April 26, 2001 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E657 hundreds of unsung heroes from the Cerro eral. Her actions led to my introducing legisla- Melnick, who was the tour manager, feared Grande fire, and Ms. Musgrave is one of tion in the House of Representatives, H.R. there might be trouble. Instead, the woman them. 1095, intended to make claims of the fire tax- smiled at him indulgently. As Mr. Melnick, The intense Cerro Grande fire forced local 51, recalled, ‘‘She said, ‘It’s really nice, you free. taking care of these retarded boys.’’’ residents to evacuate and essentially closed The Chamber has also contacted me on Joey Ramone, the gawky, geeky, lovable- down Los Alamos for eight days. When resi- issues that are not fire-related. I am proud to loser singer of the Ramones, died last Sun- dents were allowed to return on May 15, they serve as a member of the Small Business day of lymphatic cancer, never to be under- found the fire had left more than 420 people Committee and, as a result, work on matters estimated again. His real name was Jeffrey homeless and destroyed a number of local vital to the Chamber. For example, we have Hyman; he was 49. businesses. To help the town get back on its worked together on daycare issues facing em- As the music world celebrates the 25th an- feet, the Chamber took the lead in coordi- ployees of the Los Alamos National Labora- niversary of punk, the band’s imprint—its nating relief and rebuilding efforts. tory and other equally important items. goofy fury and delinquent humor—echoes I can attest that Ms. Musgrave and others Mr. Speaker, Susan Musgrave is not only a not just in the music of latter-day punks met with me and my staff during this time to like Green Day and Blink 182, but in the wonderful asset for the Chamber of Com- strain of self-aware, loser comedy that has see what they could do and to continue to pro- merce, but she is a true champion for the become the dominant adolescent rattle: vide us with assistance. Within five days after state of New Mexico. I am proud to know her, ‘‘The Simpsons’’ and ‘‘South Park,’’ pro the fire, in conjunction with local banking insti- and I thank her for her continued service. wrestling and MTV’s blithely moronic tutions, the Chamber had established a loan f ‘‘Jackass.’’ fund for Los Alamos businesses. These busi- Mickey Leigh, Joey’s younger brother, who nesses could apply for a six-month loan up to TRIBUTE TO THE LATE JOEY played in a band called the Rattlers, de- $25,000 with a 7.5 percent interest rate. The RAMONE scribed the Ramones as a reaction to the Chamber paid the interest expense on the Queens streets where the band members grew loans for six months. HON. ANTHONY D. WEINER up. ‘‘The humor was inherent to Forest Hills, Through this effort, more than $640,000 in a Jewish neighborhood, and to the small cir- OF NEW YORK cle of rejects and misfits that we were,’’ said loans were made available to 37 companies in IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. Leigh, who, like his brother, was bar Los Alamos. Businesses were able to take Thursday, April 26, 2001 mitzvahed. (Several other Ramones were not care of short-term financial needs and stabilize Jewish.) ‘‘We were always on the outside, re- the effects of lost revenue after being closed Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to jected by the girls—not by all girls, but by for almost eight days. A Web site for construc- recognize a constituent of mine and an icon in the pretty ones, who preferred guys with tion contractors interested in helping Los Ala- the music world who recently passed away. cars. Our protective shell was to shock peo- mos rebuild was on line within a week of the Joey Ramone, lead singer of the Ramones ple.’’ disaster. died after a long battle with cancer on Easter Picked on in Forest Hills, Joey made him- Thanks to generous donations from member self a star of anti-charisma, fronting a band Sunday. Born Jeff Hyman in Forest Hills, whose legend drew on failure as easily as businesses and individuals, the Chamber was Queens, he changed his name to Joey success. When my friends and I heard the able to extend help to others with an imme- Ramone at age 23 and began stirring up the Ramones in the late 1970’s, as under- diate need for funds, including renters and music world with what was to become known achieving college students, we formed our homeowners without insurance. By May 20, as punk rock. The Ramones were at the