A Conversation with Linda Ramone: Tenth Annual Johnny Ramone Tribute

Jonny Whiteside

When the Ramones first erupted in the mid-1970s, they were a lone voice in the wilderness of hippie rock & roll. Though they were cherished by the punk underworld when they disbanded in 1996, mainstream America didn’t care two cents about them. Hell, it took their classic debut album 38 years to attain RIAA “Gold” certification. But the Ramones, as anyone who saw them perform would attest, changed the world. Their path to success was insidious and long, and in fact, it was the death of drummer Tommy Ramone, last of the four founding Ramones, this July 11th that unleashed a stunning national torrent of sorrow and, at long last, reverence.

“That was amazing, and it was exactly what Tommy wanted,” Linda Ramone, widow of guitarist Johnny Ramone, tells Entertainment Voice. “It’s his legacy–it was Tommy who brought them together, when all four of them lived on the same block. The last time I talked to Tommy, I said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the legacy.’ ‘You better,’ he said, ‘And I know you will, because you’ve been doing a pretty good job already.’”

Sunday August 24th marks the tenth edition of the annual Johnny Ramone tribute at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Linda, who organizes the event, tells us that “Tommy came every year, except for last year because obviously he wasn’t feeling well enough to. Tommy was wonderful, he went on the [Johnny Ramone autobiography] Commando book signing tour in 2012, he did all of those with me, because, for both of us, it’s all about the Ramones and their legacy.”

The annual cemetery tribute is a self-propelled phenomenon. “It all started when Cinespia, who do the regular movie screenings there, were showing Rock & Roll High School,” Linda said. “They called me, and suggested we have a Ramones night.”

“Of course I know all the people from the movie, so I called PJ Soles and everybody, all my friends came out for it, and that’s how it started. At the time [ex-Sex Pistols guitarist] Steve Jones had his Indie 105 radio show and he had me talking about the event on a tape loop all day.  Back then there was no Twitter, you know, but still over two thousand kids showed up.

We all talked, told stories, signed autographs and that how it started,” she said. “So since Johnny loved horror movies, we always show one, and added live music and invite friends like Henry Rollins, Billy Zoom, Lisa Marie Presley—Priscilla even hosted one year! We had John Waters and Johnny Depp as [surprise guests], which was great, especially because his band had actually opened for the Ramones once, years ago. People went crazy.

So, since Johnny loved horror movies we always show one and added live music. This year we’ve got Rob Zombie as host, he’s a good friend, he loves the Ramones. We’ve got all Kirk Hammett’s horror stuff, his ‘crypt collection’ on display in the mausoleum, and we’ve got Steve Jones leading the band, and Duff McKagan from Guns ‘N Roses is gonna play. It’ll be great. Jonesy’s done every single one of the tributes.”

Linda speaks in a tough-as-leather New York accent, which tumbles out in a rat-a-tat cadence that’s equal parts candid and cagey. The Punk Princess is infamous for having first dated lead singer Joey before leaving him for guitarist Johnny, to whom she was wed until his 2004 death.

Insiders paint a dark picture of the star-crossed relationship but Ramone doesn’t shy away from the subject. “Joey and Johnny didn’t hate each other. How could they have stuck together? They were the only ones there in the band for the entire time, all through the years. Johnny would use that to get a rise out of people.  He’d say ‘oh the fans love it,’ and he would come up with some crazy story. But, that was him, that was his personality, he’d do anything for a laugh.”

Her focus is always on the band. “The Ramones changed music,” she says. “Johnny was one of the most influential guitarists of all time—because he inspired so many kids to learn to play the guitar. But you have to work to keep the legacy alive. None of them had a kid, not one of the four of ‘em had a child, so to me that’s another reason: it is definitely important to do these tributes and keep the Ramones out there. And now Joey’s brother is finally speaking to me, we didn’t get along for years. So we are talking about doing a full-on Ramones tribute sometime soon.

We never had any press in the beginning, and now everybody is calling and asking about the tributes,” she says. ”My phone hasn’t stopped ringing for the last three months. It’s a lot of work, and there are a lot of people you have to count on, but it’s great to do because it is always lots of fun and, most of all, it’s great for the Ramones.”

In the end, she says, “It’s all about their legacy.”