crank up the pressure, the actual founder of Dr Sketchy, Molly Crabapple from New York, was in town and would be in attendance. (In other words, the actual Queen Mutha of Dr Sketchy herself!). Nothing could wrong!

In fact this Dr Sketchy turned out to be not just smooth and problem-free, it was actually pretty damn triumphant. The night had long been sold-out in advance and was filled to capacity (which always makes things feel buzzing and more fun) with a quite liquored-up and rowdy crowd (suitably, the theme for this Dr Sketchy was “indulgence”). There was cabaret and burlesque aristocracy both onstage and off: the emcee this time was Ophelia Bitz; the featured striptease artiste / model was Cherry Shakewell; Trixi Tassels was working the door and an off-duty Ava Iscariot was in the audience. Throughout the night Molly Crabapple was drawing a gigantic mural / backdrop along the back wall of the RVT stage (the way the DJ booth is situated at The RVT means I couldn’t actually see her art work until the end of the night, but it was pretty freaking amazing).

As usual, the effervescent Ophelia Bitz was the hostess with the mostest. “I’m dressed like a 1960s art teacher” she explained (her beatnik-inspired ensemble involved Capri pants – or toreador pants if you prefer – and a headscarf, with paint brushes sticking out of her hair). Inspired, while Ophelia did some warm-up poses before Cherry Shakewell came out I played “A Cruise to the Moon“ from the timelessly alluring 1979 death jazz album Queen of Siam by the then-19 year old Lydia Lunch when she was the perma-scowling Death Kitten of New York's No Wave scene. Variously described as “a Billie Holiday nightmare” and “a putrid classic of style and substance”, Queen of Siam first well and truly corrupted me when I bought it at a second-hand record store as a teenager and it remains a touchstone of mine to this day. (Around the same time I interviewed Lydia herself for the first time for my university’s newspaper – now that was an education. She taught me about champagne enemas). "A Cruise to the Moon" is actually an instrumental, an epic of discordant art-y big band beatnik jazz-punk -- and was arranged by Billy Ver Planck (the composer of The Flintstones’s theme song!). (I also played a track by Lunch's No Wave contemporary and former partner in crime: a spikey deconstruction of Gene Pitney's "Town without Pity" by James Brown/Chet Baker hybrid James Chance).


She's In a Bad Mood: Lydia Lunch around the time she would have recorded Queen of Siam (1979)

Perennial Dr Sketchy favourite Cherry Shakewell works an irresistible 1960s go-go dancer / babydoll image (think Lori Williams as Billie in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!) which always prompts me to go full tilt-boogie on 60s sex kitten tracks (Ann-Margret, Nancy Sinatra and Brigitte Bardot). When it comes to lechery, Dr Sketchy operates an equal opportunities policy: we also featured the male model Luscious Luke (he’s aptly-named). I had some tracks cued for his first pose, but as soon as he came onstage and I saw his outfit (pretty much nothing but a pair of black leather hotpants, wielding a spanking paddle in his hand) I quickly replaced them with some S&M-tinged instrumentals ("The Whip by The Originals, "The Whip" by The Frantics, "Torture Rock" by The Rockin' Belmarx).

Soundtracks by David Lynch and John Waters are a constant source of inspiration for me. While I spun the slinky instrumental “The Beast” by Milt Buckner (used in Mulholland Drive), I pondered the folly of David Lynch's much-hyped new nightclub venture Club Silencio in Montmartre in Paris (based on the nightclub of the same name in Mulholland Drive, the one where the woman sings Roy Orbison’s “Crying” en Espanol). While the idea of an eerie and seductive Lynchian nightclub experience makes my nipples harden in ecstasy, it’s hypocritical to describe Club Silencio as a potential successor to Andy Warhol’s Factory, as a Guardian journalist has proposed. At the Factory (at least initially) its genuinely bohemian open door policy meant low-life denizens like junkies, hustlers and drag queens could mingle, flirt and get stoned with socialites, Hollywood stars and Tennessee Williams. Club Silencio meanwhile is a member’s only club – and the most basic membership starts at an eye-watering 780 Euros a year (420 Euros for under-30s and non-French residents). Somehow I think I won’t be checking it out next time I’m in Paris! (I think the pricey and elitist membership fees are designed to weed-out the likes of me, anyway). And anyway, it would have been far cooler to base a nightclub on The Slow Club, the dive bar where Dennis Hopper listens to poor Isabella Rossellini croon her endless, tuneless Nico-like dirge rendition of Blue Velvet.



A few months back Cherry Shakewell Facebooked me asking for urgent help finding suitable music for a new routine she was working on with a cavewoman/ primitive vibe. Honestly -- so demanding! What a diva! Two songs that instantly popped into my head were "Watusi Zombie" by Jan Davis and “Primitive” by The Groupies – and she wound up using both. While I didn’t play “Primitive” at this Dr Sketchy (it’s too 1960s garage punk for the Dr Sketchy vibe), I just found this clip on Youtube – so I guess my idea of using this track for a burlesque number wasn’t quite so original after all! Still – Blaze Starr. What a beauty, and it's this installment's tittyshaker.



