Song For Karen

Kid Congo Powers is one cool dude. I mean, playing guitar in the Cramps, and in the Gun Club, and in the Bad Seeds? That's baaad. Stumbled upon a site called New York Night Train just now, which published an extensive oral history in 14 installments about the Kid's exploits over the years: check it out here. Fascinating stuff.
And here's a lil' snippet, about the time the Cramps were recording their mighty Psychedelic Jungle album. "For that song Don’t Eat Stuff Off The Sidewalk, I remember the engineer saying, 'Karen Carpenter has the most perfect crash cymbal. I have to go to Karen Carpenter’s locker and get her crash cymbal!' And I thought that was a really good ironic choice for a song called Don’t Eat Stuff Off The Sidewalk - to use Karen Carpenter’s cymbal. So that is her crash cymbal on that song." Bet you didn't know that, pop kids.

The Cramps - Don't Eat Stuff Off The Sidewalk

Call Me

All heed the call, as we call the tune. Presenting yet another six pack for your listening pleasure. After all, "if you're gonna try, you gotta face the music..."

Plainsong - Call The Tune
Television - Call Mr. Lee
The Monkeywrench - Call My Body Home
MC5 - Call Me Animal
Kenny McKennon - Call Your Daddy, Baby
The Cramps - Call Of The Wighat

Big El Looks Down

Drawing by Peter Pontiac, Dutch comic artist supreme. The Memphis Flash and Lux & Ivy share the soundtrack. "You've got me all tore up..."

Elvis Presley - Wearin' That Loved On Look

The Cramps - I Can't Hardly Stand It

Good Mornin', Captain

Do you need another mule skinner? Thought so. Here's three generations of 'em.

Jimmie Rodgers - Blue Yodel No. 8 (Mule Skinner Blues) MP3

Dolly Parton - Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8) MP3

The Cramps - Muleskinner Blues MP3

It Feels So Goood

Legend has it that when rockabilly wild man Hasil Adkins (1937-2005) was young and listened to Hank Williams on the radio, he thought that Hank was playing all the instruments - guitar, bass and drums - by himself, and all at the same time at that. In his isolated neck of the woods, Hasil never had any idea one could have a band, with different guys playing different instruments.

So what did Hasil do? He simply learned to play the way he thought Hank did it, all by himself. And he´s been a one-man band ever since. The manic She Said from ´64 was made popular by The Cramps, but I tell you there´s nothing like the original. "She jumped up outta the car, pulled her hair down her eye... Do you know what she tried to tell me?"

Hasil Adkins - She Said MP3

The Cramps - She Said MP3

For Lux

Just received the sad tiding that Cramps vocalist Lux Interior died yesterday of a previously-existing heart condition. He was sixty years old. Lux was a great singer and an outrageous performer who almost single-handedly revitalized the rockabilly genre in the early eighties. He walked the walk and he talked the talk. 

Albums like Songs The Lord Taught Us (´80), Psychedelic Jungle (´81) and the singles compilation Off The Bone (´83) should be in every record collection. Here are some Cramps favorites in his memory.

The Cramps - The Way I Walk MP3

The Cramps - Lonesome Town MP3

The Cramps - Drug Train MP3