Cockabilly at The George & Dragon 29 October 2015 DJ Set List

As promised / threatened on the Cockabilly Facebook page:

Drag a comb through your quiff, swallow a fistful of bop pills and rock around the cock – at COCKABILLY!

COCKABILLY returns to the louche surroundings of The George & Dragon in Shoreditch on Thursday 29 October 2015! Leather boys, gay greasers, cry-babies, prison wives and juvenile delinquents of all ages are welcome at Cockabilly - London’s only regular queer rockabilly night! With DJ Mal Nicholson and I spinning all your favourite rancid vintage sleaze classicks! Think rockabilly, rhythm and blues, surf, punk and tittyshakers!

The George & Dragon: 2-4 Hackney Road London E2 7NS

8-midnight

FREE

Unbelievably, this was the first Cockabilly I got to DJ at since July 2015! For various reasons (being in Canada, job interviews the next day, etc) I had to skip the August and September ones. This is what I played in my concise and twang-y set!

Let's Go - Billy Eldridge
Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio? The Ramonetures
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
River Deep Mountain High - Wanderléa 
Shout - Johnny Hallyday
Hanky Panky - Rita Chao and The Quests
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Big Bad Boss Beat - The Teen Beats
How Much Love Can One Heart Hold? Joe Perkins and The Rookies
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
He's the One - Ike and Tina Turner
Wailin' - The Fabulous Wailers
Killer - Sparkle Moore
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Batman - Link Wray
Ultra Twist - The Cramps
Bossa Nova Baby - Elvis Presley
Intoxica - The Revels

Further reading:

A bleak development - it was confirmed in August 2015 that The George & Dragon as we've known and loved it won't be around for much longer. (You should have seen the wailing and gnashing of teeth on Facebook the day this was announced). This is gutting news as The George & Dragon pretty much represents the epicentre of gay bohemia in London. Not that that counts for much in the current climate. It's yet another casualty of the ruthless gentrification rampaging through London, which has gradually seen all my favourite East End gay bars (like The Nelson's Head and The Joiner's Arms) become casualties. The George & Dragon is in the process of being sold at the moment so it's hard to gauge how many more Cockabillies we will have there. Obviously Mal and I will stick it out there for as long as we can - and hunt for a new venue for Cockabilly afterwards. In the meantime: better come and show The George & Dragon some love while you still can! Read about the imminent closure of The George & Dragon here.

Read all about the sordid antics at previous Cockabillies here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Follow my tumblr blog (also called Bitterness Personified) for all your retro, kitsch and vintage homo porn needs! Warning - it contains adult situations!

Lobotomy Room is, of course, my own Mondo Trasho punkabilly booze party last Friday of every month at Dalston's Art Deco boîte de nuit Fontaine's. (In Fontaine's basement Tiki-themed Bamboo Lounge, to be precise!). The next one is Friday 27 November 2015. Before that: I'm tentatively tip-toeing into hosting a low-key monthly film club - with an emphasis on camp, queer and cult curiosities - in the Bamboo Lounge called "Lobotomy Room Goes to the Movies!" If it succeeds, it will be the last Tuesday of every month. Admission is free. The debut film night is Tuesday 23 November and the first film will be the torrid Marlene Dietrich vehicle Seven Sinners (1940). Full details can be found here.

/ Above: Marlene Dietrich in full butch naval drag king mode in Seven Sinners (1940). Come see it at Fontaine's on Tuesday 23 November 2015! /

/ And finally: in the spirit of Cockabilly, to reward all you aficionados of firm male flesh for reading this far - some totally gratuitous vintage beefcake nudity! Catch you next time / 

The Complete Films of John Waters (Every Goddamn One of Them ...): John Waters at The BFI

For London-based sensationalism freaks like me, surely the cultural highlight of autumn 2015 was The British Film Institute’s exhaustive John Waters retrospective It Isn’t Very Pretty: The Complete Films of John Waters (Every Goddamn One of them...) from 1 September – 6 October. The acme of the season saw the Sultan of Sleaze himself jet into London to make personal appearances on the weekend of 18-20 September. And once again I managed to bask in my filth elder’s ambiance.

/ The early years: John Waters and his ultimate leading lady and muse Divine photographed in San Francisco in 1970 /

Courtesy of my film journalist friend Damon Wise (a long-time Waters confidante), I got into the 100% sold-out "John Waters in Conversation" event on Friday 18 September as his “plus one” guest. Waters was interviewed onstage about career (illustrated with well-chosen clips from his films) and then fielded questions from the audience. The “peoples’ pervert” was on scintillating form throughout – the man is a supreme raconteur.

