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By: Sarah L. Myers
New York, USA
A tradition continues. Irving Plaza was packed as Ramones fans from all over the world celebrated Joey Ramone's 58th birthday on May 19, 2009. It's always the biggest party of the year, and this year was no different. With raucous performances by Fishbone and Death, it was definitely the most violent Birthday Bash, with circle pits, slam dancing, and stage diving - just like a Ramones show itself.
The crowd swelled downstairs as classic videos and childhood photos of Joey flashed across the screen. The Bash was just getting started. Then, John Holmstrom of PUNK magazine officially kicked off the festivities by introducing one of the night's greatest moments - Bebe Buell live on stage. Debuting her new single, "Air Kisses for the Masses", the crowd erupted in applause and sang along. Her set took a poignant turn with the song, "Black Angel", a song she wrote for Joey. It was a legend saluting a legend, one of the night's most touching moments.
Tommy Ramone made his first appearance of the evening with Uncle Monk, an acoustic duo that had Tommy playing mandolin with partner Claudia Tienan holding down the vocals. It was a welcome change of pace and a nice surprise, kind of a calm before the storm. The tipsy crowd was gearing up for the Supersuckers (who did a kickass version of the Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles"), Rough Francis and Death, who brought hardcore punk back to the Bash. But chaos really took the stage with Angelo Moore and Fishbone.
As the year's headliners, Fishbone didn't disappoint. Within ten minutes, Angelo was walking on people's hands. A few seconds later all we saw were his feet jutting out from the crowd. From the balcony the pits looked like pulsating swarms - a mass crush of bodies all moving at one speed into one another, all while their favorite band provided the soundtrack. Joey was in the room, but during the Fishbone set New York City became Los Angeles. Angelo took his energy from the stage right behind it as well - we checked out the all-star jam (featuring my favorite NYC front man, Joey Lanz from the Bullys) from the monitors, running into Handsome Dick Manitoba seconds before he performed.
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The final jam is always the performance of the night. Everyone waits for hours to see Mickey and friends pay tribute to Joey, and this year was no exception. Richie Ramone, Ivan Julian, Jean Beauvoir - all the Bashers were there. With the lights down and a few intro chords on an electric guitar, Mickey hit the stage and launched right into all the classics, including Birthday Bash theme song, "What a Wonderful World". As he threw his shades into the crowd as he finished the last chorus, I knew the evening was wrapping up. "Thank you, Joey!" he yelled, hand over his heart.
After the Bash, the party continued next door, with Angelo entertaining the table until being forced to head back to his hotel. The night ended back where it always begins - Manitoba's, where we hung with Mickey and Richie Ramone until we lost track of time.
The Bash has a hard time of topping itself, but next year promises something extra special. It'll be 10 years since we lost Joey, and the party is supposed to be bigger than ever. Until then, we have memories from this year. Happy Birthday, Joey.
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Links:
Joey Ramone 2008 Birthday Bash
Joey Ramone 2007 Birthday Bash
