Johnny Ramone
Johnny Ramone, guitarrista de los Ramones murió en Los Angeles, a causa de un cáncer de próstata el Miercoles 15 del 2004."El punk rock ha muerto hoy", declaró Gary Kurfist, el representante del grupo "Ramones" desde 1979.
El guitarrista, que falleció el miércoles a los 55 años de edad, "fue el último de los Mohicanos, fue muy valiente; era el alma de los Ramones y todo el mundo lo recordará siempre", añadió Kurfist en declaraciones recogidas por The Washington Times.
Al igual que el resto de los miembros del grupo, Johnny Ramone, cuyo nombre era John Cummings, cambió su apellido cuando se formó el grupo en Nueva York, en 1974."Acabo de receber a triste notícia de que John Cummings, mais conhecido como Johnny Ramone, faleceu depois de lutar cerca de 5 anos contra um câncer de próstata. Ele estava dormindo em sua casa em Los Angeles na tarde da quarta-feira e simplesmente não acordou mais. Ele é o terceiro membro fundador dos Ramones a falecer nos últimos 3 anos, sendo que o vocalista Joey Ramone faleceu em 2001 (também de câncer) e o baixista Dee Dee Ramone faleceu em 2002, vítima de uma overdose de drogas. No domingo passado (12/09), os fãs dos Ramones foram em peso ao show de grandes estrelas do rock em Hollywood, em homenagem aos 30 anos dos Ramones. Dentre essas estrelas, integrantes de bandas como Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Sex Pistols e Bad Religion estavam lá, pagando seu tributo aos mestres Ramones. John Cummings, que nasceu e cresceu no bairro novaiorquino do Queens e trabalhou como pedreiro antes de se juntar aos Ramones, estava aposentado e vivendo com sua esposa Linda em Los Angeles, onde ele estava organizando um livro com suas memórias. Amigos e familiares, incluindo Eddie Vedder, Rob Zombie, Lisa Marie Presley eVincent Gallo, estiveram em sua casa quando ele faleceu. O rock fica mais triste hoje e perde mais um de seus grandes guerreiros. Descanse em paz amigo Johnny!"
por Gonzalo Jourdan, enviado a punksunidos.com.ar
De derecha
Johnny no es tan bien recordado por la prensa debido a su apoyo al estado norteamericano y su ideología de derechas. Esto se puede ver con facilidad tipeando su nombre en buscadores de internet, en relación a la muerte de los otros integrantes del grupo la cantidad de noticias es casi nula -en español- y no sorprende que InfoBae (diario de derecha argentino, dedicado a la demagogia) sea el que habla de el. La expresión del Kurfist nos parece demasiado exagerada, nadie duda en matar al punk cada dos minutos. A continuación una nota que habla de esta condición "republicana" de Johnny;
"No todo es “liberal” y progresista en el rock hecho en los Estados Unidos. Si bien una gran mayoría expresa este tipo de opinión –Vote for change es el emergente de esa posición–, hay otros que se paran en la vereda de enfrente. Uno de los casos más conocidos es el de Johnny Ramone, integrante del hoy disuelto grupo The Ramones (muy populares en Argentina, sobre todo en los años ’90 donde repitieron visitas y funciones a lleno en estadios de Buenos Aires). El flequilludo guitarrista siempre dejó en clara su simpatía republicana y redobló la apuesta cuando, en ocasión del ingreso de su banda al Salón de la Fama instituido en el Museo del Rock and Roll de Cleveland, remató su agradecimiento con un patriótico “Dios salve a América, Dios salve a nuestro presidente George Bush”. Para ver de que se trata esta movida de rock conservador norteamericano mirá www.rockconservative.com
fuente: Página 12, articulo publicado http://www.pagina12web.com.ar/diario/elmundo/subnotas/39326-13658-2004-08-8.html
Memorias
Johnny había empezado a trabajar en sus memorias, con la ayuda del reportero del Washington Post, Steve Miller.
