STRAIGHT FROM HENRY

9/24/04
Hello. I know it’s been awhile since I did a newsletter… so here it is...
As you probably know by now, Johnny Ramone (the guitar player of the one and only Ramones) died last week on September 15th. From what I have read and heard, he died in his sleep, surrounded by friends and family. About a week before he passed away, I was over at Johnny’s house visiting with him and his wife Linda. It was hard to see Johnny Ramone with his hair short and gray. He was thin and in pain. We talked about a lot of stuff: the upcoming Ramone’s tribute show, his health, film, music, and the times we played together. I told him about the time the movie Rock & Roll High School played at the Ontario Theater and how the Ramones walked through the theater right before the lights went down and pretty much the whole place emptied into the lobby. He asked me if I had seen the Ramones documentary, End of the Century (I had not seen it but had heard amazing things about it). He told me he had a copy of the final edit and if I wanted to, we could check it out. So we did. We sat there and watched the whole thing. It was great and it meant a lot to watch it with him. It was heavy to watch him watch himself and I wondered what he was thinking. After the film was over, we talked awhile longer but it was late and Johnny was tired so it was time for me to leave. He said to come by any time and I said how about next week. We made plans to watch a movie and I told him I would call. I put my hand on his arm and said, “I’ll see you soon, young man,” and then Linda walked me out and I went home. That’s the last time I ever saw him. I did call him a few days after our visit to see when was a good time to come over again and he said that he had people coming by for the next few days. Since I had to go east to do some shows I told him I would call him after the show on Sunday and we would set something up. That was the last time I spoke to him. On the day he died, I was about to call him when I got the call that he had passed away. It may sound lame, but it felt good to have the chance to personally thank him for the music and how much it meant and how The Ramones influenced a lot of bands and reached more people than anyone could imagine. He was very humble about it all.
The Ramones 30th Anniversary Tribute happened on September 12 at the Avalon in Los Angeles. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Dickies and X played great sets and then CJ Ramone, Marky Ramone and long time producer Daniel Ray took the stage and played while different guitar and vocal teams came out and did Ramones songs. Tim Armstrong, Danny Bosstone, Brett Bad Religion, Eddie Vedder--everybody sang and played great. I went onstage with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and we did Judy is a Punk, Commando and Blitzkrieg Bop. It was a rush and over before I knew it. I was standing on the side of the stage catching my breath and Jones said that it was too bad we didn’t have another five songs because we were just getting into it. I got to meet Tommy Ramone backstage, he’s the only Ramone I hadn’t met yet, that was so cool. The evening’s host, Rob Zombie, an extremely good guy, called Johnny on his cell phone from the stage and we all cheered as he held up the phone so Johnny knew we were there for him. When CJ and company went back onstage to do Pinhead I figured it was my time to get out before the parking lot was full of people. I slipped out the side exit and was back in my room minutes later, still sweating. What a night. I’m glad that Johnny knew the show went down and that it was a success. I believe that Johnny he was holding on for the show and once it happened, he let go. What a man, what a band.
Below is information on the shows I have coming up in October. There’s a couple of Mondays that I will be on the road so I will tape the radio shows that I usually do on Monday nights on Indie 103.1 FM in Los Angeles. In case you have not checked it out and want to, I’m on from 7-9pm Monday nights, west coast time. The show is re-broadcast on Thursday nights at midnight until 2am Friday morning, west coast time. You can stream the show by going here: http://indie1031.fm/main.html. You can go to my site and check out the playlists, etc by going here: http://www.harmonyinmyhead.com/.
Some advance warning: We just went over the final proofs for the new version of Get In The Van and it’s pretty damn cool. It’s 49 pages longer, all the Pettibon flyers are in there along with new pictures and the overall book really benefits from Dave Chapple’s redesign. Also, the 2CD set of Come In And Burn is all mastered and off to the pressing plant. Both of these will be available early November.
I wanted to tell you about the trip I just made to Honduras for the USO. Road manager Mike and I spent a few days at the Sato Cano Air force base up in the mountains, an hour and some out of Tegucigalpa. It was cool, but the last trip to Iraq and Kuwait made this trip seem fairly sedate in comparison, although not getting mortared was swell and the food was good. We learned some interesting stuff about what goes into trying to stop the flow of drugs into America. We were told about what sometimes happens in Columbia: The drug movers go up to an owner of a small plane, give him some money, tell him that his plane will be stolen and he’s not going to report it for a few days. The drug guys pack the plane with cocoa paste and fly to Guatemala (there may be other places they fly to but on this day we were told about Guatemala), anyway, the plane is crash landed there and the paste is loaded out. We were shown these insane aerial shots of a plane graveyard where there are almost a dozen crashed planes. One was still smoking. It seems pretty hopeless. It would be cool if no one wanted to get wasted on coke or heroin thus ruining the business for these people. Have you ever heard Lenny Bruce’s routine where no one takes drugs anymore and a Federal Agent tries to give dope to an ex-user and he doesn’t want it? I forget what record that’s on. As usual, as soon as we were done with the trip, we asked for another and hopefully we will be going on one in December.
