Elvis Ate Dynamite

Well, that was some weekend. Between the apocalyptic storms Friday night and the flooded streets and sidewalks on Saturday, I think the universe was trying to tell us something. And we hardly got the worst of it. We may have had biblical thunderstorms and gale-force winds, but at least we dodged the tornadoes.

It’s been an active spring here in Illinois.

But it’s Monday, so I’m back at work. Work being my home office where I occasionally take a break and play guitar or post on my blog. (For the record, it’s only 8:21 a.m. at the moment, so I’m not stealing the company’s time.)

It’s been, shall we say, a little hectic at work lately, so I haven’t been on here much. Unfortunately, that means I missed the opportunity to remember one of the greatest punk artists of all time, Joey Ramone. Last week marked 25 years since his untimely death, and while I wasn’t able to cobble together a blog post, the anniversary of his passing didn’t go unnoticed.

I only saw the Ramones once, as a college sophomore at the University of Illinois in 1981, but that one experience provided 45 years of indelible memories … and counting. It’s one thing to listen to the Ramones’ recorded music, but it was quite another to see them live. Not that their records weren’t amazing. Their catalog stands up against any punk or hard rock band around. But the energy of their live shows was indescribable. Raw, fast, furious, relentless. And the crowd, especially back in the early days, was as animated as I’ve ever seen.

More than anything, though, the Ramones created this incredible sense of belonging, especially for the freaks and outcasts they attracted. A couple of years after that show at U of I, they released the Subterranean Jungle LP, which included a song called “Outsider,” a two minute, ten second anthem that succinctly summarized their appeal:

I’m an outsider, outside of everything
I’m an outsider, outside of everything
I’m an outsider, outside of everything
Everything you know, everything you know
It disturbs me so
Everybody tried to push me, push me around
Everybody tried to put me, try to put me down
All messed up, hey everyone I’ve already had
All my fun, more troubles are gonna come
I’ve already had all my fun
I’m an outsider, outside of everything
I’m an outsider, outside of everything
I’m an outsider, outside of everything
Everything you know, everything you know
It disturbs me so

Yeah, Joey. We knew just what you meant.

Anyway, back to work.