Marky Ramone getting some California Sun

East Coast vs. West Coast rivals laid down their Glocks and picked up spoons last Saturday, as Marky Ramone, former drummer of the Ramones, flew in from Brooklyn to the Venice Whole Foods to promote his new pasta sauce. The sauce is called Marky Ramone’s Brooklyn’s Own Pasta Sauce, a fittingly complicated name from someone whose job it was to keep time for the rapid Ramones.

Marky sat down while a small line formed to have him autograph each purchased jar (including smiley faces on the lid and bottom). The sauce sells for $6.99 per jar, which isn’t bad considering (a) it’s Whole Foods; (b) Rao’s sauce sells for $8.99 a jar there, and what band was he ever in?; and (c) you could probably sell your autographed jar for quite a bit more on eBay. There were a couple of tasting stations nearby, and this former New Yorker can attest that the sauce is excellent, with a simple list of ingredients, ending with the words “Drums not included.”

Marky was very friendly, down-to-earth, and happy to talk to each of us for as long as we wanted. In fact, there was a young boy on line in front of us who told us that he plays the drums (yes, a little drummer boy), and who had dragged his mom there so he could meet Marky Ramone. Marky engaged the boy in conversation for a few minutes. Who knows, perhaps the boy will become a famous drummer and this cycle will repeat itself in 30 or 40 years.

Bizarre? Sure, but that’s what I call rock ‘n roll.

Related posts:

1. Whole Foods Opens Superstore in Venice, Upsets Delicate Balance Between Yuppies and Bums
2. At Venice Beach, Every Day is a Carnival, If Not a Carnevale
3. I Wanna Be Her Joey Ramone
4. Is Venice Beach losing its soul?
5. Venice Beach Goes Green at Eco-Fest