Ramone's Battle for Health
One of New York's original punk rockers is fighting for his life. Joey Ramone, 49, lead singer of the Ramones, a band out of Forest Hills that spearheaded the downtown punk scene in 1974, is in a New York-area hospital battling lymphoma.
The group, which Joey formed with Marky, Dee Dee and Johnny - all of whom adopted the same last name as the band - broke up only five years ago. But the mark they left on the genre, due in large measure to their early albums - which featured such tracks as "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Cretin Hop" - are forever part of New York musical history.
Ramones spokesman Arturo Vega told me that the patient has had a good week.
"Joey watched a tape of 'The Sopranos' on Wednesday," said Vega. "He's doing better and better."