Couple of bottles of wine at lunch with my boss at the Job du Jour led to the larger trap (or is it the lager trap?)... dashed home to get changed or 'glued' as Andy Warhol used to say, back into the City for beers at Aldgate then 'up West' with Big Nose, Jambo and Miss Howe. They were off to see The Editors at the Astoria so we had a few lagers at a fantastic bar just off Charing Cross Road... I can't remember what it's called but it's at the bottom of a side street somewhere along by Foyles. Hadn't been there before. Marvellous. Then I went to meet Wendy Retro, DJ Lush, American John and Martin who hung my paintings... more beers, nice old boozer off Oxford St. Fast black down to the Retro for Dawn Right Nasty's birthday drinks.... sat upstairs talking to Lush and Dawn then we set off for my new favourite club "Trannyshack" at Too2Much in Soho which is where Ms Right Nasty decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday proper i.e. on a dancefloor with Dead or Alive, Soft Cell and Sylvester and why not. Last time we were there was to see Justin Bond (see earlier post) and a member of staff (now known as "Mr Pushy Clipboard") put me right off the place but Trannyshack was great. The venue's just sleazy enough (the ghost of Raymond's Revue hangs in the air) and very smart... Glendora the Pole Dancer adds a dash of vaudeville and Pete Burns was there. It's expensive, but I don't mind that... in fact I prefer it. Poppy music, but good pop, and loads of Disco. Dusty O was was the DJ (pictured). Needless to say we danced the nite away and it was great to be in a club where there was actually space to dance unlike Duckie where everyone gets packed in like sardines causing explosive little annoyances.

Frightening minicab ride afterwards at 4 in the morning with a nutjob born-again Christian... (not that there's anything wrong with being a Christian but this guy was MAD).... I was suddenly shaken into sobriety when, dropping me off at Brick Lane Bagel Shop, he laid his hands on me to drive out my homosexuality... I was being exorcised! He was chanting and shouting for the Lord to save my soul! Decided to get a new mini-cab onto the flat rather than risk further religious fury and then I couldn't get in the flat due to the fact that I can never 'make keys work' when hammered. That tell-tale scratching noise at the door which means the key and the lock aren't quite meeting up and Crazy G and the Cat look at each other in sympathy because "he's pis*ed again..."... G woke up thankfully.

Up at 8 for Le Job du Jour but had to leave mid-afternoon due to a crashing hangover and the nitemare sensation of having a skewer twisted through my forehead. Had two hours sleep then off to Retro again for What's in Your Record Bag ... thanks heavens for strong Bloody Mary's thats all I can say. It was a great mixed nite but then thats the whole point. G played his usual expert choices albeit including my second most hated band ever Belle and Sebastian (the first being that bunch of fucking druids Polyphonic Spew), Dawn a disco set, Smashing Michael some female vocalists (as ever), Chris played Kirsty MacColl and Madonna and Owen played only songs from 1972 including Wig Wam Bam by the Sweet. My set list ran thus:-
Southern Death Cult: 'Fatman'
The Cure: 'Object' (off 'Three Imaginary Boys')
Cocteau Twins: 'Blind Bumb Deaf' (off 'Garlands')
Siouxsie and the Banshees: 'We Hunger' ('Hyeana')
Sisters of Mercy: 'Alice'

I think Cocteau Twins was probably a mistake but I don't care... it is a bit downbeat....the Siouxsie tune sounded a bit muddy but SDC / punky early Cure and Sisters were, in my humble and not very knowledgeable opinion, top notch. I followed Dawn's full-on and glittering disco set which did make mine sound a bit gothy and ploddy I guess... next time I'll do a bleepy electronic set and play some mean and moody DAF and early Alphaville.

dusty[1]