Lux Interior R.I.P.
While crusing around on the internet, I happened upon the Crypt Records homepage and saw the sad news that Lux Interior (nee Erick Lee Purkhiser) died this Wednesday, February 4th, of a heart attack at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California. While I was not a Cramps fanatic, they were truly one of a kind and there will never be another band like them, nor another frontman quite like Lux. The mere sight of Lux and Ivy Rorschach (nee Kristy Wallace) in just a posed picture was always memorable and just dripped attitude. Damn, this is such a bummer.
I found out a few things from reading a few online obituaries- first, the fact that Lux and Ivy were married for 37 years. I knew they were a couple for more than 30 years but, wow, they've been married as long as I've been alive. Now I knew he was born in Ohio (lovely Stow to be exact, about 40 miles Southeast of Cleveland and a little North of Akron), but I did not know that he was born on October 21, 1948 which made him 62 years old. I also did not know that he had a pre-existing heart condition prior to his death. So while you and I complain about being tired after surfing the internet or flipping through dollar bins at record stores, Lux had more legitimate health complaints AND he still found time to writhe around on stage like a madman for years and years.
First Ron Asheton, then Lux- what icon is next to die in 2009? Shit, we're only 5 weeks into the new year. And I am still very bummed that Rudy Ray Moore another legendary Ohioan (via Fort Smith, Arkansas) died last October.
I think I am going to make a contribution to Glendale Hospital in memory of Lux, and I think you all should too.
I found out a few things from reading a few online obituaries- first, the fact that Lux and Ivy were married for 37 years. I knew they were a couple for more than 30 years but, wow, they've been married as long as I've been alive. Now I knew he was born in Ohio (lovely Stow to be exact, about 40 miles Southeast of Cleveland and a little North of Akron), but I did not know that he was born on October 21, 1948 which made him 62 years old. I also did not know that he had a pre-existing heart condition prior to his death. So while you and I complain about being tired after surfing the internet or flipping through dollar bins at record stores, Lux had more legitimate health complaints AND he still found time to writhe around on stage like a madman for years and years.
First Ron Asheton, then Lux- what icon is next to die in 2009? Shit, we're only 5 weeks into the new year. And I am still very bummed that Rudy Ray Moore another legendary Ohioan (via Fort Smith, Arkansas) died last October.
I think I am going to make a contribution to Glendale Hospital in memory of Lux, and I think you all should too.
That fucking sucks about Lux. The wife and I used to see him and Ivy in Glendale, where we lived all the time in the '80's, and even witnessed a few Cramps gigs. The sucky part about this is that he died in the hospital I was born in. Only I was born in 1964...fuck I am old too. Live life fast, because it doesn't last long.
Reply to this