Art Exhibit Pays Homage to Talents of Bassist Dee Dee Ramone

Iconic bassist Dee Dee Ramone, of punk band The Ramones, was apparently more than just  a musician. An exhibition of Dee Dee's other talents, including artwork, writing, and memorabilia opened Monday night at the Chelsea Hotel.

The Ramones were a band that inspired strong reactions from their fans. Just ask John  Kruth. He visited the exhibit, and said his first experience with the group's music in  the late seventies changed his life.

"I'm driving home and I hear [singing] ba ba baba, ba ba ba baba, I wanna be sedated.  First time I ever heard it. I just realized, I realized that something was happening  somewhere," he recalled.

Kruth had come to the exhibit with his friend, photographer Stanley Ryan Jones (pictured below), who  flew in from Milwaukee. Jones was a well-known rock music photographer in Milwaukee in  the '70s and '80s, and one of his portraits of Dee Dee was being featured in in the Chelsea exhibit.

John Cafiero is the manager of Dee Dee Ramone's estate, and also curated the exhibit.  He said he's hoping Dee Dee's artwork captures the thrill of the punk rock scene in the  seventies and eighties.

"Dee Dee embodied punk rock before anyone even knew what it was," he said. "All of that  unique persona that characterized the Ramones' music and the Ramones' songs, really was  indicative of Dee Dee's personality."

The exhibition is being held in the Hotel Chelsea's storefront gallery until January 1.