Lobotomy Room Halloween Dance Party 11 October 2019

From the Facebook event page:

It’s creepy and it’s kooky … mysterious and spooky … it’s all together ooky … it’s the Lobotomy Room Halloween dance party! Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll on Friday 11 October at the punkiest, Cramps-iest, kitschiest low-brow Halloween bash this accursed month! Downstairs at Fontaine’s bar (Dalston’s most unique nite spot!).

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! Campy 1950s and 60s Halloween novelty songs played LOUD, with added Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Punk cretin hops! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities! Think John Waters soundtracks and Songs The Cramps Taught Us! Lurid vintage horror films played on the big screen all night!

Featuring special musical guests:

Hailing from New Zealand, instrumental electric guitar duo SPARKLING DUET (aka Shaun Blackwell and Clare McNamara of Night Shades – think of ‘em as the Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of Stoke Newington!) will be playing a special Halloween preternatural edition of their show, covering classic and obscure 50’s and 60’s surf, psych, exotica and rockabilly tunes with a haunted twist!

Admission: only £3.00 on the door (cash only)! Free candy while it lasts!

Blimey! I am painfully aware that I haven’t posted a Lobotomy Room dance party scene report in months. Mainly it’s because life kept getting in the way, but I won’t lie: 2019 has been a challenging year for the club. I’m a veteran at this and it just never gets easier. Take it from me – unless you’re a masochist, don’t become a club promoter. It will break your heart!

Happily, this year’s Halloween shindig was a success. To loosely paraphrase S Club 7: there ain’t no Halloween party like a Lobotomy Room Halloween party. OK we didn’t exactly replicate the massive crowd from 2018 (where did those people continuously pumping down the stairs all night come from?!) but the attendees we did get were stylish, sexy and enthusiastic. And none of them projectile-vomited up the wall, which was a definite bonus. (Read about the 2018 Lobotomy Room spectacular here). You’ll have to take my word for it – unfortunately, I don’t think any photos were taken all night!

/ Cute band alert! Sparkling Duet, Photo by Andreia Lemos /

Another bonus was the spook-tacular surf sounds of vicious instrumental duo Sparkling Duet. It was great to welcome back Shaun and Clare – our own local equivalent of The Cramps! If Lobotomy Room has a spiritual “house band”, surely, it’s these two.  Hopefully Sparkling Duet will be making return appearances in 2020.

/ Vampira-inspired pin-up art by the great Shubina Sveta /

/ Fawn Silver as The Black Ghoul and Criswell as The Emperor conspiring in Orgy of The Dead /

Oh, and once again I embraced the Halloween spirit by projecting the 1965 horror-exploitation flick Orgy of the Dead on an endless loop on the big screen (usually I show a mélange of 1960s posing pouch vintage homo porn and fetish queen Bettie Page frolicking in lingerie). Filmed in “Shocking Sexicolour” (sic) and boasting a screenplay by Edward D Wood Jr (always a sign of quality!), Orgy of the Dead’s cavalcade of nudie cuties go-go dancing in a mist-enshrouded graveyard (overseen by a mummy, a werewolf and clairvoyant Criswell) never fails to enchant. I’m always guaranteed a steady stream of people approaching the DJ booth to inquire, “What am I watching?!” Orgy of the Dead is a Halloween tradition, damn it! 

/ One of the boob-tastic "mondo topless" segments in Orgy of the Dead /

As you can see from the DJ playlist below, the first half of the night was devoted mostly to aggressively kitschy atomic-era Halloween novelty tunes (one of my favourite musical genres. I could happily play Halloween music all year-round), climaxing – inevitably! – with “Monster Mash”.  Later (after the band’s set when people wanted to get down and dance) things turned punkier, messier and more anything-goes, concluding with a finale of Elvis Presley-meets-Sid Vicious-meets Divine. 

/ Above: Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild does Halloween! (Don't fall for the old Ex-Lax trick)  /

Anyway, check out my Halloween Lobotomy Room Spotify playlist here to give you an indication of the general vibe. Trust me: you’ll be joyously doing the Werewolf Watusi to Tarantula Ghoul, The Cramps and Screaming Lord Sutch in no time!

