I’m caught in a Torture Garden moment. A moment you could only have at this night. Sitting in the Erotic Cinema, the converted upper tier of seats in the Coronet Theatre, watching a blood-stained Uma Thurman glide into the snow-covered garden fight finale of Kill Bill 1, simultaneously engaged by the raucous gypsy rock n roll of the Urban Voodoo Machine a hundred feet away below, while also having the broadest range of perverts in the kingdom plonk themselves in the seats around me to pervert (the verb) in the dark as only they know how. And I’m not talking munching on popcorn and I’m certainly not trying to feed you a metaphor of them slurping straw fulls of ice cool lipsmackin’ Pepsi.
There’s always a point, as I’m sure I’ve said before, where I wonder at all the work that goes into this. Not for me, I’ve done clubnights, they’re a not a consensual pain, and pretty thankless. But here I’m thinking, they”ve got the clubnight of their dreams, do these people that put it on get time to enjoy it too? I hope so. I bet clubbers assume they do. But everytime I see one of the TG crew they whoosh past or are sorting something out. Working their latex-clad arses off. And this is why they still at the top of their game after 20 years, and I hope they continue for as long as they want.
This review of Saturday’s Torture Garden Ball will be fleshed out and posted in full on the Skin Two website with a full gallery by Daffyd Owen, the magician who did the marvellous pic featuring the magnetic Mam’zelle Maz in a Kaori’s Latex Dreams outfit, above. While you’re there do check out my blog, which I promise to pay more attention too, so please don’t crop me. Oh go on then, just a quick one. Not you, her. And I charge.
This weekend marks the 20th Birthday of Torture Garden, arguably the world’s most successful fetish club night . Allen, David and Charlotte we wish you all the best for a fantastic three days in London.
The Torture Garden 20th Birthday Weekend kicks off on Friday 5th May with a Launch Party at Mass in Brixton. DJs will be Allen TG himself with Jimmy Mofo and Scottee. There will also be performances by Suka Off, Roxy Velvet and Fancy Chance.
Saturday 6th May is the Birthday Ball itself held at the Coronet Theatre in Elephant and Castle. There will be lots of lovely latex fashion shows here with TG Clothing, Kaori’s Latex Dreams, Jane Doe, Lady Lucie Latex, Lacing Lillith and Am Statik Latex showing off their latest. As well as many other wonderfully warped goings on like pole dancers and Japanese Bondage and medical installations, the Amazing Ari and The Fuel Girls will giving a fantastic Aerial and Fire Performance.
Finally on Sunday night, 7th May, will be the Boudoir on the Thames aboard the HMS President. With live music from Joe Black and Mr Pustra it promises to be a memorable and befittingly glamorous finale. Tickets can still be bought (just about I think) separately or for all three nights. Hopefully see you there!
I love the way that we are still discovering so much of the past via the internet. Here’s a little gem featuring famous S&Mer Adam Ant that someone posted up on FetLife that’s starting to get a lot of hits amongst us latexuals. It’s a soundfile of a demo called ‘Rubber People’ from the punk poppers Adam and The Ants’ early days in the late 1970s.
Torture Garden supremo Allen TG has warned on Facebook about the fraudulent email and paper tickets going for marked-up prices on public selling sites eBay and Gumtree. The statement comes before this weekend’s much celebrated Valentine’s Ball this Saturday 12th at Debut, Central London, a highlight and already a sell-out for TG. Allen’s statement reads:
“Please be aware of buying emailed/mobile bar coded tickets off ebay and via other places especially if they are being sold above market price. We are monitoring ebay and gum tree etc and will cancel any tickets we can.”
The alert, also posted on its own website is a doubly emotive one for Torture Garden as the Valentine Ball will be one of the last TG events at Debut. The cavernous London club has already announced it will be closing in September 2011 as it is being sold back to Railtrack. Allen continues: “Be aware it is also very easy to duplicate bar coded tickets and these tickets may not get you in. Each bar code is individual and will be scanned upon entry. Please note that all tickets bought from TG are not exchangable, transferable or refundable.”
Telling me there’s a club I can’t get into is like a red latex catsuit to a bullish male, and so it was with Pussy Control @ Fire in South London Friday 4th February. Fire know how to party. I’ve been to fetish nights next door at Lightbox and invariably this little gay club is still going past five am, pumping out noise like relentless builders in Dubai. And in Fire, Pussy Control also have themselves a sweet, brilliantly illuminated venue for their new much-talked about women-only event. Geared as a beginner’s fetish night for women and fetisexual deviants Pussy Control is a modest night with one playroom, but yet there was certainly an all-pervasive pout of delicious kink throughout.
The atmosphere was certainly more relaxed and less latex intensive. I’m from Brighton where lesbian nights are ten-a-Penelope. Some nights are little butch and in your face, scoping with full broadband wirelez. Turn a street in Kemp Town and some cliques really hate or blame all men for, perhaps justly, all crimes against the world. Most times it’s chilled, but you can’t ignore the hardcore, I have enough gay friends complaining about it for sure.
What I look for, and what I found at Pussy Control, is a place where no one cares about all that. I never assume with prejudgement and yearn to be where people can be people, with all their difference and contradiction – basically, their humanity. And so it is with Pussy Control. Admittedly we were in the L-word (very) pretty-world side of females wanting females. The place was heaving with gorgeous women and a few well-turned out guys (with their girlfriend, domme or chaperone), seasoned with a sprinkle of transvestites, representing the traditional fetish-scene.
I have to give this a thumbs up for women who want their fetish nights secure and softer and prefer to avoid the in-your-face monkeys that are men and the on-your-case crusaders of ‘Queer!’ that can so often be cartoonish. And single guys, it’s literally not worth it unless you’re with a lesbian friend, girlfriend or subbing for your mistress, because you will probably feel too awkward. But that’s to miss the subtle point that weekend cheese-merchants of all persuasions and pursuits are redundant here. Everyone’s having too much of an L for lovely time. My thanks go to John Wilson for the top-drawer photography. Full gallery and review to follow on the Skin Two website soon!
