Ramonesmania: Older News

PHOTOS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY  RAMONES 30TH

ANNIVERSARY PARTY

CAN BE SEEN AT THE LINK BELOW

BE WELL

RAMONES BEAT ON CANCER Photos here

MANIA

RAMONES MANIA

MANIA

Updated: 10.9.04

October 8, 2004 - NYC @ SPIRIT - Photos here

BE WELL : RAMONES BEAT ON CANCER

Some of punks best rockers and rock's best punks came out to celebrate the marking of the RAMONES' thirty year anniversary in music, 1974-2004.

Wow! What a really great tribute in New York City last night!

The Event

The NYC event was a tribute to the Ramones, billed as BE WELL : RAMONES BEAT ON CANCER, officially honoring Joey and Johnny Ramone, both of whom died of Cancer, by raising money to fund the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Research Center and Lymphoma Research Foundation, with performances headlined by Blondie and the Strokes.

The event, just as in the recent California tribute show recently, was co-produced by long time Ramones art director and light man Arturo Vega with Johnny Ramones' blessing and earlier involvement. Superbly done.

Last night's event also doubled as a celebration of sorts for the shared birthdays of the late Johnny Ramone and Ramones bassist C.J. (October 8) and the marking of the RAMONES' thirty year anniversary in music, chronicled as 1974-2004. Cool program, poster + other items at the merch counter btw.

The Venue

Upon entering the club and giving your ticket to the oversized goons (think spiritual I say to myself) at the door, your first brought upon a 6ft high encased mannequin fully dressed in Johnny Ramones' jeans and tee-shirt with two of Johnny's favorite Mosrite guitars displayed on stands on either side. I read that it is from the personal collection of Andy Gore. As you proceed in you come upon a cool mezzanine area that had the greatest collection of OFFICIAL RAMONES MEMORABILIA including t-shirts, sneakers and pants worn by the band, uber-rare photos, classic banners and many letters and rare pieces from the band. Tommy Ramones' early authored letters from "LOUDMOUTH PRODUCTIONS" are on display.

Everything ever saved was on display, from Johnny's receipt from his 1st guitar (mosrite of course), to his first passport, classic flyers from the 1st and 2nd shows EVER, session photos from in the studio on the first album, classic passes, ticket stubs plus travel itinerary's of the many tours from around the globe over 25 years.  (editors note: many of the passes on display were from our private collection, here on display since forever).

Urgggh - The events only negative was at the hands of the club unfortunately. The proprietors seemed to have booked another event to begin WAY TOO EARLY and by midnight the tribute show was still going on with Blondie performing her set, and in comes about 100 or so latino babes and italian stallions from the "boros" looking to steam up the place like a scene out of Saturday Night Fever. Very uncool, but the Ramones crowd managed to handle it....believe it or not. They new crowd did not even get who was on stage or understand what was happening. Super weird karma at SPIRIT. ahahah.

The Performances

Rockin' the NYC club SPIRIT where Blondie, The Strokes, Sonic Youth, Tommy Ramone, C.J. Ramone, Elvis Ramone, frequent Ramones record producer Daniel Rey, the unstoppable Joan Jett, Andrew WK, Alan Vega (Suicide), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Bill Stephenson, Mark Sheehan, Jed Davis & Bandcamp. And rock they did.

Jed Davis & Bandcamp got the evening kicking with a tremendous high energy set which included the now classic song "I Still Remember You", produced by Tommy Ramone. The crowd was in awe all evening as Blondie pulled out all the favorites...non-stop, and the Strokes blasted away and held nothing back through 11 songs, new hits and older ones. Oddly the Strokes never performed any Ramones songs in their respective set which I think the crowd was expecting every now and then. I was.(?) Sonic Youth was intense as always n' super tight, in addition to long time punk, Alan Vega from SUICIDE).

The night however belonged to the Ramones on stage, in SPIRIT and in song, and the best set was the Ramones Tribute that included Daniel Rey, (opening their set with a blistering rendition of "Wart Hog") and C.J. Ramone, as the foundation with rotating lead singers which included Andrew WK, Josh Homme and Tommy Ramone amongst others (singing I Wanna Be Sedated). Closing that group set on vocals was punk goddess Joan Jett, introduced to the crowd as the "only possible female Ramone if there ever could have been a female Ramone" (something like that).

