This is not a very eloquent eulogy that fits the greatness and respect that Johnny Ramone has earned on my part but I do promise that I'll do my best to give this man my final respect.
...And then there were three...
I didn't believe Jeanie when she told me that Johnny Ramone has passed away I was quick to shrug her of the statement I told her that maybe it was just Joey or Dee Dee both of whom have already passed away almost a year ago. But again to the astonishment of my self-arrogant ego she was right.
I was randomly searching the net this morning to appease the boredom that envelops me here at work, and I decided to type Johnny Ramone on the Google search bar. To my surprise news of his death were the dominant results that came from my query, and the results were astonishing. The results that came out were not simply out of some cheap trashy tabloids, nor in DIY zines but from mainstream media news services that of CNN and BBC.
It says that Johnny died in his sleep, after a 4 year battle with Prostrate Cancer which was ironic since among all the band members he was the one who lived the least excessive life a life that was not bent on cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
I know that by now numerous other well-written tributes, eulogies and obituary entries have been written for this great man, whom I have never met but was very influential for making me pickup a guitar and start a band. One of the few guitarists whose riffs I can mimic merely by listening to them on our old tape deck.
Kevin Arnold from the television show The Wonder Years once said:
"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."
And I believe that this statement could be said true to the sense of remorse that I am feeling right now at the death of a significant musical influence in my life. He will be missed and rarely would the scene ever come across a musician that is so stripped down on his musicality such as that of Johnny. Another is that rarely would there ever be another individual such as Ramone who also happened to be such a rebel within the confines of such a rebellious scene. He was a diehard conservative Republican from the time he formed The Ramones with Joey, Dee Dee and Tommy up until the Ramones' indictment at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, that was before he was hospitalized and eventually died. Though our politics may never have anything akin I respect him for being a true radical in his own right and for being well meaning enough to stick to a leftist scene that is punk rock.
Again I say this is not a very eloquent eulogy that best serves as a testament of such a great musical muse, but this is written so as to give my final respect for the man that Johnny was and with this I bid him my deepest condolences.
Click here for Johnny's profile
Click here to read a Washington Times Article about him before he died
Click here for CNN's Report on his death
Click here to read a BBC eport on his death
Click here to rean an interview with Johnny
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