12 March 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List

Dorothy Malone demonstrating the Fifties bullet bra’d sweater girl look. Malone is one of the great unsung actresses from the fifties and should be immortal if only for her courageously lurid performance as the alcoholic nymphomaniac sexpot sister in Douglas Sirk’s irresistable 1956 melodrama Written on the Wind. Check out the scene where she unwittingly causes her own father’s death by dancing to frantic mambo music in lingerie in her bedroom. Death by Mambo! It's one of the greatest scenes in any film ever made! They don’t make ‘em like that anymore! (And when I say that, I mean films and actresses).

I don’t know if it’s because they’re held in the daytime (and therefore I wind up drinking beer in the daytime), or because it's on the weekend and I don't have to worry about being tired or hungover the next day, but the Saturday afternoon Dr Sketchy’s at The Old Queen’s Head tend to feel more mellow and laid-back. And the music I tend to play is probably more raucous and rockabilly-ish (punkier? Messier? Certainly louder) as a result.

For this Dr Sketchy the emcee was the vivacious hourglass-contoured Ophelia Bitz (always a blast to work with) and the sole model and performer was platinum blonde showgirl deluxe Slinky Sparkles (who I got to know years ago when I used to work with her at the What Katie Did boutique in Portobello). A burlesque starlet on the rise, Slinky recently got a great break: she’s made it into the finalists and will be participating in the burlesque competition at the annual Viva Las Vegas rockabilly weekender this April. We’re all really proud of her! I’ll be there (trust me, the knowledge am going to Las Vegas in April is one of the few things gluing me together at the moment) so can report back how she does in the competition – am sure the Americans will go berserk for her. Needless to say, when Slinky was posing I went full tilt boogie on sultry sex kitten tunes by the likes of Bardot, Eartha, Julie London, Jayne and Marilyn.

Snow Surfin' Matador - Jan Davis
Vesuvius - The Revels
Beat Generation - Mamie van Doren
Bop Pills - Macy "Skip" Skipper
The Hiccups - The Empallos
A Mess of Blues - Elvis Presley
Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby - The Earls of Suave
Intoxica - The Centurions
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Fever - The Delmonas
Beaver Shot - The Periscopes
Your Love is Mine - Ike and Tina Turner
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita
Directly from My Heart - Little Richard
Last Night - Lula Reed
Torture - Kris Jensen
Torture Rock - The Rockin' Belmarx
Beat Girl - Adam Faith (Beat Girl soundtrack)
L'appareil a sous - Brigitte Bardot
Blockade - The Rumblers
Fool I Am - Pat Ferguson
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Bewildered - Shirley and Lee
Teach Me Tonight - Wanda Jackson
Honey's Lovin' Arms - Robert Mitchum
Ole Devil Moon - Chet Baker
Mack the Knife - Ann-Margret
Yogi - Bill Black Combo
Malambo No 1 - Yma Sumac
Laisse-moi tranquille - Serge Gainsbourg
Dansero - Don Baker Trio
Turquoise - Milt Buckner
Close Your Eyes - Dolores Gray
The Beast - Milt Buckner
Harlem Nocturne - The Viscounts
Whatever Lola Wants - Eartha Kitt
Blues in My Heart - The John Buzon Trio
Honeysuckle Rose - Marlene Dietrich
Do It Again - April Stevens
Give Me Love - Lena Horne
Shangri-la - Spike Jones New Band
Groovy - The Groovers
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
8-Ball - The Hustlers
That's a Pretty Good Love - Big Maybelle
You Can't Stop Her - Bobby Marchan
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Fujiyama Mama - Annisteen Allen
Save It - Mel Robbins
Tall Cool One - The Wailers
One, Two, Let's Rock - Sugar Pie and Pee Wee
Killer - Sparkle Moore
Accentuate the Positive - Bill Black Combo
Go Slow - Julie London
Kiss - Marilyn Monroe
Mondo Moodo - Earls of Suave
Bubble Gum - Brigitte Bardot
The Stripper - John Barry (Beat Girl soundtrack)
13 Men - Ann-Margret
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Hound Dog - Little Esther
Jim Dandy - LaVerne Baker
Begin the Beguine - Billy Fury
Mack the Knife - Hildegard Knef
La Javanaise - Juliette Greco
Machins Choses - Serge Gainsbourg
Caravan - The Dell Trio
Czterdziesci Kasztanów (Forty Chestnuts) - Violetta Villas
Lover - Peggy Lee