Town without Pity - James Chance
Pas c'est chanson - Johnny Holliday
Unchain My Heart - Florence Joelle's Kiss of Fire
Love Letters - Ike and Tina Turner
Follow the Leader - Wiley Terry
The Greasy Chicken - Andre Williams
Club Delight - Jack Jolly
Take Half - Hal Singer
Hole in My Heart - Esquerita
Vesuvius - The Revels
Where Yo Is? Fat Daddy Holmes
Sick and Tired - Lula Reed
Rockin' Out the Blues - The Musical Linn Twins
Trouble - Jackie De Shannon
Don't Be Cruel - Bill Black Combo
Hound Dog - Little Esther
Jungle Walk - The Dyna-Sores
Virgenes del Sol - Yma Sumac
Cha Cha Cha du loup - Serge Gainsbourg
Babydoll Mambo - Belmonte & His Afro-American Music
Love for Sale - Hildegard Knef
Java Partout - Juliette Greco
Lunar Rhapsody - Les Baxter
Ole Devil Moon - Chet Baker
Always True to You in My Fashion - Denise Darcel
Astrosonic - Jimmy Haskell and His Orchestra
A Cruise to the Moon - Lydia Lunch
Pop Slop - Béla Sanders und Sein Tanzorchester
Cherry - The Jive Bombers
Screwdriver - Luchi
Womp Womp - Freddie and The Heartaches
Black Coffee - Julie London
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
Crank Case - Bill Black Combo
Lightning's Girl - Nancy Sinatra
Harley-Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
The Rat - The Ventures
Bombie - Johnny Sharp and The Yellow Jackets
Dragon Walk - The Noble Men
Eight Ball - The Hustlers
The Whip - The Frantics
Rigor Mortis - The Graveyard Four
Torture Rock - The Rockin' Belmarx
Ice Man - Filthy McNasty
Tony's Got Hot Nuts - Faye Richmonde
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Beat Out My Love - Lee Dresser and The Krazy Kats
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Peter Gunn Locomotion - The Delmonas
Peter Gunn Mambo - Jack Costanzo and His Orchestra
Work Song - Nina Simone
Beauty is Only Skin Deep - Robert Mitchum
La Bamba - Eartha Kitt
Mambo Baby - Ruth Brown
She Wants to Mambo - Johnny Thunders and Patti Paladin
The Swinger - Ann-Margret
Sexe - Rene Linaude
The Girl Who Invented Rock'n'Roll - Mamie van Doren
As the Clouds Drift By - Jayne Mansfield
The Beast - Milt Buckner
Makin' Out - Jody Reynolds
Let's Go Sexin' - James Intveld (A Dirty Shame soundtrack)
Little Boy, Little Girl - John and Jackie
Hot Licks - The Rendells
Charge It - The Playboys
Intoxica - The Revels
My Daddy Rocks Me - Mae West
Drive Daddy Drive - Little Sylvia
Kruschev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Surfin' Snow Matador - Jan Davis
Fever - Timi Yuro

One last grumble: I looked back at some older blogs of mine and discovered that at least 40% of the Youtube videos I'd lovingly chosen to illustrate blog entries have been deleted! They're now just blank black boxes. The standard reasons seem to be the user has deleted their Youtube profile (which means their videos vanish), or (in my case) Youtube has changed its policy on nudity and sexual content. Go check some of your own older blogs and feel instantly discouraged!

Bonus tittyshaker! Jayne Mansfield rocks it out in the wigged-out, floor-writhing dance sequence from Primitive Love (1964)


NOTE: A very talented photographer called Derek Bremner was taking excellent photos at this Dr Sketchy all night long. Check out his blog to see them. I highly recommend you do. The shots of Cherry Shakewell "spanking" Luscious Luke are my favourite.

9 April 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List

/ Kiss Them for Me: Jayne. Oh, Jayne ... /

For this Dr Sketchy (at The Old Queen's Head in Angel), the emcee was Ophelia Bitz and the performer / model was Cherry Shakewell: I defy anyone not to have fun with cabaret and burlesque royalty like these two. Plus it was the first Dr Sketchy for me to unveil my week-old new tattoos (they’d finally healed, stopped flaking and were presentable at last).

I eased into proceedings with some Latin exotica (mambo, the 1965 Eartha Kitt Canta en Espanol album) before journeying into deep vintage sleaze. Cherry Shakewell’s image (bouffant blonde hair, thick false eyelashes, white lipstick) evokes Russ Meyer-esque 60s go-go dancers so while she posed I went heavy on 1960s sex kitten / babydoll-type tracks by the likes of Bardot, Nancy Sinatra and Ann-Margret. Obviously Jayne Mansfield (the punk Marilyn Monroe, who died for our sins) is an eternal touchstone: her track “Suey” always sounds to me like the tortured inner monologue of a go-go dancer gyrating from the confines of her glittery go-go cage – the perfect soundtrack for Cherry’s pose. I also decided long ago that "Cherry" by The Jive Bombers should be Ms Shakewell's theme song.

