I have a huge affinity for Joey Ramone and the rest of The Ramones, growing up in NYC you couldn’t help but be influenced by them if you were a maladjusted teen who liked rock n roll.

This was before hipsters were at every corner, and if you wanted a cute skinny boy who wore converse you had to seek them out and not just take the L train to Brooklyn.  Their songs were so simple and to the point, undeniably punk and poppy.  I started interning at Coney Island High when I was 15 partially because of The Ramones, they were a lower east side staple. Seeing pictures of them made you want to be in the east village, so that is where I went to live out my teenage dreams of ’70s glory.

I met Mickey, Joey’s brother when I was working there, I would go in every night and do my homework at the bar or in the bumper car with a drink in one hand, when people asked me why I was reading the Constitution I would say it was for college (really who reads the Constitution in college?).

Sometimes Joey would be at shows and I would be starstruck to the maximum, he was a striking figure, I never spoke to him.  Once I had to deliver a package to his apartment.  I couldn’t believe I was carrying a package that was addressed to theee one and only Joey Ramone.  When I got to his building they asked me if I wanted to go upstairs and deliver it, I was too nervous, so I said no and left it with the doorman.

I still wear tight black jeans, I still wear leather jackets with striped shirts, and I still wear dirty white Converse.  What once was an homage to the style of an amazing band, has now become part of who I am.

I love The Ramones.

Chantal Claret, Morningwood
www.morningwoodrocks.com