Joan Jett, forever young looking, came out to a roaring reception by the packed house and ripped into the vocals on 4 classic Ramones songs that where so tight and on-the-mark that for a split second, you could have almost closed your eyes and have been back in time at a real RAMONES show (SPIRIT is right! yikes!-almost I said). The classic "Rockaway Beach" was perfectly mauled by Joan Jett, C.J. Ramone and Daniel Rey like a chainsaw, just as it should have been. "Cretin Hop" was more of the same. Every song they did was the same; relentless, loud, fast, and it felt like the roof was gonna' split open or something. 1-2-3-4! The crowd was locked and loaded. It was pure punk again for 12 minutes during that set. A classic punk performance if ever there was. - wow! DJ Strip superbly provided the momentum on the turntables in between sets of the bands. Check out some work by DJ Strip here.

Sightings

Almost every cool celebrity Ramones fan on the planet was there from actor Vincent Gallo (a close friend of J.R.) to Sean Lennon, actress and Strokerette Drew Barrymore, MTV Godfather Kurt Loder, Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads),  all co-mingling with family members of the Ramones, including Johnny's wife Linda, Joey's brother Mickey and his mother Charlotte plus many more.

An army of long-time close friends of the Ramones organization were in attendance including the man to first sign them to a record deal and Sire Records chief, Seymour Stein, Ramones road manger Monty Melnick, Michael Alago, Bob Gruen, John Holmstrom (PUNK Magazine), Jimmy (from Trash and Vaudeville), Jimmy Marino, Donna Gaines, plus a billion other from every punk entourage. Yes we have em' too. shhhh.

No bullshit though. No drama. Straight rock n' roll all night long and to the point.

I think Johnny Ramone would have been very proud.

Hail the Ramones! Long Live the RAMONES!

LONG LIVE PUNK!

Marky Ramone

"Johnny Ramone was my bandmate and brother for over 15 years," the statement said. "The bond between band members was closer than any others in the Ramones’ organization. John kept things in control when they could have spun out of control very easily. I'll never forget the day he asked me to join the Ramones in 1978. I always admired his guitar playing. He was the originator of the down-stroke eighth-note guitar style, which is very difficult to do for hours on end like he did playing in the Ramones. Four months ago, I knew about the serious nature of his illness, but for a while, he had a turn for the better. This comes as a shock, but it was inevitable because of the severity of his condition which worsened more recently. We were lucky enough to talk and hang out a few months ago when he was strong enough to do the commentary track on the DVD Ramones Raw (read Aversion's review), which was his last professional contribution to the Ramones. I spoke to him most recently when I was in LA for the 30th Anniversary concert that we put together for Ramones fans. Based on our last conversation, I felt this moment was coming. I'm sorry to see him go --like this. I hope the fans take the news as best they can. His legacy will live on in every band that has, is and always will be trying to duplicate the Ramones sound. It's a sad day for Ramones fans and a sad day for rock and roll."

Photo Credits:

Ramonesmania.com

The photos of the fan tributes outside of CBGB's were taken on 9.16.04 by staff at Ramonesmania.com

Johnny by Steve Miller -

What the public didn't know about Johnny Ramone is that he cared.

Johnny cared about the people he may have not paid enough attention to during his life and he cared about anybody he might have inadvertently hurt along the way to creating music history.

''I didn't ever want to do anything to hurt anyone,'' he told me as we gathered notes for his upcoming memoirs, which we began working on in April. ''I was always doing the best with what I had.''

To begin the upcoming book, Johnny says something, which he dictated with succinct precision, as if he had been holding it in for the moment: ''I want you Ramones fans to understand that I would not play the way I play if I were not the person I am, and the Ramones would never have been the band it was without that.''

It seemed to be an apology of sorts, as if the person that he had been did not square with the person he grew into, who was a faithful husband, and, by all accounts, a very true friend.

Johnny would hate for his legacy to be ''whitewashed,'' a word he used when he read or heard something that glossed over the bad or negative aspects of an issue.

So to some, Johnny was a nasty, difficult person. Many have said as much, it's out there among the books and articles and video collections. Some of it is true. Some of it isn't. Some more of it will soon be out there for people to decide.

But from this vantage point, even in the throes of his illness, he was never brusque, never impatient. Listening back to the tapes of our many hours of conversations, he was at times strident and opinionated. Other times, he was tired, worn out by the sickness that he fought with such courage.

His illness had sapped some of his anger, he noted ruefully.

"It has changed me and I don't know that I like how,'' he said. ''It has softened me up and I liked the old me better. I don't even have the energy to be angry. I liked being angry. ''

But he kept on and we kept on, daily phone calls and several weeks of meetings at his Los Angeles home. Sometimes he talked baseball. Sometimes he bitched about liberals.

