This Saturday, June 25, in conjunction with the exhibition Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk, the Queens Museum gets taken over by hordes of punks and hipsters for a full day of Ramones events. We’ll have the New York Punk Rock Heavy Metal Flea Market; screenings of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and End of the Century followed by a Q&A with Ramones tour manager Monte Melnick; book signings and talks with Mickey Leigh, Godlis, Fly, and Andy Shernoff; and a performance by Rockaway Bitch!
Several writers and photographers will share their memories of ‘70s New York punk. David Godlis took the CBGB scene as subject for his fine-art photographs; his images of the Ramones and other bands are now collected in the much-anticipated History Is Made at Night. Musician and author Mickey Leigh’s memoir I Slept with Joey Ramone recounts his adolescence in Queens with his brother Joey and the other Ramones. Dictators founding bassist Andy Shernoff also grew up in Queens, and later played alongside the Ramones at clubs like CBGB. Fly will share her experience as a cartoonist, a creator of photocopy zines, and a contributor to Weird Tales of the Ramones.
Two film screenings give complementary depictions of the Ramones. The campy Rock ‘n’ Roll High School captures them at their most light-hearted, while the documentary End of the Century peers into the notorious tensions and dysfunction behind their triumphs. Longtime Ramones accomplice and tour manager Monte Melnick will introduce End of the Century and answer audience questions about his two-and-a-half decades on the road with the band.
For those who want to take home a piece of punk, the New York Punk Rock Heavy Metal Flea Market offers oddities, collectibles, apparel, jewelry, accessories, handmade goods, vintage items, rare vinyl, and more from a variety of vendors, artists, and craftmakers. Marielle Rebecca and Erin Terror, the duo behind the New York Punk Rock Heavy Metal Flea Market, created the community event in 2014 out of their desire to showcase music and counter-culture ephemera alongside work by some of New York’s most talented emerging designers and creators. Monte Melnick will also be selling items from his personal collection of Ramones memorabilia.
The day concludes with a performance by local all-female Ramones tribute band Rockaway Bitch: “four badass bitches…[who] embody all of the American Punk scene attitude and philosophy necessary to do the Ramones justice.”
Event schedule:
12–5:30pm Punk Rock Heavy Metal Flea Market
12-2pm Screening: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School
1:30-2:30pm Book signing and Q&A celebrating David Godlis’ History Is Made at Night
2-4:30pm Screening: End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
2:30-3pm Fly, a cartoonist and creator of photocopy zines, will share thoughts and artworks about the Ramones
3-3:30pm Andy Shernoff will reminisce about rock in Queens, and meeting Joey Ramone at the Coventry
3:30-4:30pm Book signing and Q&A with I Slept with Joey Ramone author Mickey Leigh
4:30pm Q&A with Ramones tour manager Monte Melnick
5:15pm Performance: Rockaway Bitch
Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk, co-curated by Gallery 98’s Marc H. Miller, will be on view at the Queens Museum through July 31.
Miller and Godlis will be guests of East Village blogger EV Grieve on East Village Radio this Friday at noon.
