DUSTY O

You'd be hard-pushed to meet a nicer or more glamorous DJ/promoter on the London club scene than Dusty. Blessed with instinctive style, the chick-with-a-dick from Litchfield would still look a million dollar if she wrapped herself in a potato sack. Thankfully, she's always impeccably turned-out, usually in customised Westwood and the like. Experimenting with gender-bending at a time when it was most fashionable, she first worked her club clout on the Birmingham scene, aged only 15. Making an impression in places as diverse as The Powerhouse, Zig Zag, Ku Club, Kit Kat, Kipper and - naturally - The Rum Runner, she got to know Martin Degville (later of Zig Zig Sputnik notoriety) and his then-assistant George O'Dowd. That's when the pair ran a stall at the Oasis Market. They'd hang out with the infamous Raymond, the most OTT alien/goth in the Midlands of the early '80s. With the help of friend Twiggy, the charming David Hodge (as it says on the passport) opened shop as well, i.e. a market stall, which quickly brought in the bacon ... actually 10 grand. "I conned it!," she chuckles . The loot came in handy, as it funded the big move to London. Getting a job working for Zandra Rhodes ended up in acrimony. "The bitch sacked me for stealing Andrew Logan jewellery!," she laughs as if feeling proud of herself. She then, as if to pay for her sins, took a benevolent post at the London Lighthouse as 'patient support worker', later moving up the ladder to head of department. However, when nightclubbing virtually took over her life, our delectable ladyboy could only devote herself to it full-time. Club promoter Wayne Shires got her on the right track by offering her a job as door whore in '93. Then the too-trendy-for-words Pushca parties and off-shoot Bambina eventually earned her the stripes. Only, tons of designer labels had to be purchased and huge credit card debt had to be paid off. No worries, Dusty made no qualms turning trick at the brothel her German boyfriend Franz Von Gemmern owned in Barcelona. "I'm a good girl, I am!", she reckoned as she clicked her heels, shut her eyes and thought of England - or rather her credit account. Luckily, constant clubland opportunities knocked: Bang and Popcorn at Heaven, Limelight, Ministry, G.A.Y, Sound, etc. Agent DJs Unlimited also sent her abroad a lot - no, not just to get rid of her! She's also already achieved a remarkable 10-year run with Babe at Ghetto, which ended in July 2007, only to reopen this year. She's still running the fun-static Trannyshack on Wednesday at Soho Revue Bar. There's no peace for the wicked on Friday as she calls the shots at the O-zone at Ku and DJs afterwards at OMO at The Astoria. She then keeps her finger on the trigger at Revolver, also at the Astoria on Saturday, while waiting for the bulldozers to come and pull the place down (which is soon apparently). Dusty also writes great features and reviews for the free gay press and dabbles in music production (having released six singles to date, as well as Trannyshack and solo compilations). Does she have a game plan? Not half, they call it world domination.