The Basketball Diaries (1995)

As you can see, I had a lot of stall outs with trying to watch "The Basketball Diaries". I think it added an extra half hour or so and I nodded off during the last 40 minutes of the movie. 

I was prompted to put this movie on (since I've never seen it) because I'm rereading "Please Kill Me" and Jim Carroll (whose book this movie is based on) has a few comments in it. He talks about his poetry readings with Patti Smith, the time he was thrown in jail and missed a performance of theirs and how he was "terrible hustler". He was referring to a time when he was 15, and turning tricks on 53rd and 3rd (which many Ramones fans know the song about Dee Dee's experience there) in New York City.

So, I thought maybe the movie was about that period in his life. Nope, I guess not. Sure, there were drugs, but I don't recall seeing him (I mean, Leonardo Dicaprio portraying him) as a prostitute (maybe I missed that part). I mean, he nearly breaks Bruno Kirby's nose when he starts coming on to him. I barely know anything about Jim Carroll and I still feel like I don't from watching this movie.  

I always knew of the "People Who Died" song, but I didn't really hear it beginning to end so it didn't stick.  I remember hearing it referenced in a song by Detention called "Dead Rock'n'Rollers". Now it seems out of date because poor Jim died in 2009 of a heart attack.

I was really annoyed with the time setting in "Basketball Diaries". You know that its supposed to be the 1960's, but its obviously not. I mean, a Terminator reference and an "IHOP" (Not International House Of Pancakes)? What am I, an idiot? Maybe the filmmakers thought that it was irrelevant? Or maybe they just didn't care? It could have been a better movie. 

Hey Is Dee Dee Home? (2003)

Hey, is Dee Dee home?  Well sorta, he's just very talkative. Basically, if you're not a hardcore (or at least used to be) Ramones fan, you probably won't be persuaded to learn more. Well, it all depends I suppose. A better way to put it is this movie is the rare outtakes/rehearsals CD as opposed to "the best of" compilation. For Ramones nerds/fans only really. This documentary is a bare bones interview, with some nice old photos and various footage from other sources intercut.  You'll hear about the origins of "Chinese Rocks", Dee Dee's general insights and opinions of other musicians in the scene at the time. I had to the laugh at one part when he makes a request for some amino acids from the health food store from a gofer. Poor Dee Dee passed away almost 10 years ago.

During my own obsessive Ramones phase (when I was 14), Dee Dee was always my favorite. I just thought he was real cute and there was a guy at a my middle school who looked a lot like him that I had a big crush on (nothing happened with that). I think my hearing the Ramones was later than most people since they're so insanely popular and usually most people's launching pad when getting into punk rock, power pop and girl group music. I remember once being sick, getting picked up by my brother from school and feeling better once the Ramones were blasting on the car stereo. Another time, I bought the second volume of "All The Stuff And More" cassette, only to be greeted by some neo-country pop when we popped the tape in the player. I guess the manufacterer messed up. Thanks Sire.

Check out Dee Dee's pretty long discography and also his biography, "Lobotomy" which I'm probably going to reread. There's also the first book I read about the Ramones called "Ramones: An American Band". In that book, I learned that Cheap Trick was one of the earlier choices to be in "Rock'n'Roll High School" before the Ramones. That would have made for an interesting movie. They should have made both! Finally there's Legs McNeil's, "Please Kill Me" which is essential for anyone interested in New York music from the 1960s to the present. Its a page turner for sure. There's also a bunch more Ramones related books that I haven't read:
* On The Road With The Ramones
* Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone
* I Slept With Joey Ramone