CBGB Vets Pouring Out For Joey Ramone’s Birthday

May 19 would have been Joey Ramone’s 57th birthday, and a rather large crew of old friends and acolytes will be celebrating it this Monday at Irving Plaza. Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh has roped an impressive lineup that includes Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las, Richard Lloyd, Local H, and several Dictators who will be performing as Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, the Dictators spin-off that released an album in 1990.

This year’s headliners are Mary Weiss (THE SHANGRI-LA’S) and Richard Lloyd (TELEVISION) and the SMUFTYDOGS. The spectacular party will conclude with The Joey Ramone Birthday Bashers featuring Jesse Malin, Cheetah Chrome, Walter Lure, Tish & Snooky, Jean Beauvior, Andy Shernoff, Joe McGinty, JP Thunderbolt, Al Maddy, Ivan Julian, Bobby Steele and Mickey Leigh. Also appearing are CHARM SCHOOL, SEMI-PRECIOUS WEAPONS, THE INDEPENDENTS, LOCAL H, L.E.S. STITCHES and Rachel Newman. In what has become a Birthday Bash tradition, Sean O’Sullivan’s PUNK PIPERS will round out the night on the bagpipes. The night will be MCed by “Little Steven” Van Zandt, Matt Pinfield and Peter Aschner. Additional surprises are expected at the evening’s events.

Ramone, who passed away in April 2001 after a seven-year battle with lymphoma, had a history of encouraging up-and-coming bands in New York’s downtown music scene by showcasing them at his special “Joey Ramone Presents…” events. Since Ramone’s passing, his brother and their mother Charlotte Lesher carried on the tradition “by featuring bands that make great music and getting together some of Joey’s friends to celebrate him on what would otherwise be a sad, somber day,” Leigh explained.

All proceeds are going to the Joey Ramone Foundation For Lymphoma Research.

2008: Birthday Bash Details Revealed [Blabbermouth] Ramones – I Wanna Live [YouTube]