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 6 September 2014 DJ Set List

/ If Lobotomy Room was a vintage beefcake pin-up, it would look like this /

/ If Lobotomy Room was a vintage cheesecake pin-up, it would look like this /

From the Facebook events page:

End summer 2014 on a note of sordid desperation … at Lobotomy Room!

Lobotomy Room – where sin lives! A punkabilly beer blast for the permissive Continentally-minded! 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 (regular DJ at Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly) playing all your rancid vintage sleaze favourites. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

And featuring special musical guests … the vicious EMPRESS OF FUR! Led by the Bettie Page-tastic Venus Raygun (half angel, half jungle cat – all woman!), 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 post-Cramps voodoobilly 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.

Kicking off proceedings: the surf garage punk mayhem of The Von Nitros!

Admission is gratuit (that’s French for FREE!!).

Lobotomy Room: a good time so tawdry and squalid – it might snap your mind! 

Lobotomy Room: Further. Faster. Filthier. 

/ Photo of me by Thomaz Månskugga /

Phew! What a night! Considering what a debacle the last Lobotomy Room was, I really needed this one to be a success. And thankfully it was! The two bands were on fire: The Von Nitros and Empress of Fur totally tore it the fuck up onstage. To their credit, they also both helped aggressively promote the ass off the night beforehand - and it was one of the biggest crowds Lobotomy Room ever attracted to date.

/ Go baby, go! Sex kitten deluxe Venus Raygun of Empress of Fur lashing out. Lash! Lash! /

And it was great to be back at Paper Dress Vintage in Shoreditch. When DJ Mal Nicholson (of Cockabilly notoriety) rocked up he looked around and noted admiringly that the surroundings looked like something out of David Lynch's Twin Peaks. I’d never thought about it before, but he’s right: the black and white checked floor and red velvet curtains does make Paper Dress Vintage look like somewhere a finger-snapping, backwards-talking midget (or the ghost of Laura Palmer) might suddenly materialise. 

Typically, on the night itself I was never able to fully relax, enjoy it or talk much to people and it went by in a drunken blur. (I started necking beers early on to steady my nerves). I was also struggling with a glitch-y, temperamental CD mixer which made DJ’ing very suspenseful and unpredictable! (As a result, my DJ’ing wasn’t as smooth and assured as I would have liked). Before I knew it, the houselights were switched on and it was over!  My only real regret from the night is that I was too distracted and manic to take many decent photos, so some of Lobotomy Room’s most striking, sexy attendees yet went mainly undocumented.

/ Dancing like this is strictly encouraged - at LOBOTOMY ROOM! / 

In fact, once I compiled photos from a variety of sources, it wasn't so bad. But how could I have not photographed glamorous Lobotomy Room regular Craig’s dramatic new image change?  Craig – Lobotomy Room’s own Candy Darling / Cookie Mueller, who transforms any venue into the backroom of Warhol-era Max’s Kansas City just by showing up – recently changed his trademark tousled beehive from sun-kissed Brigitte Bardot-blonde to deep Morticia Addams raven: think Divine as Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble, Ronnie Spector in her hair-hopping pomp or 1960s wedding portrait Priscilla Presley.  

/ "I'm a thief and a shitkicker and, uh, I'd like to be famous ..." Divine as Dawn Davenport in John Waters' Female Trouble (1974) /

Craig had let it be known in advance he had a special song request. I guessed correctly that it was “The Girl Can’t Help It” by Little Richard, so he could channel both Divine in Pink Flamingos and Jayne Mansfield at the same time. Miraculously, just as I saw Craig and his gang of girlfriends standing outside finish their cigarettes and about to enter Paper Dress Vintage, the song I was currently playing ended and I was able to swiftly cue and play “The Girl Can’t Help It” right as he came through the door! Craig was clearly ecstatic at the timing, screamed and made his friends drunkenly dance to it. He also seemed to dig Empress of Fur (clearly recognising Venus Raygun as a fellow bad girl).

Anyway, back to the bands. To be frank, I’d never actually heard of The Von Nitros previously – they were chosen by Stephen, the main man at Paper Dress Vintage. But they were a perfect fit, with their bratty Stooges-style garage punk, naggingly minimalist Question Mark and The Mysterians keyboard sound and in Adz Queenie Bond, a very memorable frontman in the Joey Ramone tradition. Nice sense of showmanship, too (I always love bands who wear matching outfits).