And he always understood his lot in life and how lucky he was to play music. And he was very grateful.

" There are people who really have to work for a living, they work in coal mines, they sweep streets, they collect garbage,'' he told me. ''It was taxing on the mind because of all the travel and there were certain pressures, but it was nothing like real work that most people do. I was very lucky.''

As Arturo Vega, the band's lighting man and art director for all of its 22 years, most aptly said, ''Johnny was the misunderstood Ramone. What he did was so basic and elemental that it was beyond the idea of liking him. People never like authority and that was what he had to exert in the Ramones. He was misunderstood because he was not the lovable Joey or the crazy punk Dee Dee.''

The Ramones were what counted for Johnny, more than himself, and bigger to him than any other entity in his universe. He loved that unit more than he loved himself.

When we worked through changes in the manuscript, Johnny would quietly chastise me if anything looked as if he were taking credit, due or not.

It was that selflessness that made the Ramones the giants they were. When Johnny recognized that a guitar part could be played better by someone other than himself, he stepped aside.

The guitar chord at the end of ''You're Gonna Kill That Girl'' was Tommy. Walter Lure and Daniel Rey played fills on some albums that, Johnny said, ''would've taken me longer to get down and even then they wouldn't have sounded as good.''

His leadership corralled the formidable individual talents of the Ramones and sent them from cult band during their existence to the mass acceptance of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

''The Ramones were his band, he was always right and he's a bully, a real bully,'' said Danny Fields, the band's first manager. ''But always for the right reasons. His sense of justice was impeccable.''

Gary Kurfirst, who succeeded Fields in 1980, saw right away who ran the show.

''Johnny was the glue,'' Kurfirst said. ''They would work for three months straight, come home for two weeks and take one day off, then he made them go into rehearsal so they wouldn't lose their chops. I asked him how they could do that and he said it was like a basketball team, 'you have to practice or you lose it.' That was Johnny.'' The fans were his playground, the people who made it worth all his while. Johnny signed endlessly for anyone who requested.

''I started to see them when I was 16 they were one of my favorite bands,'' said Jose Theodore who is now all-star goalie for the Montreal Canadians. ''But when I was 17, me and my brother and a couple of friends when to see them in Montreal and we waited outside the venue and followed them to their hotel and when they got out of their van I asked them for their autograph. I told Johnny that I was going to play NHL hockey and they were all really nice.''

In the exchanges of fandom and partings, Jose gave his address to Gene the Cop, Johnny's friend who was traveling with the band.

''That Christmas, I got a card and it said 'Merry Christmas' and it was signed by Johnny,'' Theodore said. ''With that kind of thing, and how nice they were, they taught me how to treat my fans. I was just a kid and they treated me like that. Imagine.''

Johnny relished the attention and felt humbly honored by those fans.

''I always had that in mind, to treat people like I'd like to be treated,'' Johnny said. ''I tell people who are becoming celebrities how important that is. I hope someone pays attention to that.''

Johnny was the tough Ramone, though, and nobody forgot about it. This was part of the reason for his remorse that was noted at the top of this page. He knew he knocked heads and he felt the tension he created in the band.

As for the money, well, Johnny was all about it. He watched his money grow with capitalistic glee as his career progressed, befitting his Republican status. He hated wasting dough and would scold others if he saw it going on. They stayed in cheaper hotels unless the promoter was paying.

And he was characteristically honest and unashamed about his quest for financial security. When ''Blitzkrieg Bop'' became a music bed for a Bud Lite commercial, Johnny was ecstatic even as some cried sellout.

"I thought it was terrific. I liked seeing the commercial and I would get questions about how I could let them do it. It was the easiest money I ever made. It made the Bud commercial better. It would have been bad if it was a lame commercial, but I mean, beer, which is all-American.

I thought it was good.''

Johnny departs as the purveyor of what is the most important musical movement of the 20th century, punk rock. It was born when rock music was still just breaking out of adolescence at the age of 20 or so.

The man who changed its direction was a 6-foot tall lightening bolt of wiry fury, a man who burst the sonic volume level with a frown and a Mosrite that was cranked to the heights, the man who influenced generations.

And the movement continues.

We sat in his living room one afternoon last month, several weeks after Johnny had narrowly escaped death via an infection he had developed related to his cancer. He was tired and we were about to wrap up a day of book talk.