My favourite part of Waters’ onstage discussion: he was asked about the inspiration behind Divine’s striking appearance as bitch goddess extraordinaire Dawn Davenport in his 1974 masterpiece Female Trouble. He explained that while Divine revered Liz Taylor (to the point that Divine smoked Salems - the same brand of cigarettes Taylor was known to prefer - in tribute) and that the fatter Taylor got, the more she actually began to resemble Divine – the real source for Dawn Davenport was the beehive-haired, heavily made-up mother in Diane Arbus’ famous 1966 photo “A Young Brooklyn Family Going for a Sunday Outing, N.Y.C.”

/ A Young Brooklyn Family Going for a Sunday Outing, N.Y.C (1966) by Diane Arbus /

/ Divine as Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble (1974) /

Afterwards Damon smuggled me into The BFI’s elite VIP green room (as you may recall, the last time I was in there I was seated directly opposite Fifties Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter –sigh!). Waters was holding court amongst his entourage before introducing a screening of Serial Mom and then doing a book-signing session. (He’s the hardest working man in show business!).  It was a strange and interesting mix of people. Water’s London friends included Helena Kennedy QC (Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws), fuchsia-haired fashion doyenne Zandra Rhodes, talk show host Graham Norton and (most glamorous of all) transgender pioneer April Ashley (with a mane of silver bouffant hair, clad in a flowing green caftan).  I only spoke to Waters very briefly on the Friday night. I told him that when I was in New Orleans in April I made a point of going to his two favourite seedy dive bars – the Corner Pocket (hustler bar where the boys dance on the bar in the underwear – reportedly the inspiration for The Fudge Palace in Waters’ film Pecker) and The Double Play (clientele is mainly trans prostitutes, hustlers, their johns and junkies). “Isn’t the Corner Pocket great?” Waters enthused.

The night of Saturday 19 September saw the high potentate of trash taking the stage at The BFI again (he wore a different striking Comme des Garcons ensemble at every appearance), this time to introduce his freaky and deliciously nasty raw early film Multiple Maniacs (1970). I was accompanied by Mia, part of the duo behind The Amy Grimehouse interactive cult film collective. It’s a sentimental favourite of mine (I first saw it on VHS as a university student in Canada – it truly warped me), sadly unavailable on DVD. The close-ups of Divine – still an embryonic young starlet on the ascent – grinning maniacally and foaming at the mouth and hippie-punk bad girl Cookie Mueller go-go dancing topless are life-affirming sights.  The vomit-eater, bicycle seat-licker, junkie in withdrawal and two men kissing on the lips like lovers in Lady Divine’s Cavalcade of Perversions warmed my heart. And crucially, Multiple Maniacs represents the film debut of the much-loved gap-toothed “outsider” character actress and punk pensioner Edith Massey.

/ Above: David Lochary in Multiple Maniacs (1970) /

/ Joan Crawford in her final film Trog (1970) /

/ John Waters introducing Trog onstage at The BFI on Sunday 20 September 2015. Photo by Pal /

Sunday afternoon I returned to The BFI with my boyfriend Pal to see Waters introduce one of his specially-chosen, personal favourites Trog (1970). (As a kind of side-bar to the main event, Waters curated his own mini-season of his much-loved British films called Teabaggin’ in the Kitchen Sink). I’d never seen Trog before:  the low-budget, ultra-kitsch (and very enjoyable) British sci fi / horror film starring a desiccated and down-on-her luck Joan Crawford (in her last-ever screen role) opposite a guy in a gorilla mask, loincloth and fur booties playing a “missing link” troglodyte on-the-rampage. Crawford is actually majestic in Trog: such steely conviction and professionalism in spite of the mortifying circumstances. We’d been promised that a secret special guest would join Waters onstage afterwards. It turned out to be Trog himself – the man behind the gorilla mask! The role was played by wrestler Joe Cornelius (stage name: The Dazzler). Now in his eighties and very hard of hearing, Cornelius nonetheless looked great in a shiny gold suit (very old-school Vegas showman) and regaled us with stories about the making of Trog - in particular his leading lady. (He was very gracious and chivalrous discussing Crawford – who, he insisted, was not drunk the whole time nor a temperamental Hollywood diva. Apparently she sent him Christmas cards for years afterwards!).