The Von Nitros wigging out

I've known Empress of Fur for about twenty years now and consider them pure distilled essence of Lobotomy Room - in fact, they probably represent the ideal Lobotomy Room band. This was their second time performing at a Lobotomy Room: their debut in summer 2013 was wild, but the crowd that night was a bit square and couldn't really dig what Empress of Fur was laying down. This night was a triumphant vindication! The sight of 1950s pin-up come to snarling life Venus Raygun in her blood-red Queen of Hearts outfit flailing and thrashing around on the floor, evoking sex kitten-gone-berserk Ann-Margret in Tommy and a female version of The Cramps' Lux Interior will not soon be forgotten!  

/ Photos of Empress of Fur below: top one by Thomaz Månskugga, rest by me /

Right. From here I'll let the photos do the talking. You can see the full set (raw, uncut and uncensored) on my flickr page.



/ Chani and Pal: Check out Chani's suave new Tilda Swinton haircut. The women had the best quiffs at this Lobotomy Room /



/ I'll Be Your Mirror: Photo by Emma-Louise /



/ Niels and Thomaz - they came all the way from Amsterdam to attend Lobotomy Room! (Not really: they were in London to see Kate Bush) /



/ Thomaz and I /



/ Nell and Chris of Tuffbroad Productions (you may know Chris better in his scary drag persona of Baby Lame, currently wreaking havoc in venues around London) /



/ Mia and Alex (possessor of another great female quiff) of The Amy Grimehouse /



/ The gang's all here: Christopher (aka Christophina), Mal of Cockabilly, Pal, Charlie and Sarah /



/ Gingers united: Emily and Pal /



/ As well as being very ginger-y, it was also a very beard-y night: Eric and Christopher /



/ Hayley (right) and friend injecting proceedings with some serious glamour /



/ Hayley and friend dancing /

Mau Mau - The Fabulous Wailers
How Much Love Can One Heart Hold? Joe Perkins and The Rookies
Save It - Mel Robbins
Eager Beaver Baby - Johnny Burnette
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
I Stubbed My Toe - Bryan "Legs" Walker
Love Me - The Phantom
Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Bombora - The Original Surf-aris
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Esquerita and the Voola - Esquerita
Rockin' Out the Blues - The Musical Linn Twins
Drive Daddy Drive - Little Sylvia
Boss - The Rumblers
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Dance with Me Henry - Ann-Margret
Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Trash Can - Ken Williams
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Vesuvius - The Revels
Salamander - Mamie Van Doren
Beat Guitar - The Fabulous Wailers
Deuces Wild - Link Wray
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Breathless - X
Juvenile Delinquent - Ronnie Allen
Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
He's the One - Ike and Tina Turner
Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones
Nothing Matters Anymore - The Alley Cats
Harley Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Chicken - The Cramps

Further reading:

Read about previous Lobotomy Rooms here, here, here, here, here, here and here

Follow me on tumblr for all your rancid kitsch, retro and vintage gay porn needs

Scrawl the date in blood ... the Next LOBOTOMY ROOM is 6 September 2014

End summer 2014 on a note of sordid desperation … at Lobotomy Room!

Lobotomy Room – where sin lives! A punkabilly beer blast for the permissive Continentally-minded! 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 (regular DJ at Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly) playing all your rancid vintage sleaze favourites. Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

And featuring special musical guests … the vicious EMPRESS OF FUR! Led by the Bettie Page-tastic Venus Raygun (half angel, half jungle cat – all woman!), 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 post-Cramps voodoobilly 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.

Kicking off proceedings: the surf garage punk mayhem of The Von Nitros!

Admission is gratuit (that’s French for FREE!!).

Lobotomy Room: a good time so tawdry and squalid – it might snap your mind! 

Lobotomy Room: Further. Faster. Filthier.

Read about previous Lobotomy Rooms here, here, here, here, here, here and here

Flyer by Ego Rodriguez. Cadaverous blue-skinned cover girl: Brigitte Bardot

The Facebook events page

LOBOTOMY ROOM is kindly sponsored by Vivien of Holloway, fine purveyors of 1940s and 50s reproduction clothing! Making the world a more glamorous place! For all your retro bad girl wardrobe needs!

Lobotomy Room DJ Set list 31 May 2014

/ If Lobotomy Room had a human face … it would be the enigmatic Gertrude Forstner (stripper name: Lady Chinchilla), photographed here in 1963. Between burlesque engagements (she was famous for her savage “cage act”) she was French sex kitten Brigitte Bardot’s screen stand-in. Read more about Lady Chinchilla here / 

From the Facebook events page:

The international sin set has been waiting - and the first Lobotomy Room of 2014 is Saturday 31 May 2014 in the subterranean basement lair of Ryan's Bar in Stoke Newington (or "outer Dalston" as I prefer).