/ Star-struck: When Jayne met Marilyn /

Another tune I play a lot lately is "You Can't Stop Her" (1959) by Bobby Marchan (1930 -1999), the African-American New Orleans-based rhythm & blues singer best known for fronting Huey Piano Smith & the Clowns. Driven by raucous sax, the song has a vibe similar (both musically and lyrically) to Little Richard’s “The Girl Can’t Help It.” In fact Marchan and androgynous Queen of Rock’n’Roll Little Richard could be seen as soul sisters or fellow travellers: when he was scoring hit records with The Clowns Marchan dressed in male clothing, but prior to that he’d gained local notoriety as a blonde-wigged female impersonator and emcee billed as Loberta in evocatively-named dive night clubs like the Dew Drop Inn and Club Tijuana. In his consistently amazing blog The Houndblog, James “The Hound” Marshall writes about Marchan’s fascinating life and career, uncovering the subterranean drag queen influence in blues and rhythm & blues (and therefore rock’n’roll itself), the kind of angle usually airbrushed (bleached? Deracinated?) out of the hidebound “straight” (in every sense) rock history limited to Elvis, The Beatles and those endless “100 Greatest” lists. (For a nicely-researched thoughtful piece about the queer sensibility that throbbed in the background of blues and R&B, read this).

/ The Bronze Liberace: a very young Little Richard /

/ Esquerita in full cry /

Marshall mentions that both the outrageously seedy Esquerita and Little Richard also started out as at least quasi drag queens at the beginning of their careers, too. Little Richard’s drag stage name was “Princess Lavonne”, and some of his best known songs are supposedly coded tributes to his old drag queen friends: “Good Golly Miss Molly”, “Long Tall Sally.” (“Tutti Fruiti”, of course, is legendarily a paean to anal sex). In the repressed pre-civil rights 1950s middle class white parents were anxious enough about their kids listening to (and being corrupted by) the likes of Little Richard, Bobby Marchan and Esquerita: just imagine if they’d really known the full story! Freaking out the squares – it’s a wonderful tradition. As Marshall concludes in his Bobby Marchan profile...

“Of the many untold secrets that still hide up the rumpled skirt of R&B and rock’n’roll history, one surprise you will find is a black cock, and I’m not talking about roosters.”

Until next time -- take it sleazy!

/ Little Richard: What a beauty ... /

Chihuahua - Mina
Où Es-Tu Ma Joie - Caterina Valente
Babydoll Mambo - Belmonte and His Afro-American Music
Chihuahua - Luis Oliveira and His Bandodalua Boys
Historia de un Amor - Eartha Kitt
Eso - Conjunto TNT
Snow Surfin' Matador - Jan Davis
Scorpion - The Carnations
Sea of Love - The Earls of Suave
Flower of My Heart - Sparkle Moore
Indescribably Blue -Elvis Presley
Lover's Land - Margaret Lewis
Love Letters - Ike & Tina Turner
Little Things Mean a Lot - Jayne Mansfield
Tonight You Belong to Me - Patience & Prudence
Hearts Made of Stone - Rudy Gray
Oh Lonesome Me - Ann-Margret
Commanche - The Revels
Baby Come Back - Esquerita
Nosey Joe - Bull Moose Jackson
Oo Ba La Baby - Mamie van Doren
Stop and Listen - Mickey & Ludella
Fever - Nancy Sit
Raunchy - Bill Black Combo
Don't Be Cruel - Bill Black Combo
Makin' Out - Jody Reynolds
Angel Face - Billy Fury
The Girl Who Invented Rock'n'Roll - Mamie van Doren
Cherry - The Jive Bombers
Sugar Town - Nancy Sinatra
Harley Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
The Swinger - Ann-Margret
You Can't Stop Her - Bobby Marchan
The Big Bounce - Shirley Cadell
Open the Door - The Cochran Brothers
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Astro-Sonic - Jimmy Haskell & His Orchestra
What a Difference a Day Made - Dinah Washington
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Denise Darcel
Wine Spo-Li-Oli - The 5 Strings
Cry - Timi Yuro
Look for the Silver Lining - Chet Baker
Yes, Sir That's My Baby - Ann Richards
Blues in My Heart - The John Buzon Trio
Cha Cha Cha du Loup - Serge Gainsbourg
Love for Sale - Hildegard Knef
Crawlin' - The Untouchables
Beat Girl - Adam Faith (Beat Girl soundtrack)
Womp Womp - Freddie & The Heartaches
Honey Rock - Barney Kessel
Dragon Walk - The Noble Men
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Groovy - The Groovers
8 Ball - The Hustlers
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - Julie London
Do It Again - April Stevens
Mack the Knife - Eartha Kitt
You're My Thrill - Dolores Gray
Strip-tease - Nico (Strip-tease soundtrack)
Misirlou - Laurindo Almeida
Summertime - Little Esther
You Know I'm No Good - Wanda Jackson
Jealousy - Billy Fury
Lover - Peggy Lee
Caravan - The John Buzon Trio
Czterdziesci Kasztanów (Forty Chestnuts) - Violetta Villas

This installment's titty shaker ...