It is so good to see Kevin’s blog come back but so sad, the circumstances. Tommy Ramone was a great drummer. He cut out the crap and nailed the tune. He made the Ramones sound fresh and pop. Too bad for everyone that radio wasn’t ready for them. Now that all four original members are dead you can hear the chorus of a song Tommy wrote every night at Red Wing Stadium.
In 1977, when the “Do You Wanna Dance/Baby Sitter” single was released, the Ramones played the Penny Arcade and the leading rock station here, WCMF, printed t-shirts for the bartenders at the Penny Arcade to wear that said, “Punk Rock Sucks.” Like they would know what sucks. I got this sleeve signed by the band that night. They were unbelievably good.
I learned quite a bit learned quite a bit from Tommy. The band I was in did a few Ramones songs. I can’t remember which ones. Even though I had loved The Voidoids drummer when I saw them in in New York, I was bummed when Marky replaced Tommy. Long live the Ramones.
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so glad to have seen them with Tommy at the Arcade. Never heard of a tape of it existing, but we can always hope