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BY LEEE BLACK CHILDERS
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BY JILL FURMANOVSKY |
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Who
Am I & What Am I Doing Here?
A Brief History of Soo Catwoman by Soo Catwoman
(Catch up on things by reading PART
ONE)
PART TWO:
When I arrived in Poland Street, Central London,
I looked for a sign for ‘Louise’s’
but couldn’t find one. Most of the clubs
I had been to had signs outside, or at least
some indication that they were in fact clubs.
Poland Street was very quiet that night and
I barely saw a soul wandering through. It was
lucky that I had the full address, including
the door number, or I don’t think I would
have found the place at all. I remember wondering
if I had been led on some wild goose chase as
I could hear no music and there was no sign
of life in the street outside. I found the street
number and decided to try knocking on the door,
even though I had my doubts that anyone was
there. It had been quite a trek into town, and
it couldn’t hurt to double check before
heading off somewhere else. For a while nothing
happened, a couple walked by giggling and holding
each other very tightly, my eyes followed them
down the road until they were out of sight.
I was about to walk away and head back home
when I heard movement behind the door. Soon
after, a small shutter opened and I could see
there was a man inside looking me up and down.
I asked for Sharon, as she’d told me to
and my ‘password’ seemed to literally
open doors. The door opened, although initially
not enough to let me inside. The doorman looked
off to the right for a split second as if waiting
for a sign from someone else. He was burly and
strong looking but not a regular bouncer type
at all. Before I knew it he held the door open
fully and motioned for me to enter.
Once inside the door I saw a handful of people
in the lobby standing around chatting to each
other, some smiled and some just ignored me
completely. I noticed an elderly lady seated
very upright and it occurred to me that there
was something very classy about her. She was
well dressed, graceful and seemed controlled
but with a personable and friendly demeanour.
She had nodded to me, closing her eyes briefly,
which I took to be a welcome so I nodded and
smiled back to her.
Sharon, the girl who had invited me there was
suddenly standing in front of me, looking pleased
that I had accepted the invitation and she asked
me what I would like to drink. We went to the
bar and she wanted to know if I liked the place,
which I said I did. Sharon explained to me that
the woman sitting by the door was ‘Madam
Louise’, apparently she had once been
a real madam and it was her club. I found out
that she would not allow entrance to anyone
unless she thought they looked interesting,
different or unusual. For once, I had stumbled
upon a place that not only did not ban ‘freaks’
- but that actively encouraged them. Now it
made sense why Sharon might think I’d
fit in there, although of course appearances
don’t always tell the whole story about
a person.
Louise’s was apparently a lesbian club,
although there were quite a few men there too.
As we went into the next room I could see a
well-stocked bar on the right of a small room
that resembled a cafe. There were chairs and
tables and each of the tables had a clean linen
tablecloth with an ashtray on it, very civilised
and a nice touch I thought. Most of the chairs
were populated but the place wasn’t overcrowded,
it had a very relaxed feel to it and a good
atmosphere. When I looked around, it seemed
that everyone was happy and relaxed and it was
quite different from some of the places I was
used to going, more intimate and conversation
friendly, at least upstairs.
After a while, I went to explore where the music
was coming from and found a very narrow staircase
going down to the area below ground level. As
I reached the bottom of the stairs, I could
see that there were at least two small recessed
areas. Both were in use, one on each side of
the stairs and they contained tables with seating
around them. The DJ booth had a glass front
and was up ahead to my left as I stood at the
bottom of the stairs. In front of it was a small
square wooden dance floor that appeared to be
bouncing up and down from the half a dozen or
so people dancing on it. The music was Bowie,
Lou Reed, and such like, all the stuff I listened
to at home and it was nice to hear it so loud
and through such good speakers. One of the tunes
they would play often during my future visits
was ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ by Lou
Reed, which seemed to sum up the place perfectly.
