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Charlotte Lesher in her home
July 11th, 1998
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 couple of weeks back we had the pleasure of spending a Saturday
afternoon with Charlotte Lesher, mother of Joey Ramone and Stop's Mickey
Leigh. As we drove through Queens to her home, we wondered what was in
store for us. We were a bit nervous, never having worked with anyone's
parents before in this type of situation. All I can say is that there
was no need to worry -- everyone should have such a cool mom. It turned
out to be one of the most enjoyable days we've had in a long time.
Of course we wanted to hear all of Charlotte's Ramones stories and
she was quite forthcoming with tales of the boys growing up and pursuing
their rock and roll dreams.
Charlotte: They both really got into the whole music scene. They loved
the music. Especially when the Beatles came to New York. That was in the
60's. As a result, I got into it. I wanted them to have some interests,
and they wanted music lessons. Mickey wanted the guitar, and Joey wanted
the Drums. So I got them lessons and from that moment on, music was a
very important part of their lives.
Joey at age 14
Forest Hills Queens
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Joey started writing songs on scraps of paper and the backs of shopping
bags. Really weird songs, and he'd say 'Listen to this ma. Tell me what
you think of this.', and I'd say '(pause) Well, that's very good. I like
that'(laughs). The Idea was to always be encouraging and supportive. And
the damn thing is, after a while, I really began to like them. I thought
they were very good. Ever since they were very young and they both had
groups, I've been going and dragging other people to their shows.
They had a lot of friends, and I sort of held open house for a lot of
boys, in and out all the time. One day, when they were in their early
teens, a cop came to the door and said, 'Is this your son?'. It was
Mickey. I said yes. He said, 'I found him over at the park with all
these other boys smoking maryjuana. I suggest you keep an eye on him.'
After that I said, if you guys are gonna do anything, I want to know
about it. I know things are gonna happen, but if you're gonna do this, I
don't want you doing it out on the street. Do it at home if you have to
do it, and show me what it's like.' So I wound up sitting at the kitchen
table with 7 or 8 boys, and we were smoking. Passing the joint around.
We all got so giggly and hysterical. Everything came out of the closets;
The cookies, the crackers, the nibbles. That was one of the funniest
days I ever had with them.
LCE: We wondered if these early efforts offered any clue as to what the
future would hold for Joey. She explained to us that you never know
when something like the Ramones, something successful, a phenomenon,
will happen. She told us that she had always encouraged her boys to do
what they wanted to, but who could have imagined that her son, Joey,
would become the famous rock star that he did? At the point in time
when the Ramones were materializing as a band Charlotte owned a gallery
called the Art Garden and let them practice in the basement.
Joey age 6 and Mickey age 3
Building a snowman. Forest Hills Queens
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Charlette: I remember going down there once with my business partner and seeing all
of these overhead lights and plants. My partner thought it nice that
the boys were such ambitious horticulturalists and had begun to do some
indoor gardening. I had to explain to her that the boys were not
growing petunias, but instead they appeared to be cultivating marijuana
plants. She was a bit naive about the proclivities of rock musicians
(laughs).
A couple of times we went into the store in the morning, and found Joey asleep on the floor.
He would build a little house out of the paintings so the police couldn't see him through the
window. So we decided, if he was going to sleep there, we were going to put him to work.
So we bought him some pants and a shirt, and he worked at the Art Garden. The old ladies
would come in to have their pictures of the Wailing Wall framed, and Joey would be there
with his dark glasses. But they got used to him, and he was really good with them.
LCE:Charlotte discussed the Ramone's early club dates with us. She
described how they began to play gigs at CBGB's and get noticed on the
rock scene. She went to those early shows and saw
a lot of the bands including Blondie and the Talking Heads.
It seemed to happen very quickly, the growing popularity and
Joey, Charlotte, and Mickey at
Mickeys Birthday Party
1994
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the record deal with Sire. She kept a scrapbook of press clippings
beginning with their earliest shows and saved everything for many years.
We were thrilled when Charlotte pulled out about a half dozen large
photo albums all completely full of clippings, photos, magazine covers,
anything you could imagine. What a treat! She also showed us a lot of
family photos and kindly lent us a couple of them to share with you.
Charlotte:(When the Ramones were traveling) I said a couple of times, 'Hey, don't you guys
need a camp mother?' I would love to have gone to Australia with them. I would love
to have gone to Japan with them. But don't think he really wanted his mom on the
road with them(laughs). Some things went on that I probably would not have been
too happy to see. Especially in those early years. I'm just happy they both survived.
Once Joey called me from Argentina, and all of a sudden I heard this screaming and yelling.
I said, 'What's all that noise?', and he said, 'As I'm talking to you, I'm walking past
this open window.' The kids had collected outside the hotel and everytime he passed by the window, they would
yell and scream. He said, 'It's just like we're the Beatles.' (laughs)
LCE: Although Charlotte stopped saving every item she could find years
ago, she still keeps up on what her sons are doing. Mickey plays out
regularly with Stop along with writing and editing the in-house paper
for Coney Island High. Joey continues to work on a number of projects
including the promotion of local events, such as the recent Joey
Ramone's Cyberbash at Tramps, and a collaboration with Ronnie Spector
on her new album.
Charlotte: Recently he's written some nice stuff. He wrote the song that Ronnie Spector is singing
"She Talks to Rainbows*." The day he played it for me, I was sitting there listening to it, and I love
the way he sings it, and I swear tears came to my eyes. I really think thats a beautiful song.
LCE: We also heard that sometime in the future we will
probably be seeing Joey's solo album.
Charlotte: It's been interesting having two
sons in the music business. I've met a lot of
people and even been in the spotlight myself several times. Joey, of
course, has had the most success, but Mickey is very underrated as a
musician and should be heard. I'm very ,very proud of both of them.
LCE: As we packed up our photo equipment and said our goodbyes, we took
one last look around at her art collection (very nice) and family
photos. We both realized how lucky we were to have met such a classy,
yet down-to-earth lady. We want to give a big thank you to Charlotte
for her time and hospitality. Cheers!
Note: Charlotte Lesher Grew up in Brooklyn NY. She went to Washington Irving for fine art,
Pratt Institute for commercial art, and Hunter colledge to study art history. "I always loved
art. I lived in the museums when I was a kid." Now she works in the fashion industry
sketching and restyling garments for designers and manufacturers. 
*Hear "She Talks to Rainbows"(.wav 213k)
Joey Ramone-Approximately 6 months old
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