Lobotomy Room

Released by Island Records on this day (2 November 1979): #BrokenEnglish, the lacerating New Wave comeback album by #MarianneFaithfull on which she reinvented herself as a world-weary black leather jacketed Marlene Dietrich of post-punk. Portrait of a pink-haired Faithfull by Ebert Roberts, 1980.

Forty years ago this month: punk diva Nina Hagen graced the front cover of the November 1985 issue of German Vogue magazine. Photo by Tony Viramontes. #ninahagen #lobotomyroom #voguemagazine #germanvogue #1980sfashion #highfashion #fashionphotography #punkdiva #punkchanteuse #motherofpunk #newwave

Home - Fontaine's Welcome to Fontaine's - East London’s most decadent art deco bar. Hire for Weddings, Photoshoots, Filming, Parties, Events, Launches & more

2/ Fontaine's bar in Dalston: just rock up from 8 pm or 9 pm until late! Can buy tickets in person. www.fontaines.bar #halloween2025 #halloweenparty #halloweencocktails #gayhalloween #songsthecrampstaughtus #gaychristmas #lobotomyroom #fontainesbarlondon #dalston #spookyseason #halloweenclubnight

1/ I’m DJ’ing this #Halloween at Fontaine’s. BUT if you’re not London-based, you can still do the Transylvanian Twist from the comfort of your own home to my sprawling, putrid festive #LobotomyRoom Halloween playlist (put it on "shuffle" for maximum listening pleasure!). Link tinyurl.com/2s4ydm9t.

“And now ladies and gentlemen – here’s Grace!” Released forty years ago today (28 October 1985): Slave to the Rhythm, the Trevor Horn-produced seventh studio album by everyone’s favourite futuristic and androgynous dominatrix from outer space – #GraceJones! Album cover designed by Jean-Paul Goude.

Born on this day: much-loved actress, glamour queen and British cinema’s definitive bad girl (her insolent pout disrupted the prevailing stiff upper lip) – the Siren from Swindon, Diana Dors (née Diana Mary Fluck, 23 October 1931- 4 May 1984)! #lobotomyroom #dianadors #badgirl #platinumblonde

In the countdown to #Halloween: a ghoulish 1970s punk pin-up! Dave Vanian – the suavely vampiric frontman of first-generation British punk anarcho-delinquents The Damned – was born 69 years ago today (12 October 1956)! #davevanian #punk #punkrock #thedamned #lobotomyroom #punkpinup #punkroyalty

On Thursday 16 October the FREE monthly #LobotomyRoom film club eases you into the #Halloween spirit with a presentation of utterly berserk 1962 sci-fi horror b-movie The Brain That Wouldn’t Die! Downstairs at Fontaine’s. Email bookings@fontaines.bar to reserve a seat. Info: tinyurl.com/47h6hw6r

Premiered in Baltimore on this day (11 October 1974): John Waters’ defining meisterwerk #FemaleTrouble! Pic: leading lady Divine as anti-heroine Dawn Davenport – the role she was born to play. Sing along with me: “They say I'm insane / But I don't care / Go ahead, put me in your 'lectric chair …”

Happy International Lesbian Day! [8 October]. #internationallesbianday #internationallesbianday2025 #lesbian #sapphic #sapphism #lgbtqia #queer #lobotomyroom #butch #prestonewall #sistersaredoingitforthemselves

Opened 55 years ago today (5 October 1970) at Cinema II in NYC: provocative lowlife black comedy Trash, the second of the underground trilogy of films produced by spectral pop art visionary #AndyWarhol, directed by #PaulMorrissey and starring the Factory’s studly resident hunk #JoeDallesandro.

Farewell to Susan Lucas (aka Soo Catwoman) whose death aged 70 was announced by her children earlier this week. One of the original first-generation movers-and-shakers and “faces” of 1970s London’s punk epicentre, Lucas’ look was so confrontational it cemented her instant punk icon status. #punk

For this month’s FREE #Halloween related #LobotomyRoom cinema club, we’re screening the acme of irresistibly lurid vintage b-movie drive-in fare – The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)! Thurs 16 October at Fontaine’s! Email bookings@fontaines.bar to reserve a seat. Info: tinyurl.com/47h6hw6r #cultmovie

Born on this day: eternal grasping starlet, kitsch icon, pop culture oddity, cult figure, naïve outsider artist, iconic Los Angeleno and enthusiast of the colour pink Angelyne (née Ronia Tamar Goldberg, 2 October 1950. #angelyne #lobotomyroom #starlet #showbiz #kitsch #pinkcorvette #glamour #blonde

Thirty-five years ago this month, showbiz personified - Ms Liza Minnelli! - graced the October 1990 front cover of Vogue Italia! Photographer: Steven Meisel. Stylist: Brana Wolf. Hair: Garren. Makeup: Kevyn Aucoin. #lizaminnelli #vogueitalia #italianvogue #voguemagazine #lobotomyroom #kween #glamour

Died seventy years ago today: cinema’s bongo drum-playin’, Method actin’ quintessential doomed 1950s bad boy, #JamesDean (8 Feb 1931 - 30 Sept 1955) – one of the most lusciously photogenic actors of all time. Pic: portrait of Dean by Floyd McCarty during production of Rebel without a Cause (1955).

