Punk Rock Royal, Vera Ramone Makes First Florida Public Appearance at
1st National
West Palm Beach Alternative Book Fair!
West Palm Beach Alternative Book Fair!
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| Photo credit: Mudd Club Book Cover (Vera Ramone far right) |
"The Box Gallery, already a gathering place for art, film and performance, now adds a literary angle to its creative community as it initiates the first national alternative book fair in West Palm Beach. From coast to coast artists, authors, photographers, and cultural icons of the punk and gay culture come to celebrate visions of the past and set their sights on the future. From uptown to downtown, high brow to low brow, there will be a series of talks lectures, and presentations that span almost a half of century of documentation of the avant-garde beginning from the early 70’s to present.” -West Palm Beach Magazine
"As Dee Dee Ramone's wife, Vera Ramone King was half of punk-rock's royal couple––but at tremendous cost.”
-Jim Bessman (Billboard Magazine)
The only living soul on the cover the hottest underground book recently released, The Mudd Club Book, Vera Ramone has agreed to make her first public appearance to support fellow author and punk underground documentarian Richard Boch.
The two will join the cast of cultural provocateurs on day two of the weekend-long gathering at The Box Gallery for the 1st National WBP Alternative Book Fair Weekend. (March 9-11, 2018)
The Box Gallery
811 Belvedere Road
West Palm Beach, Florida 33405
“ Best Art Gallery in Palm Beach”-South Florida Gay News
Contact: Curator, Rolando Chang Barrero
Details and schedule: 1st National WPB ALT Book Fair
Event Dates: March 9-11, 2018,
Highlights:
Inaugural Reception Friday Night at 7 p.m.
VIP Meet and Greet, Saturday at 5 p.m.
Howl:Alternative Voices Project, Sunday at 2 p.m.
Also featured that night is the new Mudd Club Book by Richard Boch that features Vera on the cover with her then husband Dee Dee on a couch with David Bowie and Joey Ramone.
Vera grew up in Queens and on a trip to Florida in 1977 had dated Rod Stewart a few times. But this is a different love story as she returned to NY and met Dee Dee. Dee Dee was the adorable, songwriting, bass playing genius, who fell hard for Vera the first night they met at Max’s Kansas City nightclub and married her soon after.
She wrote a must read book called “Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone” about her wild ride love story and life with Dee Dee and the Ramones. Married to him in 1978, he wore an all white tuxedo suit and “My Mother made me wear that stupid veil” Vera says with a laugh. They stayed together against the odds from 1978 until 1995. She was in the trenches in the bands early years as they came up from the small clubs, toured non-stop, made records, videos, movies, and amassed fans that included David Bowie.
“It was a real exciting time,” she says “and I am amazed the band has continued to get bigger every year.”
Vera’s book tells of their attempt at a simple life in Queens, doing errands, shopping, watching TV shows like Dynasty and Dallas, and going to visit Dee Dee’s mother every Sunday. They tried to have a normal life in the whirlwind chaos of hardscrabble early touring in a van, through uneven success that found the band in demand as a live act but shut out of radio play.
“DJ’s would be fired if they played them,” Vera says. “So we had to tour all the time to make money and it was hard on Dee Dee with his addictive tendencies.”
In a review in Billboard Magazine, Jim Bessman wrote: "As Dee Dee Ramone's wife, Vera Ramone King was half of punk-rock's royal couple––but at tremendous cost. Her inspiring memoir 'Poisoned Heart,' while vividly portraying a marriage savaged by the late Ramone's mental illness, also shows King to be a true survivor, not only of an abusive relationship but one of the most exhilarating periods in rock 'n' roll history. 'I have chosen, rather than to cry over what I've lost, to smile about what I've had,' she concludes, her own heart anything but poisoned."
Dee Dee lived to see the group inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame but died in 2002 of a drug overdose despite having been clean for years.
“I just want people to know all the sides of him and that yes he could be crazy but he could also be very kind, generous and funny,” she says.
Vera will also be offering a limited t-shirt design and autographed photos.
