Hey! Ho! You owe! Ramones drummer sues

Marky Ramone, the Ramones drummer, is angry. He thought he'd done a deal five years ago to ensure that he got his fair share of the Ramones royalties. Now, though, he reckons he's been diddled. Ping! Off he fires a lawsuit, demanding the USD175,000 he reckons he's been stiffed.

Plus, of course, a million on top in punitive damages. Of course.

Surviving Ramones do best to reduce interest in legacy

Marky Ramone, with the sort of eye for accuracy that would make the New Yorker proud, has flatly denied the old story that Phil Spector pulled a gun on the band while they were working together:

"There were no guns pointed at anybody," he said. "They [guns] were there but he had a license to carry.

"He never held us hostage. We could have left at any time. We had the keys."

Of course, the guns and hostages story may very well not be true. But why on earth would you be so keen to kill a tale that makes your band part of rock legend? It's as if Alistair Cooke had suddenly blurted out "actually, I wasn't even in town the night Kennedy got shot..."

It must be the first case in history of a story getting smaller in the retelling.

Drumkit, set it up, packet of three

I don't understand. I've tried to make sense of why anyone would bother to market a range of condoms under the name of Marky Ramone but... no, I don't understand. Not even Joey, mind. Marky.

I'm not sure I'd trust Marky Ramone to save me a seat on the bus, never mind saving me from syphilis and unwanted pregnancy, and I can't imagine that anyone who is sexually active would place a Ramones drummer above the London Rubber Company as a quality mark.

How did it come about? Did Marky always have a desire to see his name on a Johnny? Or was it someone at Ready 2 Go, the company responsible, getting back the testing reports think "the best way to target these new condoms at the market would be, um, getting a fifty something punk replacement drummer in to use as the brand champion"?