Show info. (There will be a show in Bakersfield, CA later in the month, when I get the particulars on that one, I will send out the info.)
10/2/04. New York City, NY: I am part of a panel at the New Yorker Festival. Here’s the info on that: Political Rockers: Musicians with a message. Sasha Frere-Jones, moderator. With Carrie Brownstein, KRS-ONE, Krist Novoselic, and Henry Rollins.
1 P.M.
Celeste Bartos Forum
The New York Public Library
Here’s the site: http://festival.newyorker.com/schedule.cfm. If you go to the “Learn More” arrow, it will show you all the events, when, where, etc. I am a KRS-One fan and am looking forward to meeting him.
10/3/04. New York City, NY / Binghamton NY: As part of the New Yorker thing, there will be a book signing happening at 2pm at the Barnes & Noble at 33 E 17th st. The schedule says it’s Krist from Nirvana and myself. The New Yorker site has all the info.
After the signing Mike and I will get in a car and haul ass out of the city to Binghamton, NY for the show.
Forum Theatre
236 Washington Street
Binghamton, NY 13901
Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
Tickets at the Box Office 607.778.1369, or online at www.oddmanentertainment.com (via Ticketmaster).
10/5/04. 9:30 Club Washington DC: WedROCK: Many weeks ago Bob Mould wrote and told me about an event he had coming up in Washington D.C. called WedROCK. WedROCK is a benefit that will raise money and awareness for Freedom to Marry. He asked if I wanted to host it, I made sure my calendar was clear for that night and joined on. If any of you were at the talking shows this year, you heard me express my disgust with people that have a problem with two people of the same sex wanting to get married. Anyway, I am hosting the event, which I guess means that I will be running back and forth between acts, mouthing off and introducing everyone. I think it’s going to be a great night. As far as who’s going to be at this thing, I will paste in something from the site:
“Following the success of its NYC predecessor, DC’s WedROCK promises patrons a night to rock out and speak out against discrimination. Rock legend Henry Rollins will host the evening along with performances by the incomparable Sandra Bernhard, Hedwig and the Angry Inch mastermind John Cameron Mitchell, Husker Dü and Sugar's revered front man Bob Mould, MTV’s Total Request Live heart-throb Ben Jelen, Seattle’s premiere gay alt-country darlins Purty Mouth, electro-clash pop tarts Avenue D and the swaggering atmospheric sleaze rock of Morel!”
If this looks interesting to you, here’s the official site address so you can read more, get tickets, etc.: http://www.wedrock.com/
10/6-8/04. Somewhere in Southern California: I will be shooting three days of the Independent Film Channel’s show Ultimate Film Fanatic where I will be a judge. So far I have been told that one of the confirmed panelists will be Robert Evans--that will easily be intense. I don’t know when the Independent Film Channel will air these shows but when I find out, I’ll let you know.
10/11/04. Baltimore, MD: I am doing a show at the Lyric Opera House. It’s a fundraiser for University of Baltimore Students for Public Interest Law (UBSPI). It was Patricia Mitchell’s idea to book me. This is what she wrote me about the organization. I think they’re really cool and am happy to be part of this.
“UBSPI assists law students who want to help the less fortunate and
underprivileged obtain equal representation in the justice system. We do this by awarding grants to UB Law students who spend their summers working in public interest law. These grants allow students to contribute their talents to organizations that otherwise could not afford to hire summer law clerks. Our grant recipients have worked at a wide variety of organizations, including House of Ruth, Homeless Persons Representation Project, HERO, Legal Aid, Office of the Public Defender, ACLU, and the Public Justice Center.”
Basically, the first endowment fundraiser is this show.
Lyric Opera House
140 West Mount Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm
www.tickets.com / 866-597-4200 the Lyric box office* / Atomic Books (36th Street in Hampden)* / * tickets sold without a fee when purchased in person at either of these
venues
10/14/04. East Stroudsburg, PA: Another show at Stroudsburg, cool.
East Stroudsburg University
Abeloff Convocation Center
200 Prospect
E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301
8:00 p.m.
Tickets at the following locations:
>From 8am - 4pm University Center Second Floor from the Student Senate Secretary /
>From 4pm-8pm, Monday -Friday, 11am-7pm Saturday and Sunday at University Center Convenience Store on the Ground Level / Online at www.esu.musictoday.com / For questions, please call (570) 422-3396 or (570)422-3055
Europe 2005:
January
11. Hamburg - Schauspielhaus
12. Duesseldorf - Savoy theater
13. Frankfurt - Mousonturm
14. Berlin – Passionskirche
There is a London show on Jan 29 at Hammersmith (the place where Motorhead did the No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith album). I believe that it’s confirmed but am not 100% sure. I have been told that tickets went on sale today in London but I want to hear it one more time so for now consider it a tentative unless you Londoners see it listed. I know that there will be more UK dates as well as some more on the continent. Australia will be later in the year.
Ok, that’s it for now. When additional dates are confirmed, I will let you know. See you down the road. --Henry