In his time away from the Ramones, Dee Dee was a quintessential bohemian-artist; his writing, music and paintings flowered through a number of smaller presses, labels and galleries. His working style seems to have been quite fitting for his role as a godfather of punk. Probably, it will be many years — if ever — before we know of the true range of his creativity.
(Dee Dee Ramone with his band Spikey Tops appeared on Local Live Licks with Uncle Floyd in April of 1991.)
(Of course, when you’re a musical genius you are bound to have a few missteps.)
Of course, the style of punk rock that he helped invent was his mainstay; ’till the end he maintained that characteristic pop-iness and humor that made the bruthas so lovable in the first place.
(Ramones rehearse Judy Is A Punk at Arturo’s loft in 1975.)
Throughout his life, it was no secret that Dee Dee struggled with drug addiction. But he was always up front about it, a fact that gave his struggle a heroic quality.
From Wikipedia:
Under the name Dee Dee Ramone, Colvin wrote two books: Poison Heart: Surviving the Ramones (aka Lobotomy) and Legend of a Rock Star, a daily journal of commentary on his last, hectic European tour in the spring of 2001. Both were released as “non-fiction” autobiographies, despite the fact that “Legend of A Rock Star” features a sequence in which Dee Dee murders a border guard.
Dee Dee also penned a novel, titled Chelsea Horror Hotel, in which he and his wife move into New York City’s famous Chelsea Hotel and believe they are staying in the same room where Sid Vicious killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. In the book, Dee Dee is visited by Sid, as well as other dead punk rock friends such as Johnny Thunders, Stiv Bators, and Jerry Nolan.
Dee Dee’s last days were spent in LA with his wife Barbara:
(Of course, when you move to LA, there is always the danger that you might end up in a movie with Corey Feldman and Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf.)
Filed under: As advertised on Myspace, Dee Dee Ramone
