On the afternoon of April 15th 2000, the last day of my 39th year, walking alone through the East Village in Manhattan, I crossed 3rd Avenue on 9th Street and noticed a small kerfuffle in a doorway to my right. There, towering above a throng of a dozen chattering fans, was Joey Ramone, signing autographs, talking to everyone at once, but clearly trying to edge inside the building. I fumbled in my backpack for some paper and a pen and waited patiently at the edge of the group. Joey remained unstintingly polite, in spite of the barrage of questions and bits of paper being thrust at him to sign, but gradually, and before it came to my turn, he eased himself into the foyer of the building and, with a wave through the glass door, he was gone.
So I didn't quite get to meet Joey that day, but it was a memorable New York Moment for me all the same. A moment that came spinning back 12 months later, when I opened a newspaper on the morning of my 41st birthday to find that Joey had passed away the previous afternoon, exactly one year after my close encounter with him. The extent of his illness hadn't been widely publicised, his death was a terrible shock and, 17 years on, we miss him still.
The Ramones - Swallow My Pride
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7 comments:
Lovely tale, what a shame you didn't get chance to say hello but just to be in the right place at the right time and so unexpectedly too makes it a memorable close encounter with something of a rock'n'roll legend!
Love that pic too.
If I had seen Joey on the streets of New York I would have literally rubbed my eyes. Could he have really been real? A very cool moment, Swede, even without the actual face to face you had hoped for.
Ace post Swede.
Plus Aretha Franklin on the cover of the magazine he's holding, great pic!
That's a great story and a great image that you've shared. You might not have the autograph but you will always have the memory.
Great story, better for not having got the autograph.
Know the feeling, mate, know the feeling :-)
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