Richie Ramone and Lenora Clare interview, Josie's last night as co-host

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I did not say that. I got the text right here. Richie Ramone is on the show. Oh, yeah. What's going on, man? He's got a great new album. It's called Entitled, and we're going to talk about all sorts of stuff. And next to you, Richie, one of the most fascinating people in L.A., I would say. It's hard to encapsulate everything you do in like a sentence. I'm trying to explain to people who you are. That's why I like that LA Weekly said P.T. Barnum with boobs, which I thought was really cool because that was like fair. You know, it's a little bit of everything. I did notice you do have boobs. Yeah. That is true. P.T. Barnum with boobs. People compared you to Jessica Rabbit. I actually, I think you're the 21st century Andy Warhol, to be honest with you. Oh, thank you. Yeah, there's a lot of pop art in there. Lenora Clare. And we've got so much to talk about. I've been, as Josie will tell you, when I have beautiful female guests on, I do a lot of research. A lot of research. A lot of research. A lot of research. So I did a lot of research for this show. But when we do the No Hollywood Report, but I'm going to do the sponsors really quick because we've got so much to talk about with both of you. So Doomy's Home Cooking has Sunday brunch back. And Phil Doomy said to say hi to you, Lenora. Oh, he's great. He's great. The food is fantastic. You know that. It's vegan food. You would never know it's vegan. It's amazing. It's just delicious food that just happens to be vegan. They're doing the Sunday brunch. I went to the Sunday brunch this Sunday. It was delicious. $4 mimosas, $15 all you can eat. They're open until 3 o'clock on Friday and Saturday. If you're in L.A. or you're visiting L.A., just go to Doomy's Home Cooking. I'm trying to find the address here. I should have this. I should have this memorized by now. 1253 Vine Street, Hollywood, California, 90038. Doomy's Home Cooking if you're ever in L.A. Also, go to darkmarkshow.com because we have two sponsors, audible.com. Audible.com, you can get a free audio book and a free 30-day trial at audible.com. They have Punk Rock Blitzkrieg, My Life as a Ramon. That's Marky Ramon. We don't want to talk about that. But if you're interested in Ramon, why not? Check it out. You get it free. Why not? So. They've also got just whatever you want. Fifty Shades of Grey, you want to get into that. Whatever you want to get into. Stephen King books, Chelsea Handler's biography. I hope it's better than the book. Really? The audio. The book bored you? I took better stuff in one week than that whole entire book. I couldn't finish it. It was so bad. Why don't you write The Fifty Shades of Josie? That might be good. There might be more than Fifty Shades. But if somebody wants to see what the fuss is about, they don't want to pay for it, go to darkmarkshow.com. Click on the Audible link. Sign up with your Amazon account. Yeah. And then whatever. And then you got it made. Also, stamps.com. We got stamps.com, which has been a sponsor for a couple of months. Josie had no idea. But if you go on stamps.com, there's a little stamps.com. If you go to darkmarkshow.com, right next to my smiling face. I'm doing it so fast, nobody's even going to do this. But click on stamps.com. You get a hundred dollar free trial. You get a scale. You get free postage. Hey, you know what you could do with those scales. We know about scales. But. But. You get free postage. You don't have to wait in line at the post office. Just print postage on your computer. Put them on your packages. Put them on your envelopes. Throw them in the mailbox. You don't never have to go to the post office again. Just go to stamps.com. Scales. Weed. Weed. We got it. We got it. For all those letters we write. Yes. I think Richie. Richie Ramone. You're part of the Ramones. Now, I found a lot of. I actually researched Richie in a different way than I did research for Lenore. But. You were a child. You were a child prodigy. Is what I read. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. You were touring when you were seven. No, not seven. Well, you were a professional musician when you were a kid. Yeah, I mean, I was playing live like 10, 11. Yeah. Okay. So, you were playing live at 10 and 11. Yeah. I mean, what were you playing though? I was playing like in the Catskills for all the comedians up there in New York. In New York. You know where the Catskills are? So, you were like doing the rim shots at 10? No, I was playing with a band. Reading charts and everything. Oh, okay. Your parents? My older brother. Was in a band. And so, I played with him. You know, he was like six years older than me. So, I was like six years ahead of my time. So, when I was like nine, I was really 15. Right. And I was kind of. So, yeah, no, we played weddings and bar mitzvahs. I was the type of kid that didn't have to work at Burger King because. You were always doing. Right. Your drumming was always so good that you could always get a job. Yeah, well, I started at five. I've been playing 50 years now. Wow. And here you are on the Dark Mark show. Yeah. So, that's. It's a long journey right here to Skid Row Studios. But I also read that when you auditioned for the Ramones. So, the Ramones, if people don't know. And I, you know, if you're listening to the show, I don't know what. But Tommy Ramone was the original drummer. Correct. And then Marky Ramone took over, I think, the third or fourth album. And then Marky apparently had a drinking problem and was too. Like musicians do now and then. Right. So, it was a little too fucked up for the Ramones. And then you auditioned. But you didn't have any Ramones. You didn't have any Ramones records when you auditioned. No, I wasn't, you know. It's funny. Like, I never had a poster on my wall. I wasn't really like a fan of anybody, really. I listened to everything as a kid, you know. Right. And so, I never really had like, you know, Ramones poster or anything like that. But you were. Were you jazz trained? Like, a lot of. Yeah, a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I did a lot of, you know, I studied, you know, five years old. I had a teacher. I read music and all that kind of stuff. Right. But. But, I mean, I saw the Ramones. I saw the Ramones and stuff live and everything. Right. You were in New York when the punk scene broke. No, a little later. Okay. I really didn't get on that scene until like 79, 80. I was a lot younger than them. And what did you think when you got there? Huh? Oh, fabulous. When you saw Ramones live? Oh, yeah. I saw them actually in New Jersey. Like, when I was in high school. I snuck in and took some friends. It was kind of weird because, you know, you were listening to Arena Rock then. Right. But, you know, I really dug it. Right. And then you snuck in so that, you know. Yeah. Very punk rock. Yeah. But you had to borrow somebody's Ramones records to actually get the. No, the label gave me some. Oh, okay. To learn. So, was it the label that got you the audition or? No, it's funny. I was. I used to hang out, you know, the shirts were a band. You know, with Andy Golden. Now, if you remember the shirts, they played CBGBs and they had a house in Brooklyn. Three story house. Just a party house. 