I Slept with Joey Ramone: Teenage Lobotomy with Mickey Leigh, Legs McNeil and Arturo Vega.
I Slept with Joey Ramone: Teenage Lobotomy with Mickey Leigh, Legs McNeil and Arturo Vega.
Allan Arkush, writer and director of RRHS had this to say:
30 years have come and gone, & this little movie about my own Rock n Roll Fantasy still endures. It was a changing point in my life. The friends I made while shooting & editing it are still my friends & I have watched their children grow. The experience of meeting & working with the Ramones ( And when I say Ramones I mean not just Johnny, Dee Dee, Marky & Joey, but the extended Ramones-Arturo , Monty, Danny 'Says", Linda & Seymour S., Ed Stasium, Micky, Charlotte, Vera .....) changed my life. I can't walk thru the
The movie & its legacy follow me everywhere. Every show that I direct has some one on the crew who comes up to me with that look in their eye and says "Wow, you directed RnRHS, KOOOOL".
And I'm talking about a couple hundred shows. Not a week goes by without someone connecting me to that movie & it continues to entertain & connect with generation after generation.
So thank you to all the cast-PJ, Dey, Mary, Clint, the hall monitors, giant mouse, the extras who paid to be in the crowd scenes, & my dear friend in heaven Paul Mr. McGree Bartel. All the Crew on set & in the editing room(shout out to the Dead Boys all grown up with Dead Boys of their own), the supportive friends(Dr Savard), & the man himself Roger Corman. We've been going thru a tight wind, the kids are losing their mind...........my first night ever with the Ramones, Joey took me downtown to hang out at CBGB's it was august of 78, I met Deborah Harry, Lester Bangs, Tina Weymouth & so many more.............everyone is alive in my memories & on screen.........AA
Catch Shooter Jennings this summer on the Warped Tour. His latest album, Bad Magick:The Best of Shooter Jennings & 357’s, is on sale now. Jennings is also part of the CBGB alum. Make sure to stop by the CBGB/Ramones World booth if you attend the Warped Tour! We will also be providing coverage of the tour at www.cbgb.com
The Eternal, Sonic Youth’s latest album hit stores today, June 9. Check out their old classics performed at CBGBs.
CBGB hopes everyone had a cool Memorial Day Weekend. To celebrate Bruce playing in NJ over the weekend we put up this video: "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones -- He's been doing covers on this tour, even played the Clash!
New Year’s Eve 1997 started out like every other NYE party we had. The staff came in for what was early for us to set up the bar –
Aside from the usual nightly set ups -- cooling beer, getting ice, and restocking, we had to decorate. Balloons had to be filled, streamers hung and plastic champagne glasses assembled.
Ridiculous as it sounds, decorating CBGB like a Sweet 16 party was an event of its own. Everyone was on call that day, but that didn’t mean we didn’t party and have a great time. Hilly would inhale helium and make prank phone calls. Jackie the bartender would make pitchers of Bloody Mary’s while the rest of us would drink and throw streamers.
We probably drank too much and ran out of time because by the time the Jesus Lizard showed up to load in, CBGB looked more like a dethroned beauty queen, than Miss
As the band brought gear in, balloons were popping and streamers fell. We slapped the stuff up the best we could and we kept partying. To be honest I’m not sure if a countdown to
The Jesus Lizard controlled the chaos. You can see from the video that the band is fearless and fierce. I love where vocalist, David Yow is swaying in front of the “no stage diving” sign and goes into the crowd. At the end of the clip, you can see him revert back to a ‘regular” guy giving the crowd “high fives.”
It certainly was a New Years to remember, even if I can’t remember all of it…
Hilly got a call from his old friend Danny Heaps, from Geffen Records. He needed a gig for one of their new bands called “Guns and Roses.” He said they were a lot of trouble and unreliable, but he needed them to do something cool. Hilly told Danny that he would love to have them do an in store at the Record Canteen. At the time, CBGB’s Record Canteen….
Hilly asked what the band needed in terms of a performance fee. Danny replied that all they needed was a bottle of Jack and a case of Bud.
On the day Guns and Roses appeared we prepared for the worst. Extra security and barricades were in place. They were tough looking in a metal kind of way, but really polite and seemed surprisingly professional. Their crew set up their gear for an intimate acoustic set. The fans were so happy to see them up close and they knew all the lyrics.
After the set, the band signed autographs and had more drinks. As I was picking up their empties, Slash reached out and put his hand in my shirt pocket. He grabbed my pack of Marlboros, copped a feel, and winked.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked.
He just smiled and asked for a light, so I gave him one.
A fan standing next to me in shock, told me how lucky I was. I just shrugged and said, “I guess.”
She seemed insistent, and finally asked if she could have my shirt. I gave it to her. I was down to a very pretty purple bra when Curtis, threw me a tshirt from behind the bar.
Sal, our doorman had watched this all go down. So in rock and roll spirit, he spent the next five years telling anyone who would listen about that night when Gun’s played and Louise took Axel home.”
To this day people think Axel and slept together – I’ll never tell.