Documentary movies about individuals can be tricky things, as you either have to rely on your subject for the required information to make it interesting, or third parties who may or may not have their own particular agenda. Most individuals want to present themselves in the best light possible, so even when they talk about their flaws they'll come across as being heroic for talking about how screwed up they are. However, there are those few individuals who have no agenda and are merely content to tell their story as honestly as possible. When you see them on camera you can't help but liking them and wanting to hear more of what they have to say,
When director Lech Kowalski was making his film about the late New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, Born To Lose, one of those he interviewed was the late Dee Dee Ramone, former bassist with the seminal New York punk band The Ramones. Shot back in 1992 the footage was compiled into a 63-minute film in 2003, the year following Dee Dee's death of an apparent heroin overdose, called Hey Is Dee Dee Home. Now, six years latter, MVD Video has released the DVD/CD package, History On My Arms, which contains not only the documentary Hey Is Dee Dee Home, but a short feature showing Kowalski and Dee Dee preparing for the shoot called History On My Arms, and a third piece, Vom In Paris. As originally the Dee Dee footage was shot to discuss Johnny Thunders, Dee Dee spends part of his time on camera talking about his experiences trying to form a "super-punk" band with Johnny and Stiv Bators in Paris. Vom Ritchie was going to be the drummer in that supergroup and in his piece he gives his version of the same events.
The title of the DVD/CD package, and the short film about Dee Dee, History On My Arms comes from reference Dee Dee makes to his tattoos and "tracks" (the marks left by collapsed veins caused by intravenous drug use) being his history on his arms. He traces the history of his tattoos for us at one point, telling us when and how he had them done, and at the same time giving us a taste of what his life was like at those points in time. You began to get an even clearer idea of how things were for him though when he starts talking about doing drugs and he says, words to the effect of "What else was there for us to do but get stoned"?
A typical day in the life of Dee Dee Ramone from the time period in question — which is never really made clear by the way, but I have to assume was late 1970s early 1980s — revolved around acquiring the means to score drugs, scoring drugs, and either doing gigs or going to gigs. Either way, there would be more drugs and booze involved. The usual cast of characters who Dee Dee was hanging out with in those days were Richard Hell and a couple of others, with Johnny Thunders sort of deigning to hang out with them now and again. This was one of the first indications that Dee Dee wasn't all that thrilled with Thunders when he talks about those times. He felt that Thunders didn't treat him as an equal, for in spite that the Ramones were at the time doing really well, Thunders still played the Rock and Roll Star, wanting Dee Dee to score him drugs and acting like he was doing them a favour by hanging out with them.
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