70's, Death, Music, Music Video, Psychobilly, Punk, Rockabilly

Death: Frontman of The Cramps Lux Interior – 1946-2009

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I found out about this the other day and finally had a chance to sit down and write something…

Lux Interior & Poison Ivy
Lux Interior & Poison Ivy

The Cramps lead man Lux Interior passed away on 02/04/09 from an existing heart condition.  This is a huge loss in the music world regardless if you know who the Cramps are or not.  This band has influenced many bands from the Horrorpops to the White Stripes and have been credited with staring a new genre of music.

The Cramps were a garage punk band that incorporated heavy doses of rockabilly into their style.  Their music had been credited with kick starting the psychobilly genre as well as garage punk.  Their lyrical content was not for the faint of hear with references revolved around sexy innuendos, horror movies, humor, and white trash America.  The live shows were erratic, raunchy, and mostly unforgettable.

Lux Interior (born in Stow, OH) started the band with his wife Poison Ivy in 1973 and were part of the CBGBs punk movement from the get go.  The two met during their young travels, got hitched, and do what every American married couple does…head to NYC and form a punk band.   Although Lux Interior and Poison Ivy were the only solid standing members, the band put out over a dozen releases in over twenty years.

I am saddened by the loss of one of the great pioneers of the punk rock movement and really feel left out that not once in my life did I have the opportunity to view them live.  Thankfully there are folk out there who have seen The Cramps like and I am sure will be posting their memories throughout the internet.

Here is the official press release from The Cramps’ media, Girlie Action:

Poison Ivy & Lux Interor
Poison Ivy & Lux Interor

For Immediate Release:
February 4, 2009

Lux Interior, lead singer of The Cramps, passed away this morning due to an existing heart condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California at 4:30 AM PST today. Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with The Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music.

The Cramps emerged from the original New York punk scene of CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, with a singular sound and iconography. Their distinct take on rockabilly and surf along with their midnight movie imagery reminded us all just how exciting, dangerous, vital and sexy rock and roll should be and has spawned entire subcultures. Lux was a fearless frontman who transformed every stage he stepped on into a place of passion, abandon, and true freedom. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.

The family requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.

Lux Interior many have passed but his memories will last forever.  My heart goes out to his wife and friends during this period of time.

If you have never heard a Cramps song before check out the video:

It reminds me a lot of Elvis, Johnny Cash, and is damn well amazing.

RIP Lux, you will be missed.

Music, Music Video, Punk, Review

Bouncing Souls – “We All Sing Along” – Song Review

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So the groundhog saw it’s shadow the other day.  Yup, that means more winter for some of us.  Don’t threat though, the Bouncing Souls have released their second song on their website called “We Sing Along”!

Bouncing Souls Celebrating 20 Years
Bouncing Souls Celebrating 20 Years

Last month I wrote a little blog here about the Bouncing Souls  celebrating their 20 years as a punk rock band by releasing a single a month (you can read about it HERE). As promised, each month I will be reviewing their singles until the year’s end.

What is it about the Bouncing Souls that is so appealing to me?  I know, they are a great bunch of musicians that continue to create great punk rock and “We Sing Along” is no exception.

The track starts out a little less polished giving for a gritty entrance to the newest punk rock singalong but smooths out nicely.  This punk anthem is aimed at everyone who has their own problems or misguided plans and dealing with them in a positive way.

I loved the line, “but the world has its own ideas, we all must play the hand fate deals.  When our plans have come and gone we all sing one heart song.”  The positive upbeat approach this song has is perfect for all of the folk out there who have dreams but have not accomplished them just yet.  The song is very likable and honestly now one of my favorite Bouncing Souls songs to date.

Want to hear it?  Like I mentioned before you will have to buy it in order to listen to it.  The song costs $0.99 and you don’t even have to leave home to buy it. Check out the websites of the Bouncing Souls or their label Chunksaah Records to purchase “We All Sing Along” and be sure to remember to return to either site at the beginning of each month to grab their next single for the rest of the year.

Also check back here on good ol’ brokenheadphones.com as I will be reviewing each song every month!  Two down, ten more to go, I can honestly I say I am very excited to hear next month’s installment.

