"Joey Ramone Place" Street Sign Most Loved by NYC Thieves

Fun dinner party fact from today's NY Post: "Joey Ramone Place" street sign in NYC is the street sign most often stolen.

Nine years after his death, punk legend Joey Ramone has gone to an even higher place.

The ceremonial street sign placed in his honor at the corner of Bowery and East Second Street had to be raised a full eight feet because thieving fans kept snatching it, city officials told The Post.

"Joey Ramone Place" is perhaps the most stolen of the 250,900 street signs in New York, according to the Department of Transportation, which recently asked contractors to install the sign for the fourth time since 2003.

He would have appreciated the distinction, said the group's longtime drummer, Marky Ramone, sole survivor of the Ramones' longest-running lineup.

But maybe they should find a better way to attach it," he said. "Now you have to be an NBA player to see it."

Although most street signs are about 12 to 14 feet off the ground, Joey Ramone Place was raised to 20 feet, an oddity first noted on the blog EV Grieve.

Though he wasn't aware so many thieves had given the sign the "Hey Ho," Marky said he can't think of a better tribute. "Every time I turn down Second Street, I look up and say, 'Hey Joey, you belong up there,' " he said.

The Bowery has become much more sedate since the death of the original three Ramones. And with CBGB -- the Bowery venue where the Ramones, and punk, started -- closed for good, the sign has become a crucial reminder of the corner's role in music history, Marky said. "It's a really nice tribute to a frontman who started the genre we call punk rock," he added.

The other highly sought after street sign souvenirs are a little less edgy: Broadway, Wall Street, and Love Lane, DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow said. (Source)

It's a Start Anyway...Ticketmonster Repays for Deceptive Ticket Sales

Last year, I tried to obtain tickets for Bruce Springsteen's Albany, NY show when it went onsale via the Ticketmaster site. I got in smoothly but then it said that the show was sold out there but additional tickets were being sold via ticketsnow.com. When I went to that site though, the ticket prices being on par with what a scalper would charge...I remember thinking, "Ticketmaster is pricey but how on earth are they getting away with advocating what is essentially an effing ticket scalping site too???!!" Needless to say, I didn't buy tickets.

Well it looks like Ticketmonster now has to pony up to all those people who did buy tickets via that route. The NY Post reports today that Ticketmonster is actually providing refunds (though not full refunds, the bastards) for the deceptive selling tactics used for 14 of Springsteen's shows last year. They're saying it was a "glitch" in the system that caused it to happen; riiiight. Did you know the definition of "glitch" is "being they got called to the mat on the situation and then Springsteen publically berating you for it"?

Thousands of Bruce Springsteen fans will receive refunds for deceptive ticket-sales practices by a unit of Ticketmaster, the Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday.

The FTC said Ticketmaster, which is now part of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., will repay fans "upward of a million dollars" after it used "deceptive bait-and-switch tactics" to sell tickets at 14 Springsteen concerts last year.

Fans complained last February that tickets to two Springsteen concerts at Jersey's Izod Center appeared to sell out instantly, and then they were directed to Ticketmaster's TicketsNow.com subsidiary to buy pricier tickets. The incident, which Ticketmaster blamed on a "glitch," sparked outrage from fans, lawmakers and the Boss himself.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told reporters yesterday that the investigation into the practices of the ticket reselling due to the Springsteen complaints had uncovered "pretty shocking" practices.

One such practice was that TicketsNow sold "phantom tickets" without telling the consumers they did not actually have the tickets, but were hoping to get them.

The FTC said TicketsNow was also not fully refunding fans for the premium-priced tickets it could not deliver.

In connection with the settlement, the FTC sent letters to all major ticket resellers demanding better transparency in dealing with fans.

"Clearly, consumers deserve better," Leibowitz said. "They deserve to know what they're buying, including the risk their tickets won't materialize."

The Springsteen uproar threatened to undermine Ticketmaster's merger with the concert-promoting giant Live Nation, which was eventually approved in January.

!!!/LCD Soundsystem Drummer Jerry Fuchs Dies in Tragic Accident

The NY Post reported today that Jerry Fuchs, drummer for !!! and LCD Soundsystem died early this morning from a five-story fall in an elevator shaft.

Sources said Fuchs, 34, was in the freight elevator with another male guest when it stopped three or four feet above the fifth floor. He and the man opened the door and attempted to jump out.

The other man landed safely, but Fuchs' clothing caught on the elevator as he was jumping, yanking him back into a space under it.

Fuchs' roommate, Alex Frankel, 27, said the drummer had called pals minutes before he fell to tell them he was stuck in the elevator.

"We found him in the elevator shaft," a distraught Frankel said. "He was no longer able to speak." Fuchs died at Bellevue Hospital at 3:30 a.m.

