Dear friends and family: I’ve been having a tough time finally working myself up to go on the record
in regard to the untimely passing of one of the best friends I’ve ever had
who also just happened to be the nicest rock star the world will ever know —
but I really needed to let you all know how much Joey Ramone meant to me
personally to help show what an amazing artist, great friend, and human being
he was.
I first heard the Ramones a ways back when “End Of The Century” came out and
I was very young. Got a great taste of them from Canadian radio that also
feed us “bored and stuck in Buffalo types, dying for good music that wasn’t
the Grateful Dead or cheesy prog rock” healthy doses of Sex Pistols, Clash,
Pretenders, and XTC to name a few. Little did I know that the Ramones
history was far reaching, even further back since I thought they were a
“brand new” band. Upon attending college in NYC, I became obsessed with punk
rock and learned even more about the scene including really getting the
skinny on the Ramones. After discovering some of their earlier treasures
“Ramones,” “Leave Home,” “Rocket To Russia,” and the absolute classic “Road
To Ruin,” the deal was sealed when I saw “Rock and Roll High School” and
realized that being a musician was the way to go.
There is no way anyone can deny the power of the greatest rock and roll movie
scene ever when Riff Randall’s getting hassled by all the posers at the
concert ticket window and her friends and heroes, The Ramones, come revving
down the boulevard to save the day while “I Just Want To Have Something To
Do” is blaring as their “here comes the cavalry” theme song. That scene made
me feel that rock stars could be cool and that these guys in particular were
all about helping out and supporting their fans and treating them as friends.
When Joey steps from that car, he moves with such confidence and authority
— defiant and totally in control. He’s Riff Randall’s protector who’s not
afraid to come to her side and put to rest the cynic’s desire to see her
crushed by their stoic judgments.
The entire movie was about how four misfits, lead by the greatest outcasts of
them all, stuck it to the MAN by subverting all attempts by the ruling powers
to try and squelch free thinking and the desire to rock.
Needless to say, this was a defining moment. Well, to get to the point, The
Ramones were very important to me. Every once in a while I would see Johnny
or Dee Dee or even Joey walking around the village, hanging out in little
delis or greasy restaurants. There they were — completely accessible and
just living their lives outside of being one of the greatest bands ever. I
never would’ve thought in a million years I would ever get to really meet any
of these guys and have the chance to pick their brains and ask them all the
questions a young musician would want to ask of their heroes but I lucked out
and by chance, I saw an ad for “production assistants wanted” that was placed
on a bulletin board in the film building at NYU for a Ramones video that was
going to shoot that week. Of course, I didn’t hesitate to make the call and
only a few days later — there I was on the set at an old, rundown church on
W.4th Street, loading a camera mag. I figured that I was going to get stuck
doing the usual behind the scenes bullshit without even getting a glimpse of
the boys until the director came over to me and asked if I would be
interested in doing the slate. Let’s just say I was totally psyched and in
only a matter of minutes I was standing next to The Ramones.
I’m sure you can all picture the look on my face when I was introduced to the
band and then Joey saying to me as he shook my hand “I’m looking forward to
working with you…you know what I mean?”
For the next three days, I got to be closer to the band than most of the crew
and even extras. I’ll never forget Joey discussing his film ideas,
especially the one where he wanted to completely fuck the whole cinema
verite’ vibe of the overblown, real-life documentaries by staging his own
piece with a hand held camera, some kids with rocks, and some unsuspecting
police cars. “Fuck that real cinema shit,” he said with a knowing grin.
“You wanna see real cinema, wait till you gets cops shooting at the kids and
the camera — all on film…you know what I mean?”
Joey was in his “pre-cleaned up” phase in those days but, even in that state,
I will never forget how gracious, courteous, and sensitive he was, and how
eager he was to listen and discuss so many different topics outside of music
and The Ramones. I was blown away by his intelligence and insightfulness and
yes, he did give me advice “Stay outta the music business…it fucking sucks.
You know what I mean?”
I guess I just wasn’t smart enough to heed his warning, hence I stuck to the
grind because I wanted to be as cool as he was and have and the things he
did. Yep, pretty naive but I certainly didn’t forget how well he treated me
and everyone else around him during those three days.
