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National Features >

  • City Pages

    Michele Bachmann, Unmuzzled

    You don't need to read Sarah Palin's book to hear the ravings of a mad woman.

    By Matt Snyders

  • Miami New Times

    Pimp Daddy

    The rise and fall of a chubby sex-cult leader.

    By Natalie O'Neill

  • Riverfront Times

    Babe 'n' Arms

    Tom was a hot-tempered cross-dresser with a garage full of guns--and then he became Rachel.

    By Nicholas Phillips

  • Dallas Observer

    The Fight for Texas

    Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are locked in a battle over the soul of the GOP. They're also running for governor.

    By Sam Merten

The Cramps

Surf punk pariahs ooze into the Valley

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Michael Alan Goldberg

Published on September 16, 2004

Like the black-blooded, flesh-rotted, brain-slurping demons of the kitschy B-movies they adore, you simply can't stop the Cramps. Nor should you want to. Thirty years into their deliciously decadent career, latex-clad howler Lux Interior and six-string-slinging supervixen Poison Ivy Rorschach (and whatever rhythm section they're employing this week) are just as trashy, creepy, deviant and fun as ever. Witnessing a Cramps show is like stumbling upon a secret pagan shindig in the woods behind the trailer park, where sketchy carnival freaks, dope-addled Elvis impersonators, slimy swamp creatures, swingin' Russ Meyer sexpots and maybe-malevolent Martians gyrate wildly to stompin' horrorbilly garage-rock in front of a blazing bonfire. Now that's a party!