/ Above: Wrestler Joe Cornelius (aka The Dazzler) in his prime /

That Sunday afternoon after Trog represented the last opportunity to see Waters’ rarely-seen early short films:  the Super 8 home movie juvenilia he made as a teenager fired up by the underground cinema of Andy Warhol and Kenneth Anger, which we've all only read about in his 1981 book Shock Value. These works are sealed in Waters’ personal vault and almost never get public airings – they represent year zero for John Waters fanatics like me. Frustratingly, The BFI made seeing them as difficult as possible: they were shown in the cinema’s smallest room and tickets were sold on the day in a first come-first serve basis. Managing to get a ticket was the equivalent of winning the lottery! Sadly, the final screening sold out even before I could attempt to queue for the tickets! So I'll probably never see Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964), Roman Candles (1966) or Eat Your Make-Up (1968) now – they will exist only in my imagination! Damon even went to the box office to plead on my behalf – but with no success.

The silver lining: instead, Damon snuck me back into the green room and we got to hang out with Waters again.  This time there were only maybe five of us in there and Waters was on relaxed, loquacious form while he autographed stacks of his books (mainly Carsick) for the BFI's book store and killed time until he introduced a screening of Cecil B Demented later on. I told him I went to see his friend, veteran sex kitten and camp icon Pia Zadora's jazz revue at Italian restaurant Piero’s when I was in Vegas in April 2015. Waters spoke about her with genuine affection and concern (“Did it do well? Did people like it?” Apparently Zadora’s recent residency in Los Angeles wasn’t so successful. I suspect Vegas is her natural habitat).

Interviewed for the September 2015 issue of Sight & Sound magazine to promote The BFI retrospective, Waters had reminisced about how as teenagers he and Divine used to attend Ike and Tina Turner gigs in the sixties when they’d perform in Baltimore and what a big influence feral wigged-out bold soul sister Tina was on his aesthetic. He told us he was flying to Switzerland the following morning for an art exhibit and spoken word gig. Switzerland is, of course, also where retired rhythm and blues tigress Tina now resides. Waters has written about how over the decades he managed to meet most of his heroes: the disparate likes of Little Richard, Nico, Johnny Mathis, Elizabeth Taylor, William S Burroughs. I asked him if he's ever met Tina Turner and Waters exclaimed, “No!” He admitted he’s afraid to in case he's disillusioned - or if Turner was angry with him. Considering Waters has said in the past that Tina was at her best when she was still with Ike, wearing a ratty wig and still had a moustache, Turner’s reaction to meeting him would bound to be interesting. Waters also pointed out for one of his earlier art exhibits he commissioned a conceptual sculpture of a giant Ike Turner manipulating a marionette puppet of Tina. He suspected she wouldn’t see the funny side of that! Finally, we all bade Waters goodbye when the car arrived to take him back to the hotel. It was a truly great end to the weekend.

Postscript: Waters may have departed London, but for me The BFI season properly ended the following Sunday (27 September) when Pal and I went to see Boom! (one of Waters’ Teabaggin’ in the Kitchen Sink selections).

/ Elizabeth Taylor in Boom! (1968) /

“If you don’t like this film, I hate you.” John Waters

Boom! The shock of each moment of still being alive!

It was a real trip to re-visit Boom!, the berserk and baroque 1968 Joseph Losey-directed film adaptation of the flop Tennessee Williams play starring Liz Taylor (in her fleshy, caftan-wearing era) and an alcohol-ravaged Richard Burton. The brawling, hard-drinking Taylor and Burton were reportedly drunk for most of the filming of Boom! (Pal and I got into the spirit of things by downing powerful Bloody Marys beforehand). I’d only ever seen Boom! once before – and that was way back in 2011 when I saw it at The Institute of Contemporary Art with my much-missed late friend Alison. (Alison was a major Liz Taylor fan – I’ll always associate Boom! with Alison).  Trying to make sense of it, I blogged about Boom! at the time. You can read it here. 

Boom! is, of course, one of Waters’ most-cherished films – he appreciates it as a “failed art movie” and has written extensively and eloquently about it and even taken the film on tour, introducing it beforehand. (Famously, Waters once attended a July the fourth party at Liz Taylor’s Hollywood home in the eighties. He made the mistake of telling her how much he loved Boom! Assuming he was making fun of her, Taylor took offence, flew into a rage and shouted, “That’s a terrible movie!”).

Yes, Boom! is awful in many ways, but it’s toweringly, majestically, compellingly bad. It’s mind-boggling. And no one delivers Williams’ most overwrought dialogue quite like Taylor in full scenery-chewing mode. “You can watch [Boom!] a hundred times and never know if Losey meant it to be camp,” Waters has mused. “Camp isn’t the right word. Camp means “so bad it’s good.” This is not “so bad it’s good.” This is so bad it’s art. This is so bad it’s confusing. Or this is so great it’s confusing. You don’t ever know the tone of it. It is, to this day, mysterious to me.”