Night of the Vampire - The Moontrekkers
Midnight Stroll - The Revels
Monster in Black Tights - Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages
Vampira - Bobby Bare
Monster Party - Bill Doggett
Sinner - Freddie and The Hitchhikers
Werewolf - The Frantics
 Drac's Back - Billy De Marco With Count Dracula
Bloodshot - The String Kings
I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch - Eartha Kitt
Frankenstein's Den - The Hollywood Flames
She's My Witch - The Earls of Suave
Do The Zombie - The Symbols
Spooky - Lydia Lunch
Monster Surfing Time - The Deadly Ones
Creature from The Black Leather Lagoon - The Cramps
The Creature (From Outer Space) - The Jayhawks
Rockin' in the Graveyard - Jackie Morningstar
Ghost Satellite - Bob and Jerry
Voodoo Walk - Sonny Richard's Panics with Cindy And Misty
Dinner with Drac - John Zacherle
Scream - The 5.6.7.8s
Mr Werewolf - The Kac-Ties
Strollin' Spooks - Ken Nordine and His Kinsmen
Nightmare Mash - Billy Lee Riley
The Mummy - Bob McFadden
The Whip - The Frantics
It - The Regal-Aires
The Whip - The Originals
Anastasia - Bill Smith Combo
Bo Diddley Meets the Monster - Bo Diddley
I Put A Spell on You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Alligator Wine - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
My Son the Vampire - Allan Sherman
Teenage Werewolf - The Cramps
The Munsters Theme - Milton De Lugg Orch
Graveyard Rock - Tarantula Ghoul
Theme From The Addams Family - The Fiends
The Way I Walk - The Cramps
Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Crypt Kickers
Pedro Pistolas Twist - Los Twisters
Vampira - The Misfits
Hidden Charms - The Delmonas
Nothing Means Nothing Anymore - The Alley Cats
Your Phone's Off the Hook - X
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramonetures
Sheena is a Punk Rocker - The Ramones
Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega
Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch
Wipe-Out - The Surfaris
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Bossa Nova Baby - Elvis Presley
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
Deuces Wild - Link Wray
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
96 Tears - Big Maybelle
Cha Cha Twist - The Detroit Cobras
One Night of Sin - Elvis Presley
My Way - Sid Vicious
Walk Like a Man - Divine

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!

Upcoming Lobotomy Room events for your social calendar:

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

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

Admission: gratuit - that’s French for FREE!

Lobotomy Room: Faster. Further. Filthier.

It’s sleazy. It’s grubby. It’s trashy - you’ll love it! A tawdry good time guaranteed!

Event page

“In one terrifying moment she realized what she had done … yet it was too late to turn back … too late for tears!”

Lizabeth Scott (1922 – 2015) was the most haunting and memorable of 1940s and 50s film noir actresses. Because of Scott’s languid mane of ash blonde hair, smoky eyes, sultry demeanor and raspy voice “that sounded as if it had been buried somewhere deep and was trying to claw its way out” she’s been frequently (and unfavourably) compared to the more famous Lauren Bacall. In fact, Scott was a much stranger, more intense and harder-working actress than Bacall, and made more interesting choices. And on Wednesday 20 November the Lobotomy Room film club presents her definitive movie - the tense 1949 film noir Too Late for Tears. It stars Scott at her most enthralling, almost serpentine as a suburban Los Angeles housewife with a treacherous and homicidal dark side.

Lobotomy Room Goes to the Movies is the FREE monthly film club downstairs at Fontaine’s bar (Dalston’s most unique nite spot!) devoted to Bad Movies We Love (our motto: Bad Movies for Bad People), specializing in the kitsch, the cult and the camp! Third Wednesday night of the month. Doors to the basement Bamboo Lounge open at 8 pm. Film starts at 8:30 pm prompt! We can accommodate 30 people maximum on film nights. Remember: the film is FREE so you can buy more cocktails! (One drink minimum).