24 hours. They had a recording studio and everybody would hang there. Right. And then the roadie, Little Matt. Was, you know, he was shooting up in the corner and he said, oh, I got to go now. And I said, where are you going? He says, well, the Ramones are auditioning drummers. I said, well, put my name in the hat. And that's just how it happened. You know, the road manager called me and I went down there. Did you say he was shooting up in the corner? He was shooting up in the corner and then he got. Oh, okay. It was just a matter of factly that. He's multitasking. Yeah, I got there. There's some guy shooting up in the corner and then. Yeah. In and out. In and out. In and out. Right. In and out. The blood. In and out. I was like, oh, Matt, come on. And then he went and then I got the call. So being in the right place at the right time worked. It was really weird. I was like. And see, people say don't hang out with junkies. Right. I don't. So, you know, just make sure you just wake him up and say, put my name in the hat and there you go. You could be a Ramone. He was a part time junkie. Yeah. And so, and so, and when you joined the band, I think the, was it Subterranean Jungle was recorded, but. It was just finished. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why that cover, you see, they knew they were getting rid of Marky. So they put him in the window. They didn't put him in. Right. Where the, where the doors open. They're on a subway and he's in the window and they're in the doorway. Right. And so you were in the videos and you were on that tour. Yeah. The first thing we did is came to LA and shot a psychotherapy here in Los Angeles. Right. Right. Before I even played a show, we did that. Right. And your first show with the Ramones, how, how did, how were you, how are you, how'd the crowd take to it? Well, I don't, you know, Ramones fans are very. Yeah. Particular, you know? Yeah. And I think, you know, it took a little time for me to grow on them. It wasn't like, you know, right away they were like, ooh and ah, you know? Right. So it took a while. But I mean. To get their respect. Did you detect some animosity in the crowd or did you just do it in your drama and you didn't really care? Eh, maybe a little animosity, sure. Right. You know, like who's this? Right. Okay. You know? Yeah. You know, where's Marky? Right. Right. Right. Right. But that all changed, you know, as I started writing and singing and everything. And the junkies in the crowd were like, where's Tommy? Right. Anyway, Lenora Clare. I was telling Rich about Lenora Clare. It's hard to, I mean, there's so many things that you do that I don't know where to start. But I mean, obviously, LA Weekly said you were one of the most fascinating people in LA. And I remember somebody told me, it was a few years ago, and this happens a lot. People tell me about somebody and then I meet them like right afterwards. So that's what happened. One of my friends was like, you ever seen Lenora Clare? And I saw your picture and I think I had the same reaction everybody does when they see you. It was like, wow. Thank you. Thank you. And then I saw you. This is basically what kind of broke you nationwide and really got you a lot of attention was the Golden Gals Gone Wild exhibit. Yeah. That was fun. I was there. That's kind of major. I thought it was Golden Girls Gone Wild, but apparently with the copyright. Yeah. I had to be careful. That was funny. It wasn't Disney Touchstone that came after me with the Golden Girls thing. It was actually Girls Gone Wild. I got a letter from that horrible douchebag when he was in jail. He sent me a letter. I was going to say, wasn't he in jail? Joe Francis. He was in jail. He had nothing to do. Yeah. And he sent me a letter and he's like, I'm going to send you a cease and desist. I'm going to see you. I was like, please do. I would love that press. Because TMZ and NPR are not enough press. Let's keep this going. Absolutely. And the fact that I was like, really like bring it on, like to actually terrified him. So nothing ever happened. But yeah, that was a big show. It was really funny. I am. Yeah, I did it. And like within an hour of announcing it, like TMZ, NPR, National. It was just blew up. And it was such a great experience. And describe to Richie what that was. Because we were there. Sure. Yeah. Um, it was, well, I had, I commissioned 40 artists to do erotic interpretations of the golden girls. It was everything from like golden shower girls. It was, it was incredible. And like. Be Arthur with a whip. Yeah. It was really fabulous. And like, like literally I was in like National Enquirer. It was everywhere. CNN, News Crawl, all over my like stupid ideas. So, um, and I ended up bringing it to a second museum, the World Erotic Museum, Miami. Now this was really fabulous. When I got there, there was, um, a ton of senior swingers who were waiting for me. Like, yeah. Like my version of being like the Beatles or whatever. Like no one ever was going to wait for me at the airport, but the senior swingers did. All of those guys with walkers and hard-ons like, I've been waiting for you my whole life. Yeah. They're like, you validate our movement or whatever. So they took me back to the museum and, um, you know, my, my family are like Jewish New Yorkers. I grew up here. So, you know, as you do, they, they moved to Florida. Right. So this was like my, my version of my grandparents essentially. So there's all these like, you know, bubbies there and they, they had out this amazing like lox, cream cheese and bagels spread. And then they all got nude. And I was just in this room going like, I've, I've clearly done something right with my life when this is a, this is what I'm doing today. I don't even want to know where the cream cheese went. It's just taking, yeah, that show is really fun. It's taken me a lot of strange places. On the bagels. But I've done other shows. Don't eat the bagels. Yeah. It was, it was crazy. Um, when Betty Page passed away, her estate approached me and I curated a show in her honor, which was great. Cause I got to bring like Olivia's art and just really honor Betty properly. I think you were at that show. I was at that one. Yeah. It was really fun. I think I was at that one too. Yeah. It was great. And actually I'm working on another show right now. Um, it's going to be called put a lid on it and it's all art on toilet seat lids. And I'm going to build actual, what I call art installations, which will be actual, it'll be actual bathroom stalls. And so, because my whole thing is the idea of practical art. Like why is it that art has to be something sacred on the wall? Right. And, and not something like, like why do we all these boring uniform white toilets when we could have something really fabulous and special. So. Are you going to be selling the toilet lids? