Curse of the Reverse Spinal Tap

Dear Readers,

I'm back from retirement and ready to dish!

A while back, I noticed that the remaining original members of The Ramones happened to be the drummers (and a few late additions to the band), and coined the term a "Reverse Spinal Tap" as Tap's legendary running joke had to do with the strange deaths surrounding their percussionists. Well, apparently the Ramones version of the curse is not limited to band memebers. The New York Times and various other news outlets reported this week that one of their former managers was found slain on Halloween. Clearly, this cannot be good new for Phil Spector who was last seen concentrating on being Phil Spector (I'm looking at you bald, hat wearin', tattooed, hysterical guy who disturbed my viewing of The Ramones documentary "End of the Century" ).

Phil Spector at the Ziggy Stardust Court for the Theatrically Insane

Meanwhile, ex-drummer Marky Ramone is scheduled to play Tel Aviv in early January. My advice, play your ass off Marky! Do it for Joe "Mama" Besser, Peter "James" Bond, Eric Childs, "Stumpy Joe" Pepys, Viv Savage, Mick Shrimpton, Ric Shrimpton, and Virtual Reality (the computer drummer).

Marky Representing - No Fucking Hole in the Sheets!

Oddly enough, in a clairvoyant moment Spinal Tap front man David St. Hubbins was once quoted as saying, "The most ironic thing would be if we all dropped dead one day on stage, except for the drummer." Who knew he was referring to the Five Borrough's Finest.

Third Verse Different from the First,

-TRM