Strokes, Sonic Youth Head Up Ramones Tribute

Legacy is a force usually calculated in such nebulous terms as influence and impact. Punk rock, in particular, is notorious in this respect, as critics through the past three decades have slavishly tallied the amount of bands supposedly inspired by the mighty Ramones and indexed that amount by the supposed similarity of each band's sound to those leather-clad punk legends. The memory of Johnny Ramone's life, however, will soon accumulate funding that may in turn directly touch millions of other lives.

What was to be a benefit concert this Friday has now become a tribute to the late great Johnny Ramone as well, with all proceeds going to Cedar Sinai Cancer Research Center and the Lymphoma Cancer Research Foundation. Before he died on September 15th, Ramone was organizing the show and had already nabbed The Strokes and Blondie. The Be Well: Ramones Beat On Cancer benefit, as it is currently christened, has now added several bands to the roster, including Sonic Youth, former New York Dolls frontman David Johansen, Sean Lennon, Alan Vega of Suicide, and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. Organizers also saw fit to invite Andrew WK, but we can't figure out for the life of us how the Party Machine's vibe will coalesce with the benefit's general tone. Sure, it'll be a celebration of Ramone's life, but will the folks in attendance really be in the kind of mood it takes to party hard?

The concert will take place at the Manhattan nightspot Spirit, and will feature a speech from the lone surviving member of the original Ramones line-up, Tommy Ramone, according to long-time collaborator Arturo Vega. Joey Ramone's brother, Mickey Leigh, will host the event which will be held at the Manhattan. According to Vega, Johnny was fully aware of the possibility that the benefit would go on without him, and as the he put it prior to his death, "We can't disappoint the fans and all the people that are working so hard on the shows."

There will also be an exhibition of Ramones memorabilia at the benefit, including Johnny's white Mosrite guitar and the inscrutably rose-tinted glasses worn by Joey. All of this should serve as a tangible reminder of the Ramones' importance-- not only musically, but also via their spirit of full-on energy. That's right, Cancer, we're talking to you: fuck off! Now that's legacy.