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Where's your head? That you think of all this stuff. It's a really weird place. I always say my, my dad was a urologist and then a psychiatrist. So my childhood was nuts. And I think that, right. That explains a lot of what I'm doing. And I'm also directing my first documentary right now. Oh, I'm going to get to that. We'll get to that. I got it all. Don't worry about it. I didn't even know. I mean, but you, you, you, you're always stylish and you always, you're like a throwback. You're curvy. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And you know, I was, I was telling Richie, I mean, the girls are getting more anorexic again. I know. But. I mean, I, I like the curves. I like, but what's me. There you go. You got it. There's a whole lot. Trust me. Trust me. You don't want to know what's happening under the desk, but I, I was, something's happening under the desk, but, uh, but, uh, you know, I was telling, uh, you know, I was telling a couple of people today. I, I, when I, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page, Russ Meyer movies, you see the girls, they're sucking in their gut. They have a little pooch, but they're the most beautiful women I've ever seen. I love the curves. I love the big, I don't know. Is it just me? And we've kind of lost that. Um, I don't think it's just you. I mean, I think people respond to it as well. I mean, the thing is about fashion is fashion is made to be like a walking coat hanger and the women aren't actually supposed to be sexual. They're supposed to be, you know, showing off the fashion. So high fashion is very slim build, but if you really ask most men what they prefer, I think it is a curvier body. They want to ask and some tits to grab on. But, but you, what do you think about that? I prefer the brain. The brain. That was a good answer. That's a good answer. Good job. But you guys, you guys, you guys are. Brain fucking someone is. A whole different story. You brain fucked me a couple of times, but, but you guys are sort of, I mean, you're, you're, you're on the, on the cutting edge of news. Cause I saw today, apparently there's some old nude pictures of Betty White that came out. Yeah. You know, that's actually kind of old news. They've been around before, but it's every couple of years people find them again and they're like, Oh my goodness. But she did pinups. And what's funny is the woman who played Blanche, who's supposed to be the saucy one, their roles were reversed. Yeah. Like it was just a few days before the, the Rose and the Blanche roles were reversed. And, um, and yeah, Betty, Betty did tons of, she did. It was amazing news. I don't know which one came out this time. Was the one with the earmuffs? Was that the one? I didn't, I didn't, I didn't see them, but. There's a ton. There's a ton of nude Betty Whites out there. What, now photos in her nineties? No, no. From the, she had a photograph of the forties. Oh. She was a pinup model first. Trust me, when the lawyers were trying to get her to pose, you would love that. Well, she loves it. Grannies.com. No, she, yeah, she knows about the show. She has one of the posters, so she was actually really supportive of it. Speaking of something that's been out for a long time, but it's just getting traction now, is the Bill Cosby thing, which leads me to the song that you wrote for the Ramones that is a classic. It's on every greatest hits. They even played it on their last show, was Somebody Put Something in My Drink. Right, yeah. And what, tell us briefly the story behind that. I've got an idea. Well, that was written about Bill Cosby. Really? You hang out with Bill Cosby? Does he put something in your drink? No. Come over here, Richie. I'm going to put something in your drink. When I first moved to the East Village, you know. You know, we had no money. I was a kid, and we'd go to the clubs, and when people got up to dance, we'd steal the drinks. Right. So that's how we got to drink for free. So you sneak into the clubs, you steal people's drinks. Yeah, and then one night, one was laced with something, so. Wow. That's how that song came about. Was it good? Yeah, it was really good. It was a good song. I didn't have to steal any more drinks. I'd be like, bonus, bonus drink. So it was acid, I think? Yeah, yeah. Or who knows, but wow. But it was hallucinogenic. But the weird thing about that is, it's different if you know you're taking it. Right. But if you don't know, you start to get weird, like, what's happening to me? And then you realize maybe, you know, an hour later, that's what it must be. And that became a staple, and so much so that even on the Ramones' last show. Right. Which you weren't on. Right. Every other Ramone was there. Right. They played it. Mm-hmm. Were you invited to the last show? It's good. Were you invited to the last show? Mm-mm. No. I mean, I could have went. I could have went. Right. Because Dee Dee was there. I think, I mean, I don't know if Tommy was there, but. We were kind of strained at that point. Right. Bobby, just. Did I say that word? Yeah. You can say whatever you want. Say fucks. I mean. Yeah, we like it. You drummed on Too Tough to Die, which I think most people say was the really last great Ramones record. Right. Animal Boy, which is good, and Halfway to Sandy. And then what happened? What do you mean? How did you leave the band? Well, there was, you know. I wanted, you know, some more stuff. You know, I was only, I was still a punk kid, 29. And, you know, there was a lot of stuff going on with, you know, I wanted some t-shirt money, you know, and shit like that. And. Because they were selling t-shirts like this that had Richie on it. Yeah, well, they had some of my photo and everything, you know. And it was like, okay, I've been here five years. Let's, you know. So there were some t-shirts that had your picture on it. Name, picture, yeah. That always happens to the drummer. My father's a drummer. My brother is. You know, I dated the main drummer for the. Cramps. Name dropper. Yeah. It was like, he didn't get any of the merch. And I, I don't want to speak ill of, you know, Lux and Ivy. I love them. But. But they didn't pay your ex-boyfriend. None of the drummers got paid, ever. And if they did, maybe you'd still be together. But. You know, it was that. And, you know, it was just. That was the reason. It was our last record on Sire. So we had no more label deal. And, you know, with Sire, we were getting big advances, you know. Because the story. That I heard. Was that you were. I know you. You know what I'm talking about. You heard it. This is what I heard and I read. That. That. First off, I read that you and Joey got along great. Yeah. And Didi. You and Didi