The FREE monthly #LobotomyRoom cinema club (devoted to Bad Movies for Bad People) ushers you into the #Halloween season (or as we call it, “gay Christmas”) with a screening of insane 1962 b-movie The Brain That Wouldn’t Die! Thursday 16 October at Fontaine’s in Dalston! Info: tinyurl.com/47h6hw6r

If you’re part of Hackney’s queer community, living here, working here or connected in some way, get involved in this ambitious documentary project! Deets: www.instagram.com/onequeerdayi... #onequeerdayinhackney #lgbtqia #hackney #eastlondon #queer #queercinema #london

Died on this day five years ago: ultimate black-clad, throaty-voiced, morbidly beautiful French beatnik chanteuse, actress, eyeliner role model and Morticia Addams lookalike #JulietteGreco (7 Feb 1927 - 23 Sept 2020). I was privileged to see Gréco perform in London twice, in 2000 and 2011. #beatnik

Boy, am I excited to make my debut at London’s red-hot new grindhouse cinema, The Nickel on Tues 7 October when I introduce aptly titled 1977 Canadian cult classic Outrageous! Starring drag legend Craig Russell as a hairdresser with showbiz aspirations. Buy your ticket here: thenickel.co.uk #lgbtqia

Meet Grace Caldwell Tate: devoted mother … loving wife … yet a woman with a RAGE to LIVE! Join us on Thurs 18 Sept at Fontaine’s when the FREE monthly #LobotomyRoom cinema club (devoted to Bad Movies for Bad People) presents sin-sational 1965 melodrama A Rage to Live! Deets: tinyurl.com/2t6v4rcj

A Joey to behold! Sex-kitten-gone-berserk, Playboy magazine pinup, Vegas headliner, Serta mattress (and RC Cola) spokeswoman and kitsch icon Joey Heatherton (born 14 September 1944) turns 81 today. #joeyheatherton #lobotomyroom #lolaheatherton #starlet #sexkitten #oldshowbiz #triplethreat #lasvegas

Born 103 years ago today: wondrous operatic Peruvian High Empress of Exotica #YmaSumac (née Zoila Emperatriz Chavarri Castillo, 13 September 1922 - 1 November 2008). All these decades later, her divine superhuman voice still inspires awe! Pic: young Sumac by Peter Stackpole for LIFE magazine, 1950.

BOTD: fierce American photographer #NanGoldin (née Nancy Goldin, 12 September 1953). Think of her as the bruised, worldly-wise Marianne Faithfull of modern art (or as Variety puts it, “the post-punk Diane Arbus”). I revere Goldin’s lacerating confessional photography. Pic by David Armstrong, 2000.

KLAXON! Urgent update - my boyfriend went back, rescued her and she now takes pride of place on our hallway "gallery wall." If possible, she's even more violently -- um -- "striking" up close! #uglyart #outsiderart #lowbrowart #lobotomyroom #shockvalue #badtaste #kitsch #lowbrowculture #naiveart

Genuine naïve outsider art, glimpsed on the street earlier. This smiling earth mother is giving Mediterranean vibes. Was she someone's beloved nona or zia? Surely this family heirloom belongs above the mantelpiece with proper museum lighting! Why is she abandoned on the pavement? So many questions!

Born on this day 90 years ago: eccentric Warhol Superstar and “art groupie” Ultra Violet (née Isabelle Collin Dufresne, 6 September 1935 – 14 June 2014). Pictured: Viva, Warhol and Ultra Violet photographed by Sam Falk, 1968. #warholsuperstar #ultraviolet #andywarhol #lobotomyroom #undergroundcinema

“The sexual voraciousness of newspaper heiress Grace Caldwell threatens to destroy the reputation of her wealthy Pennsylvania family” is Wikipedia’s terse synopsis for 1965 melodrama A Rage to Live – the next #LobotomyRoom film club presentation at Fontaine’s on 18 Sept 2025! tinyurl.com/4fauuzkr

Reflections on ... Nico in Strip-tease (1963) / Pic above via / In June 2025, I screened Strip-tease at my monthly Lobotomy Room film club. As I put it on the event page:     "Join ...

Earlier this summer my free monthly #LobotomyRoom cinema club screened the obscure 1963 French sexploitation flick Strip-tease starring the enigmatic Nico. Strip-tease is a criminally unsung and fascinating movie and boy, do I have notes. So, I wrote a blog post about it! Link: tinyurl.com/4cz3cdnd

Born on this day in Peekskill, New York: comedic visionary Paul Reubens (27 August 1952 – 30 July 2023), the genius creator of madcap man-child character, adored kitsch icon and pop culture fixture Pee-wee Herman. Pic: portrait of Reubens by Herb Ritts, 1987. #paulreubens #peeweeherman #lobotomyroom