Lux Interior, born Erick Lee Purkhiser has died at a California hospital at the age of 62 and the world has lost an incredible artist and music legend.
The Cramps always had a great show whenever they played in Boston, or anywhere for that matter. Lux would push himself like Iggy Pop on crystal to give a performance that defied explanation, reason or good taste which is why he will be so sorely missed.
It's strange that just last week, another famous person that I met in a random way died and now another. I didn't actually meet Lux, as in introduce myself shake hands kind of way but when I worked in Newbury Comics back in the early 90's, the Cramps were enjoying an upsurge in popularity. They actually had a local stalker/fan boy that haunted the store, always salivating at the site of another obscure Cramps re-release lurking the the cassettes. He was such a rabid fan that it was amazing that he wasn't two feet behind Poison Ivy and Lux when they came into the store one day before a show.
They were very quiet and polite and came to my register with a few LPs and some other stuff. Ivy handed me a gold Amex card with "Ivy Rorschach" embossed on it. It was weird when I leaned over to get her a bag and saw the current CD cover which featured a photo of Lux full frontal in a thong and then stood back up to see the real Lux standing there looking tired out from being on the road all day.
They asked me where they could find a cool vintage shop in the neighborhood and I was happy to recommend Oona's since I knew the staff there would be thrilled to see the Cramps show up at their store. (Of course, they got there just at closing time and my friend told me later that he actually closed the door right as they walked up and THEN realized who he had just blown off!)
I think it was the first time I actually came face-to-face with a famous person that I really admired, but there was no urge to squeal or demand autographs and photos. They just seemed like they wanted to relax and shop and shake that road-exhaustion and I just wanted to let them be. Of course, they completely tore it up at the show that night, but it was nice to have that real moment with them and see them as people.
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