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| Miriam Linna (left) talks about her time in The Cramps back in '76 for her Kicksville Radio show on October 28th. |
Writes Miriam Linna...
The Cramps 50th anniversary is on November 1st. Join me on the last Kicksville of the month (Oct.28) at WPKN for the first-time, first-hand telling of the true story -- the first gig and first year of my first band, told for the first time. I'll be sharing some recordings from the day and entertaining questions. If you have any burning queries, send 'em on over. In that first year, the Cramps played forty shows with this original lineup. I hope you get something enjoyable out of this. Ive been working on a love letter to these days in way of a teenage memoir, and it is based on a blog that I abandoned long ago. Read it here. I'm restarting it this month after a years-long absence. The devil, as always, is in the details. I don't know who may be left from that first show at CBGB - James? Peter Crowley? Above photo by Richard Robinson. https://kicksville66.blogspot.com/
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL NOVEMBER 1, 1976
Kicksville closes the auspicious month of October looking back at the 50th anniversary of my first band, the Cramps. The newspaper ad here is for this very first Cramps show on Nov 1, 1976 when we were listed as "Special Showcase" openers for my Ohio pals the Dead Boys. And here is the first handbill - photo by James Sliman who went on to manage the Dead Boys (and big time show-biz types). I did the crappy lettering on the handbill and xeroxed a bunch to tape onto light poles in the neighborhood. The Cramps had never played before Nov 1. This was the Your Attention Please moment. The word "Psychobilly" was nabbed out of Johnny Cash's March '76 #1 country hit "One Piece At A Time". Everything really was "one piece at a time" in those days, and continues to be, as I piece together the early days in New York City, and the real origins of at least the drum sound, which was pure rust belt rampage. We'll get into it. I was self appointed prez of the Rocket From The Tombs Fan Club, the astonishing launching pad for the Dead Boys. My own half-wit theorizing about the Cramps very industrial midwest sound - Cleveland and Detroit - will be available for your edification as we fly, as always, by the seat of our pants. They really were the best of times and the worst of times, but out of that roiling boil came some glorious noise. I'm just trying to do this jigsaw puzzle before it rains anymore, and it's raining all the time, for a buncha midwest monsters of the highest grade. And PS : Bryan's insane noise elevated the whole deal into an aggressive factory blitz.
