Ramones Tribute - Augsburg "Rampe3"



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This tribute in honor of THE RAMONES is a mixture of art show, documentation, club entertainment and concert. It will take place from 21st March trough 5th April 2003 on the property of the former textile factories into the Riedinger Park at the building F30 "Rampe 3" in Augsburg - Germany.

During the 16 days of the festival there will be a wide presentation of the diverse influences The Ramones made on the music and art scene, following their career from the beginning until their induction into the "Rock ´n Roll Hall Of Fame" which solidified their reputation as one of the most important bands in the history of Rock.

The roots of this event go all the way back to 1978 when a few young guys from Augsburg drove in their old fucked up car to Hamburg to meet their idols, the Ramones, who were beginning their first German tour. At the time, no one could know this was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. From this time on Lothar Felkel and General Seckler from Augsburg would be friends of t he band and at every German tour they were guests of the band, with access to take photos backstage. The Augsburg crew stayed in regular contact with the bass player, songwriter and soul of the Ramones, DeeDee Ramone. Thus in early 2002, hanging out with DeeDee, they had the idea of an exhibition off DeeDee's paintings in Augsburg which he wanted to attend.

After his sudden death in 2002 his friends in Augsburg decided to honor DeeDee & Joey Ramone (The lovely heart of the Ramones) with an exhibition of artwork, rare photos, memorabilia and other highlights.

Since no one in the world had yet had the idea of honoring them in a different way, aside from concerts, the old Augsburg friends of DeeDee, Lothar Felkel and General Seckler, were greeted warmly in New York and were offered great assistance for their project. The family and friends of the Ramones and also the New Yorker "Punk Rock Art Scene" contributed many personal rarities for this project.

These great contributions make the art show at "Rampe3" possible, with never-before seen documents, reviews and photographs of the Ramones. These include prints from photographer George Dubose who shot many of the Ramones covers including the beautifully mysterious central park scene for "Too Tough To Die" and also from the New York's "Punk Cult Photographer" Roberta Bayley, Stephanie Cherniekowsky, David Godlin and Bob Gruen.

Further highlights are the concert and backstage photographs of Lothar Felkel, who followed the Ramones trough their Europe tours for 25 years. In "Rampe3" there will be also the possibility of leaving a personal gift at the shrine of Joey and DeeDee.

Arturo Vega, The Ramones creative director since 1974, and administrator of officialramones.com the official Ramones website will be present from the 27th of March till the last day. Arturo will bring rare and precious items from his personal collection of Ramones memorabilia and photographs never seen before. He will also narrate a slide show telling part of the story from the 2261 Ramones shows he was lucky enough to work in.

The happening involves a concept developed by local art managers including a documentation of the underground context of the Augsburg scene from `77 to `89. Records, posters, photos, fanzines, videos, clothing and much more items will bring you back to a time as punk was still young in Augsburg. More than 25 various local, regional and international bands will be playing live during the weekends. A special live program in honor of the Ramones will take place March 28th and 29th.

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