Sometimes people in life are around for no other reason than to simply bring joy and happiness into other's lives. Usually, those people have a lot of pain and heartache in their own life and that makes them even more amazing. This post is about one of them.
Life was never easy for Joey Ramone. He was a sickly kid and then almost crippled by OCD. He died way too young. We all know that.
What else we know is that he was a talented man. He was a very smart man. He was a kind man.
He was also a bitter man. A lonely man. A tortured man.
For the most part, he made people happy. His music brings joy and a wistful sense of hope for love and romance. The hope of those things was what he had. It's not what he had, it's what he wanted.
I spoke with Joey too many times to count in the year before his death and he was usually optimistic. He had a lot to say and I was lucky enough to hear and document it. I personally did the last known interview with Joey. Here's the link. To the best of my knowledge, it's never been reprinted anywhere. I've never approved it to be, so this is the only place to find it. There's another interview that I did with him on there as well.
www.musicgourmets.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2360
I have pages upon pages of interviews with him, as well as spoke to him "off the record" for hours and came to the conclusion that Joey was human. He had flaws, but at the core, he was a good guy and I sincerely miss him.
The love of the Ramones and especially Joey is another essential part of me. They weren't in my life for the entire time, but when they finally did wander onto my radar, I can't possibly imagine what I listened to before.
I've been watching a documentary the last few days, not The End Of The Century, but I do recommend that one. It's been hard, I have to keep stopping to cry. Joey's life was so good and so heartbreakingly sad. All he wanted was to have a girl to hold hands with and love. We all deserve that, but maybe Joey a little more than the rest of us. Now that he's gone, it's even sadder that that simple dream was denied him.
Someone like Joey deserved every dream he ever reached for. He overcame a lot and didn't get a quarter of the good things he so richly deserved. That's the downside of The Ramones, I guess. Everyone knew them, but everyone overlooked them. Now three of them are gone and all we have is some of the most incredible music ever put out there, some documentaries, some books and a billion ripoff bands. Don't ever let anyone say that they didn't try. They tried harder than anyone could have tried, fought harder than most and now they're gone. I cried when they split, and I cry now when I think about Joey. But, nothing and I mean NOTHING can take away my love for their music, the electric jolt I get at an opening note or 1-2-3-4 or the happiness I get from hearing them.
I've lots more to say, but not enough emotional strength to say it. Just remember if you find "The One", fight for it, hard. Fight like Joey. Someone deserves to succeed.
Later,
Me
14 years ago
