Mama Ramone died:

On Sunday January 28, Charlotte Lesher, mother of Joey Ramone suffered a heart attack in her home in Rego Park, Queens home , and passed away. \"Mama Ramone\", as Joey called her, was 80 years old, but her youthful sparkle and lust for life kept her looking and feeling half her age. Charlotte is survived by her younger son Mickey Leigh, a first class guitarist on the New York scene.

An artist and bohemian with a diamond wit, razor intellect and a heart bigger than the ocean, Charlotte was instrumental in nurturing the talents of the early Ramones. During the 1970\'s, she owned a gallery called the Art Garden in Forest Hills. Joey and Dee Dee practiced in the basement, grew pot plants and sometimes they slept there, barricaded behind cartons to avoid detection. After Joey died in 2001, Charlotte and Mickey honored his memory by hosting an annual birthday bash that would become an in-gathering of the Post-Ramones Empire, featuring some of old school and neo-punk\'s greatest bands.

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My favorite part was him talking about the cemetary in LA he'd like to be buried in, Hollywood Forever:

I like it... I stumbled across Johnny Ramone’s stone — I thought his stone was very nicely placed.

S and I go walking in that cemetary all the time. It's only a couple of miles from our house, and they don't mind visitors (unlike some other cemetaries **cough**forestlawn**caugh**). Johnny's stone is quite wonderful, as are many others. Doug Fairbanks and Doug Fairbanks Jr. have side-by-side sarcophagi overlooking a coi pond and with an unobstructed, direct line of sight view on the Hollywood sign. There are also geese and peafowl wandering the grounds freely. The peafowl will run away if you look at the cross-eyed, but the geese will sometimes want to throw down with you.

Amazing to think that if we had gone out on the right day, we could have enjoyed a quiet sit with Morrisey, looking at Johnny's stone and meditating peacefully. That would have been pretty cool.

Jon B., your post in press is very exciting. I hope it works out. It's like a starlet being discover in Schwab's.

Jon! That's so exciting!

Jon, that's so cool!

::am now tempted to filk "Jukebox Hero" to be about a guy with a theremin::

Jon, how awesome is that! If I had a camcorder and lived in Boston, I would totally be there for you, man.

Yay, Jon!

Awesome news Jon. I wish I had a video-corder to help you out (or even knew anyone who did).

Yay Jon! I will become irrationally excited when I see a White Castle commercial with you in it. Excellent!

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone. I still can\'t get over that the casting call specifically asked for me! It\'s so weird!

I found a (non-buffista) friend to do the video, but a special thank you to DX Machina who offered to truck up here from RI.