Joey Ramone

April is the cruelest month, for a lot of reasons: sometimes you get freakish snowstorms; its generally not warm enough to play golf, and even worse, you often get sucked into buying cotton yarn, thinking you will make something to wear for the summer. Finally, it's the cruelest month because April 15th is the 8th year anniversary of Joey Ramone's untimely death.

I'd seen the Ramones a couple of times, but they were on stage and I was in the crowd. Last century, Brendan got them to autograph the nice bowling statue you see on the left. Since he is the only person I know who ever had any kind of interaction with them, I interviewed him for this blog post.

Me: How did you get this thing autographed?

Brendan: The Ramones made an appearance at my local record store and I brought them a

poster, and this trophy, and had them sign it.

Me: Did you talk much with them while they were signing it?

Brendan: They were men of few words.

Me: Did Joey Ramone ask about me?

Brendan: I did not know you then.

Me: Yes, but I'm just asking. Did he say anything about how he felt about me? Did he want to know how to get in touch with me?

Brendan: This is my subway stop. Have a nice day.

Okay, well, in the early 80's I guess Joey Ramone was swept up in the glamour of record store signings and such. Sadly, he never lived to forge a cheesy career singing in lounges in Atlantic City, but at least the trophy remains.