"The Ramones were the great American rock band of our time," says Rob Zombie. "Endlessly copied but never equaled." The leather-clad jackhammer punk icons broke up in 1996 and Johnny Ramone died in 2004, but in the 10 years since his passing, the guitarist's widow Linda has been celebrating his memory with an annual tribute bash at Los Angeles' Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Previous tributes have featured a reunion of the cast of the Ramones movie Rock 'n' Roll High School and an unveiling of a Johnny Ramone statue. Now, for the tenth anniversary of Johnny's death, Zombie will be hosting a screening of his movie The Devil's Rejects and leading an all-star band (including Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols) through a selection of Ramones covers. Fred Armisen of Portlandia will also be in attendance, doing some songs as his punk-rock doppelganger Ian Rubbish, while Kirk Hammett of Metallica (billed as Kirk Von Hammett) will be displaying his collection of horror-movie posters and memorabilia in the cemetery's mausoleum. The event will take place on August 24th and benefit cancer research through the Johnny Ramone Foundation and the Center for Applied Medicine at USC. Sadly, no funds will go to pinheads, victims of teenage lobotomies or brats who have been beaten on by baseball bats.
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