Lenny Kaye on Joey R

[Dennis]

> Joey 1951-2001
> by Lenny Kaye
>
> The light has gone out of New York rock and roll.
>
> Joey Ramone passed away on Easter Sunday, at 2:40 p.m., in the
> endgame of a long battle with lymphoma. Diagnosed in 1995 and given,
> at that time, three to six months to live, he managed to maintain his
> health and good spirits until a fall in the snow at the end of last
> year. He broke his hip, and after a painful replacement found that
> his body was unable to continue fighting on two fronts. The news
> during the past few months-passed around by his friends and followers
> the world over-was progressively less and less hopeful.
>
> The end came at a time when the Ramones' flame has never burned
> brighter. With a quarter century of "punk"-the music they helped
> template and design, from black motorcycle jackets and chopped
> eighth-note chordings to the pop chants of "Hey ho let's go" and
> "Gabba gabba hey!"-now being celebrated atop the scrap heap of
> history, Joey was a Cover Boy. Even while his boundless energy was
> a-lyin' in a hospital bed ("Doctor, doctor!" you could hear the New
> York Dolls urge on), he graced England's Mojo and America's Spin. The
> music he played was beloved in garages in any part of the world where
> the guitar was revered as a magical totem.
>

This surprising little tidbit was linked to the above obit. Seems that the
young Wolcott had a bit more aggression than the current fat, dandifed
Vanity Fair version. In any even, not a bad piece, penned before "punk" was
a market category, and when in England the Sex Pistols were about to be
created.

DP

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/7529/wolcott.shtml

Chord Killers
by James Wolcott
The Ramones