The Missing Ramone

Lamar Sorrento had a booth at the Cooper-Young Festival in 2001. In front was a sign that read, "Portraits: $10." Warren and I couldn't resist. I was pregnant and he was in the Hustler t-shirt I bought him in Chicago. The resulting portrait is awesome. So awesome, in fact, that we've never agreed on how to frame it. I planned to secretly have it framed when we moved, but was scared of incurring the wrath. It's currently somewhere in the attic.

We did however agree that we'd like a Ramones painting by Lamar (if we could find one) to hang over the fireplace. Since it seems that he sells his work as fast as he makes it, we finally decided to send him an email with our special request. He was more than happy to oblige us, and after just a couple of days, we had the exact painting that we'd been dreaming of. (On a stretched canvas, ready to hang.)

I went by Lamar's house on Friday afternoon to pick it up and had a nice chat with him about past Ramones' shows (he saw them at 616 in 1994!), how he was once mistaken for Joey Ramone, and the strong smell of gasoline coming from his van that he had tried to start two hours earlier. He asked me how I got into the Ramones and I was a little embarrassed to admit that it was the blockbuster movie, Rock-n-Roll High School. (My sister and I must have watched it 100 times.) If Warren hadn't been laid up with no tonsils, he could have had a much more interesting answer. Having spent his youth in California, he saw the Ramones three times in one week!