Lux Interior, lead singer of the Cramps, passed away last week.  The Cramps were the first punk/new wave/alternative/psychobilly/whatever-the-heck-phrase-you-want-to-use that I ever saw.  I saw a note they were appearing at the University of Hartford in 1978, dragged my friend Dan along, and there we saw the original line-up, including now-also-dead guitarist Bryan Gregory.  It was quite something.  Their first three records, esp. the first two produced by Alex Chilton, were awesome, and the third, PSYCHEDELIC JUNGLE, was on my turntable (you see, they had these things called records, and you’d lay them on this spinning circle and, and…ah, forget it…) through most of college.  When I moved to Michigan, my co-workers at Favor-Ruhl Art Supplies took me to see them at the now-extinct Bookies Club 870.  So really man, they were pretty great, and they made some great memories.  I never really followed them much after that (though I was a big fan of the video “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns“), but was always surprised and happy they did so well for so long.

I’ll miss ya, big guy.

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