Chance struck again a few years later when I became involved with organizing
some benefit concerts for Rock The Vote and I got a call at my day gig from
Louise at CBGB and she mentioned to me that Joey was interested in joining in
to help promote the shows. I was of course very excited at the chance to get
to meet up with him again so Louise said she would put him in touch with me.
At the time, I was working the mailroom at Virgin Records — the bottom of
the rung in the business, but I can’t begin to describe what it was like,
after dealing with all the egos and attitudes of the “higher ups,” when over
the office intercom came “Chris — Joey Ramone for you on Line 3…” My
mouth dropped at the same time that the “he’s calling for YOU?!” looks came
from the czarists bastards that thought they were so much better than me. I
was about to become the new Riff Randall…
We talked and once he remembered who I was, an amazing friendship began. We
worked together on promoting two different series of Rock The Vote benefit
concerts — booking the bands together, formulating promotion together, going
on Joey’s radio show that he had on K-Rock at the time where him and I, along
with such luminaries as Handsome Dick and Andy of the Dictators, Marky
Ramone, and Vin Scelsa, to name a few, would carry on debates about the state
of American politics and the disenfranchisement of young voters. I couldn’t
believe it…and not once did Joey ever let ego or stature diminish the way
he treated me or the way he felt about the causes he stood for.
Joey was THE person responsible for getting me out of the mailroom at Virgin
and a job working at his management company where I really learned the ins
and outs of this really strange business. Along with the help and guidance
of Joey and his friend Andrea Starr (who also unfortunately passed recently
and will be just as sorely missed by those of us who loved her…), I had my
punk rock Uncle and Aunt to keep an eye on me and to help me make sure I
wasn’t too much of a fuck up. We were constantly in touch during those days
and him and I had some of the most enlightening and intense discussions I
will ever remember. I will never forget when I saw my name near the top of
the “thanks” section of the “Mondo Bizarro” liner notes. When I thanked Joey
and the rest of the band for such an honor, Joey mentioned to tell me that
our work together on the Rock The Vote campaign inspired him to write
“Censorshit” — in my mind, one of the greatest and most intensely pissed off
Ramones’ songs ever. It’s not every day that one of your heroes counts you
as one of his muses. Needless to say, he was certainly one of mine.
Eventually, I took to the road and sort of lost regular touch with Joey but I
always somehow ran into him on tours or at shows in New York (he was always
checking out and supporting new and old bands alike) and we would catch up a
bit before busy schedules and responsibilities tugged at the both of us.
The last time I saw Joey, was at last year’s Washington Street Festival in
Hoboken. Of course, he was out supporting one of his inspirations and his
current production partner, Ronnie Spector. My friend Anne Husick was
singing backup for Ronnie and when she came off stage, asked me if I would
like to see Joey. I didn’t want to impose since he seemed so focused on
helping out Ronnie but once Anne went over and mentioned to him that I was
there, he was more than glad to see me. After all this time, it still meant
a lot to me that he took the time to sit down and catch up backstage. Joey’s
health had always been shaky but this time, when I saw him, I was scared for
him. I asked him how he was and he was quite frank — “I’m not doin’ too
good. Haven’t been for a while…but I’m not gonna let it stop me. I got
too much to do, you know what I mean?” But, he didn’t hesitate to say “Don’t
worry about me, man. I’ll be all right. How are you doing?” That was
Joey…always wanting to know what’s on your mind even when he had so much on
his.
I’m sorry this turned out to be so long but I guess I had all of these
thoughts about Joey inside my head for all these years and they needed to be
“on the record” for the rest of the world to see how Joey Ramone touched just
one individual with his kindness and generosity. This awesome person, this
amazing human being, this special man of the people, has touched so many of
us in so many different ways. I consider myself very lucky being blessed
with the opportunity to have had him as a mentor and a friend.
Joey Ramone undoubtedly had plenty left to say and do so I would ask all of
you to help carry on his vision. One where we all work together for a common
good while fighting the forces of mediocrity, hypocrisy, and cynicism. We as
artists, musicians and everyday people, who fight these unpublicized battles,
owe him that much.
Joey Ramone, I thank you for your friendship and all you have done for me and
I especially thank you for your great music, unbridled passion,
unquestionable integrity, never say die endurance, and all the beloved
inspiration you have given the rest of us.
I will miss you. Godspeed.
Sincerely,
Chris Gibson
High Speed Chase
Upstart Agency Inc.
