Some of Joey Ramone’s leather wardrobe and some of his other personal belongings are hitting the auction block.
A custom-made black leather motorcycle jacket with zebra-skin pocket flaps, cuffs and epaulets is the star item in an online sale of the Queens-raised punk rocker’s belongings.
Also up for grabs are a pair of Joey’s leather pants and some of his leather accessories, including a leather belt that looks like it’s carrying ammo, a spiked wristband and fingerless gloves.
All the items come directly from family of the late Ramones frontman, said Bobby Livingston of Amherst, NH-based RR Auction — whose long-time employees still tell of when The Ramones stopped in to shop for autographs and rock memorabilia.
“It’s been over 10 years since Joey passed away,” Livingston said. “So it is time for them to sell some of this stuff and get it in the hands of collectors and people who love Joey.”
Among the goods are band pins — “Hey Ho Let’s Go,” says one, in reference to the opening line of the Ramones’ most famous song. that depicts an eagle holding twigs in one talon and a baseball bat in the other
The oddest and most interesting artifacts in the sale are the paper scraps on which the Queens-raised punk hero scribbled ideas for song lyrics.
Joey scratched out the words for the song “Chop Suey” on an old manila envelope and on the back side of a pink “While You Were Out” phone-message slip. He wrote the lyrics to “Elevator Operator” on a torn-open Alka-Seltzer box.
Some of the scratchings are a mystery — neither Joey’s family nor the auctioneers know what he planned when he used yellow-lined paper to write: “The kids are rockin/The place is boppin/I can’t I can’t get me no peace.”
Someone might be able to sing those lyrics while playing a couple of Joey’s electric guitars, including a sunburst-painted Epiphone, listed in the auction catalogue as “in fine condition, with expected wear from use.”
His collection of 97 records is being sold as one lot — it includes The Doors, The Who, Bob Dylan and others.
Joey Ramone — whose birth name was Jeff Hyman — died of lymphoma in 2001 at age 49. At least twice he showed up at RR Auction with other Ramones to buy autographs, said RR employee Bill White.
Joey took special interest once in a set of Rolling Stones signatures, and had to ask his manager, who was waiting outside, for cash.
“He disappeared, and came back in, and he had money and bought them,” White said. “Joey liked rock-and-roll things.”
The sale runs from Feb. 14 to 21. RR plans to show the items from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at The Bowery Electric on Bowery at East Second Street. Admission is free.