Sharon introduced me to a few people, including
the DJ who was a beautiful girl with flame red
hair, porcelain skin and a big smile. I stood
at the side of the dance floor for some time,
happily listening to the loud music and leaning
against the wall for fear of toppling over when
people were dancing. The dance floor was bouncing
so much it resembled a trampoline at times.
At the end of the evening when I put my coat
on and was about to walk upstairs I heard someone
say ‘Oi! Can you play bass?’ I turned
around and saw two young men around my own age
standing there grinning at me. The taller one
was talking to me and was standing a few steps
in front of the other; he had black spiky hair
and towered over my 5 foot 1 inch frame. I politely
said I was sorry but that I couldn’t play
bass and he then said ‘That doesn’t
matter; you look good, do you wanna be in a
band?’ I was lost for words and had never
been asked such a thing before, although I wasn’t
sure that I did want to be in a band and just
said what I was thinking, which was ‘I
don’t know’. He seemed unperturbed
by my reply and added ‘We’re called
The Flowers of Romance’ almost as if the
name might change my mind. I smiled at him and
started walking up the stairs and he called
after me ‘Phone me at ‘Sex’
- or I’ll push your face in’. I
laughed, especially since it was obvious that
it had not been something said seriously but
more in a playful, light-hearted way. I really
liked this guy – his cheek – his
humour – everything about him. He called
after me again when I was halfway up the stairs
‘I’m Sid Vicious and he’s
Johnny Rotten’ he said pointing to his
friend. I smiled and said ‘I’m pleased
to meet you both’ and then left.
On the way home I was puzzling what ‘Sex’
was, with regard to the conversation with Sid
as I honestly had no idea what he was talking
about. I asked Marco Pirroni who explained to
me that it was a shop in the Kings Road. I had
been to the Kings Road once or twice with Marco
when he went shopping but avoided actually going
in the shops he went into – preferring
instead to wander around Beaufort Market or
look at window displays. Anyone who knows will
tell you that it isn’t fun to tease yourself
by looking at things you can’t afford,
let alone watching someone for whom money is
no object buying whatever they want. Not that
I was green-eyed jealous but I just didn’t
like to put myself in that position. Who wants
to be reminded that they don’t have the
money to spend in the first place? At least
I’d found out what Sid was talking about
and that he worked in the shop on Saturdays.
I have said elsewhere, I hadn’t known
any of the people who went to Louise’s
club before going there that night. I knew Marco,
who to my knowledge also went there for the
first time when he accompanied me to Louise’s
that night. I had known him for about a year,
after meeting him at a Soul club in West London
- the area where we both lived. The world didn’t
know any of our names at that point and to borrow
a phrase from Monte Cazazza we were all ‘very
widely unknown’.
I was glad I went to the club that night as
meeting Sid and John had an effect on me. I
knew a couple of other women who expressed themselves
through their appearance and even a few gay
men who were very creative with their dress
sense but at that point in time it was nigh-on
impossible anywhere I went to see straight men
looking so different. It was as if the two of
them had been put into a melting pot of clothes
from decades past and yet to come and I totally
approved of the result. Sid was the first man
I’d ever seen with such unkempt hair and
yet it only added to his character and style.
He wore a Teddy boy type drape jacket and tight
Levi jeans with brothel creeper shoes with a
thick crepe sole. He would have looked quite
smart apart from the dirty ripped t-shirt he
wore that was full of moth holes. John was equally
as unique with his red jumper that had split
by the seam on one side and was held together
with safety pins over a pair of baggy cotton
trousers, which had a vertical silver or gold
stripe running through the fabric. The minute
I set eyes on them I felt like I’d found
my peers, something moved inside me and I was
very aware that this meeting was important,
perhaps fated. Just as a chance meeting with
Sharon in Kings Road had led to the invitation
to Louise’s, which seemed like a great
club - meeting Sid and John was the icing on
the cake.
- Soo Catwoman / March 2010
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