Since I can’t share the song I thought I would at least throw in a couple of videos for your visual pleasure:

Bouncing Souls – “Kids and Heroes”

Bouncing Souls – “Anchors Aweigh”

70's, 80's, 90's, Electronic, Folk, Hip Hop, Indie, Live Shows, Metal, Music, Rap, Rock

More Bonnaroo 2009 Bands Confirmed

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I have to say that Bonnaroo 2009 is looking pretty good this year. Tickets go on sale this Friday and I already envision a sellout with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street band performing as well as Phish (2 shows mean major hippie joy). I am more excited to see Coheed & Cambria, the Beastie Boys, NIN, Andrew Bird, Wilco, Elvis Costello, Down (seriously???), and Jenny Lewis.

Here’s the current line up taken from Bonnaroo.com:

Tickets go on sale this Friday.  They will run you about $224.50 at first and then will escalate to $249.50 after the early tickets sellout.  Pricey, indeed, but this year Bonnaroo is making it easier for you to go as they have introduced a payment plan.  Call it a rock layaway of sorts…  Here is some info on that:

BONNAROO 2009 TICKETS ON SALE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2009 AT 12:00 PM EASTERN. PURCHASE PAYMENT PLAN TICKETS.

GA PAYMENT PLAN
General admission tickets will also be available for (5) payments of $50.00 plus applicable fees through our payment plan.

Payment plan ticket fees are $28.90 per ticket, which includes a $6.00 facility fee, $3.00 contribution to Coffee County, $1.00 charity donation, and $5.00 payment plan fee ($1.00 per payment), and service fees.

There is a limit of (10) general admission payment plan tickets per order.

GA Payment Plan Schedule*
Payment 1    $90.90 including all fees    DATE OF PURCHASE
Payment 2    $50.00                                Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Payment 3    $50.00                                Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Payment 4    $50.00                                Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Payment 5    $50.00                                Tuesday, May 19, 2009
*For each GA ticket purchased starting on Saturday, February 7, 2009.

That is a great idea if you ask me. Everyone these days are hard on cash so this payment plan will pull in those folk who may now have been able to dish out all the loot at once.  Keep in mind though that if you do the payment plan and miss just one payment, Bonnaroo will keep the ticket, keep your money, and still bill you for the balance.  I knew there was a catch to this.  Always make sure you read the fine print or in this case the part that says “IMPORTANT“:

IMPORTANT: If, for any reason, any of your payments are declined, in whole or in part, then all of the following will apply: (i) your order and your tickets will be canceled (ii) any payment received as of that date will be kept by Bonnaroo as partial offset for your default, (iii) you will still owe the balance of the full amount due for each ticket and you authorize Musictoday and Bonnaroo to charge your credit card for any balance due, (iv) Musictoday and Bonnaroo will be entitled to pursue all of their legal and equitable remedies to recover the full payment from you, and (v) you agree to pay all costs of collection incurred by Musictoday or Bonnaroo, including legal fees, that they may incur in collecting the balance of each ticket price. Payment plan tickets are subject to all of the other terms of the ticketing agreement.

I can only afford one festival this year.  That is my limit.  So far Bonnaroo is winning me over.  One thing about Bonnroo that deters me though is the camping.  I don’t camp anymore.  I especially do not camp with 80,000 other people with camps set up as far as 3 miles from the venue.

I went to Bonnaroo in 2006.  We stated in a dump hotel but it the the best thing we could do.  We could come and go when we wanted to as we were not jammed into to the camping area like sardines.  Trust me, once you park your car and set up camp you are done.  There was hardly any traffic movement during the whole weekend as if you camped you were stuck.

No showers, no air conditioning, no running water… yeah I am too old for that these days…  I can rock it at an all day long summer festival no problem, but at the end of the day I need a bed with some A/C cranking after a shower.

Just look at the picture below.  The lower half of the picture is the festival grounds.  The top half is the camping community.  There is also an equal portion of the camping community behind the festival grounds too.  Honesty it is an incredible site…

Aerial shot by Taylor Crothers
Aerial shot by Taylor Crothers

With tickets on sale at the end of the week I am really wishing the Virgin Festival line up would release so I can figure out which way I am headed this summer…  I lean towards the Virgin Festival mostly because I have been to all of them so far so why ruin a tradition?  This Bonnaroo line up though has me very interested…

To be continued…