Further reading: I've blogged about John Waters - one of my key and most treasured inspirations - many times over the years. Read 'em all! My epic 2010 interview with Waters for Nude magazine. When John Waters Met Nico. A Reunion with the Prince of Puke Part 1 (2011). John Waters' Christmas Show at The Royal Festival Hall in 2011. The Amy Grimehouse John Waters Filth Festival in 2014. Reunion with the Prince of Puke Part 2 (2014). Reflections on John Waters' book Role Models. 

Is That All There Is? The Strange Life of Peggy Lee

[I wrote this book review for the essential Beige website earlier this summer. I’m posting it here too for posterity. I know from when I used to write for alternative arts and culture Nude magazine, online articles can sometimes vanish over time]

Author James Gavin has previously written absorbing biographies of twentieth century jazz luminaries like Chet Baker and Lena Horne. In his latest effort he focuses on definitive sultry blonde torch singer Peggy Lee (1920 – 2002).

As with his earlier subjects Gavin writes with precision and eloquence about their artistry and the qualities that made them unique. For Lee, it was her trademark alluring cool restraint and ultra-minimalism. Vocally she conveyed maximum emotional (and erotic) impact with little more than a smoky, languid murmur (“a tough purr,” Gavin calls it “... that kicked open the bedroom door”).  Without ever resorting to wailing, belting or breaking a sweat, Lee – arguably the great white jazz seductress of the last century - could be alternately soulful, sensual, bluesy, melancholy or swinging.  Her primary vocal influences were the intimate, effortless conversational styling of Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday. (According to Gavin, the latter actively resented the younger white upstart scoring hits from her songbook and getting rich in the process. “She stole every goddamn thing I sing,” Holiday reportedly grumbled). Presentation-wise, Lee emulated her idol Marlene Dietrich (flattering and dramatic onstage lighting, glittering sequinned gowns).

Reading Gavin’s insightful analysis, you find yourself yearning to re-visit Lee’s definitive musical statements like the finger-snapping “Fever”, the swirling Latin exotica of “Lover”(which Lee attacked “like a panther in heat”), “Johnny Guitar”, “I’m a Woman” (“a feminist anthem with a stripper beat”), “Black Coffee” and the supremely world-weary “Is That All There Is?”

But let’s face it, Beige readers like a bit of sensationalism and Gavin doesn’t disappoint: the gossip here is juicy. Gavin is exceptionally good on the neuroses, addictions and personal demons that drove the anguished musicians he writes about. His descriptions of the ageing and increasingly dysfunctional and self-destructive Lee’s twilight years ensconced in the darkened bedroom of her Hollywood mansion are almost eerie, verging on Sunset Boulevard or Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? territory.

Lee’s serene and glamorous show business mask concealed a troubled, anxious and insecure woman. Onstage and on record her trademark persona was misty, mellow and slightly boozy. In fact Lee typically took to the concert stage benumbed and floating on a cloud of intoxicants. As Gavin reveals, this glazed-over, dreamy and detached demeanour was at least partly a side effect of the industrial quantities of cognac and later the tranquilisers Lee used to calm her nerves. (Valium. Seconal. Quaaludes – Lee popped ‘em all, Valley of the Dolls-style). “The queen of self-medication”, one of Lee’s retinue calls her. (Like all self-respecting divas, Lee went everywhere surrounded by an entourage. When crossed she could be vicious towards her employees).

In terms of myriad spectacular health crises (both real and psychosomatic) Lee’s only rival was Elizabeth Taylor. She loved to regale journalists with a litany of her illnesses and operations. (In the index at the end of Is That All There Is?, there is a separate lengthy sub-section devoted to “medical issues of PL”). Also like Taylor, Lee struggled with her weight. She had always lived with a commitment to old-school Hollywood glamour. As she aged and grew increasingly corpulent, that sensibility eventually tipped-over into unintended high camp. Multiple cosmetic surgery procedures left Lee’s face weirdly taut and expressionless. In fact, she underwent so many facelifts her hairline deeply receded (her hair had already thinned due to years of bleaching); Lee compensated with towering ringlet-festooned bouffant wigs that looked spun from meringue.

