Non-stop, erotic

One hundred and ten years ago, inventor Georges Claude first demonstrated modern neon lighting at the Paris Motor Show.

We, and the sleaze industry, owe him a lot.

I won't remember which dress you wore

As part of Camden & Islington LGBT History Month, on Sunday we went to see the incomparable Miss Tiffaney Wells ("the Jewish Princess") - a drag artiste with possibly the biggest and best array of costumes in the business - performing a selection of showtunes, in a venue that (thankfully) still retains the aura and faded glamour of "old Soho" - the fabled Phoenix Artist Club, hosted for decades by the legendary theatrical queen Maurice Huggett until his death in 2011.



Here is Miss Wells herself (filmed at the venue while we were there), giving her magnificent tonsils some exercise on two great numbers...

I Won't Send Roses:


Le Jazz Hot

Tiffaney Wells - Le Jazz Hot

Splendid stuff, you will agree. Thank heavens for old-school drag singers, I say!

Tiffaney Wells website.

Phoenix Artist Club

Get back, JoJo!

Sad news from The Guardian:

Nestled in the heart of Soho in central London sits a small, unimpressive looking venue. Push your way through the double doors beneath a seedy flashing neon sign, however, and you encounter a plush world of opulence, red velvet curtains and Art Deco mirrors.

Until recently, the crowd filling the dance floor was as likely to be clad in baseball caps and chains as burlesque basques and feathers, but Madame Jojo’s - home to some of London’s most diverse nightlife for more than half a century - has now shut down for good.

News that Westminster council had revoked its license this week following an incident outside the club has been greeted with disbelief, both by those who have hosted nights at the venue for years and the many loyal punters who flocked there every week in search of the quirkier side of London’s club scene.

Supporters of Madame Jojo’s say that the closure is part of the council’s drive to gentrify Soho, which is robbing the area of its unique atmosphere and heritage in the process.

The venue, known to many as the home of burlesque and cabaret in Soho, hosted some of the earliest gigs played by bands such as The xx and Anna Calvi, and Lorde played her first UK show there. It was also the focal point of Michael Winterbottom’s 2013 film The Look Of Love, in which Steve Coogan plays Paul Raymond, the Soho porn baron who owned and ran Madame Jojo’s in the 1960s.

Home for many years to quirky club and music nights Tranny Shack (UK), Cabaret Roulette, White Heat, Queerly Out and House of Burlesque, this is yet another sad loss to Soho, formerly the bustling heart of our slowly-but-surely being sanitised capital...

RIP