got along great. You actually played drums and helped produce his first rap single. Mm-hmm. Which Josie didn't even know he did a rap single. Right. He did a whole rap album. Funky Man. Stayed away from that. Didi King, Funky Man. Right. Yeah. And so. Yikes. So. It's not bad. It's all right. It's all right. I mean. It's like Beastie Boys. It was like the Beastie Boys sort of sounded like that. Kind of. Well, the Beastie Boys used to be a punk rock band. Right. So it sort of sounded like that. They were a boot boy band. Right. With a girl drummer. It was pretty fabulous. So it didn't sound like Drake or Kanye West. It was sort of like in that vein of License to Hell. But. He was Didi King and Didi called me Broadway. You were Broadway. That was your rap name? Yeah. Broadway Richard. Just Broadway. That's Broadway. So. So what I read was that you said. Because Halfway to Sandy was coming out. Right. And you said. And they were doing two shows. And. In New York. You know. For MTV and the whole press. And you said. I want $500 for each show or I'm leaving. No. I don't remember saying that. Wouldn't. I should have brought the book. I have the book at home. But that's what it says. Which book? There was a book. Ramones. It came out like in the mid 90s. I should have brought it. But. And you were not interviewed in it. Didi was not interviewed in it. But. And. They say a lot of things. You know. And I. I wouldn't quit for $500. Well. Yes. $1,000. But they said. Because they didn't have any pictures of you in the book. Which is weird. But they had a picture of. No. After I left. They didn't even put me on the website. It was really weird. You know. Like the kids don't know. I wasn't in that band for five years. You know. And they. They replaced you for those shows. With Clemberg from Blondie. Right. Who's called himself Elvis Ramone. Right. And who apparently was so bad. Right. And I'm not sure how. Because he's a good drummer. He's a good drummer. I mean. Clem's a great pop drummer and everything like that. But the Ramones is an athletic test. It's not. You know. It's just. You gotta go. Did it really. Did it really. Stretch you musically? Because you're jazz trained. You're classically trained. Yeah. Well. It's all about. You know. The right hand playing. You know. The eighth notes. You know. And. I used to practice on a pillow. Very timing based. I would say. I'm not a drummer. But. You know. No. It's the right hand going. You know. Playing that right hand fast. I would practice on a pillow. So. You know. It wouldn't bounce back. And that's how I developed my wrist. But that's a whole different story. So a lot of drummers don't play that beat. Which is kind of weird. So. You know. Everything today. They use two bass drums. And. It's so annoying. To hear that. Right. You know. So. You could thank New Metal for that. Yeah. I guess so. In the 90s. And then. So then. So then. Marky replaced. Replaced him. And then they kept going. But. And. I was telling you about Marky. And. Is there beef between you and Marky? Do you guys. There's no beef. But I. I think the only thing I said to him. Was. Hey. That's it. And all that time. I think after. When. When I got in the band. Then he was playing with Richie Stotts. From the Plasmatics. They had some band. And I went there. And with Joey. And. But we never did nothing. I went to the. The Grammy Awards. I was just going to ask. If you went to the Grammys. And we were on the. Red carpet. And we wanted to picture me. Tommy. And Marky. Right. He ran away. You know. He went to. Yeah. He's just got an. There's just something going on. I guess. Because I. You know. You know. People talk about his wig all the time. So maybe. I actually heard that today. Right. That's funny. I'm not going to say he said something. But I was. Maybe I said something at one point. But you know. That's not like you're going to pull off his wig or anything. I wasn't going to pull it off. After Kim's. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because. That's funny. Because. Because. Yeah. Ramones were honored for a Lifetime Achievement Award. And that was. You said. That was the first time you. Tommy. And Marky were in the same room. At the same time. Right. Right. Yeah. And. And Ramones were not. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And you weren't. No. He always was able to sneak in there. You know. And that's. That's kind of weird. Because either you take everybody who was in the band. Or you just take the original four. You know. So. So he always got in there. Does it. Does it bother you? Or do you. No. It doesn't bother me. You could have pulled a Frank. You know. You know. Probably not Frankie Affonte. Right. Yeah. He's a good. Yeah. Good old friend of mine. When. Did you see what happened during the Blondie Award. No. At the induction. Oh. He went off. He went off. Because they were using like younger. Younger players. And he didn't get invited to play. You know. Yeah. I mean. Clem got to. But. He bummed us to stage and said. Can the original band play? And Debbie Harry's like. No. Yeah. No. I mean. It's just wrong. Yeah. That's true. You just have to put your. You know. Put it aside. Just for that thing. Right. You know. So. You have to. You know. Be bigger than that. Right. So I don't. Yeah. You know. But. So where did you film your new video? That was here in L.A. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It looks like. Did you see it? Yeah. It's cool right? Second Street. Second Street Bridge. Yeah. The Second Street Bridge. And Hollywood Boulevard. And stuff like that. Oh that's great. That actually is a great segue. Josie. Because we're going to play. If we have it. The title track to the new album. Entitled. Let's hear a little bit of that. Alright. Yeah. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Yeah. That's. Yeah. That's Entitled. The title track. What are you entitled to? What are you entitled to Richie? What is that all about? It's not just what I'm entitled. You know. I mean. I think. The kids. Everyone's entitled. To more. And a better life. You know. We're in a time. Yeah. We're in a time that's. You know. Kind of tough right now. And you know. People who can't get jobs. You know. My thing is man. It would be a really cool world. If. What you did the best. You got to work at. Right. You know. And you took. You know. Okay. You're great at this. You're great at that. Right. You know. I think we're all just entitled now. To you know. Right. Do better. Well. And we were talking about your band. And you. You have a great bass player. Claire Mistake. Right. And she. You guys were. We were talking because. You. I figured you knew Kim Fowley. Oh yeah. I knew him really well. Because you guys sort of. I mean. And Josie's kind of the same way. You guys sort of. Enter a room. I was very good friends with Kim. Right. But I mean. The three of you are very similar in that. You enter a room. And the whole room circles around you. Well