He Drank With Joey Ramone

Beer roadie for the Ramones? You could have worse jobs. The biggest disappointment in this for me, however, is that they drank Bud.

The entertaining blog entry started as a review of "I Slept With Joey Ramo0ne", the bio by Joey's brother Mickey Leigh. That book is essential reading and a Bar review of it appears here.

Hey, Ho, Don't Blow!

Let's hope the news that Fox Searchlight are in talks about a biopic about the Ramones bears fruit. And that the prickly question of musical rights is cleared quickly.

Of course the prospect of a movie being done well is another matter. The issue of a council clean-up and the need to turf out anything of no use here at Ramones Manor reminded me of that Stones/Brian Jones movie "Stoned" which was among the first things to be tossed out.Oliver Stone should hang his head in shame about some of the sillier aspects of "The Doors" and although I saw "Sid and Nancy" a couple of times while living in London in the '80s, it's not on my most-watched list these days.

Your suggestions for casting for the parts of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy are welcome in comments.

He Slept With Joey Ramone

Mickey Leigh. Joey's brother. He also roadied for his band and sang with him.

Mickey's family memoir on his life growing up with Joey - presumably containing all sorts of insights into the in-fighting that occurred within the band and that continued unabated after the passing of the principal members - was written with Legs McNeil (Please Kill Me co-author with Gillian McCain.)

It's due in December.

Mickey Leigh speaks

Mickey Leigh was Joey Ramone's brother and member of his own bands like Stop and was a guitar sideman to Lester Bangs in the writer's combo, Birdland. He still looks after Joey's interest, organising the annual Birthday Bash.

He'll be releasing a book about his life as a brother to a Ramone late in 2009. It may cause some ripples judging scuttlebutt over the years. Mickey and his mum, Charlotte, always seemed to be at odds with various surviving Ramones.

Read more in this interview here.

Gabba Gabba Goof

Not my headline so I can't claim credit. The Hall of Lame has corrected an error - and received some well-deserved kicks to the arse along the way - in marking Joey Ramone's contribution to R and R. More here.

Glimpses of NY punk

There's a nice showreel from a US video production house here. Joey Ramone and friends, the Two York Dolls and Manitoba's Wild Kingdom are among the tidbits.

Sonic Reducer - Joey Ramone & Friends

Unreleased MTV footage from the 1988 Glitter Acid Trash Ball at the Ritz in Manhattan. That's Marky Ramone on drums, Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys) and Ritchie Stoltz (Plasmatics) on guitar. Daniel Rey's also on guitar so who's the bouffant guy on bass? Props to Russell from the Please Kill Me mailing list for the heads-up.

Dead, warring Ramones should be no election surprise

Hot off the Reuters wires:

Punk rock innovators the Ramones made a joyful racket, but offstage they were rarely in tune.

Band members were known to feud about everything, from their song list to politics. Guitarist Johnny Ramone was a conservative, while singer Joey Ramone was a liberal.

Johnny and Joey are both dead now, but their feud lives on in the presidential race.

You see, Johnny’s widow Linda, using the Ramone moniker, has been campaigning for Republican John McCain, and Joey’s estate is none too happy about that.

“I just want it to be clear that Linda Cummings does not represent the political views of the Ramones,” said Mickey Leigh, the president of Ramones Productions who is also Joey’s brother.

“As for Joey Ramone, the only Ramones song he would sing at a Republican event would be ‘Glad to See You Go,’” Leigh said in a press release.

It’s not the first time Linda has created dischord among the Ramones. She dated Joey but eventually married Johnny, causing the two band members not speak to each other for years, even as they continued to tour and make records.

Hey Hey Let's Go with Tish and Snooky

That's haberdasherers to the punk rock stars, Tish and Snooky (aka the Sic Fucks), paying tribute at the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash in NYC in May. Cheetah Chrome is on guitar. Andy Shernoff and J.P. Patterson of the Dictators were the house band engine room and played a set with Manitoba's Wild Kingdom too.

Hey Ho Let's Go With Arturo

Graphic designer, lighting operator and merchandise man Arturo Vega (pictured centre) was crucial to the Ramones’ visual presentation and legacy, devising the band logo plastering it across hundreds of thousands of T-shirts down the years. Plenty of bands fail to keep a handle on their merch licensing but the Ramones are the exception to the rule. Vega even played nursemaid to the dysfunctional duo of Joey and Dee Dee, giving them a place to live in his Bowery loft. So he deserves much respect.

Stay Thirsty has a good interview here.