[kj] (OT) The Cramps in Hollywood

[TB]

 First time I'd seen The Cramps since around '90. Used to be one of my 
favorite bands back in the day and I kind of lost track and about a year ago 
caught up on all their recent albums from the past 10 years and was hoping 
they'd tour again.

I took my time getting to the House of Blues last night however still I got 
there about 20 minutes before they even opened the doors about 9:10pm. The 
show was close to sold out and I bet it did sell out soon after the doors 
opened - the place was packed by 11:00. There was a pretty diverse crowd. 
Lot's of old school fans, some more recent converts as well as a few people 
in mostly cheesy costumes (one guy dressed normally except he had yellow 
"police tape" wrapped around him: "I'm an accident." Uh huh.) although 
nothing like a Bauhaus show I saw back in '98. Probably the most mowhawked 
fantail day-glo hairdos I've seen since the early 80's though.

Opening band Groovy Ghoulies didn't come on until after 10:00 and played 
about a half hour set. Their sound was pretty much a poppy Ramones vibe and 
they even covered The Ramones' "Pet Cemetery" near the end of their set. I 
was pleasantly surprised at Demolition Dollrod's set. Kind of a harder (and 
better rocking) version of Peaches, this three piece had a nice groove and 
some solid tunes. The singer/guitarist was a pretty hot chick although her 
"jive talkin' black chick" persona got old real fast. Tthe sameness in many 
of their songs I think wore thin on some in the audience by the tail end of 
their set, plus the fact that it was about 11:15 when their set finished and 
people were getting *real* restless. I will say their drummer has the most 
spartan kit I've ever seen (just a floor tom and snare) that'd make Slim Jim 
Phantom's setup look cluttered.

Cramps didn't come on until well after midnight and by then, people were 
getting a little pissy and the floor in front of the stage was a sauna. It 
was pretty easy to secure a spot about 3 people back from the front of the 
stage although once the show started, the asshole factor in a few people 
made things a bit of a pain in the ass but I'll get to that later.

They opened with the cover tune "Mystery Train" and seemed very tight 
considering how short a time this lineup has been playing. Guitarist Poison 
Ivy still looks very nice and hasn't aged a bit in the 16 or so years since 
I last saw her. Her playing is also very sharp and focused and her sound is 
cleaner and less feedback laden than anytime in the past, imo.

Lux is showing his age though, his hair is now dyed coppery blonde and he's 
showing some receding hairline but he can still sing as good as ever which 
is where it counts. His stage presence is a lot less manic then I remember 
but he did wreck 3 mic stands in the course of the show but he (thankfully 
for us guys) kept his clothes on the entire show. He was very talkative the 
entire show and has developed a sort of quasi-David Lee Roth onstage banter 
persona that at times can be pretty funny, while during others can crush the 
momentum of the show (like during the rambling tv guide rap).

Completing this lineup, Harry Drumdinni(sp?) who's back in the band and 
newest addition Sean (ex-Rob Zombie bassist) who replaced previous bassman 
Chopper just last month are perfect in their roles and imo, this is probably 
the best sounding version of the band I've ever seen going back to '86. 
Harry really is a hard hitter on the kit and Sean's (mostly) clean and 
up-front bass sound is a big plus ompared to the often ragged, fuzz bass 
style from some previous players. On the downside, when she needed to 
provide that needed ratty, rattling "fuzz"on a couple tunes, she didn't cut 
through the mix like Chopper or Candy. Still, her stage presence and overall 
playing is a perfect fit for the band.

The setlist included a healthy dose of early stuff including TV Set with the 
rambling tv guide intro by Lux, Sunglasses After Dark, Teenage Werewolf, Goo 
Goo Muck, with She Said and Tear It Up for the encores. From the late 80's, 
songs included What's Inside a Girl, Everything Goes (a highlight, imo) and 
Bop Pills while more recent songs played included Ultra Twist, Big Black 
Witchcraft Rock, Mean Machine and Papa Satan. I know I'm forgetting a few 
songs. I can always complain about favorites being left out (I'll never see 
Garbageman live, it seems), like Lets Get Fucked Up, Color Me Black, God 
Damn Rock n Roll, Like a Bad Girl Should and so on, but to be fair, this was 
the best overall group of songs I've seen live from the band.

On the downside, as I mentioned their were some assholes up front on the 
floor during The Cramps set including this one skinny rat faced guy (think 
Stiv Bators) who kept trying to climb and grope people to weasel his way up 
front and for some idiotic reason kept flipping off Lux anytime Lux looked 
his way. Around mid-show, after about the 10th time the guy put his smelly, 
sweaty arms over my face I had to threaten to kick the fucker's ass to get 
him to settle the fuck down which did the trick. Another chick near the end 
of the show tried pushing her way to the rail and at one point screeched me 
to let her in front of me because "I have really big booooobs" to which I 
yelled back, "yeah, well I got a big cock but all that got me was a wife!"

And I can't end this without saying how much I hate the whole House of Blues 
thing. They play commercials and videos of shitty current bands on a big 
screen covering the stage between acts. It's like the scene in Clockwork 
Orange where Alex is forced to watch movies with his eyes pinned open - I 
now hate the band "New Found Glory" with a passion after being subjected to 
their video 4 times last night.

All in all, a great show and I think the band easily has a few more years to 
go before calling it a day although there are strong rumors this is it for 
the band. They're playing in San Francisco on the 31st and in Anaheim next 
Friday for anyone interested in California and I'd strongly recommend anyone 
even remotely curious to go check 'em out as they tour very rarely anymore.

T.B.