he was. You know. He was such a. Incredible person. And. That's like the one thing that's really kind of comforting. Was looking back at his life. Because he had 75. Unbelievable. Colorful. Crazy years. Absolutely. Even though it's always. You know. Painful when you lose somebody. At least you can look at his life. And go. Jesus. He did not waste a second of it. You know. He really. Really went for it. So. The one thing I loved about Kim. Was. I could always tell when he was about to say something terribly inappropriate. Right. Because. Which was all the time. He would start to crack a little grin in the corner of his cheek. And I would point at him. And then he'd start laughing. Because he knew. I knew. That he was going to go there. But I would. I'd always tangle. Tangle with him. Because. You know. My. My dad. Had a mouth like a biker. And I. You know. I've been. Go figure. I was singing. I remember. Punk band. Right. You know. Around a lot of. Foul mouthed people. So. It's. It was nothing. It was like. Hanging around with my. A grandpa. You know. With a dirty mouth. Well. I'll miss like the marathon. I mean. I used to call it the K-hole. Because it would be like an eight hour phone conversation. If he got you on the phone. Right. But I miss when he would call me. At like three in the morning. And be like. Where's the party at? I'd be like. You're 70. Go home. Go home. Right. No. No. He was always out. I know. What do you do? What is the thing? I mean. The last couple years. Obviously. Right. He was sick. But like. Yeah. I would say up until about 70. He was. Where's the party at? No. He'd be walking to the fetish clubs with a cane. I remember. I remember. It was ridiculous. Yeah. It was great though. Speaking of inappropriate. I was very surprised in my research. You were in Showgirls 2? Yeah. Oh yeah. There was a Showgirls 2? I had no idea. It was the girl who played Penny. Rena Riffle. Who has a distinction of being. Not only in Showgirls. But striptease. Wow. She did both. And she decided that the sequel should happen. And she was not only going to star in it. But write it. Because everyone's dying. You know. Penny's story. Right. So. It follows her. And so she asked me if I'd play a goth stripper. So I just said sure. And you know. It was a funny couple of days. Wow. And you're interviewing people now. Or you have a web series where you interview people at donut shops? Oh yeah. I did that a couple years ago. Yeah. Well. You know. I really love to interview paranoid schizophrenics. Conspiracy theorists. And donut shops. And I'm not a hotbed for that. Because. Because they're kicked out of the bars. They're 24 hours. They're hopped up on sugar and caffeine. Right. And it's just every weirdo late in the middle of the night. So I was like great. I'll just go up and interview them. And find their story. You don't eat donuts. No. But it's not about. It's not about. No. She's interviewing people about fart jokes. We're going to get to that. We're going to get to that. I go all over the place. Okay. We'll talk about the fart jokes. Yeah. Sure. I was trying to save this to the end. Yeah. Because I got to segue this into Richie's thing. But you are doing a documentary about fart jokes. I am. But you know what? I have to be perfectly honest. It's actually about the history of the fart joke. Which is fascinating. Right. My very first joke ever in recorded history. Goes all the way back to ancient Sumerian culture. And it was a fart joke. It was women would run into their husband's lap. Sit down. Fart. And run away. That's the beginning of recorded civilization. It goes the fart joke. And the reason why I wanted to do this documentary. Is because farts the great equalizer. Everybody finds them funny. Regardless of class. Race. Religion. Status. It's the one thing. It really. It translates across the board. So it's like. You're such a beautiful. Girl. I can't even imagine. That you fart. No. It's not about me. But it's. That's what's so funny. Is everybody. Like I just interviewed Bobcat Goldthwait. Right. Right. Real comedians. Yeah. Like really. And what's funny is. I walk up to these people. And I don't know what they think. And I was like. Hey. Can we talk about farts? And it just. They're immediately. They're like. I signed up for it. And so. It's been kind of great. It's a great. It's a great concept. It's one I wish. I wish I would have thought of it. It was. It's. I mean. Coming in. It's not. One of the comedians. That you interviewed. Besides Bobcat. Bobcat was. I just started Monday. Filming it. Like I literally. Within two weeks. Of conceiving of the idea. Got backing. And started shooting. It's gone rapidly. It's amazing. I mean. You just think. In the last 40 years. Blazing Saddles. Like was a trailblazer. Huh? I didn't want to announce that. But. Yeah. I just want to keep that in our ass. But. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I may have some. Possibly. Fart legends. Yes. Right. But. Fart legends. But no. Like every children's movie. Has a fart joke. Or else kids won't. Won't watch it. It does. But it was great. When I had Bobcat on. I don't know if you're familiar. With Le Petit Maine. But he was the. Classic fartist. Of the Moulin Rouge. And he would fart. With an orchestra. To music. And he was literally. The toast of the Moulin Rouge. Like all of Parisian society. Would come out to see him. And so. We have great farts. Through history. And you know. I really. I really dignify it. To the best of my ability. Wow. Is there another fart from history. That you could. Share with our audience. What about like a royal fart. Or something like that. Well you know what. That's funny that you said. I found. Like even there's like. Political fart stories. Like apparently. George Bush. Had like names. For everybody in his cabinet. And they were all just like. Like shit and fart related. I don't know. And actually it was. Jello Biafra. Who told me that. So it's. Yeah. So because you. Yeah. It's. Stuff is coming out of the woodwork. It's really funny. So will Jello. Will you get Jello. To like. I just had dinner with him. Tell the story again. The other day. Actually I'd love. Because he was. I was at dinner with him. Telling him. He's like. What are you up to weirdo. You know. And I was telling him. And because he's so political. He's like. Here's your iPhone. Okay. Tell that story one more time. Well that's. Well that's what's so great about it. Is just. Like literally everyone I've spoken to. Has some story. Some ad. So what's your story. What's your fart story. I don't have fart stories. I don't know what I'm missing. What's the smelliest. Huh. Do you have any tour fart stories. There's no remote fart stories. Someone that would stink up a bus. No one would admit who farted. There you go. There's your fart story. I don't know. I would think Dee Dee's would be the smelliest. Because of the drug use. But. No. I don't know. Probably Joey's would be the loudest. I would think. I don't know. I just. Yeah. Sorry. Joey was two rows in front of me. See we traveled in a van a lot. So I was in the last row. And Joey was in. Oh. So. Oh. