Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg @ The North Star Bar.

Text by Brittany Thomas.

There have been a lot of legendary names of rock ‘n’ roll and punk rock making their way through town in the past few months (The Vibrators, Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects, Walter Lure of Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, to name a few), and as exciting as that can be for die-hard fans looking for just a glimpse of the by-gone days, there’s always the second-rate, out-of-date, clearly-milking-it-musicians who come to town, crush peoples dreams, piss people off and leave a salty taste in the mouths of former admirers.

That’s what singer Michael Graves did for a lot of the true Ramones fans on Friday when the former Misfits fill-in singer performed the songs of the late Joey Ramone.

“It seems like he misses the Misfits a lot,” said Bill Coburn, singer of the opening band Mean Streets. “It sounded like the replacement Misfit playing the replacement Ramone.”

Well, that’s exactly what it was, literally. But what he means is the sentiment that most of the fans felt that night: this guy made zero effort to sound like a Ramone, despite the fact that he’s playing in a Ramones cover band with a former member of the band (Marky Ramone — not the original Ramones drummer but the replacement for Tommy Ramone for the final 15 years of the band).

This guy has clearly been more interested in projecting his own image and stage persona far more than he ever cared about giving tribute and respect to legendary vocalists Glen Danzig and Joey Ramone. Graves even went so far as to bring out an acoustic guitar and upstage the entire performance in arrogance by doing a solo set after the Blitzkrieg wrapped up the encore.

If it wasn’t already before, it is now confirmed: Graves is a douchebag.

“The irony of Michael Graves singing this Joey Ramone song ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ is just,” says Eddie Gieda, Guitar Army DJ and longtime Ramones fan. “Clearly this guy is here taking Joey’s baby away.”

Not to take away from the entire night and focus on the disappointing frontman — Marky still nailed it. Hearing the clink, clink, clink, clink of those sharp as hell 16th notes on the cymbals made it easy enough to close your eyes, try to tune out Graves and channel Joey’s energy and vocals in your mind.

They also played every hit a fan could ask for (“I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Beat on the Brat,” “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” etc.) and even some slightly deeper cuts. The kick drum was pounding heavy enough to drive a jolt of adrenaline straight to the stomping heels of the crowd and induce incontrollable head banging; Marky’s expressionless demure and mastered metranome-on-speed wrist definitely conjuring imaginary flash-backs of an early 1980’s CBGB’s show.

Marky’s rockstar attitude was a bit disappointing though. In addition to not saying a word to the audience during the performance and charging people $50 for after-set meet-and-greets, he also completely blew off the opening bands, the ones they had on the bill since March, the ones who helped promote the events ever since. Other than some through-the-grapevine direction on how to run the show, Philadelphia power pop group Mean Streets didn’t get so much as a handshake from the man.

“I mean when you get old I guess you kind of want things to go your way,” said Coburn. “Maybe when I’m older, maybe I’ll expect things to run a little smoother for me, too. But who knows. I didn’t even get a chance to talk to him so he could have been a great guy. Who knows?”

At the end of the night, Coburn was still grateful to have the privilege of sharing the stage with a Ramone, Gieda was psyched on
getting a few old records signed (through the bands touring manager) and the crowd seemed to leave satisfied.

The overall consensus:

1. The Ramones rule and always will.

2. Michael Graves ought to bury his attempts at assuming the roles of punk rock idols.