Con él, había comenzado a narrar su experiencia como integrante de una de las bandas más influyentes en la historia del rock.
Johnny Ramone: rebelde en un mundo rebelde
Por Steve Miller para El Washington Times
traducción al español de punksunidos.com.ar pedimos disculpas por en esta labor en la que somos 100% amateurs.Durante 100 noches al año por mas de tres decadas, el el guiterrorista Johnny Ramone matuvo su cabeza gacha, su cara con un intenso gesto de concentración, sus rodillas separadas y plegadas, maritllando su Mosrite azul con una mano derecha casi invisible. La cacofonía era pura dicha, un sonido blanco que sonaba y hacía huecos en todo aquello que fuera pacífico, las cuerdas traían acordes cargados de energía que revientan en estrellas aurales , como las luces que uno ve cuando se golpea la cabeza, pero en los oídos.
Era tan bueno, dolor ruidoso.
Johnny dejó su trabajo como obrero de la construcción en 1974 y durante 22 años estuve sobre el escenario como el guitarrista de la banda de rock más influyente de los últimos 30 años. Los Ramones fertilizaron la escena punk rock en su Nueva York natal, luego en inglaterra. Eventualmente -Quién iba a saberlo- ese sonido formaría parte del chasis de lo que la industria corporativa del rock mas tarde tituló "alternativo" y, eventualmente, se infiltró en el top 40.
Aunque el era un rebelde en un mundo de rebeldes, Johnny era un feroz votante Republicano, apoyaba la NRA (Asociación del Rifle), en un entorno que se caracteriza por abrazar todas cosas de izquierda.
Johnny hizo publica mundialmente su posición partidiaria en el 2003, cuando los Ramones fueron introducidos al Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. En el microfono, agradeciendo a la gente que hizo todo posible, ofreció su versión de un momento Michael Moore.ç
"Dios bendiga al presidente Bush y Dios Bendiga América" dijo, con su clásica remera azul, jeans rotos y campera de cuerpo.
"Dije esto para contradecir aquellos discursos en otros premios", Mr. Ramone dijoi en una entrevista telefónica. "Lo Republicanos permiten que esto suceda una y otra vez, nunca hay nadie que salte por ellos. Pasan mucho tiempo defendiendose."
Johnny Ramone esta en un punto facil de su vida, donde "Blitzkrieg Bop" puede oirse en eventos deportivos como musica revelde y donde los ramones son citados como las bandas mas influeyentes del rock and roll.en proceso de traducción
They never had a hit single, and none of their 14 original studio albums ever went gold. The Ramones did it because they loved it and had something to say.
"It was a job, and I was just doing my job," Mr. Ramone says now.
The Ramones were so far ahead of their time that Johnny Ramone makes more money each year, thanks to Ramones tunes used in advertisements, discerning record buyers paying their debt to history and the increasing number of Ramones reissues.
"I'm just honored that people still like us and people are still nice to me," he says, 55 years old and very retired in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, Linda, and their three cats.
He sold his guitars and amps when the Ramones finally got out of the van after 2,263 live shows.
L.A. is 3,000 miles from Queens, N.Y., where he was raised as John Cummings, but he is never far from his legacy. People still know him when they see him, even though he disputes his own celebrity.
"I really can't believe that my career has gone like it has," he says. "I don't need much more money, and I thought that when I retired that nobody would want to talk to me anymore. Then I did, and people still want to talk to me." He pals around with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, tooling about in his black Cadillac DeVille, "a good American car," Johnny says proudly.
He is an avid film buff, and he watches two flicks a day — sci-fi, horror or anything intense — and his private collection numbers 4,000.
He reads mostly books on film and baseball. He still buys music, "old rock 'n' roll, '50s is my favorite," he says. "I also get some early '70s stuff, punk stuff, but I think I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel now." He won't play any Ramones, but Linda does.
"Constantly," he says, with a weary resignation.
"Yeah, the first five albums," she says. The two click on politics though.
