Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones

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Summary: Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones
Review: Boy, did this book suck. Bad writing, bad editing. Even the preface is bad. But I guess the beefcake photos of Dee Dee on the cover make up for it.

Rating:
Summary: A real HERO.
Review: Dee Dee is truly the hero for bearing responsibility and letting the true side of his rock n'roll life be known, rather than allowing delusion of glamourtude. Exemplifying that a person can actually survive what people claim unsurvivable and that there is light at the end of the tunnel, if and when one really wants to crawl out. A final payback to all that believed him a lost hope due to HORRIBLE & DESPERATE drug/alcohol addiction (and many did) with confirmation that his true individual person is not so weak afterall. VERY POSITIVE INDEED.

Rating:
Summary: A real HERO.
Review: Dee Dee is truly the hero for bearing responsibility and letting the true side of his rock n'roll life be known, rather than allowing delusion of glamourtude. Exemplifying that a person can actually survive what people claim unsurvivable and that there is light at the end of the tunnel, if and when one really wants to crawl out. A final payback to all that believed him a lost hope due to HORRIBLE & DESPERATE drug/alcohol addiction (and many did) with confirmation that his true individual person is not so weak afterall. VERY POSITIVE INDEED.

Rating:
Summary: What Happened To The Final Edit?
Review: For having done all the things he's done and survived, you have to give Dee Dee 5 stars. Wish I could say the same for "Lobotomy: Surviving The Ramones."

I have mixed feelings about this book. I certainly wasn't looking for another rehash of the official Ramones' "We're A Happy Family" party line, and the book delivered in that respect. And I agree with some of the other reviewers that Dee Dee does come off fairly even-handed while doling out (and taking his share of) blame for the events in his tumultuous life. And as everyone knows, Dee Dee really was the soul of the Ramones, and God knows he deserves to tell his side of the story at last.

Dee Dee's continual struggle to escape the confines of "being a Ramone" (being a drunk or a druggie, having to wear the ripped jeans/leather jacket uniform, etc) was the most intriguing part of this book to me. I had to laugh out loud whenever he mentioned getting a Sid Vicious haircut or wearing hip-hop garb just to piss off Johnny, because I remember seeing this as a teenage kid and wondering why he was doing it. Of course, as a kid I thought wearing a leather jacket, bowl haircut and ripped jeans all the time was REALLY COOL. Now I realize that Dee Dee was rebelling against the stifling atmosphere of the band he helped create and wrote most of the songs for.

Despite all of the above, I think this book could have GREATLY benefited from an attentive editor. The retelling just isn't very lucid in its attention to detail, pacing or chronology. There is very little in the way of dates in the book, which helps get the reader into the junkie vibe, but also seems a bit lazy. At the very least, I wish the events in Dee Dee's personal life after he joined the Ramones had been pinned to events in his public life with the band so I could know when things were happening. In addition, there are very minor incidents which are detailed more acutely than major shifts in Dee Dee's life-- joining and quitting the Ramones, for example, receives no more attention than copping drugs for Stiv Bators one time.

Because of this overall haziness, the book makes for an extremely quick read (I finished it in a little over a day) and gives you the sensation of sitting in a bar listening to a semi-coherent rummy try to sort out his life. Since it fits the material, this approach almost works, but not quite.

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Summary: WHAT A RIP-OFF!
Review: I bought this book thinking it was a follow-up to Poison Heart, which I enjoyed very much, but IT IS EXACTLY (WORD FOR WORD) THE SAME BOOK with a different cover and publishing date! Even Amazon makes it look like 2 different books.

However, if you haven't read Poison Heart, then I strongly recommend you read this book for an insight to the major creative force behind one of the world's greatest bands since the Beatles.

I did find the language unnecessarily vulgar at times. Does f--k even have to be on the outside jacket reviews. I think Dee Dee should stop trying to appeal to morons and realize that his audience has a brain; maybe the Ramones would have been bigger if they didn't try so hard to look stupid.

I will keep the book because I am a collector and a fan, but I warn all buyers to BEWARE!

Rating:
Summary: not very good
Review: I do like the Ramones quite a bit and I think that Dee Dee might be an interesting person to meet, but this book is very difficult to follow. Just when you think it is going to get interesting, Dee Dee veers off like the attention deficit kid he describes himself as being. That might fly in a Faulkner novel, but in an autobiography it's tough. I feel for Veronica Kofman, who wrote it with him. It must have been challenging to get a consistent, chronological story out of Dee Dee.

I don't know much about the Ramones' history, but like another reviewer here, I do agree that being absent from recording sessions and diving into hard drugs is the fast track to being without a band or a future so I don't have a whole bunch of pity for Dee Dee. I do think he had a rough-as-hell childhood and that he is probably just an kid in a grown-up's world even now but he just didn't seem to have the wherewithal to know that he was involved in *the* seminal '70s band. Too bad.

Best line: "I can see how Liverpool gave us the Beatles, but I'll never figure out how Ann Arbor gave us Iggy and the Stooges."

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Summary: what a way to survive ?
Review: I found this book very easy to read. I also found it quite emotional and could understand some the feelings of Dee Dee Ramone. This book really is an emotional roller coaster ride and I feel that Dee Dee has been very brave to bare his feelings to the world in the form of a book.

Great end result and compelling reading a good choice for anyone interested in life as well as music.

