More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The white paint is scratched off and worn away along the sides of Johnny Ramone's electric guitar, the one he used on stage for nearly 20 years to make some of punk rock's most distinctive chords with the legendary Ramones.
But it's no wonder. Johnny Ramone was known for his fast downstroke chords -- he never strummed upward -- and he played them aggressively on that guitar until the day he retired in 1996.
The black and white Mosrite guitar is now up for auction along with other punk memorabilia, including Johnny's early on-stage amp and a set of his bandmate Joey's microphones. They were collected over the years by a close friend of the band, musician and songwriter Daniel Rey.
Ramone, who was born John Cummings, bought the 1965 Mosrite Ventures II guitar in 1977. After that, he played it in every Ramones performance for the next two decades -- about 1,985 shows, according to the auction house, RR Auction. It was also used on all 15 of the band's albums from that time period, the auction house says.
"Most guitarists have dozens of guitars they play and they change over different tours every year," Rey told CNN. "Johnny used the same guitar from Day One to the end, and I think that's kind of unique."
And the guitar still plays "perfectly," Rey said. "It's indestructible. It played 2,000 shows with the Ramones, so it can handle anything."
The Ramones kicked off the punk rock movement in New York in the 1970s with their fast beat, short songs and loud guitar riffs immediately recognizable from such songs as "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and "I Wanna Be Sedated."
The band members adopted the surname Ramone, along with the same look of black leather jackets, canvas shoes, jeans and long dark hair over their faces.
They were practically the house band at the famed New York club CBGB, where they were joined by other legendary acts of the era like Television and the Patti Smith Group.
The signed amplifier from the auction was used by Johnny in some of the Ramones' early CBGB shows, in 1974 and 1975, RR Auctions says. And while it was only used in those first years -- Rey said the band bought new amps as soon as they got a record contract -- the amp would have blared a signature sound.
"That really introduced the world to the brutality of the Ramones' guitar sound, which was the beautiful balance of the pop sensibility -- the Beach Boys' (type of) pop -- and the brutal guitar sound which made the magic happen," Rey said.
He recalled how Johnny, who died in 2004, never liked to play minor chords, though he would if he had to.
"Joey would write songs that had minor chords in it sometimes," Rey said, "and Johnny would always refer to them as 'those funny chords.' He'd say to me, 'Daniel, Joey's song has one of those funny chords in it, doesn't it?'"
The auction is scheduled for September 25 at RR Auction in Boston, and online bidding is already open.
The four original members of the Ramones are gone now -- Joey Ramone, born Jeffrey Hyman, died in 2001, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone, born Douglas Colvin, died a year later. Drummer Tommy Ramone, real name Tom Erdelyi, died in 2014.
Rey said the time just felt right to sell the items and share them with other fans. And he said he's not surprised at the interest: "The Ramones are the greatest band of all time."
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”