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. what I hear, but Ramones, no. But that's great. That's great. So you got me fascinated already. I can't wait to see this. Yeah, it's like, I really like to take absurdist, you know, subject matters and treat it seriously. That's like my favorite thing to do. So that's what I'm doing with this. Right, right. And it's funny that you should mention Symphony Orchestra because Richie Ramone, you composed a piece for the Pastina Pops. Yeah, I arranged a West Side Story piece, yeah. It was based on West Side Story. It was a classical piece and so you performed it as part of the Pastina Pops. Right. And they would take, at the end of the concert, they would take your drum kit out and you would drum along with the Symphony Orchestra. Right. And you were telling me the reaction of the Pops crowd. No, it was great. I mean, you know, I remember the sound man said he hadn't seen a reaction like that in seven years. The people just went crazy. It brought back like the Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich era. You gotta see this. I'm looking at it, don't worry about it. But you said one of the violinists refused to play? This little dog knows where the pillows are. No, no. No, he's a smart dog. Yeah, there was one violin player. He walked off during my performance because he didn't think that was cool. Drum set on the stage. So, and then the last night he stayed because we were getting such rave reviews. And you also played with Fred Schneider, the B-52s. I didn't play with him. I co-wrote a song for him on his solo record, yeah, called Orbit. He seems like he'd be a lot of fun to work with. Yeah, he was. He seems like he'd have a good, like, funny personality. Yeah. No, go with it. Okay, never mind. I mean, you know. Any Fred Schneider fart stories? Yeah, the Ramones played. There's a monster in my pants. We played a lot with the B-52s in the 80s. Right, right. He was a member of the B-52s. We did a lot of shows, yeah. Did you drum with the B-52s? No. Oh, okay. But they would open up for us a lot. Oh, the Ramones would do shows with the B-52s. So, and... Oh, that... That brings up a question. On your entitled video, you're playing drums and you're singing. Right. Who... How does that work? Was there someone actually playing... When you play live, do you do the same thing? Do you sing? My second guitarist, Ben, he's my punk guitarist. So I can't see doing a show singing everything from behind the drums, so I jump out front and Ben jumps on drums. Oh, that's great. So you guys just rotate. Yeah, doing the show a little bit. It works really well, you know, so that... And who plays bass? Claire plays bass. Okay, so Claire... And Alex plays lead guitar. Alex. Right on. But Tommy Bolin played on the album. Right, Tommy played on the album. Not the guy from Deep Purple in the 70s. No. Tommy Bolin from Warlock, the metal band in the 80s. Is it Mark Bolin's son? No. No? Okay. I had different people played on the record before. You know, life's a different ballgame, you know? And you just got back from a European tour. Right. And you were... I saw you... You were in Ireland because I just got back from Ireland. You were at the Interpol. Was I? I think it's the Interpol. Scotland. I didn't go to Ireland. I was in Scotland. Interpol something. That might have been Marky, too. No, no, no, no, no. It was Richie? Maybe Tommy. Were you... You were there a few weeks ago, weren't you? Yeah. Yeah, I just got back last week. I saw your pictures. Well, here's a question, Richie. Why do you think the Ramones are so popular overseas? Especially Europe, South America, Japan, but never really broken America? What are you talking about? They never had a top 40 hit. They never had a top 40 album. They're legends. They inspired every band, but... Yeah, but they were playing huge shows. I mean, the shows were massive. We never really had radio hits, no. What I'm saying is, in America, they would play... You know, they're like the last show... But they were played on a lot of radio shows. Their last show was at the Palace. South America, we're like the Beatles down there. Right. That was nuts. I posted something about you, and somebody's like, when are you coming to South America? The Latin communities, Spain, you know, I just played Spain. It's wild. You know, the kids there are really wild. They come out, you know, here. I don't play the States that much, because it's like, you know, they come out... If you're not on the radio, they come out, and they got their arms folded. They're just not... Especially LA. I want them to really get in my face, you know? Well, I mean, there's another thing. I read Gene Simmons from Kiss made a big deal, because he said that Rock is dead. Right. Do you think Rock is dead? No, I mean, it's taking a back seat now, you know? It used to be Rock and Roll, but it's taking a back seat. New kids in their early 20s that are getting into Rock, and especially Glam Rock. They keep saying the cycle goes around, but I haven't been waiting now. It's been 15 years, you know? I feel bad for the kids, because they just have to listen to classic Rock or old stuff. It's hard. You know, the radios don't really have much Rock. No, they don't. You know, they got in this group, now, of the pop and the hip-hop, and that's... And they're not as pure as we were growing up, you know? They'll listen to anything. Come on, Josie, you were never pure. True. True. I'll give you that. But Ramones probably get more play now than they did when they were around. Well, yeah, after everybody died, they became more popular. So a lot more records. Yeah. You know, like the first album went gold, finally, you know? Wow. After like, you know, what, 30 years? But you're sitting next to the premier tastemaker, if anybody's ahead of the curve, it's Lenora or Claire. What should we be looking out for 2015? What is cool? Because you are always cool. And you're always surrounded by the coolest people. You know, honestly, I'm in such a bubble right now, working on everything. I'm not going to pretend that I know what's cool, other than authenticity, just because that's an across-the-board honest answer. I don't... I wish I had a good answer, like, oh, this is the thing. It's like, I think everything is so erratic and unpredictable right now, and anything has the possibility to go viral if enough idiots like it. So I don't want to pretend that I have the answer. What, are you stumped? No, I'm just saying. No, I'm just saying. Well, it's true. With the internet, anything can go viral. I mean, a cat video goes viral. It's crazy. Cat video's the next big thing. I see it every day in my job. You know, I'm a reality TV casting producer. I don't know that I actually have a day job and a career and stuff. And literally, I'm seeing