From the sixties onwards Lee gradually resembled a blowsy brothel madam or a drag queen imitating Mae West. It’s this fleshy and mature baroque Peggy Lee of the immobile face and forgiving diaphanous caftans that nightclub female impersonators like Jim Bailey and Craig Russell embraced – and reportedly was the inspiration for Miss Piggy of The Muppets, whose original full name was “Miss Piggy Lee” until Lee understandably objected.

And yet in Gavin’s compassionate account Lee ultimately emerges as a durable and tenacious survivor – albeit a wobbly, deeply-flawed and fallible one. Lee may have frequently been a temperamental pain in the ass, but no one disputed her talent. No matter how tormented her life offstage, Lee never lost the ability to mesmerise an audience. Perennially unlucky in love, she channelled her romantic disappointment into her music. A restless and uncompromising control freak, she fought her record labels for creative autonomy and challenged the Disney empire when she felt short-changed over royalties for the songs she composed for the 1955 Lady and The Tramp soundtrack. Long before the era of the singer-songwriter made it commonplace Lee frequently wrote her own lyrics. More than most of her pre-rock contemporaries, she strove to challenge herself and remain modern and relevant into the turbulent youth-dominated music scene of the sixties and seventies by covering contemporary pop hits - even though she received scant acclaim for it at the time and it alienated her conservative older fans. In the tradition of Edith Piaf, her passionate drive to sing saw Lee determinedly continuing to perform well into old age long after she was physically ailing and confined to a wheelchair. In her youth Lee endured hostile audiences, demanding bandleaders and the kind of tough, grit-building setbacks and indignities it’s difficult to imagine today’s performers tolerating. All examples of the iron will that propelled the former Norma Deloris Egstrom, a round-faced and nondescript farm girl from hardscrabble Depression-era rural North Dakota into the upper echelons of the music industry.

Reese Witherspoon is reportedly in negotiation with Lee’s family to make a Peggy Lee biopic. Certainly Lee’s life and career warrant the kind of deluxe film treatment already afforded Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Piaf. It will be interesting to see if the filmmakers do justice to the complex and volatile Peggy Lee.

Is That All There Is? The Strange Life of Peggy Lee by James Gavin [£19.99 hardback available now. Simon & Schuster UK]

Bonus material: Gavin makes a persuasive argument that Peggy Lee’s great unsung masterpiece is Mirrors, her 1975 album of art-y, twisted dark neo-cabaret songs. It absolutely bombed on initial release both critically and commercially, but has since been reappraised as a "lost" cult album. Certainly the mysterious “The Case of M J” – which sounds like an off-kilter nursery rhyme or lullaby – must be the eeriest and most disturbed / disturbing thing Lee ever recorded.  In her most benumbed and deadpan voice, Lee seems to be describing the psyche of a mental patient or childhood abuse victim. It’s genuinely spine-tingling and David Lynch-ian. Once heard, never forgotten. “How old were you when your father went away? How old were you when your father went away ... ?”

Lobotomy Room at Fontaine's DJ Set List 28 August 2015

/ Ultra-twist like Jayne Mansfield - at Lobotomy Room! /

From the Facebook events page:

Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock'n'roll - at LOBOTOMY ROOM!

Leave all sense of shame and propriety at the door - when LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to its new home, the subterranean Bamboo Lounge of East London Art Deco boîte de nuit Fontaine's! Friday 28 August 2015!

At last - a club night for the hillbilly beau monde! LOBOTOMY ROOM! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! A spectacle of decadence 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 (of Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly notoriety). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

Admission: FREE!

Lobotomy Room: Faster. Further. Filthier.

A tawdry good time guaranteed!

/ Twist, damn it, twist! Vicious 1964 sexploitation shocker Olga's Girls. See the sordid trailer here / 

Friday 28 August represented the third installment of my monthly Mondo Trasho punkabilly booze party Lobotomy Room (a club night to corrupt! Seething with intrigue! Where passion simmers and boils - waiting to explode!) at its new spiritual home / natural habitat, the basement Bamboo Lounge of Fontaine’s. It really felt like things were finally clicking into place. On a good rewarding night like this, doing a Lobotomy Room can feel like a shuddering nightmare of ecstasy.

