Gabba Gabba Bye: Marky Ramone at Bleecker Bob’s

Photo: Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty Images

The day before Bleecker Bob’s closed for good on April 13, soon to be replaced by a yogurt joint, Marky Ramone was riffling the bins. “The first time I was here,” he said, “I was with Dee Dee. We would do 150 shows a year—this is when I replaced Tommy—and we would come to buy vinyl, then transfer it onto cassette for the van.” In search of musical treasure, they endured cheery abuse from owner Bob Plotnik. “He’d say, ‘Are you going to go cop drugs after this? Can I come? Fuck you!’ ” Marky said, laughing. “That was his shtick.” Although Frank Zappa and Jimmy Page had worked the register, the Ramones never did. “I don’t think he would have trusted me and Dee Dee,” Marky said. “We were lucky we could count.” But the band helped in other ways. The Ramones’ 1976 debut album was one of the store’s top sellers. In fact, a lonely tourist had just bought the last copy on the premises. A Sirius XM D.J., Marky has always plugged the store: “ ‘If you want to buy good vinyl, go to Bleecker Bob’s.’ Now I won’t be able to say that. What will I say instead?”

Gabba Gabba Bye: Marky Ramone at Bleecker Bob’s