Lobotomy Room – a punkabilly beer blast! 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 (fresh from The Amy Grimehouse’s triumphant Filth Fest, regular DJ at Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

Admission is gratuit (that’s French for FREE!!). If you're working that night -- call in sick. If you're in prison -- BREAK OUT! A sordid and tawdry good time guaranteed!

Wow. Just – wow. This Lobotomy Room was a chaotic trauma with problems a go-go. I won’t go into the unpleasant details. Suffice to say the night began with me being given the news “Just so you know – one of the CD drawers doesn't open” in a really nonchalant no-big-deal manner (not exactly music to the ears of someone who uses CDs to DJ! And which was made clear from the beginning). At one point it looked very likely I'd have to cancel the whole thing. Why do I put myself through it, eh? The search for a hip, simpatico and functioning permanent home for Lobotomy Room continues. Onward and upwards: I’m not defeated. Let’s hope the next Lobotomy Room is a vast improvement.

On the plus side, a functioning CD mixer was eventually sourced and I managed to salvage the night musically at least. (My set got messier and more drunken as the night progressed, as I'm the first to admit). Most importantly, my glamorous and loyal regulars didn't let any of this cramp their style. In fact, I think I’ll let the photos do the talking.




/ Sheffield Christopher, Harrogate Rachael (two of Yorkshire's finest) and Matt /



/ Pal and Lauren /



/ Charlie (giving his best Robert Mitchum) and Sarah /



/ Pal and Craig. Having Craig in attendance is always like having my own Warhol Superstar. That's Dez reflected in the mirror /



/ Xena and friend /



/ Hayley and Roberta /



/ Hayley and I /



/ Lauren and Christopher (aka the band Spanking Machine) /



/ Outbreak of violence at Lobotomy Room. Those damn juvenile delinquents! I must have been playing aggressive punk music at the time /



/ Ginger beards unite: Christoper and Pal /



/ Soft focus glamour shot of Xena and Craig /



/ Sweaty and stressed DJ /



/ The CD I'm holding here is X's essential punk classic Wild Gift (1981) /  

High Wall - The Fabulous Wailers
Der Karibische Western - Die Haut featuring Lydia Lunch
Slow Walk - Sil Austin
Fever - Edith Massey
Ain't That Good? George Kelly and Orchestra
Drummin' Up A Storm - Sandy Nelson
I Learn a Merengue, Mama - Robert Mitchum
Don'a Wan'a - Wanda Jackson
Go Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
I Live the Life I Love - Esquerita
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Pussycat Song - Connie Vannett
My Pussy Belongs to Daddy - Faye Richmonde
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Peter Gunn Locomotion - The Delmonas
Let's Twist Again - Johnny Hallyday
Twistin' the Night Away - Divine
Deuces Wild - Link Wray
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
He's the One - Ike and Tina Turner
Don't Be Cruel - Bill Black Combo
I Got Stung - Elvis Presley
Year One - X
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Tall Cool One - The Fabulous Wailers
Drive Daddy Drive - Little Sylvia
Boss - The Rumblers
Garbage Man - The Cramps
C'Mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Margaya - The Fender Four
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Party Lights - Claudine Clark
Khrushchev Twist- Melvin Gayle
Chop Suey Rock'n'Roll - The Instrumentals
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Female Trouble - The Melvins
Wipe-Out - The Surfaris
I Can't Stop Thinking About It - The Dirtbombs
Handclapping Time - The Fabulous Raiders
You Give Me Worms - Turbonegro
Media Blitz - The Germs
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Hard Nut to Crack - The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins
Chicken - The Cramps
Run Chicken Run - Link Wray
Mi Palomita - Yma Sumac
Tongue Tied Jill - Charlie Feathers
Tongue Tied - Wanda Jackson
I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent - Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers
Juvenile Delinquent - Ronnie Allen
Dance with Me, Henry - Ann-Margret
Cry-baby - The Honey Sisters
Beat Girl - Adam Faith
Rocket in My Picket - Jimmy Lloyd
Intoxica - The Revels

Further reading: 

See the rest of the photos - raw and uncut - on my flickr page

Read about previous Lobotomy Rooms here, here, here, here, here and here

If you don't already, follow me on tumblr. My page (also called Bitterness Personified) is a squalid, kitsch and frankly homoerotic celebration of vintage sleaze

Lobotomy Room 28 December 2013 DJ Set List

From the Facebook events page:

Feeling jaded? Didn't get those cha-cha heels you wanted? Head-bang away those post-Christmas blues and end 2013 with a BANG – at LOBOTOMY ROOM!

