The ghost of Johnny Ramone

Technically it should read the geese of Johnny Ramone. I will explain. Musicians are a superstitious lot. Some time ago my uncle passed away and was interned in a mausoleum very near the grave site of Johnny Ramone, legendary guitarist for the Ramones The cemetery is located in Hollywood, and has many ponds and water fountains situated throughout the grounds. These waterways have become home to many water foul, ducks, and geese, they all roam freely throughout the grounds. I took a break from my uncle’s service and walked over to visit Johnny’s monument. It’s a very impressive bronze statue of John leaning back, knees bent forward, and holding his guitar. His right hand formed a cup as he was holding a pick to strum the strings on the guitar-the left hand was in the third position on the neck as if he was playing one of his famous riffs. In the cup/space made by his holding the pick were laying several actual guitar picks, presumably left there by fans of the Ramones or Johnny- So the debate began- Big sin/little sin-good mojo/bad mojo. I will confess that at that time I had never listened to a Ramone’s recording and that I was pretty unfamiliar with their style of music. But I knew Johnny Ramone to be a great guitarist-soo –I took one of the guitar picks hoping that some of his magic would transmit through it and help me in recapturing my guitar playing ability.All of a sudden, I was surrounded by several geese-all cackling, honking and making a commotion, so I turned and tried to make an exit-But one of the geese in an almost perfect, human like tone of voice cackled or honked out what sounded like to be ‘Michael’! I looked at my sister and asked ,”did you hear that?” She replied that she had and was getting out of the area. So it appeared that I had little choice left. I scooted away the guardian goose and placed the pick back in Johnny’s hand. I was relieved and with sense of alarm dissipating quickly, I was happy to leave the vicinity. This event was a little frightening, even though I wanted to be, I was not sedated. I eventually returned home, picked up my guitar—just in case—but sad to report, there was no spike in my ability to play To those of you who have visited Johnny’s monument and have left a guitar pick in homage to him be assured I did not defile your sacrifice, it’s still there