Monday, August 03, 2009


The Cramps - Jockey Club 1986

Pat was a pretty reserved person. 30 year old African American mother of 2, active in her church & kid's schools - that type. When she heard us excitedly planning to see The Cramps, it piqued her interest and she asked if she could join us because she had never been to a "rock show" and she had heard some interesting things about the venue in the news. We stared at her for awhile and said, uh, sure. Throw in a few freaks from The Champion City & we were off to Newport.
The Cramps were touring the soon to be released A Date With Elvis.
The Boondocks and, locals, The Reduced opened. I have no recollection of The Boondocks.
The Cramps took the stage. Ivy in high fashion harem attire & trademark orange Gretsch guitar and Lux in gold lamé from head to toe. Reverb on 11, the Cramps rocked.

Lux Interior

Lux had a couple bottles of wine. Maybe half of one made it down his throat - I mean the inside. The rest went all over the place. As the show progressed (regressed ?) through gems like The Garbage Man, Drug Train & Can Your Pussy Do The Dog ?, the gold lamé was steadily discarded to the point of gold lamé bikini briefs. At the end of the show Lux was convulsing on his side in a fetal position atop the PA speakers with the microphone in his mouth as he made not-too-human sounds to the song, Surfin' Bird. Nick, Ivy & whoever was playing bass just kept pounding away. It was a great show.
Pat never returned to The Jockey Club.

Images from The Jockey Club page

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