One definite bonus: at last I’m using a venue with a properly functioning DVD player hooked-up to a big screen (Fontaine’s regularly hosts movie nights) and I can finally project rancid atomic-era vintage erotica while I DJ – an extra touch I’ve always yearned for! As well as sentimental favourites Varietease (1954) and Teaserama (1955) which feature burlesque icons like Tempest Storm, Bettie Page and cat-faced Lili St Cyr in their prime, I’ve added some more recent titillating acquisitions. No matter what I’m playing, the frantically go-go dancing ultra vixens like Lorna Maitland and Babette Bardot in Russ Meyer’s buxotic sexploitation masterpiece Mondo Topless (1966) seem to be shakin’ it in perfect time to the music. Later I pushed the envelope a bit (I waited until the end of the night when everyone was drunk and loosened-up) and stuck on a compilation of fifties and sixties beefcake homo porn from Bob Mizer’s Athletic Model Guild focusing on bad boys and hoodlums (think sailors, prisoners, black leather-jacketed bikers and juvenile delinquents). One for the connoisseurs of (reform school-tattooed) firm male flesh! Well-stuffed posing pouches a go-go! Some of the female attendees (and probably some of the males, too) were mesmerized by the homoerotic spectacle.

But most crucially of all - it was a genuinely wild, liquored-up and game-for-a-laugh crowd. 

/ Farewell to Yvonne Craig aka Batgirl /

I declared that this particular Lobotomy Room was in honour of the memory of actress Yvonne Craig (16 May 1937 - 17 August 2015) who’d died earlier in the month aged 78. In her acting career the beautiful former ballerina co-starred opposite Elvis Presley twice and played a sexy green-skinned alien girl in an episode of Star Trek - but Craig truly achieved immortality as Batgirl in the ultra-kitsch sixties Batman TV series. No one looked better in a sparkly purple catsuit. I cranked-up Link Wray’s twang-y version of the Batman theme tune LOUD in tribute to Yvonne Craig.  

Another perennial Lobotomy Room staple is the volatile royal couple of rhythm and blues Ike and Tina Turner. The September 2015 issue of Sight & Sound magazine boasts a fun wide-ranging interview with trash maestro John Waters in advance of the British Film Institute's comprehensive season of his films (It Isn’t Very Pretty ... The Complete Films of John Waters. 1 September – 6 October). Waters’ love of the tempestuous Turners is well-documented. In the article he recalls how as teenagers in sixties Baltimore he and Divine would attend Ike and Tina Turner Revue gigs when they came to town:

“I don’t care what anyone says, (Tina) was better when she was with him. I mean, I don’t blame her for leaving him, good for her, but ... We would see them at Unity Hall, it was a kind of working-class, blue-collar Union Hall. And they came in a broken-down green school bus with ‘Ike and Tina Revue’ painted on the side, like, hand-painted. And she looked like she did on the cover of ‘Dynamite’ [the Turners’ second album together released in 1963]: she had on a ratty wig, a mink coat, a moustache, springalotors, she did have a moustache. She was un-believe-ably great. And the Ikettes behind them were so great. It was a huge influence on Divine and I, Tina Turner. And I still love her. God knows, they could sing. They were unbelievable together. I saw them a couple times. And they’d sing “Don’t Play Me Cheap.” Oh my god ... she was an influence. More than anybody.”

/ Below: a selection of intimate and revealing photos from the night /



/ My co-hostess for the evening was the high-maintenance and temperamental but adorable Lulu. Everyone made a fuss over her all night. I took this shot at the beginning of the night before anyone arrived yet. Lulu was locked away downstairs with me in the Bamboo Lounge while I was setting up and she was determined to go back upstairs to the main bar. (She’s not averse to making manipulative whimpering noises to get sympathy). Lulu is one strong-willed bitch! What a diva! /



/ Gypsy and Lulu: I instructed Gypsy to channel those sixties paparazzi shots of Jayne Mansfield cavorting with her pet chihuahua /



/ Pal (my fancy man) and Ruby Martin (aka the former burlesque danceuse Emerald Fontaine), the glamorous boss lady of Fontaine's /



/ Louise (in the sequins on the right) and friend /



/ Lobotomy Room attracts the crème de la crème of bad girls /



/ This is my usual befuddled expression behind the DJ booth. (I'm bathed in lurid green Frankenstein lighting from the neon sign behind me) /



/ Portuguese Mario and Danny /



/ A glimpse into my DJ bag /



/ Dance floor mayhem /



/ Always the centre of attention: Lulu got around /



/ Cheesecake glamour shot of Gypsy /



/ Mario, Danny and I /



/ Pal and Danny having an intense conversation /



/ Not sure if I'm trying to snap my fingers beatnik-style or give the finger here /