I realise I haven't posted any samples of the dark art of the titty shaker recently. Let's remedy this right away with this ultra sleazy gem by Andre Williams.

19 January 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List

/ Sweater Girl: A sultry, hair-hopping young Violetta Villas working the projectile bullet bra look /

The second Dr Sketchy of the New Year: It was great to be back at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern where the sound system is loud and powerful, and I’m finally getting to grips with setting up the decks myself and working the stage lights (seriously, all the buttons in the DJ booth looks like the control panels of a helicopter!). And I didn’t once turn on the dry ice machine by mistake this time, which definitely represents progress. The only screw-up was the wrong music got played for our burlesque performer Annette Betty’s performance. I was told to play track one and I did, but it turned out it was the wrong song (there was more than one song burnt onto the CD). Fortunately, Betty is such a consummate pro that when she realised it was the wrong music, she just did the routine meant for that song, it looked spectacular and no one was any the wiser!

Annette Betty's Showreel:


As per usual, the emphasis musically was on creating a vibe somewhere between desperate vintage sleaze and punk lounge. Midway along the set list you may you notice a glut of sex-wracked female singers like Sparkle Moore, Ann-Margret and Mamie van Doren wailing about how they’re desperate for a man/boy/daddy, etc -- that was background music for our male model Luke’s pose.

Beaver Shot - The Periscopes
Baby, Scratch My Back - Slim Harpo
Intoxica - The Centurions
Bikini with No Top on the Top - Mamie van Doren & June Wilkinson
Vesuvius - The Revels
The Deacon Moves In - Little Esther
The Whip - The Originals
Fujiyama Mama - Annisteen Allen
Bewildered - Shirley & Lee
My Daddy Rocks Me - Mae West
Baby Come Back - Esquerita
Where Yo Is? Fat Daddy Holmes
Stop Talking, Start Walking - Annie Laurie
Hot Licks - The Rendells
Unitar Rock - Willie Joe & His Unitar
Honky Tonk - The Bill Black Combo
Harbour Lights - Dinah Washington
A Cheat - The Earls of Suave
Fever - Nancy Sit
Mack the Knife - Ann-Margret
Trash Can - Ken Williams
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Blockade - The Rumblers
Crawfish - Johnny Thunders & Patti Paladin
Tall Cool One - The Wailers
Dansero - The Don Baker Trio
Tuxedo Junction - The Bill Black Combo
Tico Tico Samba - Don Swan & His Orchestra
Tiger - Sparkle Moore
Big Man - Carl Matthews
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
Daddy Daddy - Ella Mae Morse
I Need a Man - Barbara Pittman
Oh Honey - Gloria Wood
Seperate the Men from the Boys - Mamie van Doren
I Want a Boy - Connie Russell
Tony's Got Hot Nuts - Faye Richmonde
Her Love Rubbed Off - Carl Perkins
No Good Lover - Mickey & Sylvia
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Boss - The Rumblers
Champagne Taste - Eartha Kitt
Lonely Hours - Sarah Vaughan
Harlem Nocturne - Martin Denny
Blondie's Strip - John Barry (Beat Girl soundtrack)
Do It Again - April Stevens
You're My Thrill - Chet Baker (instrumental)
Love Me or Leave Me - Lena Horne
Blues in My Heart - The John Buzon Trio
The Flirt - Shirley & Lee
Little Girl - John & Jackie
Intoxica - The Revels
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Don't You Feel My Leg - Blue Lu Barker
Honey Rock - Barney Kessel
Kiss - Marilyn Monroe
Willow Weep for Me - The Whistling Artistry of Muzzy Marcellino
A Guy Who Takes His Time - Marlene Dietrich
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Denise Darcel
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Torture Rock - Rockin' Belmarx

