Dee Dee Ramone Book Clears Court Hurdle

"A punk love story"... aww.....

By Fred Mills

Hey, remember that injunction that the estate of Dee Dee Ramone filed against the late bassist's former wife, Vera Ramone King, to prevent the publication of her memoir Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone (The Ramones Years)? No? Hey, we don't either! What would be the point anyway - any publicity is good publicity for a dead musician, or more accurately, for anyone who stands to profit by renewed, if only a blip's worth, interest. Which such a book - a tell-all whereby King outlines the good, the bad and the very ugly aspects of having to live with a narcissist and junkie - would certainly do.

What we do remember is this absurd, over-the-top quote by King, speaking to Spinner awhile back, about Dee Dee's spirit apparently telling her to do the book:

"I was told by renowned chaneller Linda Drake that Dee Dee wanted me to write the book and tell the whole story. The good, the bad and the ugly truths. Several times during the writing of the book, I decided to stop because it was too painful for me to remember some of the incidents. Every time I said, 'I can't do this,' Linda would call me out of the blue within less than five minutes and ask if I was still writing the book."

Who the fuck is Linda Drake?

At any rate, word arrives that the New York Supreme Court has denied the injunction request, and Phoenix Books will now be able to go ahead with the June 2 publication of the King memoir. We've read the book and we also have a review of it set to go in the next issue of BLURT, and no, we ain't revealing anything, other than to say, well... hmmm... well, any Ramones-related story is bound to be fun, and King's tale is no exception (the above quote may ring some warning bells) but she probably shouldn't quit her day job as writing definitely ain't her calling...