Deadsplinter Up! All Night: Lux Interior and The Cramps!

21/2/20 Luv4allmusik 24

The small town where I work was once thriving, as two major steel companies and several printing companies employed a large percentage of the townspeople. It was a blue collar, old-fashioned type of town, but people were working at good jobs and raising their families.
A couple of decades ago, the steel companies closed and the printing companies were no longer needed due to the growth in the internet and the ability to print on a computer.
This crippled the town, and the unemployment rate soared, as did the homelessness rate. There were several shelters for the homeless, and a lot of these folks would just wander around town during the day. I’ve always subscribed to the “don’t judge a book by its cover” theory, and I’ve met some really interesting people over the years just walking around town.
One of my favorite “wanderers” was a guy who was maybe in his mid-sixties. He was tall and skinny, always wore white Chuck Taylor sneakers, and he had a huge red Afro that you could see from a mile away. I got to know him over the years, and he had led a fascinating life. In the seventies and eighties, he has been a roadie and part-time musician for The Cramps. You can even see his huge Afro on the back of their Gravest Hits album. He told the most amazing stories about life on the road with a punk rock band.
Perhaps my favorite was when they opened for The Ramones one night. Joey Ramone came over to my friend and said, “Hey man, you’re trying to steal my look! My friend replied, “Do you really think that I want to look like this?”
A couple of years ago my friend passed away and I really miss him and our conversations. Sometimes when I’m walking around town I still find myself looking for his big red Afro, until I catch myself and realize that he’s no longer around. I really miss that crazy dude!

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24 Comments

  3. I’ve met a lot of great people through a shared love of music. Your friend sounds like an interesting character, with some great stories.

    I talk/sing this Cramps song to my dog a lot when we take walks.
    Don’t Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk

    • oooo that one was very surfer… me likey
      here have a token of me preciation


      he cant surf
      he cant skate
      and he sure cant masturbate
      noooo moooaaaarrr!
      thats gotta be some oscar worthy lyrics right?

    • Nice post, Earendil!

      That U of Florida show was one of my favorites, back when bands did free shows on college campuses. It was a time of transition for the Allman Brothers, as there were some personnel changes. A lot of the songs written during that period were just lost forever. This one is one of my favorites, which highlights Gregg’s whiskey and cigarette voice that helped put Southern rock on the map. Sadly, I believe that this song was only ever played a handful of times at live shows after this one.

  5. Seven Days of Motorhead, pt.6

    Wurzel left in 1995, leaving the band as a three-piece once again. During this era, they recorded entrance music for WWE’s Triple H, and for the stable of Ric Flair, Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton, known collectively as “Evolution.”

  6. Luv4> Thank you for sharing this with us. Some stories really need to be told. and this might not make a lot of sense to some? but it does make sense…

    da art of storytellin’

  7. Tonight’s comment in three parts. Two videos and a story.

    Upset this actually exists.

    Happy this exists.

    Now the story. Ellie and I like to play scrabble. So one time we were playing at the coffee table. I was sitting on the floor with my legs under it. She thought it would be funny to start tickling my feet. I am extremely ticklish and tried to get out from under the table. In the process my leg started to cramp up. I started yelling”cramp cramp” and she just laughed and held on. I finally got free and asked her “What were you doing?”. She said “Men don’t get cramps”. I reminded her that we do just not of the menstrual variety. After 25 years if we don’t want to be touched we yell “cramp”.

  9. Wow, awesome story, Luv. He sounds like a real character. I’m sorry he’s no longer with us.

    Ronnie Cook & The Gaylads – Goo Goo Muck

    • this calls for kitty in a casket


      ……damnit i really hate the chorus…..the rest of the song is awesome tho
      anyhooo… a token of me preciation :p

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