Monday April 16th 2001.

I wanted to do something today to honor Joey Ramone. But I wasn’t sure what. If there was anything going on at all I knew it would be in front >of the birthplace of Punk, CBGB’s. My friends Boone, Michele and I began >our night heading over to the East Village it was about 7pm. I stopped >in a bodega and bought 3 candles. One red, one white and one blue, the >Ramone’s colors. We passed by Joey’s apartment on 9th Street and it was >really quiet. I guess I imagined there would be a candlelight vigil ala >John Lennon but there wasn’t. We eventually passed by Continental where >I expected to see at least a sign in the window. There was nothing there >either. That pissed me off because Joey continued going to that hole to >see bands play and on several occasions he even took the stage. But it >looked like business as usual. On the next block a record store had put >Ramones T-shirts in the window and was blasting “Road to Ruin” so we >stopped in for a minute. The guy behind the counter was wearing a >Ramones T-shirt and singing along with the record, which I thought was >cool. We continued on toward CBGB’s not knowing what to expect. I tried >to look down the Bowery to see if there were others there who felt the >same as us but I couldn’t tell. Then from a block away I heard a boom >box blasting “Beat on the Brat”. A small group had gathered in front of >the venue. On the wall to the left of the entrance was a sign that read >“Joey” and to the right was another sign “Lives”. A leather jacket was >placed on the windowsill next to a painting of Joey wearing angel’s >wings and covered in glitter. On the ground people had written messages >to Joey. One read, “Joey- see you in 3 days” and 3 pink candles >surrounded it. There were flowers, pictures, drawings, a dirty pair of Keds, a signed t-shirt, albums, newspaper articles from that day, two >40’s of Old E, a joint, a roach and a box of fried chicken. I lit my >candles and just stared at the sidewalk memorial. I started thinking about the picture in “Making Tracks-The Rise of Blondie” where Joey >stood with Dee Dee and Debbie Harry right on this spot 25 years ago and >that the sign in the background read “Tonight-Ramones, Blondie and >Talking Heads”. >About an hour after our arrival the amount of people doubled and an hour >after that it tripled. For a minute it seemed like every punk on the >L.E.S. stopped by to add their piece to the growing sidewalk memorial. >There was one black guy in the crowd and his name was Merrill. He was >the guy with the radio, which was playing the only Ramones tape over and >over. He kept asking if I knew any other black Ramones fans and I said, >“I didn’t.” Another guy looked like Alan Ginsberg and he kept yelling >out, “JOEY, JOEY.” Then there was a woman about 45 or 50 with a cane standing behind the police barricade looking totally normal but was punching her fist in the air screaming, “I’m a Teenage Lobotomy”. It was time for side 2 of the only tape. Young punks, old punks, hardcore punks, geeks, misfits, ‘normal’ people, riot grrls, celebrities, fags, dykes, posers, band people, channel 5 news, nameless faces I’ve seen around for years and of course ‘Giuliani’s Finest’ were all there representin’. Hilly Kristal would poke his head out every once in a while to check out the growing crowd paying homage to his friend outside his club. This was turning into something. It was a windy night on the Bowery so I took on the job of re-lighting >the now 50+ candles every time they blew out. At one point the whole >crowd jumped around crashing into each other to “Rock and Roll High >School” having the best time. When the song ended a message (the tape >playing had been recorded the day before) came on announcing, “Joey Ramone, leader of the punks, died this afternoon at 2:40pm in a NYC hospital”. The crowd was silent. It was time for side 1 again. I met some interesting people that night and we exchanged stories of >concerts, signings and sightings. I thought this was great because it was just like before a Ramones show where you would start talking to the people around you just bullshitting. Except this would be the last time. Around midnight a girl stepped up to the front doors of CB’s and sketched a cartoon of Joey’s face in chalk as Hilly looked on from the >open door. When she finished the crowd applauded and it became time for >another group sing-along. This one was lead by Boone. Everyone shouted the lines while a dude in Raybans and a long tan coat began crashing >into everyone as a girl in a long black dress lifted it and swung it around. Merrill banged his head singing “Rock Rock Rockaway Beach” all >the while protecting his radio from getting smashed. The Alan Ginsberg >guy ran out into the middle of the Bowery yelling at passing cars, “Take us to Rockaway Beach!” NYPD gave him that short blast of their siren that means, “I’m watching you”. The time now was 12:45am and Hilly came out to tell us that he got a noise complaint and the radio has to be turned off. It was time to go. I shook Hilly’s hand and thanked him for giving The Ramones a place to play and he thanked me for coming. I’m really going to miss Joey Ramone. He was an original and his band along with Blondie prompted me to pick up my first guitar. I still have his music but it’s not the same because I’ll never get to see him walking down the street. And I’ll never get that rush again as I did when “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” would start off every show. As we walked up the Bowery I thought that night was really cool. Joey would have really liked what happened in front of CBGB’s on April 16th 2001.

-Big Dope, bass player for the New York band The Dopes.