Event page 

/ Pistol-packin' mama: don't mess with Lizabeth Scott - the original desperate housewife! - in Too Late for Tears (1949) / 

Halloween Lobotomy Room Dance Party DJ Set List 26 October 2018

From the Facebook event page:

It’s creepy and it’s kooky … mysterious and spooky … it’s all together ooky … it’s the Lobotomy Room Halloween dance party! Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock’n’roll on Friday 26 October at the punkiest, Cramps-iest, kitschiest low-brow Halloween bash this accursed month! Downstairs at Fontaine’s bar (Dalston’s most unique nite spot!). 

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! Campy 1950s and 60s Halloween novelty songs played LOUD, with added Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Punk cretin hops! White Trash Rockers! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities! Think John Waters soundtracks and Songs The Cramps Taught Us! Vintage horror films played on the big screen all night!

Featuring special guests:

Hailing from New Zealand, instrumental electric guitar duo SPARKLING DUET (the Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of Stoke Newington!) will be playing a special Halloween preternatural edition of their show, covering classic and obscure 50’s and 60’s surf, psych, exotica and rockabilly tunes with a haunted twist! 

AND burlesque showgirls deluxe TRIXIE MALICIOUS and MYSTI VINE!

Fontaine’s special Halloween-themed cocktail menu available on the night!

Admission: gratuit - that’s French for FREE!

The Halloween Lobotomy Room club at Fontaine’s was insane!  This was by far our biggest Lobotomy Room crowd ever. (“Maximum capacity” for Fontaine's basement Bamboo Lounge is meant to be sixty people. I’m pretty sure we wildly exceeded that at various points!). In fact, both upstairs and downstairs were crammed, and the queues for both bars were about four or five people deep. How did all these new people hear about our event?! And it was hip, gorgeous people. I hope some photos from the night surface!

/ I had no opportunity to take any photos myself – but I seem to recall the crowd looking a lot like this /

(In fact, I put out an appeal on Facebook and some of the attendees kindly posted some pics from the night. If more photos surface I will add them)

/ Sparkling Duet (with guest drummer Tina from Das Clamps) by Robin Shrubsole /

/ Mysti Vine by Nicky Barron-Orange / 

/ Glamorous attendee! Photo via Nicky Barron-Orange. Ruby (proprietoress of Fontaine's) really outdid herself with the Halloween-themed cocktail menu this year! /

/ In an ideal world, we would have had these vintage skull'n'bones highball stirrers! /

/ The sole photo of me all night! With mother and daughter duo Paula and Tara /

I won’t lie: there were some stressful meltdown moments where my blood pressure was pumping! To coordinate the acts, Fontaine’s boss lady Ruby and I were meant to liaise throughout the night, but we were overwhelmed by the crush of people and she was too harassed and busy behind the bar coping with the voracious demand for cocktails. Our first burlesque performer (effervescent Trixie Malicious, who evokes 1950s platinum blonde sex kittens in the tradition of Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren) had a lighting cue for me: I was meant to kill the stage lights when she made a certain gesture and then she’d switch-on her lit-up bra. But there was such a dense crowd I couldn’t properly see Trixie from the DJ booth. I had to stand on a step ladder! (Luckily her number went off without a hitch).

But the absolute nadir was the completely unanticipated projectile vomiting incident. There were three or four hetero “bro” types by the front who were clearly extremely drunk but digging the scene and seemingly harmless and friendly enough. Midway through Sparkling Duet’s set I glanced up to see these guys abruptly leaving. It soon became evident why. I started noticing that people were backing away from the centre and sort of plastering themselves against the DJ booth at the back of the room. Newcomers would arrive, walk forward, and then promptly step back! Then Trixie rushed over to me and gasped, “Someone has vomited up the wall! I better see if there’s a mop upstairs!” Sure enough, one of the bros hadn’t just spewed on the floor: he'd sprayed a full-on dramatic Linda-Blair-in-The Exorcist job up the wall! And it was copious and chunky-style, with that creamed corn / porridge consistency. Ruby quickly pole-vaulted over the bar and swung into action with a mop, bucket, disinfectant and paper towels. I have never seen her more livid! Anyway, can we just agree that the puke added to the night’s gritty punk rock authenticity? (In fact, the second time I ever The Cramps play in Montreal - at The Spectrum in 1992 - there was a pungent and lingering stench of vomit emanating from the mosh pit. It added to the ambiance! We all just embraced it and got on with it!).