trends because I'm finding the people that will... will then, for better or for worse, make famous and then put on TV, and that's what makes things erupt. It's all very character-based. I will say that when I got in the game four years ago, I was, like, I cast a show called Taboo on Nat Geo, and they're like, you're too taboo for taboo. My stories were too outrageous. Now, finally, things are actually catching up, which is really nice. I think people's taste level, because the internet has become so extreme that things like, you know... And people are more jaded. People are more jaded. Give me an example. What was too taboo then that would not be taboo now? Oh, there's a million things. Well, yeah, I interviewed a guy who had sex with dolphins. He wrote a whole book about it called The Wet Goddess. That's kind of taboo. Right? Like, I did it. It's not sexual. That's not taboo. That's probably hard to do. Did he take them out of the water? No, no, no. It was... Well, here's the funny thing. My argument with... They're like, we can't do the story. It's bestiality. And I was like, international waters. And they're like, why are you pushing the story? And I was like, because it's really interesting. And people... Because, yeah, so, you know, there's that. And then... I wanted to break a story on... I know you're going to think I'm all, like, pissing shit jokes, but fecal transplants. Fecal transplants are an actual thing right now. They're implanted. What? Yeah, what they're doing is they're taking a healthy baby, right, that has, like, you know, the digestive tract is, like, in good shape. They're taking... Like, three months old? Yeah, they're taking their fecal matter, and they're putting it in a pill that then dissolves and kind of opens up in the stomach. And then people have, like, colitis and other, you know, stomach disorders. It kind of balances out the flora and fauna, you know, rather than having these, like, horrific gastrointestinal problems. My boss has that. Yeah, no, they're doing... They're called fecal transplant, and I, like, knew what the story years ago and was ready to, like, break it on a national level. And they're like, you're gross. And I'm like, but this is an amazing... The FDA is approving this right now. So, you know... That's like drinking your own pee. That was a big thing for a while, right? Yeah, yeah. Actually, well, jankum. Yeah, jankum. Okay, so jankum is where you get high on your own supply. That's like huffing fermented urine and feces. I, you know, I... Whatever. My job is now to literally research the most bizarre shit and put it out there in the world. Right, right, right. So when you ask me what's... I already think everybody's weird. Everybody's deviant. I've seen all this stuff. But I'll just say America's taste level for this stuff is now finally, like, escalating and getting really weird. So, good job, America. You're getting... All right, America. You're getting kind of... She's the one who brings it to you. Yeah, she brings the piss and shit and farts to America. You know, I... I got a lot of catching up. And she makes a living doing that. I mean, she casts reality shows. I'm way behind the curve. It's true. You can catch up, Richie. I'm sure, yeah. But, you know, I'll just say this real quick to sort of, like, bring it... The best part of my job, though, is on the best day, I'm able to give somebody who's maybe been, like, misunderstood or marginalized a voice, you know, by putting them on TV. Because I look for... Because I think before me in casting, especially if you're doing the offbeat characters, they would just find really terrible versions of whatever archetype that just really poorly represented a subculture. And I try and find the most interesting and articulate version of a... You know, and be like, oh, these people are into polyamory, but here's, like, a really nice version of that. You know, instead of being, like... Like, for example, when I did Taboo, I put a Satanist on, but he was a Satanist who took care of his mother who was dying of cancer. Like, here's your friendly neighborhood Satanist. You know, which, like... She's a Satanist. And before, they would try and find just, like, the most horrific, you know... Granny swingers that could be your grandmother. Yeah, exactly. She knits, too. Yeah, but see, but I did that because I wanted to explore senior sexuality because seniors are getting STDs at an alarming rate because, like... That's what I heard, yeah. I have a story about seniors. It's true. You know, old folks home, they have to separate the men and the women. They do. Because they hook up so much. Yeah. Right. It's crazy. Yeah. Do they do that at your old folks home? Oh, stop it. Oh, I'm just kidding. No, it's true, though, because they come from a generation that doesn't use condoms. They don't get pregnant. What do they do? The guys may take Viagra and then... The women are fighting over the men because most of the women live longer. Yeah. So they're fighting over the men. And the men are taking Viagra and... The men are taking Viagra. They don't get pregnant. They came from a generation that doesn't use condoms, so the STD rate is through the roof. Right. And so I wanted... Because people are so ageist, I wanted to do a show that explored that. So I was like... I got that painting of nude Bea Arthur. I put it over my bed. The guy I was dating at the time came in and he was like, I can't do this with you here. And I was like... I could. I never met a guy who... But when I said to him, I was like... I think you might be a little queer. Yeah, I was like, well, if you can't get down with Bea, you can't get down with me. I was like, you gotta go. You need to do t-shirts like that. I know. It would be good, right? And instead of a litmus test, I call it a titmus test. I just realized that art's supposed to make you think and feel, so I realized I had something really powerful with that. And I wanted to explore why is it that people are so horrified if you throw out the idea of older people having sex? I hope when I'm Kim Fowley's age, I'm still... He showed it to me. Trust me. But I'm just saying, he pushed it for a good long time. What is the fascination? Are you into older men? Are you into older women? No, it's not. I just wanted to give them the legitimacy that it's cool. You're older, you're still getting it good for you. High five. A healthy sex life your whole life, right? I think anything goes with this one. But you know what? I'm actually just a nice Jewish girl from the Valley. I surprise people with that. Richie might be very protective. Where does this time go? Let me ask you real quick. Another thing, I know this is kind of a standard question, but because of the Golden Gals got wild, you were one of USA's characters. Oh yeah, that's true. I was selected. It was actually kind of amazing. For USA Network in Vanity Fair, it was crazy. I had a billboard in Times Square with my face. The NBC Universal building. The 