R.I.P. Lux Interior

Well, I suppose it's inevitable.
The heroes you grew up looking up to getting older at the same rate you are.
They eventually start passing away.

Today, Lux Interior died.

I was a fan of the Cramps starting in high school. The first recording I heard of theirs was Gravest Hits.
Human Fly.
I was blown away. There was no bass guitar. Didn't need one.
The picture of them on the cover was so.... weird.
I'd never seen anything like them before. And the picture on the back of them playing live just looked like sheer chaos. Even to this day, I'm not sure where Lux is in the picture. I've always thought he was in the pajamas-looking outfit and climbing over the seats, which was even cooler.
I never got to see them till I moved to California. The first time was at the now-defunct I-Beam in San Francisco about 1985.
My friends and I were in line out front when Lux walked right by us.
He was bigger than life, and wearing a gold suit. He actually fit right in with the Haight St. crowd.
I had a cassette of my band Capt. 9's & the Knickerbocker Trio with me, just in case I got to meet one of them. Here was my chance.
My friends and I jumped out of line and ran after Lux, yelling his name.
He turned around and greeted us with a huge smile. Wasn't expecting that!
We ran up to him and told him what huge Cramps fans we were, blah, blah, blah. Stuff I'm sure he heard a million times from a million kids. But he was genuinely flattered. We told him it was our first time seeing them and he said he hopes we enjoy the show and asked our names and shook our hands. He started to turn to walk away, when I suddenly remembered my cassette!
I said, "Lux, I want to give you a copy of my band's cassette. I hope you'll like it!" and handed him the tape.
He could have jammed it in his pocket, muttered "thanks" and kept walking and that would have been good enough for me.
But he didn't.
He looked at the cover, said the name of the band out loud (which was a thrill right there! Lux Interior saying my band's name!) and started laughing at the song titles, reading each one out loud. " 'I'm a Pig'! Ha! That's great! 'Fireman's Stomp'! Haha!"
He was so freakin' nice to us when he didn't have to be. That's stuck with me all these years. THAT'S how you treat fans. With respect. Like it's because of them that you're where you are. Not condesention. Not with an "I've heard this shit a million times. Tell me I'm great and go away" attitude.
He was one of the absolute all time great rock n roll front men. The Cramps put on some of the best shows I've ever been to.
One of punk rock's truly "nice guys".
He'll be missed.

As my own stupid little tribute, here's a video of Capt. 9's & the Knickerbocker Trio performing the Cramps "I Ain't Nuthin' But A Gorehound" in an alley in Williamsport PA sometime in 1983.