Hey ho, they're gone

Tom Erdelyi hadn’t planned to become Tommy Ramone, but circumstances forced him into a new identity as the drummer and driving force behind one of the most influential and unforgettable rock-and-roll bands of the 1970s. He was the last surviving member of the Ramones, the seminal New York punk group whose buzzsaw music and don’t-give-a-rip attitude have been a lasting influence for more than a generation. Mr. Erdelyi (or Ramone, as he was better known), who was 62, died Friday at his home in Queens. The official Facebook and Twitter accounts of the Ramones confirmed his death. The cause was bile-duct cancer. All four band members were unrelated and had different last names, but as a show of brotherly solidarity, each band member adopted the last name Ramone. The band had read that Paul McCartney had checked into hotels as Paul Ramone, derived from the name of pop-music producer Phil Ramone. The other original Ramones included Joey (Jeffrey Hyman, died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer) on vocals; Johnny (John Cummings, died in 2004 of prostate cancer) on guitar; and Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin, died in 2002 of a drug overdose) on bass. One person that didn't die, however, is Cassidy Stay. Just a day after being released from the hospital, she took center stage at a memorial ceremony yesterday morning to grieve with hundreds of friends and neighbors and to search for light in the horrifying murder of her parents and four siblings. Fifteen-year-old Cassidy thanked first responders, doctors, and well-wishers for their tremendous support as she stood at a podium outside a Spring elementary school in sweltering mid-morning heat. "I'm really thankful for all of the people who have been praying for me and keeping me and my family in their thoughts these past few days," Cassidy said. "I'm feeling a lot better, and I'm on a straightforward path to recovery." That's good to hear, and so is this: Ronald Lee Haskell, a 33-year-old Utah man who was married to Cassidy's maternal aunt before their divorce earlier this year, is charged with capital murder in the deaths of Cassidy's family, and is being held without bail. Authorities say that on Wednesday evening, he arrived at the home of Katie and Stephen Stay, dressed as a FedEx delivery driver. He had worked for the company until January of this year, according to company officials. Haskell asked to see Cassidy's parents, but left after she told him they weren't there. He returned a short time later, and entered the home again, allegedly tying up Cassidy and her siblings and waiting for her parents to return home from the bank. When they arrived, he apparently also tied them up and made them lie facedown, asking for the whereabouts of Melannie Lyon, his ex-wife, before shooting them in the back of the head. Cassidy's parents Stephen and Katie, and her siblings Bryan, Emily, Rebecca, and Zach all died. Cassidy was injured in the head and hand in the shooting, but survived by playing dead and waiting until Haskell fled in the family's Honda sedan, then called authorities. Police intercepted him as he was driving to the nearby home of Cassidy's grandparents, where Lyon and her children were also living.