The musician's mom, Joy, said, "He touched lives. His gift for music touched many lives."

The Georgia-born drummer had been attending a benefit for The Uniform Project, designed to help the children of India's slums.

Fuchs is the second !!! drummer to meet a tragic end. In 2005, Mikel Gius was mowed down as he rode his bike in Sacramento.

Rumored Springsteen Autobiography Deal Could Fetch $10M Advance

From today's NY Post:

The Boss is going to find out if he was Born to Write. Bruce Springsteen is said to be quietly working on his autobiography. Publishing insiders are already panting for the book -- even though there is no manuscript yet. "It could be the biggest rock music autobiography of all time," said one insider at a major publisher, who did not want to be named. "He could get $9 million to $10 million for the world rights."

Springsteen has already been the subject of a few bios written by his unofficial historian, David Marsh, who is married to Springsteen's co-manager Barbara Carr. It could not be learned if Marsh will be involved in this book. "Springsteen is a better writer than Marsh," said our source. Springsteen is, however, said to be interested in hiring a researcher to assist him.

If there is a bidding war for the book, insiders expect it to eclipse the $8 million advance scored by Rolling Stone Keith Richards from Little Brown or the $4 million advance that Broadway Books paid Eric Clapton. The Boss, who recently turned 60, has kept voluminous journals throughout his career. They will serve as the basis for the book.

News: Bad Karoke Singers, Stay Outta CT

This just in...female vigilantes are out in force to stop the spread of bad karoke singing in Stamford, CT.

STAMFORD, Conn. — Six young Connecticut women have been arraigned on assault charges accusing them of beating up another woman because they didn’t like the way she was singing karaoke.

Five of the women were arraigned Wednesday in Stamford Superior Court, and the other appeared in court Monday.

Police say the attack on the 25-year-old woman from Port Chester, N.Y., happened on the night of Sept. 23 when she was singing a Spanish song at Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Cafe in Stamford.

Authorities say the six women, all under the legal drinking age of 21, knocked the singer to the floor, punched her and pulled her hair. The victim suffered bruises and a chipped tooth.

The defendants are charged with third-degree assault and other crimes. They’re due back in court later this month. (NY Post)

News: Ryan Adams Engaged to....Mandy Moore?

Yeesh, this is what happens when you read the NY Post Page Six every day, you learn stuff like this. Who thinks I need a more engaging day job, hmm?

But Ryan Adams and Mandy Moore, really? Am I the only one going "huh"?

MANDY Moore is engaged. The adorable pop singer was proposed to by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, singer Ryan Adams, and accepted - much to her friends' distress. As Page Six reported when the two broke up last year, Adams was not always nice to Moore and often belittled her. Moore dated another man, but recently broke up with him and got back together with Adams. A rep for Moore didn't return calls. (Source)

Anthony Kiedis' Life is Basis for New HBO Series

The NY Post reports today about a series currently in development that is loosely based on Red Hot Chili Peppers' lead singer Anthony Kiedis' adolescence. It's good they already have a title ("Scar Tissue") as Californication is already taken. Wonder who'll get the lead role?

CABLE truly is different than broadcast TV. HBO is developing a series with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis "based on his unconventional, rock 'n' roll childhood," Variety reports. But blogger Ron Mwangagu hunga points out that Kiedis' 2004 memoir, "Scar Tissue," "has a disturbing amount of bragging about sex with underage girls. One of the girls, he confesses, grotesquely, was a 14-year-old dolled-up like Marilyn Monroe . . . another was a 15-year-old, Ione Skye . . . has the statute of limitations for statutory rape expired?" An HBO spokesman said, "We did not buy the rights to his book, and we are not dramatizing the book. This project is focused on Anthony's life as an adolescent. The title, now tentatively called 'Scar Tissue,' does not refer to the book, but to the song." The HBO show will focus on Kiedis and his father, "who sold drugs and mingled with rock stars on the Sunset Strip," Variety reports.

Wayne Coyne Directs a Christmas Movie for the Whole Family

Wayne Coyne, frontman for the flamboyant The Flaming Lips, talks about "Chrismas On Mars: A Fantastical Film Freak-Out Featuring the Flaming Lips," his directoral debut, that's out tomorrow on DVD. Being Wayne Coyne's neighbor must be either really cool or a giant pain in the ass. [Source]

You could fly to Mars and back in less time than it took for Wayne Coyne, the theatrical frontman of experimental psych rock band the Flaming Lips, to finish his film, "Christmas On Mars: A Fantastical Film Freak-out Featuring the Flaming Lips." His directorial debut is out Tuesday on DVD.

Coyne, who built most of the set in the back yard of his Oklahoma City home, began filming in 2001. The trippy sci-fi flick about an isolated, depressed colony on Mars, stars Coyne as an alien and Lips drummer Steven Drozd as Major Syrtis, who wants to celebrate Christmas as life on the Red Planet hangs in the balance.

