Just heard the news about the leader of The Cramps. Condolences to Poison Ivy and the rest of his family.
:(
The Cramps were a formative part of my youth. They used to play here in Seattle +/-one week of Halloween, every year. Never on Halloween mind you- that was always resrved for San Fran or LA or something. I saw them do that four or five times. A couple of times in San Diego before I moved back here, too. They were always awesome in concert. Lux moved more naturally in 8-inch platform stilletto heels than any stripper that I’ve ever known. He used to be wearing those boots, and climb on to the top of the speaker stack, throat the microphone and then jump down and strut across the stage, not missing a beat. It was a thing of beauty.
A bit OT here, but I remember going to one show, around 2000, and being in the pit all night, all combat boots and suspenders and a fedora and eyeliner, and then the band took a break, and I took the opportunity to ‘take a break’, too. Went to the can, splashed some water on my face, etc. On my way back out, the bouncers stopped me- the band was coming back out to the stage, and the route from the dressing rooms crossed the route from the men’s bathroom. I stood there, and the band crossed in front of me, and Poison Ivy stopped, looked me in the eye, raised an eyebrow and winked at me. I melted. :)
Good times.
If this is, in fact, a christian universe (which I highly doubt), I look forward to a set by Lux and the rest of the gang down below after I die.
I had the pleasure of doing some help at a club for a Cramps show around 1990 or so. For all his carefully cultivated weirdo zombie persona, Lux was one of the nicest rock icons I’ve ever met, and absolutely one of the most effortlessly funny ones. Guy just had everyone cracking up.
Hard to overstate how cool and great this album was.
Sad news.
I never got to see them live. They played Norway in 2006, but that was a bit out of the way :-(
Great song (and a video with zombies):
Hey, YouTube Playlists are a pretty cool thing:
That first clip is particularly tasty.
Love me (with a Bettie Page video no less)
Hopefully one of those clips is the incredible performance of “Tear It Up” from the movie “Urgh! A Music War”. Love the image of Lux just goin’ nuts with the mic in his mouth, while Ivy just stands there looking bored, chomping her gum and rocking out her guitar. (A quick check…it is. Cool.)
While I’m sad that Lux is no more, let’s face it–he was 62, and packed experiences of 3 times that many years into his life.
I was there and it was pretty cool. Lux was definitely a real showman. A great band.
Damn. I was always bitter I never got to see The Cramps in their prime, and now I never will.
I saw a few of the LA Halloween shows - great stuff…