The fact that I have almost no recollection of this particular Ramones concert may mean we never gained entry and hung out on the Wollman Rink rocks where we could hear any show that was sold out (or we just decided not to spend the $4.50 or $2.50 to get in that evening).

While attending Queens College, my buddies and I were more inclined to listen to Led Zeppelin or Neil Young than the punk sounds originating from England and downtown Manhattan. I still remember a heavy set student clad in leather punk garb telling me that the Ramones and the Clash were the present and future of rock and roll and me thinking that he wa crazy. It turned out that we both may have been correct.

Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls opened the show.

I briefly met Joey Ramone at a Plasmatics concert at Bonds in New York City. An attractive gal had an apparently inebriated Joey Ramone in tow and were heading straight toward me at the gargantuan venue. I somehow knew that the Ramones had a gig somewhere on Long Island that night so I quickly came up with a plan to act like Joey and I already knew each other and I complimented him on the show they played that night that I did not attend. We were having a cordial conversation when his girl friend seem to realize that Joey was too discombulated to possibly know who I was so she tugged on his wrist and led him away into the crowd. 

Too Tough to Die

Rock on!

GQ