Lobotomy Room – where the international sin set meet! It’s a Mondo Trasho booze party of Beat, beat beatnik beatsville rock’n’roll at Paper Dress Vintage in the heart of bohemian Shoreditch! With ME, your host Graham Russell, whipping up a rancid selection of vintage musical sleaze (think John Waters soundtracks or Songs The Cramps Taught Us) for your dancing and listening pleasure.

SIT under a vintage hair dryer drinking a cocktail bigger than your head! INDULGE in drunken vintage clothing impulse shopping! DANCE your ass off to a soundtrack of rockabilly psychosis, frantic rhythm and blues and sleazy tittyshakers! 

Admission is gratuit (that’s French for FREE!!). If you’re working that night — call in sick. If you’re in prison — BREAK OUT!

The following day I posted:

Heartfelt personal thanks to everyone who came to Lobotomy Room last night! I would kiss you all if I could! It was the last one of 2013 and thanks to you it ended on a high! The first 90-minutes or so were worryingly quiet (as in: funeral parlour!) and there was zero passing trade on the street outside. But then it properly kicked off! Berserk photos from the night and a full blog and set list to follow shortly. Thanks especially to the drunken rugby players and group of rowdy Italian women for dancing their asses off and keeping the tone aggressive and sexually-charged - just the way I like it!

/ Flyer by Joe Pop. Divine as unrepentant bad girl and career criminal Dawn Davenport in the John Waters-directed trash masturpiece (sic) Female Trouble (1974) /

The 28 December 2013 Lobotomy Room was a bit last minute, with pretty minimal promotion. Quite late in the day Steve the organiser / promoter at Paper Dress Vintage posted a plea on Facebook announcing that the Saturday night was free if anyone wanted it. As a hungry and tenacious starlet (think: young Jayne Mansfield), of course I grasped it with both hands. I never turn down an opportunity to DJ or get laid. Plus I really wanted to end the year with one last Lobotomy Room. Funnily enough, this one fell on almost the exact anniversary of the very first Lobotomy Room at Paper Dress Vintage on 29 December 2012. So it felt nicely like coming full circle.

Having said that, I knew from the 2012 debut Lobotomy Room to have minimal expectations about doing a club night on the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. London pretty much goes into lock-down at Christmas time. The streets of Shoreditch would be a guaranteed ghost town, so I couldn't exactly rely on passing footfall and most of my friends would still be out of town. Sure enough, for the first ninety minutes or so, it was just me and the bar staff! Rather than DJ to an empty room, I stuck on an exotica CD (Ultra Lounge’s Mondo Exotica compilation of Mysterious Melodies and Tropical Tiki Tunes is like oxygen for me) and paced around, necking a bottle of beer. Would anyone come? Then my loyal boyfriend Pal arrived, followed by Mia and Alex of The Amy Grimehouse (cult cinema club) notoriety. Then much-valued Lobotomy Room regular Charlie. I kept glancing up and groups of people were arriving. Suddenly it was quite buzzing! And most gratifyingly, people were dancing!

Anyway, it was a hard-drinking, rowdy and up-for-a-laugh motley crew. Everyone really seemed to embrace the sordid and depraved atmosphere I strive for with Lobotomy Room. At times, I’d look up from DJ’ing, see the raucous straight rugby players going ape-shit and seemingly on the verge of trashing the place and think, this could go in a very aggressive direction. Should I tone down the music and mellow things out? Then I’d decide, of course not and crank up Hasil Adkins. And it all worked out fine.

Special mention must go to glamorous platinum blonde bombshell Craig (the Traci Lords in Cry-baby lookalike with the perfect winged black liquid eyeliner). Fittingly, he arrived just as I was playing Little Richard’s “The Girl Can’t Help It” (he told me later it made him feel like Divine in Pink Flamingos). What style! He’s the Cookie Mueller de nos jours, a Nan Goldin photo come to life and the closest thing I’ll ever get to a Warhol Superstar coming to my club.

There was no band on the bill this time – entre nous, the way I prefer it! It meant I got to DJ for hours and really properly indulge myself, journeying into deep sleaze and really delving (wallowing? Luxuriating?) in all my favourite musical themes and genres. Think jive honky cracker white people calypso, ominously rumbling surf guitar wipe-outs, the “chicken” series (for all the chickens and chicken hawks), the “pussy” series (I like to go “blue” at Lobotomy Room), tracks from John Waters films, a bit of a Jayne Mansfield valentine, twist music (who could resist Johnny Hallyday exhortation to “viens danser le twist”?), abrasive punk, rockabilly, bump’n’grind tittyshaking instrumentals and frantic rhythm and blues.