As the settlers deal with major malfunctions, they await the birth of a baby - who is growing in a bubble. The mute alien arrives in a ball of light (a la Glenda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz"), dons the Santa Claus suit and saves the day with a feel-good dose of holiday inspiration. It's a B-movie inspired feature made for the midnight movie circuit. It's weird, but the tender moments manage to draw you in a real, not other-worldly, way. The Post talked to Coyne, 47, on Election Day.

Will people see "Christmas on Mars" because you directed it?

You probably have to know who I am to even want to care about the movie. If you care about a director, you want to see what came out of his mind. That made me think, 'I'm free to do whatever I want.'

Are there benefits to filming for seven years?

We'd work on it for few months and then go do something else, so we'd lose the lose . . . the preciousness.

When I'd go back and see a scene, I'd say, 'That's pretty good. I thought was gonna be a bunch of sh - -, but it's pretty good.' Or, we'd do a scene and I'd think it's cheap and amateurish, but seeing it three years later, it didn't seem cheap and amateurish. It was really cool. Then I didn't start to worry about it as much.

So you felt overwhelmed at times?

You go at it with confidence - I have six or seven ideas I want to piece together somehow. But then you get in there and everything is a moment. It's like writing a novel. You just don't go from chapter three to chapter four. You have to write every f - - - ing word in between.

This movie seems ripe for interpretation.

[Laughing] It totally is. It's made in some of these clichéd arty bulls - - t ways that help. It's black-and-white. It deals with vague, vaginal-istic weirdness, religion vs. science and what is the meaning of happiness. Once it's made, you see those things in it.

Why did you cast yourself as the savior/alien?

For our annual Christmas card, I took a Polaroid of myself. From that, my wife, [an artist], painted a picture of me as an alien in a Santa suit. Everyone who gets the card says, 'I love your alien Santa Claus.' I was in the mode of making a movie and I didn't know what my character would be, but then I knew it'd be a Martian that turned into Santa Claus.

Most difficult thing to shoot?

There was a 20-foot ladder straight up to the grain elevator to walk up. There were spots up there that you could fall through - 110 feet to your death - that were just covered with duct tape. We first got up there and thought 'This is really dangerous,' but you do it a couple times and it doesn't seem as dangerous.

The pigeon sh - - at the top of this elevator had been there since 1945. Pigeon sh - - piles up pretty thick [he indicates the height of a foot or so], so we literally dug it out.

Problems with taking seven years to film?

We joke about it, but Steven [Drozd], in one scene, is at the height of his heroin addiction - weighing 175 pounds. Four years later he weighs 230 pounds, and he walks through a door as a whole new guy. We also thought it was absurd in a way. He was at the height of being at death's door. He could die after we shoot this. To me, this made it better and more meaningful. That's how you do it - with your life going on.

Can someone who's over 40 and not in an altered state enjoy this at home?

You could put it on and not even know who the Flaming Lips are or anything and go, 'Oh, this looks like some crazy sh - -, I'll watch this.' It's even better watching it and relaxing at your house and answering the phone if you need to. To me it really does roll along. It's funny. It's got action.

New Clash Bio to Come Out...Written By The Clash!

Holy sweet Jesus, how cool is this going to be??? I stumbled across the blurb below in a daily guilty pleasure, Page Six of the NY Post, and was just going to write on Topper Headon's comment. But when I dug further to find out who the "them" is in "written by them," I found that it's a true bio put out by Strummer, Jones, Simonon, and Headon that's out in the UK tomorrow, here in the States next month. Hope it's as cool as it sounds!

DRUMMER Topper Headon forgives the Clash for firing him at the height of the band's success. "I was out of control. I remember being sick on Buddy Holly's grave, which didn't go down too well. I was a Keith Moon fan - you know, 'Live fast, die young,' and I lost the plot completely," Headon says in the new book titled "The Clash" and written by them, due next month. "On the tour of the Far East, I was standing in a lift with Joe [Strummer] and he's saying: 'How can I sing all these antidrug songs with you stoned out of your head behind me?' " (NY Post)

Myspace Founder Out to Revolutionize the Music Industry

I, for one, would love it if this infringed on Live Nation, break up their monopolistic hold a little.

THE founder and CEO of MySpace, Chris DeWolfe, is out to revolutionize the music industry - and make some money. MySpace, which has so far relied heavily on advertising revenues to make bank, will now pocket a percentage of every song sold - and in "phase two," when it starts selling concert tickets and merchandise, it will receive a cut of those as well. But DeWolfe says he's not out to infringe on Live Nation's business. "Most of our concerts are sponsored - and Live Nation pays big money for big-name acts," he said Friday. "We're just distributing through the Internet." MySpace is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Post. (NY Post)