Joey Ramone's birthday bash reaches ninth year

Joey Ramone after a recording at Hollywood's Gold Star Studios, 1978. (PHOTO: Brad Elterman)

“They're always kind of bittersweet,” said Mickey Leigh of this Tuesday's event. It was 3 in the afternoon, just four and a half hours to go before a concert, celebrating what would have been his brother Joey Ramone's 58th birthday, began.

The legendary Ramones frontman, who lost his battle to lymphoma in 2001, originally started the annual bashes in the mid-90s to help give some exposure to local New York City punk bands along with surprise performances by punk legends as well. His mother Charlotte Lesher wanted to continue the birthday celebrations up until her own death in 2007. Now in its ninth year since his passing, the bash has stayed true to Ramone's vision.

“Fans can expect a great celebratory feeling, full of love and respect and remembrance of someone who brought so many people so much happiness,” said Leigh.

The night was as much a celebration of the Ramones legacy as it was for Joey. Bands like Tom Clark and The High Action Boys, Supersuckers, the reformed Death and their offspring, Rough Francis, the night's headliner Fishbone and Tommy Ramone's bluegrass duo Uncle Monk all performed briefs sets throughout the night.

Upon entering the Irving Plaza lobby, calypso versions of Ramones classics like “Teenage Lobotomy,” “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” were heard by steel pan player Tracy Thornton.

Hosted by Punk magazine co-founder John Holmstrom, Matt Pinfield and Pete Ashner, Tom Clark and The High Action Boys kicked off the night with a four-song set. “We're going to try to do the best love song of 1978,” said frontman Clark before going into “Questioningly,” originally written by Dee Dee Ramone and released on The Ramones' Road to Ruin.

In between performances, vintage Ramones footage flashed on the screen draped in front of the stage, including “Old Grey Whistle Test” performances from 1978 and 1985 and footage from It's Alive, the London 1977 concert, which they also released as an album that year. Rough mixes of “Party Line,” “New York City” and “Rock and Roll is the Answer,” all songs from Joey's second solo album out later this year, played while family, friends and band photos popped up.

Leigh, who made his Ramones debut on their first album, The Ramones (1976) by singing backup on “Blitzreig Bop,” “Judy is Punk” and “Chainsaw Massacre,” released only one recording, an EP (In a Family Way) with his brother under the band name Sibling Rivalry in 1994. Unfortunately, the two never released anything else together because of scheduling and touring conflicts; The Ramones were recording Mondo Bizarro at the time.

The supposed inspiration behind Almost Famous (2000) and Liv Tyler's mama, Bebe Buell wrote a special tribute to Joey, “Black Angel” before longtime Ramones tour manager Monty Melnick reminded the audience what CBGBs stands for (Country, Bluegrass and Blues), the perfect segue into Tommy Ramone's band. The only original living member of the Ramones, Tommy's bluegrass outfit Uncle Monk features vocalist Claudia Tienan. Mandolin in hand, Ramone broke into some original tunes, as well as The Clash's “I Fought the Law” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” one of Joey's favorite Ramones songs..

Tommy has been busy with Ramones dealings in the past week. Last week, he attended the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame Annex induction in New York, which awarded Mickey Leigh Joey Ramone's posthumous award. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the same year Joey passed away. Unfortunately, Leigh says that because there was some animosity between Johnny and Joey's family, he and his mother did not go up to accept the award at the ceremony. As a result, the award was left sitting on the podium. Leigh added that the animosity was deep-rooted, and it bothered Joey. Unfortunately, Joey and Johnny never sat down to clear the air over the years, so it was a carry over when Joey made his mother executive of his estate. At last week's ceremony, Tommy Ramone and Leigh accepted the award on behalf of Joey.

The entire Hall of Fame ceremony was played on the screen before Rough Francis hit the stage. Homegrown, Vermont punk made up of some of the sons from the members of Death—the band that would follow—transported the room into 1976, the same year that Death, played their last show. The legendary punk trio, originally formed in 1971 in Detroit, disbanded in the early 80s and currently reformed and released a full compilation this year.

Just in from touring in London, Supersuckers flew in for the shindig. The country punkers drifted through their six-song set and even threw in The Ramones' “I Believe in Miracles” in the mix before Fishbone hit the stage.

“This is on behalf of the Ramones,” said Fishbone's Angelo Moore. “Joey, we love you baby.” In between Moore and keyboardist Dre Gipson jumped into and out of mosh pits. The band's nine-song set, included “Date Rape,” “Let Dem Ho's Fight” and “Give It Up.”

Manic Panic creators Tish and Snooky provided backing voclas for the finale, a Ramones tribute. Richie Reinhardt (aka Richie Ramone, circa 1983-87) played drums and doubled on vocals for several songs like “Somebody Put Something in My Drink.” Guests like Plasmatics Jean Beauvoir, Dictators' “Handsome” Dick Manitoba, Ivan Julian (Voidoids), saxophonist Arno Hecht, Andy Hilfiger (yes, designer Tommy's brother), Al Maddy (who worked with Joey on his first solo album Don't Worry About Me released in 2002), and friends George Tabb, David Merrill, Walt Stack and Joey Lanz all performed Ramones classics. Additional songs included: “I'm Not Jesus,” “I Know Better Now,” “Wart Hog,” “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg,” Rockaway Beach,” “California Sun,” “Something to Believe In,” and “What a Wonderful World.” Punk Pipers closed the show aptly with “Happy Birthday.”

“It's always a magical environment,” said Leigh, who is currently finishing up his book  “I Slept with Joey Ramone" (Simon and Schuster), a collection of Joey and Ramones memories. He wants everyone to remember Joey and the Ramones in their own way. “Everybody is always going to have their own personal memories about a show, a time they were feeling horrible and listened to “I Wanna Be Sedated,” and it lifted them out of the doldrum," he said. "Everybody should have their own personal memory. I wouldn't want to implant anything.”

Next year's birthday bash will mark the tenth anniversary since Joey's passing. Net proceeds from the Joey Ramone Birthday Bashes support Lymphoma Research.