Madame JoJo's.
I’ve been talking to a very pleasant young lady. She wants
my assistance with a problem that she has. There is a feather that has become
stuck in an unfortunate place. Can I help her? It would be churlish not to.
Thus my first memory of Madame JoJo’s is of the time that I
followed a naked stripper across the dance floor and pulled a long ostrich
feather out of her bum with my teeth. As was often the case at Madame JoJo’s,
there were not many people present and those that were did not bat an eyelid.
This incident occurred between sets by The Martini HenryRifles (a brilliant band who solved the problem of having two guys who wanted
to be frontmen by having both careening and shouting at the same time) and the
much missed and totally out of control Terrashima, a band that could barely
play without getting involved in fights between themselves or with their
audience. Aside from the occasional spat on stage, it was a joyous, peaceful
night – as it always was when I went to Madame JoJos.
Westminster Council have just revoked the venue’s music
licence after an unsavoury incident involving a violent confrontation between
bouncers and a criminal gang that was operating in the street outside. There
have been claims and accusations on all sides. The Council has been accused ofusing this incident as an excuse to close down the venue as part of an ongoinggentrification programme. Other sources say that post-Olympics, Soho has been
under-policed with the result that criminals had been targeting patrons and
passers-by with impunity and that this brouhaha had been building for a while.
In many ways, who is to blame is a moot issue – Madame JoJo’s is no more.
I prefer to think of the many great bands I saw there,
mostly under the banner of White Heat, one of the longest running and most
excellent club nights in London.
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