30 Rock building had a giant thing in my face. Did you go to New York and see it? No, they flew me out. Vanity Fair flew me. It was crazy. She posted it. I don't miss her posts. It was insane. What happened was my friend Marla Rutherford is a very famous photographer. She said, listen, come in for the shoot. You're not going to get it. We're shooting a thousand people. They're only going to pick seven. You're not getting it. I was like, whatever. So I just went and had my photo taken. Two weeks later, I got a call from my friend. He was like, why are you on the billboard of my apartment? Like, what are you talking about? Send me the picture. And then she called me and she's like, oh, go pick up Vanity Fair. I open up. There I am next to Iggy Pop. What? Like, no. Yeah, it was crazy. And then it was on every single stop of the subway. It was my face. And so they had me go around and talk to high school students about, it was really funny because I'd be like, don't listen to your guidance counselor. I dropped out of class. Like, do whatever the fuck you want. Like, I do Naked Golden Girls. Have a good time. And I'm sure they regretted choosing me after they put me out there in the world. But yeah. Get a fecal implant. Have sex with your own. Yeah, you know, yeah, exactly. Dolphins. Yeah, whatever. Have a good time, everybody. Olivia, the artist who painted Betty Page, those famous, she did a painting of you. Yeah, she's a good friend and I curate her work. And that was a real honor, too, to be painted. Right. She was there, too, signing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing. That's great. That's amazing. You got quite a lot. And you, Richie, also, you played on Joey Ramone. He came out with, there was a posthumous album that came out a couple of years ago, like 10 years after his death. Right, his second one, yeah. And you played on that. How'd that come about? That was great. You know, he had a bunch of different drummers. I think I played four or five songs. It was kind of hard listening to it because, you know, you got the headphones on, you listen to Joey sing, you know, it was all done. And then we laid the drums on top, you know. It was kind of sad. How rough were these demos? What do you mean? I mean, I have some of these demos. The demos were rough, but they really put it through the magic in the studio and made it, you know, sound nice. And because Joey Ramone- It's so funny, you had to listen to him sing. Joey Ramone never had a bad word to say about you, except I think, well, one time he compared your songwriting to Phil Collins, but I think he meant that as a compliment. Yeah. Well, he meant that I could produce and I could sing and I could play drums, do everything. Right, yeah. But, and you did everything with the Ramones. And one question before we go. I told you, it goes by so fast. That's it already? I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it goes by so fast. It goes by quick. We barely scratched the surface. Everyone always says that. I didn't even get to either one of your sex lives or anything like that, which I'm very curious about. But Tommy produced Too Tough to Die, the original drama. Right. How was it working with him? Great. He loved me from the start. He just let me do my thing, you know. Was there ever a time where you were a drama and he's like, no, no, let me show you how to do it and he did it? Never. Nobody tells me. Like a thing like that. You know, you're a drama. You know what to do. That was Marky. He had Marky had to like take lessons from Tommy to learn the beats. But, you know. You and Marky have beef. No, just saying the truth. You told me. Your hair looks better. You know. Your hair looks better. But you told me, you told me in the lobby. You told me in the lobby that when fans come up to you for things to sign, sometimes you cover your face. He drew stuff on there. Yeah. That happened to me today. I was in Brazil and the guy showed me. It was cute because he took another picture. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. But he left it the other picture. He drew like a cock in my mouth. You know, what is it with the cock and balls? You see that in all the bathrooms. Is it because it's like easy to draw? It is pretty easy. It is pretty easy. Every dressing room has a cock and balls. Drawing of a giant, that takes talent. Cock and balls. Anybody can do that. Right. It's just the thing is, you know, sometimes you get hair on there. Sometimes you get down on the balls. George and Keith had it down. Right. So he drew a cock and balls in your mouth? Yeah. And you would never do that to someone. No. You know, somebody said, I can't get involved with that. Right. And. I have enough problems. I'm like, why would you wig out? Hey, why would you wig out? Anyway, what is up? Richie, if people want to get a hold of you, people want to get the new album entitled. Are you going to be touring more in South America? Yeah. We go February 22nd. February 22nd. You're going to South America and you guys tour in the United States maybe? Middle of April. Yeah. I think I'm going to be in LA and San Diego and Long Beach. So I'm finally going to do another West Coast swing. So you could see me in April. Do you know when you're playing in San Diego? Yeah. You can find the dates on... Do you know where you're playing yet, Harry? No. But it's on richyramon.com? richyramon.com or richyramonofficial on Facebook. You can see all the videos and all the fun things we do. It's a great album. And thank you so much for being here. I can't believe I met a Ramon. They can get anywhere. You know, Amazon, DC Jam Records. Yeah, the Pirate Bay, all that stuff. But you, you're a great guy. It's great to meet you. And I can't believe I met a Ramon. It's amazing. And I can't believe I met Lenora Clare a few years ago. And every time I see you, it's just, I mean, you light up a room, obviously. Thank you. And if people want to get a hold of you, how do they get a hold of you? Oh, yeah, lenoraclare.com, same with Instagram, Twitter. And my app comes out next week. So that'll be really cool. Right. If you want to do that. And Josie Cat, just Google Josie J-O-S-I. J-O-S-I Cat, K-A-T, and you'll find all the websites and stuff. And I'm almost ready to cry because this is Josie's last night as official co-host. Yeah. But don't fret. Next week, she will be a guest along with her band Carrera. And a lot of hot, beautiful women. All our dancers. Some nudity may happen. And our new co-host. We do everything old school. We do fireworks. We've been banned from three clubs. She's been banned from not just three clubs, a lot of clubs. I've been there a couple times when you've been banned. We have girls on chains. I don't remember the name of the house, but we're going to go out on some Richie Ramone song. Lenora, Richie, Josie, everybody have a wonderfully creepy week. Bye. Bye. Good night, Dark Penguins. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.