1) BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
2) BASIC INFORMATION.
3) MORE INFORMATION FROM PRESS RELEASE.
4) LINDAS' INTERVIEW BY NEKESA MUMBI MOODY.
5) BACKGROUND DETAILS BY ME (JARI-PEKKA).
1) BACKGROUND
INFORMATIONFew years after a founding member and guitarist of the Ramones, Johnny Ramone had passed away (RIP, September 15, 2004), Henry Rollins (ex member of the Black Flag, Rollins Band etc.) got the honour to start working on Johnny Ramone's book and he was working with it many years. But in September 2010, I got told new Ramones manager John Cafiero is working with the book.
In July 2011, I got some new information. Book is titled: Commando: The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone. Publisher is Abrams Image. Those things not changed.
Some other things got changed, as I got information book having 192 pages. 16 pages was shortened away, so final version has 176 pages. Included are 60 full-color and black-and-white illustrations.
2) BASIC INFORMATION:
1) Commando: The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone is the first and only truly autobiographical work written by Johnny Ramone.
2) USA: Commando: The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone will be released in stores and online nationwide (USA) on April 2nd, 2012 from Abrams Image. Pre-order Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone
3) E-book will be available on Kindle, iPad, Nook, Kobo and Sony Reader.
4) Rights of the book have been pre-sold in four different languages throughout Europe and Brazil with more soon to be announced.
5) Commando: The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone includes a foreward written by sole surviving founding member, drummer, Tommy Ramone, and an epilogue written by Johnny's close friend (and daughter to the King), Lisa Marie Presley.
3) MORE INFORMATION FROM PRESS RELEASE:
Despite his ultimate success with The Ramones, Johnny Ramone never really strayed from his working-class roots and attitude. The tough guy from the streets of Queens, New York, USA, assumed the role of the tough guy in the band who kept The Ramones focused and moving forward, ultimately securing the seminal band's place in rock history. The Ramones were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame on March 18, 2002, and nearly a decade later, the seminal band was awarded a Grammy for lifetime achievement.
Commando: The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone is Johnny's story and the story of The Ramones told in his own words. Insightful and introspective, the 176-page, visually driven memoir walks through Johnny's days as a founding member of one of the world's most iconic bands and also chronicles his personal life beyond the stage. Never afraid to speak his mind, it includes raw and unflinching opinions of the band as well as his fellow peers in music and even the struggle with cancer that ultimately took him. Grounded in decades of his own meticulous records and notes, Johnny also shares his personal assessment of The Ramones catalog, several of his brilliantly eccentric Top Ten Lists, rare historical artifacts and scores of personal and professional photos, most of which have never been seen before.
Tommy Ramone recently shared some insight on Commando: The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone with the Associated Press:
"Johnny Ramone's autobiography is a no holds bared, straight forward book written in a no-nonsense style that is Johnny personified. His story is written in his own actual words, so the reader gets an insight into what made him the unique, charismatic and exciting individual that he was. It also gives a great view of the Ramones from Johnny's perspective." - Tommy Ramone.
4) LINDA CUMMINGS' (LINDA RAMONE) INTERVIEW BY NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP MUSIC WRITER (2012)
I want this interview to be archived and it is reason why interview is
also here. Otherwise interview would get lost from Internet
later.Interview with Linda Cummings' (Linda Ramone) is by Nekesa Mumbi Moody, on January, 2012.
Eight years after he died of prostate cancer, Johnny Ramone's autobiography is finally being published.
"Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone" is set for release April 2, 2012, by Abrams Image. In an interview Tuesday, his widow, Linda, described the book as "kind of his last word that he knew would be out."
"It is a really powerful book because his whole life has gone before him and he knows it's going to come to an end, and he really needs to tell everybody what he's feeling inside, so that's what makes it so amazing," she added later. "That is the biggest, most powerful thing, writing a book when you know you're dying."
Johnny Ramone, whose real name was John Cummings, was one of the founding members of the legendary New York City-based punk band the Ramones, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Considered one of the most influential guitarists in rock, he died in 2004 at age 55 after battling cancer for five years.
Linda Ramone said he started writing the book when he first became ill: "Johnny's legacy to him was so important, even while he was sick. ... It was like he knew he was dying, and he wanted to do something."
The 176-page book is filled with pictures selected by his wife. It includes Ramone's musings from his childhood to his struggle with cancer. It also features other personal stories, including the attack on him that left him hospitalized, his altercation with Malcolm McLaren and his romance with Linda, who once dated Joey Ramone, the Ramones' frontman, leading to a years long rift between the two musicians.
"It's whatever people make out of it. I guess it was some sort of love triangle - Joey, Johnny and me. It happened, and of course he talks about it and he talks about how he feels about it," Linda said. "The three of us all probably have a different story, but this is Johnny's story."