/ Gypsy apparently channeling Divine in Pink Flamingos /



/ Gypsy and I at the end of the night /



/ Gypsy, pink flamingo and I: are these The Filthiest People in London? /

Let's Go, Baby - Billy Eldridge
Tear Drops from My Eyes - Ruth Brown [played in error! But there are far worse songs to play by mistake]
Tough Bounce - The Fabulous Wailers
Killer - Sparkle Moore [rare "screaming" version]
The Coo - Wayne Cochran
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Eight Ball - The Hustlers
Eager Beaver Baby - Johnny Burnette
Beaver Shot - The Periscopes
Drummin' Up a Storm - Sandy Nelson
I'm a Bad, Bad Girl - Little Esther
I Was Born to Cry - Dion
Town without Pity - James Chance
Beatnik - The Champs
Bombora - The Original Surf-aris
Like a Rolling Stone - Mamie Van Doren
Stranger in My Own Home Town - Elvis Presley [x-rated version]
The Whip - The Originals
Ain't That Good? George Kelly and His Orchestra
Frenzy - The Hindus
I Wish I Were a Princess - Little Peggy Marsh
Monkey Bird - The Revels
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Misirlou - Martin Denny
Taita Inty (Virgin of the Sun God) - Yma Sumac
Uska Dara - Eartha Kitt
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Johnnie Lee - Faye Adams
Little Queenie - Bill Black's Combo
Sick and Tired - Lula Reed
I Learn a Merengue, Mama - Robert Mitchum
One Mint Julep - Sarah Vaughan
Go Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
Green Mosquito - The Tune Rockers
A Fool Such as I - The Earls of Suave
Fever - Nancy Sit
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
Rockin' the Joint - Esquerita
Goodbye So Long - Ike and Tina Turner
Uptown to Harlem - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Dangerous Lips - The Drivers
Taboo - The Shangaans
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Your Groovy Self - Nancy Sintra
Save It - Mel Robbins
Jailhouse Rock - Judy Nylon
Scorpion - The Carnations
Hoy Hoy - The Collins Kids
Let's Have a Party - Wanda Jackson
Dragon Walk - The Noble Men
Twist Talk - Jack Hammer
Ultra Twist - The Cramps
Let's Twist Again - Johnny Hallyday
Twistin' the Night Away - Divine
Khrushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Batman - Link Wray
Your Phone's Off the Hook - The Ramonetures
Breathless - X
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Little Girl - John and Jackie
Margaya - The Fender Four
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Big Bad Boss Beat - The Teen Beats
Woo Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
Wipe Out - The Surfaris
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
I Can't Believe What You Say - Ike and Tina Turner
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
How Much Love Can One Heart Hold? Joe Perkins and The Rookies
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers
Somethin' Else - Sid Vicious
Deuces Wild - Link Wray
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Aphrodisiac - Bow Wow Wow
Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramonetures
Somebody Put Something in My Drink - The Ramones
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette
It's a Gas - The Rumblers
Fist City - Loretta Lynn
Woman - Peggy Lee
Cry-baby - The Honey Sisters
Long Blonde Hair, Rose Red Lips - Johnny Powers
Juke Box Babe - Alan Vega
Roll with Me Henry - Etta James
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Love Me - The Phantom
Her Love Rubbed Off - Carl Perkins
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
Dancin' with Tears in My Eyes - X
Strychnine - The Sonics
My Way - Nina Hagen
She Said - Hasil Adkins
Go Wild in the Country - Bow Wow Wow
Centurion - Intoxica
Beat Girl - ZZ und Der Maskers
I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos

Further reading:

Read about all the previous antics at Lobotomy Rooms to date here,here,here,here,here,here,here, here, here, here, here and here!

Follow me on tumblr for all your putrid vintage sleaze, kitsch and homoerotic beefcake needs! A glimpse into my anguished psyche! NSFW and never will be!

See all the photos from the 28 August 2015 Lobotomy Room - uncut and uncensored - on flickr.

Most importantly ...

Attention, freaks! The next Lobotomy Room is Friday 25 September 2015! Facebook events page here.

Lobotomy Room at Fontaine's DJ Set List 31 July 2015

/ Barbara Valentin (1940 - 2002) - the Austrian Jayne Mansfield and later frequent actress in Rainer Werner Fassbinder films  - in her sixties pin-up heyday /

From the Facebook events page:

Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock'n'roll - at LOBOTOMY ROOM!

Leave all sense of shame and propriety at the door - when LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to its new home, the subterranean Bamboo Lounge of East London Art Deco boîte de nuit Fontaine's! Friday 28 August 2015!

At last - a club night for the hillbilly beau monde! LOBOTOMY ROOM! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! A spectacle of decadence 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 (of Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly notoriety). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock!

Admission: FREE!

Lobotomy Room: Faster. Further. Filthier.

A tawdry good time guaranteed!

