Takin' A Ride

Our friend Jonny got cancer a couple years back and he said that if he ever beats it and makes it to 50, he’s going to throw the biggest and best birthday party ever. And he beat it. And he made it to 50! And he threw the biggest and best birthday party ever!

Jonny & his wife Ilze are well known for throwing the best parties. Toga parties! Saturday Night Live parties! Legendary Christmas parties! Our friend Pinch is a regular at their parties and everyone knows John Reis. They also play together in the latest incarnation of Me First & The Gimme Gimmes (new live album they did can be heard via this link). This incarnation also has CJ Ramone on bass. So it didn’t take anything but a few phone calls to get CJ Ramone, John Reis, and Pinch on board. No expense was spared to get the best sound system available (my recordings don’t capture this at all, unfortunately) so that CJ Ramone and friends could do this private party to celebrate life. T-shirt, koozies, even BEER (courtesy of Fall Brewing) was packaged for this epic event!

CJ started the set saying that the first person to throw Jonny in the pool gets to sing a song with them. Fortunately, no one did throw Jonny in the pool, and people still got invited up to sing.

Let’s look at some pictures.

Having some beers and loosening up before the set:

Playing the set. All Ramones songs, so all killer, no filler:

That’s fellow bassist Gary from Deadbolt admiring CJ’s handiwork:

Artist Matt Reese (also singer for Funeral March and San Diego mega-legends Jalopy) was invited to come up to sing “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”:

Gary from Deadbolt jumped in for “I Wanna Be Sedated”:

And our friend Brandon was invited up for “53rd & 3rd”. CJ coaxed him up there saying “You got this. I’ll help you out!”:

And soon enough, everyone was invited to come up to sing:

Here’s some video I took of the show. I sure wish I thought of bringing my old phone that got great sound:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONNY! MAY YOU HAVE MANY MORE!

I got a chance to chat with CJ after the show. The Ramones always traveled in a van together. The roadies were the ones who got the fancy bus. Legend has it that Joey & Johnny Ramone never talked to one another. I asked CJ how true this was. Because if you’re crammed in a van together, there has to be either some very uncomfortable silence and/or some sort of interaction with one another. CJ told me Joey & Johnny DID talk to one another, but never as friends. Only as a business relationship. They would communicate with one another in the studio or talk business, but never as buddies or friends. Which is how it is for many bands.