Arturo Vega, Shepherd for the Ramones, Dies at 65

[SecularMotion]

I haven't seen this posted yet

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Arturo Vega, who was often called the fifth Ramone for serving as spokesman, logo designer, T-shirt salesman, lighting director and omnipresent shepherd for the Ramones, the speed-strumming punk quartet that helped rejuvenate rock in the mid-1970s, died on June 8 in Manhattan. He was 65.

His death was confirmed by his roommate, Lisa Brownlee. She did not provide a cause.

Like the Ramones, whose real surnames were not Ramone and who were not related, Mr. Vega reinvented himself as a young man. Born in Mexico, he moved to New York in his early 20s to try to make it as an artist. He was living in a loft on East Second Street when a young man passing by peeked into his open door one afternoon in late 1973, remarked on the good music coming from the stereo and mentioned that he was starting a band.

[RudynJack]

1. Aww crap.

That band has not been lucky in the long-life department.