 |
Home | New Issue | Store | Stuff | Vault | Link | Contact |
|
 |
The Bowery Electric Festival A Tribute to Joey Ramone CBGB - May 19, 2002 Text and photos: Copyright © 2002 John Nikolai - All Rights Reserved. On what would've been Joey Ramone's 51st birthday the Ramones' mascot, the Pinhead, finally got his wish granted. It happened when CJ Ramone, Marky Ramone and Ramones producer Daniel Rey were onstage at The Bowery Electric Festival, a sold-out tribute to Joey Ramone at CBGB. They were playing "Pinhead" when the pinhead who popped out of Joey's giant birthday cake at last year's birthday concert appeared onstage carrying the famous "GABBA GABBA HEY" sign. The pinhead, a good friend of Joey's, was wearing the same clownish shirt and baggy pants from last year's costume but he came unprepared this year. He was missing the most essential part of the outfit: the pointed headpiece. A pinhead without a peak, he went on stage anyway, jumping around with his sign in the air. "I don't wanna be a pinhead no more." That lyric's been sang thousands of times since 1977 and the pinhead's wish finally came true. He wasn't a pinhead anymore. That moment summed up the Bowery Electric Festival pretty well: There was something essential missing (Joey Ramone), but the spirit behind the festivities was everything it would have been if Joey himself had been running the show. Considering what this tribute was really about (honoring Joey), it would seem wrong and irrelevant to go on about which of the young bands who played were better than others or to criticize those acts that were mediocre at best. (Except for Star Spangles who I've gotta say are one EXTREMELY fucking silly little band.) Besides, the big names at the tribute were the ones that gave the best performances. Jerry Only (Misfits), Dez Cadena (ex-Black Flag) and Marky Ramone played a scorching set, mostly of Misfits classics. Walter Lure (The Waldos, ex-Heartbreakers), excellent as always, joined CJ Ramone and Marky Ramone to give the crowd "Chinese Rock." CJ's new band, Bad Chopper, was easily one of the evening highlights. As good as CJ was in the Ramones he's even better in Bad Chopper, finally coming across as the powerful frontman that he is. Joey would've loved this show, which was a lot like the birthday bash concerts he used to throw for himself. CJ, Marky, and Ramones/Misfits producer Daniel Rey played "Happy Birthday" in the same style that the Ramones played it on The Simpsons. The audience loved it. The Bowery Electric Crew - CJ, Marky, Daniel Rey and singer/songwriter Jed Davis (whose band, Collider, also played) - performed the song they recently recorded (with Tom Erdelyi/Ramone) as a tribute to Joey. Ten (relatively) young bands (Meat Depressed, The Kowalskis, The Grimmies, others) who played over the course of the evening were competing for the right to record a B-side to that EP. Comedian Adam Roth played Master of Ceremonies for the evening, occasionally assisted by a trio of busty "Cretin Girls." The special raffle was a pretty impressive feature. Arturo Vega (the Ramones' artistic director, among other things) gave away some valuable Ramones memorabilia, including the very first Ramones poster he ever made. In short, The Bowery Electric Festival put together by Arturo and OfficialRamones.com was a great celebration. Some great bands, some good bands, short sets, CBGB, and high energy. A heartfelt celebration of one Ramone's life and the kind of rock 'n' roll he lived for. |
| |
All contents ©1976–2002 Punk Magazine, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|