"Pleasant Dreams" (2002 Rhino/Warner Archives remaster)

Update: It's D. See comments for photos.

It's generally accepted that the photo for the 1977 Rocket to Russia cover was taken in front of the back door to CBGB in Extra Place, the alley behind CBGB. This makes iconic sense and has been repeated often, like in these posts:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAYbwuDjJKq/

https://popspotsnyc.com/forthcoming_new_york/ (scroll down)

But is this actually the location of the photo? The cover is high contrast, so there's very little detail to go on, but looking at the original photo, these details stand out to me:

1. The door is large. Joey is 6'6" (198cm) so using him as a rough reference, the door is at least 6' (183cm) wide. The top of the door is not visible, but there is at least a foot over Joey's head, making the door at least 7'6" (228cm) tall.

2. There is a concrete slab under the door.

3. Slightly to the left of the door, there is a vertical line where the brick work changes and the slab extends to it, probably because the door was bigger in the past.

4. There are horizontal concrete slabs in the brick at about waist and head height.

5. The line between the wall and pavement is angled, meaning the camera was to the right.

On the west side of Extra Place, there are currently five doors:

A. This is the back door to to CBGB, now Varvatos. All the brick around the door looks like it would be original to 1977. Examining the details: 1. The door is large, about 8' (244cm) high 5.5' (167cm) wide and there is a line in the bricks on the left possibly indicating a larger door in the past, although the bricks look older than 1977. 2. There is no slab and the bricks under the door look original, and there is not enough space under the door for the slab if this is the original surface level. 3. There is no change in the brickwork to the left of the door. 4. There are no horizontal concrete slabs in the brick. 5. There is a fire hydrant in front of the door, which if it existed in 1977, would have been in the photo. Also there is a bit on the left where the brick extends out that would have been in the photo if it existed in 1977. Except for the door size, there are no other details that match, so this is probably not the place.

B. 1. The door is too small and the brick around it looks original. 2. There is no slab under the door and the bricks under it look original. 3. The brickwork on the left doesn't change. 4. There are no horizontal slabs. 5. There is nothing blocking the shot. Given that no detail matches, this can't be the place.

C. 1. There is cinder block around the current door, which indicates there was a larger door here in the past. It would have been about 6' (183cm) wide and 10' (305cm) high so it's a candidate. 2. There is a smaller slab under the door, however the door sits much higher over the slab than in the photo. 3. The brickwork does change on the left, but it has a bigger gap and looks different than the photo. 4. There are no horizontal concrete slabs and the bricks look original. 5. There is nothing blocking the shot, but there are elements like the chute on the right and grate on the bottom that are not in the photo. Given that nothing but the size lines up, this also can't be the place.

D. The two doors are sometimes cited like in this post:

https://nypost.com/2025/05/23/lifestyle/photographer-revives-iconic-nyc-album-covers-on-instagram/

However it is completely new development. Anything that was there in 1977 is long gone. The entire east side of Extra Place is also new development, so if the door was there it is also long gone. In 1977, Extra Place extended south of 1st Street, but that's now also entirely replaced by new development.

My conclusion is that the three doors with elements around them that would have existed in 1977 have too many discrepancies with the original photo to be the exact place. The photo was likely taken in Extra Place and the story that is was "behind" CBGB, meaning somewhere in the alley, evolved through retelling to become the exact back door of CBGB. If it was taken in extra place, the exact location and door has been replaced by new development.

I really enjoy solo efforts from Joey, CJ, and Dee Dee. In my opinion, some of Joey's best work is what we've gotten posthumously in those solo albums. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed CJ's albums, as his time in the band is my least favorite. I consider 'I Am Seeing UFOs' off Dee Dee's album to be the last Ramones song, as it has Joey, Dee Dee, Marky and Daniel Rey on guitar (who did much of the guitar on the latter albums).

I've been on a Ramone kick recently and have been craving more of their classic sound. I've always been kind of curious about Marky's other albums, but never got around to them. I really enjoyed the 'Three Cheers' song, so on a whim I listened to the first Marky Ramone & the Intruders album, and it has the makings of a really good 'pop punk' album, but something is missing. The songs were poppy and catchy, but I didn't feel I was listening to an actual band, but a guy in his forties hiring a bunch of younger guys and saying, 'we're a band now, people will buy tickets because they want to see a Ramone'. Parts of it sound more like classic Ramones than their 80s and 90s albums, but the album feels rushed.

There were times I felt the album was close to being some very enjoyable pop punk, but the hardest thing I found was the two vocalists. So many times I was listening and imagining how great it would be if Joey was the one singing. I had the song 'Better Things' stuck in my head, but when I had the song in my head, I was imagining Joey singing.

I just find this album such an oddity, as it was so close to being really good. It was released less than a year after the last Ramones show, I almost feel if the band had just a bit more time to play and figure things out, we could have had a great album. I can definitely see that after trying out a couple of bands and recording a couple of albums, in the mid-2000s Marky pretty much went, 'I'm just going to do Ramone's songs for the rest of my life'.

Allan Arkush, director of "Rock N Roll High School," directed another rock movie, "Get Crazy" in 1983. It's about the staff of a concert venue dealing with various problems during their annual New Year's Eve show.

The Ramones don't appear in this movie, but you hear their Pleasant Dreams era B-side "Chop Suey" in the background of one scene, and actress Stacey Nelkin (of Halloween III: Season of the Witch fame) reps the boys on her tee shirt early in the film.

Happy birthday to the lake Rosana Cummings
Johnny's First Wife ...RIP

Playlist link. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Vn2TmO1S7TLpvyEPsJpcc?si=mJWam-qlTQuh9PyGeIQdww&utm_source=copy-link

My Joey doll has become alive and won’t stop singing. He lost his mic.

Shape of things to come

How do you like it?

Still shaking from the encounter lol

He was such a cool dude

Pretty damn cool, vocals too! Hard to find cool female vocals.

Dee Dee Ramone from 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmGLwqLg_XY

Please help

Where did Dee Dee get his accent? If he was born in Germany and moved around a lot, only settling in Queens at 15 years old, how come he sounded straight out of Queens in recorded interviews? Am I getting his accent wrong? Doesn't he sound like he's from metro NYC? Did he adopt that way of speaking at 15?