Once Sparkling Duet finished, a big percentage of the crowd (traumatized by the vomit) beat a hasty retreat upstairs. The final performer of the night – the glamazonian Mysti Vine – was still due to perform, so I did my best to reassure everyone that the Bamboo Lounge was well and truly cleaned and coax them back down. That led to the next incident: the battery on the iPhone with Mysti’s music decided to sputter-out right at the beginning of her act! Mortifying! Many performers would have justifiably panicked. Mysti is such a seasoned and durable show business pro she just styled it out and the audience cheered and clapped her on until Ruby secured an iPhone charger and she was able to start over. Phew!

/ Fontaine's Halloween decor by florist-to-the-stars Pal Griffiths. Photo by Nicky Barron-Orange /

Special mention must be paid to the night’s onstage special guest stars (I don’t normally feature bands or burlesque acts at Lobotomy Room, but this was our deluxe Halloween spectacular).  Sparkling Duet is the side project of Clare and Shaun from the awesome Night Shades. They play ultra-minimalist, menacing and ghostly surf and rock’n’roll instrumentals (for some songs they were joined by guest drummer Tina from Das Clamps and Oh! Gunquit) and fit the Lobotomy Room aesthetic like a tight, wet t-shirt! And the audience worshiped them! Both Trixie Malicious (whose musical backing was classic Las Vegas Grind tittyshaker “It”by The Regal-aires) and Mysti Vine (who was swathed in a gold cape, doing a voodoo priestess number) also well and truly slayed.

/ Sparkling Duet (the Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of Stoke Newington!). Photo by Andreia Lemos /

/ Voodoo enchantress Mysti Vine /

Anyway, the night continued until almost 2 am. There was so much going on and so much rushing around, I couldn’t focus properly and wasn’t in as complete control of the music as I would have liked. In retrospect, there were so many songs I meant to play and forgot to (“Goo Goo Muck” by Ronnie and The Gaylads! "Rockin' in the Graveyard" by Jackie Morningstar! "Graveyard Rock" by Tarantula Ghoul! Or maybe I did play some of these: I did drink a lot and for a whole long section of the night I stopped jotting down my set list). As you can see, I emphasized campy 1950s and 60s Halloween novelty tunes for first half of the night (I saved “Monster Mash” until near the end as a climax!) and then – when the acts had finished, and people wanted to dance – switched to fast’n’dirty punk and rockabilly.  I suspect the last thing anyone wants to listen to in November is Halloween music (I could happily listen to vintage Halloween novelty tunes all year!), but here is my Halloween  Spotify playlist.

/ Illustration by Pippa Toole / 

Some final observations: 21 October represented the birthday of much-missed feral, foaming-at-the-mouth Cramps frontman Lux Interior (21 October 1946 – 4 February 2009). Night Shades re-interpreted multiple Cramps-related tunes in their set. Their guest drummer Tina’s band Das Clamps is a female duo Cramps tribute band. And I’ve never had so many requests Cramps songs! Lux’s ghost definitely haunted proceedings at the Halloween Lobotomy Room. 

Also: normally at Lobotomy Room club nights I project vintage homo porn or Bettie Page / Irving Klaw striptease films on the big screen for extra sleaze appeal. To add to the Halloween vibe, this time I screened Orgy of the Dead (1965) on an endless loop on the big screen instead as a backdrop – the Ed Wood Jr-scripted sexploitation / horror movie (filmed “in Gorgeous Astravision and Shocking Sexicolour!”) featuring a bevy of bouffant-haired topless go-go dancers shakin’ it in a mist-enshrouded graveyard. It made an impression! Several people came up and demanded, “What movie is this?!” So now I’m on a one-man mission to make Orgy of the Dead an official festive Halloween cult film! 

