Joey Ramone Theory

Monday, September 19. Joey Ramone was awarded the Heeb Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Jewish Music Awards. His mother, Charlotte Lesher, accepted the honor on behalf of punk's Patron Saint. Proud son of Zion Furious George Tabb handed over the award, the magazine's first. In addition to a plaque, a J-Date t-shirt and golden bagel were also involved in the ceremony. An all-girl klezmer band did a festive cover of "(Shana) is a Punk Rocker," and "Ramonia, Ramonia..." a take off on a traditional Yiddish song about Romania.

Joey was the ultimate secular Jew who's bemused sensibility imparted a critical eye, kindness and humor to life's paradoxical absurdities. Although his spiritual orientation transcended organized religion, and he never ate kosher salami, Joey, who's real name was Jeff Hyman, had a strong cultural identity and a huge neshuma--a Jewish soul. He faced the pain of social marginality, and personal alienation with humility, creativity and optimism. Like many Ramones fans, I consider Joey my own personal Bodhisattva, an enlightened soul who chose to return to Earth to guide us towards God's light and love. With all his heart, Joey believed the words he sang---"What a wonderful world."

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:4

Ramones Won't Die in Berlin

One of my favorite Ramones songs is "Born to Die in Berlin," (Adios Amigos) including Dee Dee's chorus in German, recorded live over the phone to Joey while Dee Dee was living there. As NYC fights to keep CBGB's alive, a diehard fan named Florian opened the world's first Ramones museum today in Berlin. www.ramonesmuseum.com His extensive collection of rare Ramones items, including posters, tour t-shirts and photos over a lifetimee of devotion fills a spacious one bedroom apartment. Rents in Berlin are very cheap--- around $200. In NYC we'd pay that much just to put our Ramones memorabilia in storage. Marky said, "I wish Johnny, Joey, and Dee Dee were alive to see this because they would be very flattered like I am."

RamonesManiacs unite!! Open Ramones museums in your town too! CBGB's is my designated site for a future Ramones Museum----or Arturo Vega's loft, the specious art gallery where Dee Dee and Joey used to live. Artie's loft is adjacent to Joey Ramone Place, at East 2 Street, off Bowery.

Cleveland has a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Seattle has EMPLive, housing all Jimi Hendrix' archives. NYC doesn't have a Museum of NY Rock, one that might include punk, hip hop, girl groups and other indigenous sounds. Right now, all we've got is Johnny Thunders' guitar hanging at the Hard Rock Cafe.

"Sometimes I feel like screamin'
Sometimes I feel I just can't win
Sometimes I feelin' my soul is as restless as the wind
Maybe I was born to die in Berlin"
ADIOS AMIGOS

"Hey Jawnny....." (R.I.P.)

Was Katrina Johnny Thunders' revenge? Hurricanes, thunderbolts, lighting, winds, floods and damnation for a wrongful, unsolved, dope-related death in a New Orleans flophouse in April, 1993?

Meanwhile, on September 11, NYC remembers Johnny Bully with love and gratitude---Fire Fighter John Heffernan, the Rockaway Beach-born punk who went down with the second tower on 9/11. His bandmates, the Bullys, keeping flames high with amazing sets and writing great songs---recording a new album and hosting an annual memorial show at Continental, like the one on September 9.

September 12, 2004 plucked the fighting spirit of Johnny Ramone off the earth and delivered it to his bruddahs in heaven--Dee Dee and Joey. They're probably still all cranky & pissy, fighting amongst themselves, but that lunatic aggro-tension made them brilliant. SoulSurfing declares this "Official Johnny Memorial Week" For detailed tributes to our St. Johnnys of Rock & Roll, please hit the SHRINE page on http://www.donnagaines.com/

Gottes Engel weichen nie.
Sie sind bei mir allerenden
Wenn ich schlafe, wachen sie
Wenn ice gehe,
Wenn ice stehe
Tragen sie mich auf den Handen.

FLIPPER RETURNS---Band members reform after psychotic CBGB's reunion gala.

Even with the aquatic reference, it's not my intention to turn SoulSurfing into a Flipper fanblog but it could happen. Actually Flipper isn't even named for a fish, or anything even remotely Neptunian. Flipper's flippers are the tiny arms of thalidomide babies.