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Summary: Fantasy, Fun, and Drugs= Dee Dee Ramone...
Review: I have to admit, this book was entertaining from start to finish, considering it included many outrageous "facts" about him, The Ramones, and others that came along the crazy ride with him. Though, this book is not anywhere near as crazy as his final testament book, "Legend of A Rock Star: The Final Testament of Dee Dee Ramone". That's got many drug fueled thoughts, action packed dreams, and stretched facts.

Anyways, originally titled as "Poison Heart: Surviving The Ramones", this book releases some little to unknown facts, such as the infamous pre-Early Days of The Ramones band member: Richi (not the 83'-87' Richie). And some stretched truth for Monty Melnick and other parts of the Road Crew.

By reading the "Testament" and "Chelsea Horror Hotel" first, I've realized how far Dee Dee can go with his "Story Telling". Like, how he found Monte drunk in a bunny suit one morning at a hotel, with a hooker in his room. Funny "Autobiography huh?

Well, I give this a 4/5, mainly cause I was in summer school while I read this, and didn't pay all my attention to reading. I only remember a few details, some of the more truthful details. So, whether you like the fake truth, Dee Dee's storytelling, or just laughing at funny things, then you'll love this book.

Thanks for reading and have a good day/night,

Mikey.

Rating:
Summary: Gimme Gimme More Pages
Review: I reviewed the first edition of this book, "Poison Heart", a couple of years ago and have since revised my opinion a little. We were lucky enough to get Dee Dee to sign our copies last year and he was so friendly and happy to do it, I thought I'd re-read it and give the book another chance.

I waited a looong time for this book, and I wish I could say it was 100% worth the wait. Before I thought maybe 70%...now I'd say 96%. Upon first reading, -I couldn't believe that after all those years with the Ramones, Dee Dee didn't have ONE nice or positive memory or thing to say. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book on first reading and love it now. Dee Dee has a great sense of humor, and even at his worst there's something so lovable about the guy. It sounds corny but there really is an innate sweetness under all that drug abuse and New York attitude. It's really just kind of depressing that he seems to have had such a miserable time. I knew he had problems with depression, but not this bad. Even though the Ramones are my favorite band and have been since the later 80's and I read everything I could get my hands on about them- I didn't know Dee Dee's drug problems lasted much longer than "End of the Century".

The first edition of the book seems to be a series of wretched stories about being broke, taking drugs, turning tricks, getting beat up, taking more drugs, overdosing, getting beat up or stabbed by insane girlfriends, or out trying to cop drugs. The second edition at least has a more positive ending. Not to sound like a name-dropper (as I said to Iggy Pop the other day...just kidding) but I've spent time with the Ramones and agree that Joey can be moody and Johnny can be crabby and bossy, but that they are also nice people in general and can be fun to be with. I am glad there turned out to be at least ONE show, ONE night when Dee Dee was up there, playing bass and jumping up and down and thought, "Man, this is pretty fun." Obviously there's still some bad feelings left, which is too bad. But then again, think of some of the people you may have worked with years ago who you still don't want to run into again because you're so sick of. And as another reviewer said, see the title of the book.

This book is also a very, very effective example of why not to do drugs. You may not want to look at the pictures taken after 1989 if you want to remember him like he was. I do still tend to think, though, that "Please Kill Me" gave you a better idea of the Ramones and the New York punk scene back then, and even of Dee Dee's life. Now that's a solid, satisfying read and includes almost as many of Dee Dee's words as this autobio does. In both, it's clear he's a great storyteller.

Another thing that bugged me when I first read the book was there's absolutely NO mention of his wife of over 10 years, Vera Ramone, who he loved so much he married her in a church and had her name tattooed on his arm. Like she never existed, and I really wanted to hear about their marriage. I since found out that they have some kind of written agreement that he can't write about her, or she asked him not to and they are close enough so he respects her wishes.

Anyway, Dee Dee gets some great stories about the punk scene in, is a good sport about the less than shrewd decisions he's made in his life ("Putting out a rap album didn't exactly win me any popularity contests", he writes) and has a great sense of humor. Just wish the book wasn't so short (and that he did an audio version). He said his next book is going to be a horror novel- now that I **really** can't wait to read.

Dee Dee's much smarter than he sounds...I still think every hardcore Ramones fan should have this in their collection.

Rating:
Summary: Boring. Self-Absorbed. Self-Pitying Nonsensical Story
Review: I think this book should have been called "The Boring, Self-Absorbed, Self-Pitying Life of an Addict". You would think by the actual title that you might get an inside glimpse of the workings of one of the most influencial bands in rock history by a founding member who saw it all. But no. What you get is a highly watered down telling of someone's life who sees himself as a perpetual victim. He hardly mentions the band except to site examples of how he felt he was treated badly. He leaves out completely his more than ten year marriage to his first wife Vera, his long stretch of semi-sobriety, the house they bought, his song inspirations, band dynamics, and other things that might have actually been interesting. Instead he tells us story after story (many that totally contradict the rememberances of other people involved at the time) of how he was disrespected by everyone, was constantly left out and wasn't allowed to catch a break. C'mon, could everything in his life been someone else's fault? I wish I would have spent the time I wasted reading this book listening to the great Ramones albums and appreciating Dee Dee for the amazing contribution he made to music. It's too bad he could never see it.