Lux was a constant in my Vancouver life and nitelife. Being a silly scenester from the dinosaur ages and being a lovely lush for a time, I did manage to meet most everyone I wanted to and boy how I wanted to meet Lux. Instead I met Ivy and then in the most offhand manner possible met him. He adored her. Hard not to, really.
The Cramps toured and retoured always with the same show - new guitarist from time to time but the same show. I never tired of watching Lux work that neoprene under the cool gaze of Ivy. "Ever get down to California? You can come visit if you want...."
If I want? (faint)
Sipping tea in the shade outside their very cool house by the desert talking about vinyl..... ooo thats livin!. No rock stars in my friend collection just people who happen to make good music. I never gave anyone else the title but them: Cool as fuck.
After becoming a momzie, I found that for a time I could not handle the concert crowds. One night at the Commodore I actually had to leave a Cramps show.... on the stairs were two teens all dressed up who had no tix. I gave them my stubs and said go enjoy- the guy looked at the girl and said: Talk about the generation gap. Who would walk out on the Cramps? I just smiled.
When I heard Lux had died I was not really sad. He lived a good life with his lover and lived it exactly the way he wanted to. They did everything they chose in the manner they wished and did it well. And loud. A life lived well is not lamentable. But it is the end of an era. No other man will ever climb scaffolding in stilettoes half naked and look so barbaric.
The best of YouTube is Lux and Ivy from June 1978 where they gave a free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa. They didnt do it for the money - they made a point. God bless em for it.
----- Lux's obit here -----
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