Kim Fowley's Lipstick Orgy, Banana Split Sundaes and more

View more photos in the "Nightranger: Lipstick Orgy, Banana Split Sundaes, Dance Floor Drama" slideshow.

WHEN THEY MOVE, YOU MOVE
Keeping up with after-dark comings and go-go-ings in Los Angeles is getting to be more exhausting than nightspot-hopping itself, and with so many of our favorite dance hubs shaking things up at new locales, Nightranger thinks an update is in order about now (especially for those of you just starting to come out of DVR-induced hibernation/school mode). This week: news on new dance dwellings and even some drama in clubland.

The Rootdown started as a coffeehouse jam and turned into an L.A. phenomenon, grooving through Pedros on Vermont, Gabah on Melrose and eventually Little Temple, which it called home until just a few weeks ago. Not sure why the long-running soul sizzler left (though the layout — and blocked bathrooms when it’s packed — have bugged since it was the Garage), but at least they didn’t move far; they’re now body-rockin’ Thursdays at El Cid. Check Baby Stone (Sly’s daughter) playing live Thursday, May 28, Goldenchild & Teeko (June 4) and club creator Myles Tackett’s much-beloved funksters The Breakestra (June 11).

THIS SHIT IS BANANAS

With beer kegs on the dance floor and DJ AM & Steve Aoki on the decks, Banana Split Sundaes at LAX was always a spazzolicious hot mess, but when it recently moved to the fancier Bardot above the Avalon, many wondered if the more upscale — anticamera — atmosphere would dampen B.S.’s “house party in a club” vibe, not to mention co-host The Cobrasnake’s shutterbuggin’. Judging by recent pics and pop-ins (Ladytron, Pase Rock) in the past few weeks, that’s not the case, and surprise flavors keep a comin’, too. VHS or Beta serve up a DJ set this Sunday, May 31. The keg is gone (for now), though.

Big news in the bi-clubulous scene: Shits & Giggles, the disco-decadent prance-fest that called Club 740 home for nearly a year, is moving to a surprising new space, the Monte Cristo in K-Town. Best known for its gothic dance nights, the haunted mansion-ish venue was recently remodeled with more elegant touches (dark wood and red velvet, a nicer smoking patio and an absinthe bar). It might not seem too Shitsy at first sight, but then S&G did start at a shabby hole in the wall downtown before moving to the mega 740, so we’re confident this party can go off anywhere. Reopening night, this Friday, May 29, will feature dance performances by Cassidy Haley and Squeaky Blonde, not to mention the party’s glamazon hosts: (RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni) Tammie Brown, Ms. Barbie-Q and Phyllis Navidad, to name a few. Ran into Phy at Club Andromeda (an outlandish cosmic cluster at Medusa Lounge) last Wednesday night, and she filled us in on a new gay-friendly collective called the Hugs and Kisses Army, a group of promoters, DJs and performing artists promising to set aside “differences and the competitiveness of urban nightlife” to help make contributions to the queer community. More on these groovin’ do-gooders soon.

THE DARK NIGHTS
The gay-club community seems to be banding together, but for some reason the goths have never been able to keep their fangs in, and a controversy over the name Batcave in L.A. is the latest fiendish night fight. One cave took over Medusa last month, and in response, another promoter, who claims to have a registered trademark for the name here (and permission from the legendary U.K. club that first used the moniker), threw her own haunt under the same name at Monte Cristo — the very next night. Since then, the ghoul-school message boards have been flooded with accusations and talk of cease-and-desist letters, etc., but for now, it’s really gonna come down to which party gets the most bites. The Medusa version will return Friday, June 19. As for the batty bash calling itself the original, no new dates have been set, but its MySpace sure seems to have a lot of support, not least of which is that of L.A.’s reigning death-rock diva, DJ Xian. Her OG goth gatherings, Malediction Society and Ruin, have pretty much ruled over at the Cristo the past few years. The Batcave brouhaha is interesting, but the city’s black-garbed vamps have a far bigger woe: What will happen to Ruin now that it’s closed to make room for S&G on Fridays? Our guess: This one will rise from the dead somewhere else before ya know it.

VOLUPTUOUS HORRORS
Flocks o’ fetishy-fashioned chicks came out to play at Kim Fowley’s Lipstick Orgy at the Knitting Factory last week, a display as pervy and trainwrecklike as expected. The man who helped put together The Runaways still gets his fill of fillies (onstage) it seems, and Fowley’s set saw a host of grinding girlies each take the mic in between warding him off. Surprise: All of them could sing pretty darn well! We particularly liked Bad Things (not to be confused with Seattle’s “The” Bad Things). Like a bizarro-world hard-rockin’ Hugh Hefner, Fowley seems to have re-emerged on the nightlife scene of late. See him next at Viper Room — doing hell knows what — with Blackboard Jungle, on Saturday, June 6.