Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Birth of an Unlikely Blues Band
What follows is the story of Dee Dee Ramone at the Chelsea, when he was trying to clean
up and do something creative again. He wanted to return to rock and roll's roots and start a
blues band, one that would include, as luck would have it, my brother-in-law Robert Camp-
bell from Hickory, North Carolina on guitar.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
When I first saw Dee Dee Ramone, he was on the phone in the lobby of the
Chelsea Hotel. At the Chelsea, you could get incoming phone calls in your own
room for free. But if you had to make an outgoing call, it cost a shitload. Even the
rock star Dee Dee Ramone would use the lobby phone for outgoing calls. He had
these pants on that looked like Levis jeans that had been tailored. They were so
tight and so thin, I couldn't see how he got them on. And he was skinny as a rail.
On the phone he was saying, “But I
love
her!” He kept repeating, “But I
love
her! But I
love
her!”
NowthiswasaroundthesametimeHerbertHunckehadbeentellingme“Stay
away from Dee Dee.” Huncke was warning me because recently my friend Pat-
rick, a harmonica player, had come down to my room at the Chelsea and told me,
“Man, Dee Dee Ramone wants to jam with us!” Huncke got word of this. But be-
cause Huncke had told me more than once to stay away from Dee Dee, I refused
to let him come down to my room! I wouldn't answer the phone, either. Dee Dee
keptcalling meandleaving memessages. Soatthistime, IknewaboutDeeDee's
interest in playing with Patrick and me, but I had minimal contact with him.
I don't know why Herbert Huncke didn't like Dee Dee. Huncke himself had a
spotted history and some pretty heavy-duty friends.
A year or so later, after I had ignored Huncke's advice and become Dee Dee's
friend,DeeDeeandIhappenedtodropbyHuncke'sroom.AwomaninHuncke's
room at the time said, “Hey Robert, how's it going?”
“Hey,” I said.
Dee Dee gave me a deep glare, like “How do
you
know these people?” As if
Dee Dee thought Huncke's associates were bad people who I shouldn't know.
Sotherewasamirrorimagethinggoingon.ForDeeDee,thedistrustwasmu-
tual. Huncke's acquaintances were bad people that I shouldn't hang out with.
But this is how I first actually met and made contact with Dee Dee. Down the
hall, there was this spiritual guru ashram. The guru had his disciples coming in
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