But that mind, ever sharp, honed in on what is the substance of the parting chapter in the book, one in which he describes his battle with prostate cancer.

''We all have time limits and mine came a little early,'' he said to me, quietly, his eyes closing.

''But I've had a great life no matter how it turns out now. I've had the best wife, Linda, that I could ever hope to find and I've had such great friends that really care about me and would do anything they could for me.''

President Bush, speaking in eulogy of Ronald Reagan, who passed away in June and was one of Johnny's few heroes, said that the late president had ''principles that are etched in his soul.''

Johnny's own principle-riddled soul is finally resting. May his afterlife be as fruitful as his life was here with us.

- Steve Miller  (September 15, 2004)

STROKES and BLONDIE

RAMONES NYC 30TH ANNIVERSARY/TRIBUTE PARTY!

October 8th, 2004  - New York City

THE STROKES and BLONDIE will be headlining a special benefit/30th anniversary tribute in honor of THE RAMONES.

The New Yorkers will perform in aid of Cedars Sinai Cancer Research Centre and the Lymphoma Cancer Research Foundation, and takes place on October 8 at New York Spirit Club, according to Billboard.

More acts signing on as you read this...Ticket info coming -

IN-STORE APPEARANCE:

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH - 6:30 PM

MARKY RAMONE and Producer/Director JOHN CAFIERO will be meeting fans and signing autographs, including signing copies of the new DVD "RAMONES RAW", at the VIRGIN MEGASTORE TIMES SQUARE, NYC, 1540 Broadway. The in-store event will be held to celebrate the release of "RAMONES RAW", the first officially authorized Ramones DVD containing OVER 5 HOURS OF MATERIAL including vintage concert footage, rare TV appearances, backstage footage, over 20 songs and more! "RAMONES RAW" arrives in stores late September.

UPDATE:

PHOTOS FROM THE CALIFORNIA RAMONES 30TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY CAN BE SEEN AT THE LINK BELOW

Sherry Globman Photos

30TH ANNIVERSARY

PARTY/TRIBUTE SHOW

GABBA GABBA 30! 

7.15.04 - REPRINT FROM RAMONESWORLD.COM FAN CLUB NOTICE:

Hey everybody, since the last time I wrote to you we added a big friend of the Ramones to the list of stars performing at our party, I'm talking about Eddie Vedder, and that's not all there will be more. So let this be a reminder that if you are planning to attend, get your tickets immediately after they go on sale tomorrow Saturday 14 at 12 PM (noon) California time, so do the math to get the right time where you are.

RAMONES 30TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Tune in to

Pinhead Radio

Marky Ramone Tour Dates:

misfits.com

NEW TOUR DATES with Jerry Only from The Misfits and Dez Cadena from Black Flag - the tour dates are available at misfits.com

Jerry, Marky & Dez will headline several select dates, now confirmed throughout Europe in Sept. including Holland, Belgium, Czech Republic & Russia! All confirmed dates and venues can be found below. The Misfits will also team with none other than ALICE COOPER in Los Angeles on October 22nd for a special Halloween themed show you won't want to miss! Look for more Fall tour dates to be added in the near future.

SEPT - OCT 2004:


SEPT-15 DEVENTER, HOLLAND : CLUB BURGERWEESHUIS

SEPT-16 EINDHOVEN, HOLLAND : CLUB EFFENAAR

SEPT-17 HAARLEM, HOLLAND : CLUB PATRONAAT

SEPT-18 WIEZE, BELGIUM : AALST ROCKT FESTIVAL

SEPT-19 SNEEK, HOLLAND: CLUB BOLWERK

SEPT-22 PRAHA, CZECH REPUBLIC: ABATON

SEPT-23 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA : PORT CLUB

SEPT-24 MOSCOW, RUSSIA : SMALL SPORT ARENA LUZHNIKI

OCT-09 WORCESTER, MA: THE PALLDIUM (HORRORFEST 2004)

OCT-22 LOS ANGELES, CA: THE GREEK THEATRE (WITH ALICE COOPER!)

Marky Ramone

send Marky Ramone a

Happy Birthday note!

marky4321@aol.com

Rebel in a rebel's world

"Johnny Ramone, punk's sole big-name Republican, became the right-wing's answer to Michael Moore..."

Gotham Road's

Michale Graves:

'the cool thing now

is to hate the government'

either way you feel

ROCK THE VOTE

IN NOVEMBER

Click to register!

7.4.04

The Ramones

...the musical?

Is Broadway next?

And who's the pinhead gonna be? hahaha

"Gabba Gabba Hey!"