Anyway, stoked to the gills after CBGB's benefit shows last month, San Francisco's progenitors of noise (and by extention, grunge) sound even sicker now than they did in the 80's----back when Jello Biafra was running for Mayor of SF, and punks began polluting granola starshine strongholds from the Haight to Noe Valley, hijacking jukeboxes with Saints, MDC, Wilma, DK's, Tools, and Catheads. Every night---Mabuhay Gardens, the Temple, Target video---in yer face hardcore punk. According to drummer Steve DePace, vintage Flipper videos are being reissued and plans to return to NYC are in progress. And a website too. If you love them let 'em know! "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.........."

Flipper--P.O. Box 2693., Hollywood, CA 90078

Where's God? "Life is the Only Thing Worth Living For" (Flipper)

Whenever innocent people suffer and good people die, like the thousands lost in Katrina, we blame God for not intervening. What loving, merciful creator allows things like this to happen? Hey God, where are you?

Last week, Flipper's Bruce Loose visited NYC, first time in over ten years. Sitting on a fire hydrant outside CBGB's, gazing at the vacant space where the twin towers once stood, so proud and strong, he said, " Something is different about the city....the vibe...New York's got humility." When the twin towers went down, an international mix --- all races, ages, classes, and religions---a microcosm of humanity fell with it. And for a moment, kindness and selfless compassion replaced arrogance, greed and pride. One family, one soul, worldwide, united in grief. Our grief became the measure of our capacity to love each other, ourselves, and creation: Life.

Shit happens, creation is what it is--vast, incomprehensible, glorious, brutal, generous, volatile, truthful. God is the light shining through us as we rally around the people caught in Katrina, in the selfless concern and care we show our neighbor. Everyday, on the subway, in the street, at home, at work. To practice high intent through radical, compassionate social justice is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Let Katrina's carnage make us hate racism and poverty so much it makes us as sick as the images we see on TV. "Life is the only thing worth living for..."

www.redcross.org

Save CBGB's--Birth of A Social Movement

Some months ago, via the clubs website, I wrote a letter to CBGB's landlord, Muzzy Rosenblatt, CEO of BRC, a $25 million dollar a year organization which serves many homeless New Yorkers. I asked him to consider the impact closing NYC's Punk Mecca would have on three generations of alienated kids who swear punk music was their last line of defense against suicide, homicide and abject alienation. It's old news that music saves many of us from miserable lives, providing an alternative subcluture that buffers us all from self hatred and marginality.

The scene also imparts marketable skills---the Ramones never took music lessons. Many of today's acclaimed photographers, graphic artists, entrepreneurs, 'zine publishers, scribes, indie music companies that evolved out of the DIY ideology of punk are also self-taught. DIY ideology (Do It Yourself) convinced us we could do anything, that we didn't have to be connected, rich, or pretty, tall, or skinny to create art. It offered us our own version of the American dream. We came, unwashed, unwanted, cultural refugees---bridge & tunnel kids who fill the club, from Jersey, the boroughs and Long Island--the spawning grounds of our best legendary punk bands---Blondie, NY Dolls, Patti Smith, Ramones.

Like many old-school punks, I started out as a plus-one, the Slugs' singer's girlfriend, taking pictures, cutting hair, sending out flyers, arranging guesat lists; we did everything ourselves, just like millions of kids all over the world. CBGB's is a school of the streets, offering education, enjoyment and possibility. So I asked Muzzy Rosenblatt to consider transforming the sacred space into an interactive museum, like Seattle's EMPLive, or Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Why can't NYC boast it's own local culture? CBGB's already attracts international tourist trade, kids who just wanna see where it all started.

The letter was intercepted by Kabi Jorgenson, who was working with club owner Hilly Krystal, determined to save CBGB's by having it declared a cultural landmark of NYC. With Jonathan Demme, Fab Five Freddy and Joey Ramone's mother, Charlotte Lesher, and Ernie Fritz, we networked, nagged and cajoled everyone we knew to help the cause. (http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0519,flylife,63821,15.html)

I think we all needed something to believe in, and I refuse to lose one more thing---two towers, three Ramones, one firefighting Bully, War All The Time. Today, August 31, 2005, a standing militia of punks will assemble in Washington Square Park, troops rallied together by the valiant efforts of "Little Steven" Van Zandt and owner Hilly Krystal. The birth of nation.

Rally Rant:

Interview with music journalist Dr. Donna Gaines - Download.com Video Player