Inevitably I played multiple tracks from the 1964 Kenneth Anger homoerotic biker film Scorpio Rising – a bottomless source of inspiration for me. Elvis’ “Devil in Disguise” and “Fools Rush In” by Ricky Nelson have long been staples of mine. A newer addition is “Party Lights” (1962) by long-forgotten rhythm and blues one hit wonder Claudine Clark. The song throbs with urgent teenage girl group drama as Clark works herself into a frenzy pleading with her mother to let her go to the party next door (“everybody in the crowd is there but you won’t let me make the scene!”). It ends with her wailing over and over, “I wanna go!” as if her life depends on it. Clark followed “Party Lights” with the unsuccessful but intriguing macabre novelty track “Walkin’Through a Cemetery” (an essential Halloween party tune to slot alongside "Monster Mash" and Tarantula Ghoul’s deathless “Graveyard Rock”) before well and truly vanishing off the radar. 

OK, that’s enough blathering from me. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year’s. Hopefully there will be loads more Lobotomy Room misadventures to post about in 2014.




/ We get cute boys with facial hair at Lobotomy Room: Pal and Charlie /




/ Elma Wolf (of Twat Boutique and my Cockabilly co-DJ) and friend. Note: Elma doesn't have jet black lips: it's a weird glitch of my ancient digital camera that created that effect /



/ Mia and Alex /



/ Me! /



/ Seline, ginger rugby player (complicated, sensitive guy) and Craig /



/ The Italian women and the rugby guys really seemed to bond /



/ Italian Barbara and I /



/ Smoking isn't cool or sexy: Pal and Sarah. Doesn't Sarah have a Jean Seberg / Edie Sedgwick vibe with her new boyish cropped haircut? /



/ Soul kiss: Alex and Craig locking lips. Once again, Craig doesn't have Goth black lipstick on. It's my damn camera /



/ Art-y shot of Charlie reflected in a mirror, seemingly channeling Robert Mitchum /


/ Who knows what I'm banging on about? /

Further reading:

See the rest of the photos from the night (raw and uncensored) on my flickr page

Read about previous Lobotomy Rooms here, here, here, here and here

If you don't already, follow me on tumblr. Kitsch, retro, homoerotic - and most definitely NSFW! Consider yourself warned

Der Karibische Western - Lydia Lunch 
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Mama's Place - Bing Day
Adult Books - X
Torture - Kris Jensen
The Coo - Wayne Cochran
I'm a Bad, Bad Girl - Little Esther
Slow Walk - Sil Austin
Coconut Water - Robert Mitchum
Dona Wana - Wanda Jackson
Go, Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
Vesuvius - The Revels
Egg Man - Edith Massey
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Chop Suey Rock'n'Roll - The Instrumentals
Woo Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Chicken - The Cramps
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins
Run Chicken Run - Link Wray
I Want Your Love - The Cruisers
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Esquerita and the Voola - Esquerita
Margaya - The Fender Four
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Little Queenie - The Bill Black Combo
Party Lights - Claudine Clark
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Welfare Cheese - Emanuel Lanskey
Pussycat Song - Connie Vannett
Can Your Pussy Do the Dog? The Cramps
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
He's the One - Ike and Tina Turner
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
I Stubbed My Toe - Bryan "Legs" Walker
Boss - The Rumblers
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Wipe Out - The Surfaris
Batman Theme - Link Wray
Bombora - The Original Surfaris
Shout - Johnny Hallyday
Hanky Panky - Rita Chao and The Quests
Whistle Bait - The Collins Kids
Breathless - X
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones
Tongue-Tied Jill - Charlie Feathers
Tunnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Drummin' Up a Storm - Sandy Nelson
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Save It - Mel Robbins
Dance with Me Henry - Ann-Margret
Tornado - Dale Hawkins
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and the Gypsies
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Drums A-Go Go - The Hollywood Persuaders
Viens danser le twist - Johnny Hallyday
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Peter Gunn Locomotion - The Delmonas
Bossa Nova Baby - Elvis Presley
Harley Davison - Brigitte Bardot
I Live the Life I Love - Esquerita
The Girl Who Invented Rock'n'Roll - Mamie Van Doren

Re: the majestic gif at top of this blog. I'm pretty sure this is the fabulous Lorna Maitland from Russ Meyer's ode to big breasts Mondo Topless (1966). I almost certainly swiped it from my old buddy A Queen's Queen. Follow his blog here or his tumblr page here.