Here's what I played:

Night of The Vampire - The Moontrekkers
Do the Zombie - The Symbols
Monster in Black Tights - Screaming Lord Sutch

Drac's Back - Billy Demarco and Count Dracula#

I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch - Eartha Kitt

I Was a Teenage Werewolf - The Cramps

Spooky - Lydia Lunch

She is My Witch - The Earls of Suave

Blood Shot - The String Kings

Midnight Stroll - The Revels

Sinners - Freddie and The Hitchhikers

Monster Surfing Time - The Deadly Ones

Nightmare Mash - Billy Lee Riley

King Kong - Tarantula Ghoul

Voodoo Walk - Sonny Richard's Panics with Cindy and Misty

Vampira - Bobby Bare

The Munsters' Theme - Milton DeLugg and Orchestra

Frankenstein's Den - The Hollywood Flames

Addams Family Theme - The Fiends

Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon - The Cramps

Bo Meets The Monster - Bo Diddley

Rigor Mortis - The Gravestone Four

Coolest Little Monster - Zacherley

Mau Mau - The Fabulous Wailers

Kismiaz - The Cramps

Katanga - Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm

Monkey Bird - The Revels

I Don't Need You No More - The Rumblers

Three Cool Chicks - The 5,6,7,8s

Bombora - The Original Surfaris

Your Phone's Off the Hook - X

Riding with a Movie Star - L7

Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

Batman - Link Wray 

Pedro Pistolas Twist - Los Twisters

Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega

Atomic Bongos - Lydia Lunch

Comin' Home - The Delmonas

Garbage Man - The Cramps

Ring of Fire - The Earls of Suave

Boss - The Rumblers

Wild, Wild Party - Charlie Feathers

Let's Have a Party - Wanda Jackson

Let's Go Baby - Billy Eldridge

Year 1 - X

I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramonetures

Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen

Go Wild in the Country - Bow Wow Wow

C'mon Everybody - The Sex Pistols

Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner

The Swag - Link Wray

Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret

Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen

Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen

Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen

Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins

Upcoming dates for all your Lobotomy Room needs:

Next film club

This November, the Lobotomy Room film club turns three! (We debuted on 24 November 2015). To mark the occasion, we’re taking a sentimental journey and re-visiting the first film we ever screened: Seven Sinners (1940).

The seven films director Josef von Sternberg and his muse and leading lady Marlene Dietrich made together between 1930 and 1935 were dark, erotic, witty and sublime works of art. Together they honed Dietrich's complex, sultry and feline persona and brought a whiff of genuine Weimar decadence to mainstream Hollywood. By comparison Seven Sinners (made after Dietrich and von Sternberg’s personal and professional relationship imploded) is pure trash - but campy, enjoyable fun trash of the highest order! It’s a romantic comedy starring Dietrich as good time girl nightclub chanteuse Bijou Blanche, set adrift and stirring up trouble in a South Seas port, while pursuing a hunky naval officer (played by a young and still relatively unknown John Wayne). Just wait until you see perennial Lobotomy Room favourite Dietrich crooning “The Man’s in the Navy” in full butch military drag king mode!

Come sink a few cocktails, surrender to the allure of Marlene Dietrich and celebrate the cinema club’s third birthday on Wednesday 21 November!

Lobotomy Room Goes to the Movies is the FREE monthly film club downstairs at Fontaine’s bar (Dalston’s most unique nite spot!) devoted to Bad Movies We Love (our motto: Bad Movies for Bad People), specialising in the kitsch, the cult and the queer! Doors to the basement Bamboo Lounge open at 8 pm. Film starts at 8:30 pm prompt. We can accommodate thirty people maximum on film nights. Arrive early to grab a seat and order a drink!

Event page

Next dance party

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 30 November!

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! Vintage erotica projected on the big screen all night for your adult viewing pleasure!

One FREE signature Lobotomy Room cocktail for the first twenty entrants!

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!

Event page

Further reading:

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

Follow me on Tumblr for all your kitsch, camp, retro vintage sleaze and fifties homoerotica needs!

Follow me on twitter!

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