Got Mumps?

Lance Loud of the Mumps, live at the now-defunct Starwood in West Hollywood on that Halloween night that they opened for Devo.

Devo may have been all that... all art school and cool, ironic and groovy. But at the time, for my money (and film), my home boy, Lance Loud was the "art fag" who had it all. Lance had a bigger than life personality, on stage and off, he put on an amazing show without holding anything back. In fact, in his own words, he sweat "like a hog."

An unwitting teenaged "reality tv" star in the days when "reality tv" consisted only of the ground-breaking cinema-verite of his family's life on PBS, "An American Family," Lance Loud emerged as a natural icon. We are from the same hometown, and Lance and his friend and Mumps bandmate Kristian Hoffman were heroes to me because they got out of town pretty much right after high school, moved to New York and became the darlings of the underground doing nothing more than being themselves.

I will always be in awe of this photo of Lance with Andy Warhol. I think Lance must have treasured it too, because it became the basis of their fan club flyer. And yes, I was a charter member, as was Pleasant. After all, Mumps were the very first cover boys of Lobotomy, the brainless magazine that helped Pleasant and I become the "renown" writers and photographer we are today! (YES, that was supposed to be funny)



The few years that Mumps existed as a live band were always fun and exciting. But you can still get your Mump on, thanks to Sympathy for the Record Industry and their Mumps release, How I Saved the World. You can click on the Sympathy link to buy it, or visit any of the record stores under the buy records link on the right side of this web page.

Here's hoping you have a great weekend. I will be traveling so you may not get an update for a couple days...I leave you with one more image of Lance Loud.