Word: joey
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...Joey Ramone is dead. There was a nice obit in the Times that ran for two days straight, another one in Newsday, and the Voice ran a Lenny Kaye memorial, but I wonder how folks outside of New York are taking the news. The Ramones never had a hit record, they never played "Saturday Night Live" (though there was a "Simpsons" episode) and their top-selling album, the Spector-produced "End of the Century," only made it to 44. Were they just another cult band?. I don't see America mourning, and it's too bad. Maybe I can supply...
...Some context For people of a certain age (and Joey, born in 1951, was just two years older than me) punk was our second chance. We had bands in high school and college or instead of college; we were all trying to make being rock stars a viable career option. But to make real money as a musician (and I'm not talking about the bread-and-butter gigs that kept many of us going - weddings, bar mitzvahs, the lounge circuit, teaching) you have to have the kind of luck that wins a state lottery, that draws a full house...
Fifteen or 20 people showed up but the momentum slowly built. Patti Smith showed up next, a local poet with advanced show-biz genes, just beginning to build her legend by knocking them dead at the St. Mark's Poetry Project. With guitarist Lenny Kaye (read his tribute to Joey here) and band, she was added to the weekend lineup and for the first time, the place was packed...
...Four guys from Queens Dee Dee, Johnny, Tommy and Joey all shared the same invented last name, borrowed from the "Paul Ramon" alias Paul McCartney used to register at hotels. It meant nothing, and they claimed nothing for themselves: They were like all the rest of us. For years Joey and Johnny would tell fans, "We suck. You can play better than us; anybody can play better than us. Start a band." After their legendary July 4th, 1976, Roundhouse concert in England, it seemed like every member ot the audience - which included the guys soon to form The Sex Pistols...
...then there was Joey...