johnny romone, paul mccartney, my brother and prostate cancer

The names of bands influenced by Johnny Ramone, look at them, and then the fact that Romone was a pseudonym for Paul McCartney is something I did not know.

Here’s the tragedy… He was diagnosed late. What I see happening often with my patients and in casual conversation with others, men and women, is that the misconception that ” prostate cancer is slow-growing and that you die with it not of it,” is something applied across the board lowering the male’s guard, and the dual nature of the disease is not taken into account.

There is a bit of danger of touting surveillance too strongly. Not the concept of surveillance per se, but the misconception of how men perceive it.  I did a post on the fellow named Squarles who had a high PSA but was not going to have a biopsy because to paraphrase, ” Let that urologist get a hold of me.”  It’s surveillance to the extreme.

You have to be aware then  to be willing.(i.e. deem it necessary to make an appointment)

Your being willing needs to result in being checked.

You have to be checked to know.

You have to know( or be diagnosed) to know the specifics of your disease.

You have to have the specifics of the biopsy to decided what to do.

To decide what to do you have to be knowledgeable and ” aware.”

That your decision “pans out” invloves a bit of luck…

There are a long list of Romones and the medical course suggests that he was not having regular check ups prior to his diagnosis. I don’t know, I lost my brother Rushton to cancer way too early. He was creative and at the height of his musical career. Death coming too soon is always tragic… it seems it gets my attention a little more when it may not have been necessary and occurring  in the creative types.

Punk legend Johnny Ramone dies

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 September 2004 14.21 BST

Article history

Johnny Ramone. Photograph: Kathy Willens/AP

Johnny Ramone, the co-founder of seminal punk band the Ramones, has died at the age of 55, it was announced today.

The guitarist, who had fought a five-year battle against prostate cancer, died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home yesterday afternoon. He was surrounded by family and friends, Arturo Vega, the band’s artistic director, said.

“He was the guy with a strategy. He was the guy who not only looked after the band’s interest, but he also was their defender,” Mr Vega told the Associated Press.

Ramone, whose real name was John Cummings, founded the band with the three other original members – singer Joey Ramone, bassist Dee Dee Ramone and drummer Tommy Ramone – in 1974.

They changed their surnames to Ramone when they joined the band, taking the name from Paul McCartney, who sometimes checked into hotels under the pseudonym Paul Ramone at the height of Beatlemania.

The Ramones created a punk sound that was characterised by raw, fast, short songs, and influenced a generation of rockers. Their songs included I Wanna Be Sedated, Blitzkrieg Bop, Beat on the Brat and Baby, I Love You. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Joey Ramone, whose real name was Jeff Hyman, died of lymphatic cancer in 2001. Dee Dee Ramone, whose real name was Douglas Colvin, died of a drug overdose in 2002. Tommy is the only surviving member of the original band.

With long black hair and clad in leather jackets, the Ramones began their career in legendary New York clubs such as CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, where they performed songs unlike anything else being played at the time.

After hearing the band play in London in 1976, future members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols picked up on the sound.

Following the release of their debut album in 1976, the Ramones struggled for commercial success but left a formidable imprint on the rock genre, with their sound influencing bands such as Green Day and Nirvana.

Bruce Springsteen wrote Hungry Heart for the Ramones after seeing them perform in Asbury Park, New Jersey, but his manager persuaded him to keep the song for himself and it became a hit single.

The Ramones worked with big names including the producer Phil Spector, who collaborated with them in 1980. Dee Dee Ramone later said Spector had pulled a gun on the band during the session.

“The Ramones had it rough,” Vega – who worked with them for 30 years – said. “The band almost had to be protected from people who were taking advantage of them. There was never any money made.”

Johnny Ramone, however, kept a close watch on the band’s budget, with Vega recalling that he would insist they drove non-stop between Boston and New York for shows rather than spending the night in a hotel.

In addition to his financial conservatism, the guitarist was politically conservative – the late Ronald Reagan was his favourite president, Vega said.

Fans have remained loyal to the Ramones, and the band also showed loyalty to their fans. In 1979, while shooting scenes for the film Rock’n’Roll High School, the Ramones – ignoring the director’s orders – played a concert-length session for fans who had paid to be extras.

“The Ramones never ever lost their image, their aura of being the ultimate underdog, the voice of the angry young man,” Vega said.

A tribute concert and cancer research fundraiser was held in Los Angeles on Sunday to mark the band’s 30th anniversary. It featured performances from Los Angeles punk band X, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Henry Rollins and others.

Along with his wife, Linda Cummings, friends including Pearl Jam rocker Eddie Vedder, singer Rob Zombie, Lisa Marie Presley, Pete Yorn, Vincent Gallo and Talia Shire were gathered at Ramone’s bedside yesterday.

He is survived by his wife and his mother, Estelle Cummings, and will be cremated in a private ceremony.