/ Below: astonishing Polish diva Violetta Villas /

An artist who I didn’t play, but who’s become something of an obsession recently is the demented Polish diva Violetta Villas. I first read about her on the reliably excellent The Homoerratic Radio Show blog, was intrigued and did some Googling – and uncovered a treasure trove! Violetta Villas (nee Violetta Élise Cieślak, born 1938) is a real find and surely a cult figure (and kitsch gay icon?) in waiting. In the 1960s Villas was an international singing sensation, acted in Hollywood films and headlined at casinos like The Dunes in Las Vegas, where she did duets with the key superstars of the era: Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Barbra Streisand, Charles Aznavour, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eartha Kitt, Dean Martin. (Please God let there be footage somewhere of Villas and Kitt duetting!) But (outside of Poland) Villas seems almost completely forgotten today. Because of her astonishing operatic vocal range Villas is routinely and understandably described as the Polski Yma Sumac (she’s also been called "the singing toast of the continent", "a voice like French champagne” and my personal favorite, "the voice of the atomic age": Vallas certainly is explosive) – but that only hints at her strange allure. Judging by some of the clips on Youtube, Villas is a berserk outsider artist; a wild low-budget Eastern European hybrid of Jayne Mansfield/Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita / Brigitte Bardot / Charo; a punk (her image and un-hinged performances can suggest Nina Hagen or Jayne County); and a self-parodic possessor of a camp /kitsch drag queen sensibility (is it deliberate or naive? Certainly her persona evokes the films of the Kuchar brothers and John Waters. There’s something wonderfully grotesque about how Villas deliberately buries her own natural beauty under the matted bouffant wigs and thick transvestite/ clown-like make-up).

/ The divine Violetta at her make-up table: "the natural look?" Bollocks to that! /

/ This jaw-dropping video represents Violetta Villas (a vision in red chiffon) in full-throttle sex kitten mode. It’s from a 1971 Polish film called Dzieciol. The song she’s singing is “Oczy czarne”: I’ve been reliably informed it’s Russian, not Polish and it translates as something like “Black Eyes” or “Dark Eyes." Note: this essential video keeps getting deleted from YouTube. I'll replace it as frequently as I can! /


Wait! It gets even better. I work with a Polish woman called Marta and she’s been filling me in on what Violetta Villas is up to today. It turns out Villas actually lives in Marta’s village! According to Marta, Villas lives in a mansion with a menagerie of something like 70 dogs and 40 cats. Villas seems to have taken Brigitte Bardot as a role model: certainly in her youth Villas obviously styled herself to look like Bardot (or a parody of Bardot?), and now she’s an animal rights activist, too. Marta is obviously based in London now but visits Poland frequently; she says she hasn’t seen Villas in several years but every time she does, even when Villas is just going out to buy groceries, she’s always the diva, dolled up with her signature thick showgirl false eye lashes and long tousled bouffant wigs (or extensions or weave, whatever she’s got going on up there: it doesn’t look organic to any human scalp). I imagine the 72-year old Villas now as an Eastern European hybrid of Baby Jane Hudson / Barbara Cartland / Zsa Zsa Gabor – which may sound cruel, but I mean it with affection. Like many a show business diva, apparently over the years Villas has had issues with drugs, alcohol and romantic and career disappointments. Let's hope she's found serenity back in Poland surrounded by her pets.

Viva, Violetta Villas!

/ A tired and emotional Violetta Villas - perhaps after a few too many glasses of Polski Wodka? /

To end with, a lovely softcore clip of burlesque legend Blaze Starr having a bubble bath. I love how she inspects herself in the mirror afterwards, and how straight out of the tub her cotton candy bouffant hair and thick make-up are immaculate .