lead- own band—awful, but even at our lousiest, gifts in the amount of $1,000 were distributed ing edge of the punk rock movement in the always knowing. I like to think we were to 97 families who had lost their homes. As early to mid-1970s and spoke to a generation post-awful. the fund grew, the Chamber was able to make of adolescents looking to find their way A set by the Ramones was a furious race to a second distribution in the amount of $500 to through that decade. the finish line, blurring bubble-gum riffs and the same individuals. The Chamber’s total cartoon pathologies: ‘‘Now I Wanna Sniff Many of my colleagues here in Congress Some Glue,’’ ‘‘Teenage Lobotomy,’’ ‘‘I contribution topped $142,000. In addition, 12 may not be familiar with the music of the Wanna Be Sedated.’’ What you came away college students who lost their homes were Ramones, or the impact they had on many in with depended in large part on how you took each given $1,000 towards their recovery my generation and on music in general. The the joke. needs. Ramones were everything a classic rock and ‘‘We thought punk rock was going to be The Chamber also helped spread the word roll band were not. They played short, simple the biggest thing ever,’’ said John that Los Alamos was once again ‘‘open for songs. And they did it loudly. They abhorred Holmstrom, 48, a cofounder of Punk maga- business’’ through an innovative advertising convention but compared to many of the zine, which coined the name for the music. campaign. The Chamber underwrote 80 per- bands today, they did it with style. Irony, sin- ‘‘We thought we were mainstream. It was a cent of the costs for member businesses who shock to everyone at CBGB when one by one cerity and humor ran through many of their it didn’t happen.’’ took out advertisements to let the community simple lyrics. They poked fun at the latest fad, know their businesses were up and running Charlotte Lesser, Joey’s mother, always and often themselves, in a way that caused got the joke. Ms. Lesser ran an art gallery again. The Chamber set up a similar adver- adolescents everywhere to nod their heads in and is a commercial artist. At CBGB, the tising campaign with the State of New Mexi- agreement. Bowery dive where the band got started, peo- co’s Economic Development Department as a The Ramones lasted an impressive 22 ple used to call her Mama Ramone, she said, means to successfully bring tourists back to years. Their music helped spawn musicians adding: ‘‘CBGB struck me as too narrow, too the area. who would go on to create their own styles of crowded, and it had the worst bathrooms you The Chamber’s good deeds did not go un- rock and grunge and rap-rock. At the heart of ever saw. But I always saw the whole thing as a funny show.’’ noticed. Ms. Musgrave was named New Mexi- the Ramones was Joey, a notoriously shy, The Ramones emerged just when the rad- co’s Chamber Executive of the Year 2000 by gangly, nice guy, who until his death, loved to the New Mexico Business Journal and the As- ical thrust in pop music was turning in on visit the local clubs in New York and listen to itself Hip-hop whittled down disco; punk sociation of Commerce and Industry. The the music he helped create. trimmed rock ‘n’ roll to its loud essentials. award recognized her exceptional and exem- I would like to submit for the RECORD a Writing about the Ramones and CBGB in plary services to the Chamber and the com- story from the April 22, 2001 edition of the The Village Voice in 1975, James Wolcott ob- munity. New York Times which summarizes well, the served, ‘‘No longer is the rock impulse revo- Thanks to the Los Alamos Chamber of life of Joey Ramone: lutionary—i.e., the transformation of oneself Commerce’s strong leadership and coordina- and society—but conservative: to carry on tion, Los Alamos recovered quickly. And, the A STAR OF ANTI-CHARISMA, JOEY RAMONE the rock tradition.’’ For all their locomotive MADE GEEKS CHIC Chamber has earned respect and gratitude mayhem, the Ramones were preservation- from its member businesses and the local (By John Leland) ists. Even the name harked back, to the days community. FROM his home in Queens last week, when Paul McCartney, as a Silver Beatle, called himself Paul Ramon. Additionally, since then the recovery began, Monte Melnick remembered a time the Ramones stopped for gas in rural Texas. It I think the impulse had much to do with Ms. Musgrave has continually been a leader in was the early days of punk rock, and the age.