Band mate Tommy Ramone, the only surviving member of the original band, wrote the foreword. In a statement, he said: "Johnny Ramone's autobiography is a no holds barred, straight-forward book written in a no-nonsense style that is Johnny personified. His story is written in his own actual words, so the reader gets an insight into what made him the unique, charismatic and exciting individual that he was. It also gives a great view of The Ramones from Johnny's perspective."
The epilogue was written by close friend Lisa Marie Presley.
Linda Ramone said the book was originally planned to have interviews with Ramone's friends, but she decided to only include her husband's words.
"It didn't make Johnny Ramone's book more powerful by having other
people in the book talking about him," she said. "This is nobody else's
story. This is Johnny Ramone's story, talking about Johnny Ramone." She said several factors were responsible for the delay in the book's release, including lawsuits involving the band after Ramone died and other projects she was undertaking for his fans.
"Between all those years of doing different things for his legacy, I always had the book. But there was never the right time for the book," she said.
Linda said her husband never stopped working on the book, even during chemotherapy treatments.
"He wasn't feeling well all the time, but that never stopped Johnny," she said. "Johnny was indestructible."
She hopes to publish another book of photos of Ramone, and hopes the book will lead to a Ramones biopic.
"This is the first book I can honestly see that really has enough in it to make it such an interesting story, because this is Johnny talking about Johnny," she said. "No Ramone movie could be as cool as Johnny's story."
5) BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF THIS BOOK AND LINDA'S INTERVIEW ON MY BOOK RAMONES: SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
The most extensive and long interview with Linda Cummings' (Linda Ramone) ever is published on my Ramones: Soundtrack Of Our Lives book. Six pages long.
Linda tells a lot of the background of this book on it as well.
Like you can read these infos from it (I did interview in 2007): "I now have Henry Rollins finishing up Johnny's book for me. He's been working on it now since the first writer didn't work out. Henry is a true punk and he is a true Ramones fan. He came over the house and I knew immediately he was the type of person who really loved it all. When I asked if he could finish the book he said: "Yeah." What we're doing is taking everyone else out the book and just having Johnny talk. It's stripped down. I just want a punk book that's it.
I have Johnny's black books from 1979-1996. When questions come up that I can't answer I go to the books. He has everything written down! Every show, every attendance, and what they got paid." So this interview I had with Linda in 2007. And as I said, final version is autobiographical work written by Johnny Ramone.
When Linda, I (Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone) and Maria Montoya-Kaye sat down at Fabricini's Restaurant in Los Angeles on May 30 2007, Linda knew that I wasn't the type of person who would tell the public about the background fights that go on in the Ramones family. Linda had been friendly and familiar in my company well before interview in 2007. In 2005 Linda asked me to come to the restaurant with her and her friend Sandy Linter in New York.
The next year Linda and I were planning to meet for another interview at Arturo Vega's (Ramones' creative director, who now run RamonesWorld.com) loft in New York. Plans changed so instead, Linda and I conducted the interview in Los Angeles in 2007.
Linda explains in her interview on Ramones: Soundtrack Of Our Lives for example:
- Johnny's and Dee Dee's last meeting.
- How and why they (Johnny and Linda) decided to move to California.
- Johnny's romantic side.
- When Johnny became very sick and how they were able to cope.
- Memories of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam members coming to visit Johnny.
- How Linda met the Ramones.
- Linda's take on the triangle drama of Joey, Johnny, and Linda.
- How much Linda and Joey were in touch after 1983.
- Linda Cummings shared some very personal photographs for Ramones: Soundtrack Of Our Lives book. One on the day of their wedding, their Elvis Presley room, a Halloween photo of Johnny Ramone dressed as a clown.
Here are some background information and my thoughs.
Linda is an easy target for many Ramones' fans and also to some people in inner circle of the Ramones. I understand their feelings. I either don't like everything what Linda has done in last few years.
Now I explain a little bit about the love triangle known as Linda, Joey, and Johnny. Before judging Linda, please read her interview on Ramones: Soundtrack Of Our Lives.
Before judging read especially page 65.
I and Maria Montoya-Kaye were doing that page really careful and
thinking deeply different sides. Maria and I both has wide emotional
intelligence.I will share also here on my Ramones' homepage few thoughs. I will say that Linda didn't fall in love with the rock star singer Joey Ramone or later with the famous guitarist Johnny Ramone. No, Linda Danielle (later Cummings) fell in love with Jeffrey Hyman and John Cummings.
In 1979 Linda Cummings was about nineteen years old and Joey Ramone was 28 when they started their relationship. Joey was Linda's first serious boyfriend when they lived together.
I am going to say the following words in the most basic and stripped down way possible:
Ramones fans hate that Linda and Johnny betrayed Joey.
Now, would the same fans hate Joey if they knew before the inevitable actually happened, he tried to betray Linda first? That's right, Joey was not faithful to Linda either and there are some people who still know the truth of what happened in the late 70's.
When Linda Cummings and I sat down to talk on May 30, 2007, she didn't know what I already knew about Joey faltering until Ramones: Soundtrack Of Our Lives got published.
Before judging or E-mailing me anything, read interview and page 65.