Ramone Alone

In about eight years Joey Ramone can contemplate early retirement, but that won't stop the svelte frontman from earning some extra coin until his 401K kicks in. And though Ramone, born Jeffrey Hyman, is without a record contract for the first time in more than twenty years, he intends to enter a New York studio next month with longtime Ramones producer/session guitarist Daniel Rey to begin work on his solo debut.

Expected to join Ramone for his maiden voyage are Rey on guitar, Cracker's Frank Funaro on drums, former Dictators member Andy Shernoff on bass and possibly Ronnie Spector providing background vocals. According to Rey, Ramone's sound will be a "little more eclectic ... a little more melodic" than Ramones churn-and-burn fare. Perhaps even more blasphemous for Ramones fans will be the introduction of "piano and stuff," according to Rey.

Thus far Ramone has written ten songs for the album which, in Ramones math, should be about twenty-five minutes of music. However, Rey jokingly says some of the songs are epic, meaning "nearing four minutes [long]."

BLAIR R. FISCHER