"I grew up a Republican," she says. "My family was the only Italian family in Queens that voted for Nixon instead of Kennedy."
Johnny was driven right by a youthful revulsion against, um, face-ism. "It was in 1960, the Nixon-Kennedy election," he says, recalling his first inclination toward the right. He was an only child of Irish heritage in a working-class neighborhood. Families on his block voted left, pro-union. "People around me were saying, 'Oh, Kennedy's so handsome,' and I thought, 'Well, if these people are going to vote for someone based on how he looks, I don't want to be party to that.' "
For his news now, he hits the Drudge Report and Newsmax.com, Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," and "The O'Reilly Factor." He listens daily to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved. In L.A., people spend a lot of time in their cars, and he uses that time to educate himself, he says.
His list of favorite Republicans should humble the Republican National Committee, or at least get him invited to a GOP fund-raiser: Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Charlton Heston, [actor and close friend] Vincent Gallo, Ted Nugent, Messrs. Limbaugh and Hannity, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Wayne and Tom DeLay.
He relishes agitating his left-wing peers — and has since the band started in 1974.
"Oh yeah, they really get upset," Johnny says. "I remember in 1979 doing an interview for Creem magazine with [famed rock and roll scribe, now deceased] Lester Bangs and telling him that Ronald Reagan will be the next president. He was really mad that I liked Reagan, who was the greatest president of my lifetime. So I turned it around on him and asked to see his commie card. In fact, ever after that, I would ask him for his card. I think he had one, really."
The other day, when Stray Cats bassist Slim Jim Phantom was complaining about his tax bill, Johnny reminded him that the charges would be higher if President Bush hadn't gotten his tax cuts passed. "I told him he needs to vote Republican to keep his taxes lower ... and donate to President Bush's campaign," he says.
"I try to make a dent in people when I can," he says. "I figure people drift toward liberalism at a young age, and I always hope that they change when they see how the world really is."
He has found few allies in show business, but one stands out as a fellow renegade and conservative: Mr. Gallo, an actor, director and musician. "What's radical about saying you are for the poor?" Mr. Gallo, 41, demands. "Johnny Ramone has never been like that. He is incredibly authentic as both a musician and a person. I respect him not because we agree on a lot of things but because he is an individual." They bonded over [former New York Yankees star pitcher] Ron Guidry, cinema and politics.
Not that Mr. Ramone's friends must pass an ideological litmus test. He still holds ideological hopes for the relentlessly liberal Mr. Vedder. When the Pearl Jam singer impaled a mask of Mr. Bush and slammed it to the stage at a Denver concert on the heels of the Iraq invasion last April, Johnny Ramone let him know that he thought it was a stupid move.
"I got serious with him and told him that he was alienating people," Johnny says. "And I got him to see the point." When Johnny Ramone tells you something is uncool, well, it is.
Harnessing chaos, humor and danger, the Ramones created the template of the rock 'n' roll revolution that was punk rock.
Even then, though, Johnny's conservative side showed. When the band wanted to record "Chinese Rocks," a song co-written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny disapproved of the reference to a strain of dope that was prevalent at the time.
Ditto when the other guys in the band came up with "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg," a tune disparaging Johnny's beloved Mr. Reagan. (Sample lyric: "You're a politician / Don't become one of Hitler's children.") Both times, he lost. After all, a band is a democracy.
"But I really enjoyed upsetting them," Johnny says of his former bandmates. "They called me the Rush Limbaugh of rock 'n' roll one time in a Village Voice interview. But, hey, they were just old hippies." Two are dead now: Singer Joey succumbed to cancer in 2001 and Dee Dee to a heroin overdose in 2002. Longtime (but not original) Ramones drummer Marky still plays around in the underground scene.
Like so many other right-wingers. who are fed up with the media establishment, Johnny tunes in to the radio every day for some roiling rhetoric and to the Web for some news that doesn't seem to make the local newspaper.
"Hey," he says, perusing Newsmax.com as he speaks on the phone, "what's going on with these illegal aliens now?"
