Richie Ramone’s Big Day in Court

It’s not often that I have a justifiable excuse to write about one of my favourite bands, the Ramones, especially now that Joey and Dee Dee have passed and Johnny makes no bones about his passion for things like the Republican party, the NRA, and Ronald Reagan (ew!). So, I’m going to take this chance while I can.

 
Richie Ramone - born Richard Reinhardt and also known as Richard Beau during his tenure with the Velveteens - played in the band from 1983 to 1987, taking over the drum chair from Tommy Ramone, who was originally the band’s manager (they started off in 1974 as a trio with Joey singing from behind the kit). While he was with the band, Richie penned six songs that ended up on Ramones records, including “Humankind,” “I Know Better Now,” and the minor hit “Somebody Put Something in my Drink” (see video above).

Well, over twenty years later, Richie filed suit against everyone from Apple to Wal-Mart for a grand total of $900,000 claiming that he was getting the shaft on the band’s digital sales which he alleged were not part of his contract with the band.

It turns out Richie didn’t read the contract closely enough, as the judge ruled it clearly covered all future reproduction technologies. She also said Ramone’s/Beau’s/Reinhardt’s claim that since digital files aren’t physically manufactured and therefore can’t be included as a means of production to be erroneous, at which time she dismissed the case.

Better luck next time, I guess.