/ Ai chihuahua! Lobotomy Room flyer (starring cover girl Saint Jayne Mansfield) designed by Ego Rodriguez Illustration /

Blimey! Let’s just say the second half of summer 2015 has been tumultuous. I think I’ve aged five years in the past six weeks or so from sheer stress. In brief: from July onward there was a painful restructure period at work – and I was officially made redundant.  My overheads living alone in central London are high - not having a regular incoming wage is not an option! In a panic, I launched myself into job hunting and within a week of getting the traumatic news of my redundancy, I landed a new role somewhere else. (I just found out earlier today, in fact). Thank God after all this agonising and despair, I can finally go back to being superficial again!

Anyway, it means I didn’t get around to posting my usual lurid tell-all scene report for the July 2015 Lobotomy Room at Fontaine’s until now – the night before the 28 August 2015 one! As a result, this last-minute entry will be a quickie one short on words and heavy on pretty pictures. Normal service will resume soon! 

/ Eric and I /



/ Andrew and friend /



/ Pal and Eric /



/ Pal and I /



/ Brazilian Oscar and his friend visiting from Chicago /



/ Mal (as in the brains behind Cockabilly, DJ Mal Practice) and Pal /



/ Dance floor mania /

Fever - Edith Massey
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Mrs Mills
Treat Me Right - Mae West
Sheba - Johnny and The Hurricanes
Eight Ball - The Hustlers
Taboo - Red Garrison and His Zodiacs
Wimoweh - Yma Sumac
Monkey Bird - The Revels
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Bombora - The Original Surf-aris
Fever - Nancy Sit
Bop Pills - Macy "Skip" Skipper
Gunnin' for Peter - The Fabulous Wailers
Peter Gunn Locomotion - The Delmonas
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Twist Talk - Jack Hammer
Viens danser le twist - Johnny Hallyday
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Jukebox Babe - Alan Vega
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
No Good Lover - Mickey and Sylvia
Don't Be Cruel - Bill Black Combo
Jailhouse Rock - Judy Nylon
Intoxica - The Centurions
I'm a Woman - Peggy Lee
Little Ole Wine Drinker Me - Robert Mitchum
Dona Wanna - Wanda Jackson
Go Calypso - Mamie Van Doren
Margaya - The Fender Four
Johnny Lee - Faye Adams
It's a Gas - The Rumblers
Vampira - Bobby Bare
Goo Goo Muck - Ronnie and The Gaylads
Black Tarantula - Jody Reynolds
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Money Money - Big John Taylor
Where's My Money? Willie Jones
Welfare Cheese - Emanuel Laskey
The Flirt - Shirley and Lee
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
I Love the Life I Live - Esquerita
Jim Dandy - Ann-Margret
Love Potion # 9 - Nancy Sit
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Rip It Up - Little Richard
How Much Love Can One Heart Hold? Joe Perkins and The Rookies
Rock A Hula Baby - Elvis Presley
Honolulu Rock'n'Roll - Eartha Kitt
Beat Girl - Adam Faith
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Pass the Hatchet - Roger and The Gypsies
Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio? The Ramonetures
Let's Go, Baby - Billy Eldridge
Poor Little Baby - Billy Crash Craddock
Lover Boy - Gene Wyatt
Big Bad Boss Beat - The Teen Beats
Shortnin' Bread -The Readymen
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
She Said - Hasil Adkins
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Heartbreak Hotel - Buddy Love
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
The Big Bounce - Shirley Caddell
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette
Boss - The Rumblers
Johnny Hit and Run Pauline - The Ramonetures
Year 1 - X
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
You're the Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
Rock-A-Bop - Sparkle Moore
Tongue Tied Gill - Charlie Feathers
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Chicken Rock - Fat Daddy Holmes
Chicken - The Cramps
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
The Swag - Link Wray
Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramonetures
We're a Happy Family - The Ramones
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Female Trouble - The Melvins
I Stubbed My Toe - Bryan Legs Walker
Beat Party - Richie and The Squires
What Do You Think I Am? Ike and Tina Turner
I Got Stung - Elvis Presley
Crawfish - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby? The Earls of Suave
Walk Like a Man - Divine
You Give Me Worms - Turbonegro
Pillowcase - The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Downtown - Mrs Mills

Further reading:

See the full album of all the photos from the July 2015 Lobotomy Room on flickr.

Read about all the previous Lobotomy Rooms to date here,here,here,here,here,here,here, here, here, here and here.

Follow me on tumblr for all your rancid vintage sleaze, kitsch and homo porn needs!