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HEY IS DEE DEE HOME? DVD

By Eric Schulz

HEY IS DEE DEE HOME?
(MVD)
OK first things first, I’m a huge Ramones’
fanboy. I love / worship / sacrifice small
animals in the name of the Ramones. And it
just happens that Dee Dee Ramone has
always been my favourite Ramone. Johnny
was the right wing conservative dictator, Joey
was the carefree hippie, Marky was the
comedian and Dee Dee was the eccentric
songwriter who was always battling those
pesky inner demons (which finally killed him in
2002).
Hey is Dee Dee Home? is a fascinating
documentary/interview with Dee Dee Ramone.
The interview was to originally be part of a
larger unreleased documentary on former New
York Dolls/Heartbreakers guitarist Johnny
Thunders, so much of the interview concerns
Dee Dee’s stormy ‘friendship’ with Thunders.
Dee Dee comes across as a giddy and playful
schoolboy.
Much of the documentary revolves around
three topics: Thunders, scoring drugs and Dee
Dee’s tattoos. There’s a wealth of great stories
and gossip, such as Dee Dee selling Joey’s tv
for dope, the whole “Chinese Rocks” fiasco
(Dee Dee wrote the song for the
Heartbreakers, but Thunders never liked to say
Dee Dee wrote it, which caused a lot of friction
between the two), dangerous scores and Dee
Dee holding up Thunders, Stiv Bator (of the
Dead Boys) and his girlfriend at knife point with
the intention of killing them all in Paris.
Dee Dee seems to be mostly honest, but at
times you can tell he’s holding back, either to
protect himself or his dead friends. Thunders
comes across as a hopeless junkie, thief and
a user of friends.
All in all, this is a fantastic documentary. It
provides a snapshot of what was going on
behind the scenes of the original NYC punk
bands.
As a Ramones fan, I would have loved to have
heard more about the Ramones, but that’s
really only a minor complaint as the stories

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