The Musical!

Read more here.

Johnny Ramone: I'm Not Dying

by Lia Haberman (via E-Online)
Jun 18, 2004, 9:30 AM PT

Hey ho, Johnny Ramone's not ready to go.

Following reports that the legendary punk guitarist lay dying of cancer in a Los Angeles-area hospital, the Ramones rocker and his wife, Linda, released a statement saying he'll be just fine, thank you.

The 55-year-old has been hospitalized with an infection related to prostate cancer, his rep said Thursday.

"He is receiving the medication he needs and will be leaving the hospital next week to continue his recovery," per spokesman Paul Bloch.

Ramone (aka John Cummings) is being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was reportedly diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago and has undergone extensive chemotherapy treatment to battle the disease--with varied results according to some.

The current negative prognosis stems from an interview bandmate Marky Ramone gave Rolling Stone magazine.

"He went through many chemotherapy treatments," Marky told the mag. "Some of it worked better than others. At this point [the cancer] has started to go into other areas of the body."

"Johnny's been a champ in confronting this, but at this point I think the chances are slim," he concluded.

While not exactly a clean bill of health, Johnny's statement does scuttle the deathbed watch and is a rare bit of good news for the hard-luck band.

Two of the band's other founding members, frontman Joey Ramone and bassist Dee Dee Ramone, died in recent years. Joey (born Jeff Hyman) lost his fight with lymphatic cancer in April 2001, while Dee Dee (aka Douglas Colvin) succumbed to a heroin overdose in June 2002.

The band formed in Queens in 1974 and revolutionized rock 'n' roll with such hard-charging two-minute, three-chord anthems as "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Rockaway Beach" and "Teenage Lobotomy."

The group officially disbanded in 1996 following the release of their 14th and final studio album, Adios Amigos, and a farewell tour.

In 2002, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Johnny, Marky, Dee Dee and drummer turned producer Tommy Ramone reuniting onstage and paying tribute to Joey.

A brudda's keeper or creeper?

The gospel according to Mark?

Great Drummer/

Bad Spokesman

Too much of anything is no good Marky. even press.

We love the Ramones in the news, any of them. Elvis Ramone too. But it is kinda strange that illnesses of the band members have been revealed by Marky, not the members themselves. Weird shit.

The Present - Johnny Ramone fighting cancer

Marky Ramone (born Marc Bell) says he felt compelled to update the public about his longtime pal after receiving a flood of email from fans and news organizations concerned about Johnny's health; Marky says he felt Johnny would be too ill to respond.

Past - Marky tells why 'If you sit still, that's when you die'.

"...Joey just stays in his house. Occasionally he will do a show at Saint Marks Place maybe once or twice a year, but he's not really active. The guy is going to chemotherapy and he has to beat it to be able to do anything. And I hope he does.

Interviewer) It sounds pretty tough.

Yeah, like I said if you stay still you are going to end up the dying. You've got to move.

http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/marky_ramone.html

Hang in there Johnny!

Get well soon bro'.

Gabba Gabba Hey!

- Queens Village Crew

"I Remember You"

I remember you

I remember You

I remember you

I remember lying awake at night and thinking just of you

But things don't last forever

and somehow baby

They never really do

They never really do

Happy Birthday Joey

Arturo & Vinny's Excellent Adventure!

or..."how to right a wrong" (ramones style)

Background: The following photos were taken two nights before the "Joey Ramone Place" dedication in NYC on November 30th, 2003.

see and read more...

The ceremony for the NYC installation of the "Joey Ramone Way" sign is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Nov. 30th @ the corner of 2nd St. and the Bowery - (w/Ceremony at CBGB'S)

*** NYC got this one right! ***

Queens Village says "cONgRaTUlaTioNs pUnk!"

Ephemera Press, a publishing company devoted to celebrating the history of popular culture, the fine arts, and trends in politics through the visual power of fine illustration has featured an illustration of Joey Ramone on their "NYC East Village" map!

click to enlarge

Visit Ephemera Press

Ramones, ramonesmania, Ramones mania

LEGEND OF A ROCK STAR

THE LAST TESTAMENT OF DEE DEE RAMONE

Book review coming by ZiggyRamone

The poet laureate of punk speaks from the grave.

This is a poignant look inside the delicate mind of Dee Dee Ramone during the last months and weeks leading up to his passing.

THE TRUTH IS OUT! OR IS IT?

Review of the 2003 DOCUMENTARY: END OF THE CENTURY