This is page 4, and here story continue...
Jan Beddies, I, Hannu Jokinen, Timo Pullinen and many other Ramones fans forwarded to Waldbuhne in Berlin. It was sold-out show with 22 000 people because of Die Toten Hosen. CJ Ramone played first before SKA-P and DTH.
In all CJ Ramone supported five times Die Toten Hosen in this European tour. As I have wrote before, this was first tour CJ Ramone did in Europe after Los Gusanos tour in 1998. It is really great how Die Toten Hosen wants support CJ Ramone and give them chance to play to big audiences. Day earlier at Festsaal in Berlin was 500 people seeing CJ Ramone's headliner show. But some shows in this tour had only 20-30 people, like shows in San Diego (USA) and Sunderland (UK).
Jan told me: "I remember me being on Dee Dee Ramone's concert in the late 1990's in Cottbus, Germany (a small town in the middle of nowhere...), when Dee Dee played there in a front of 20 people. But show was a lot of fun for us there."
Waldbuhne is like a half amphitheater. As it had ascending seats, lot people had chance to see well bands playing. As expected, lot people were in line waiting to get in. CJ Ramone crew passes helped me and Jan to get in more quickly. We still missed some songs of CJ's show. Probably they had started again with Blitzkrieg Bop? First Jan and I were looking CJ, Daniel and Brant playing from top of the hill. I thought it was good place videotape and watch a while guys playing and seeing reactions of audience. I think there were 17000-19000 people at that time in Waldbuhne.
I had promised earlier to CJ and Gene Frawley not to copy my recordings of the shows to anyone. First songs Jan and I heard were Cretin Hop, Listen To My Heart, Endless Vacation and Sheena Is A Punkrocker. It was strange to think, how only some hour earlier we had experienced intimate show by same trio at Ramones Museum Berlin. Museum is not so big and there is inside space to around 50-70 people. Now in Waldbuhne was around 300 times more audience. And stage was 25-30 times more big. So to the trio band stage gives much more challenges than to band what has 5 or more members. When CJ does main vocals in many songs, Daniel sing lot backvocals, and when Ramones songs has no lot solos..., there is no lot chances to make special moves. CJ was pretty energetic when he had chance. But song like Poison Heart, is not type of tune where it looks good to jump too much around. It has different kind of spirit. Daniel Rey sang Poison Heart again.
Poison Heart and memories from Dee Dee tour in 2000...
While listening Poison Heart, I was thinking what did happen some hours earlier at Museum and then what did happen in 2000. Following discussions and experiences with Dee Dee and his wife Barbara Zampini are from 2000 (I has lot of them videotaped). I will write of it longer again. In 2000 when great Finnish Ramones fan Kimmo Aaltonen and I were experiencing tour with Dee Dee, Dee Dee was really impressed when I showed him printed pages from my homepage at Tivoli venue in Helsingborg, Sweden on May 5, 2000.
Dee Dee commented: "Wonderful. How did you put up all this information? This must be driving you crazy."
Then I showed Dee Dee picture of him by Keith Green. It is from classic photo shootings Dee Dee and Keith had in 1992. Dee Dee is standing on the balcony of the Chelsea Hotel holding a guitar, with the hotel sign in the background and the streets of New York below. It is similar to the photo in right (it is from Keith's site:
http://www.keithphotog.com/6.html)
Dee Dee: "Let me see that picture. Look at this Barbara, where did you get that? How much did he charge you for this one?"
I explained to Dee Dee how Keith been really friendly also to me.
Dee Dee: "That's the harmony in a pic. That's New York in summer. The filth, the steam heat, the creepiness, the guitar. One step from the balcony. That's wonderful."
Dee Dee then wrote on the picture from top to bottom: "I'm
living on a Chinese Rock", and then "Dee Dee Ramone to Jari-Pekka." Soon after that Dee Dee visited their van and when Dee Dee came back to the room, he discussed with Barbara something about his tour diary book. Barbara said to Dee Dee: "Sure you can, it's yours." Her answer was for a really shocking event; Dee Dee wanted to give me his tour diary. I couldn't believe it, that's what he got from the van.
Dee Dee: "These are nice words." Next he read to me some lyrics from the diary, he read a lot and also sang a little. Dee Dee showed me some me some texts and some pics, which are really fabulous.
Dee Dee: "On this pic, Barbara and Joanna don't look so good after 12 pints of beer at the Smechlack pug. This is a thank you for you, but don't put these on your website, OK?"
Jari-Pekka: "OK, sure. Are all these writings yours?"
Dee Dee: "Yeah!"
The cover is red & Dee Dee wrote on the cover "The Horror Of Europeian Touring By Dee Dee Ramone." (Has one mistake). The size of the tour diary is A5 and it contains 8 pages full of Dee Dee's text, 4 drawings by Dee Dee, and 8 small photos from their tour.
Next day (May 6, 2000) at Cafe Rust in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dee Dee signed a lot of my items, also Kimmo Aaltonen's and some to my friends like to Spanish friends Alfredo Cordeiro and Anna Piella etc. One item what Dee Dee signed to me was Mondo Bizarro CD's booklet. So it has Poison Heart song.
Here are some lyrics of Poison Heart: "No one ever thought this one would survive.."
"I just want to walk right out of this world, 'cause everybody has a poison heart..."
Dee Dee signed my Mondo Bizarro with a dedication: "You can survive and be happy." Then he wrote "to" and to next page "Jari-Pekka" as there were no space enough in another page. Signings are on double page where are lyrics of Poison Heart.
Signing date of Dee Dee's autograph was May 6th, 2000. Thirteen months later Dee Dee became an angel.
Marky Ramone put his autograph to same booklet of Mondo Bizarro few years later.
Importance of Daniel Rey's autograph?And today (August 28, 2009) Daniel Rey and CJ Ramone signed it at Ramones Museum Berlin. Daniel's autograph was important because he wrote Poison Heart together with our Dee Dee. Daniel had produced some Ramones albums, but Mondo Bizarro is produced by Ed Stasium.
Back to the show at Waldbuhne, Berlin. Poison Heart was followed by Glad To See You Go. Again CJ told how it is dedicated to Michael Jackson.
Jan Beddies and I forwarded to backstage as I wanted to videotape and take photos of the show also from opposite view when compares to place in a top of the hill. Especially it was nice to take photos behind of Brant Bjork and see all the people for whom Brant, Daniel and CJ delivered happy punkrock feelings. There was small moshpit going on in front of the guys. Gene Frawley, crew member Beano Skint and I had chance to be happy of guys on stage. They were in action.
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, I Wanna Be Sedated and R.A.M.O.N.E.S. were played before I started videotaping from stage and then we heard rules of Commando song and straight after that we knew how is Teenage Lobotomy. Guys were in happy mood and show was going tight way. California Sun ended the show. Sun was shining when CJ, Daniel and Brant were playing.
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