Gawker

Bye Bye Baby

ooh, Law and Order-y

holy crap. Seriously, get L&O on this one, stat.

It was the butler, in the kitchen, with the candlestick.

It was the lookey-loo, in the dining room, with the 80-20 mortgage.

is there more than one manhattan?

@lalalina: Yes! But that was still funny.

Well, they said she was battling cancer. Does cancer have an alibi?

Realtor ® lying in a pool of blood? That may be above and beyond the call of duty but you know it's going to be a showing people remember.

A pool? That just added 3 mil to the price of that apartment when Barbara Corcoran gets the listing.

Our paths crossed paths when I was 16. Thanks to a stage manager at the venue, I had interviewed several big name acts (Van Halen etc) for my high school newspaper. He always helped me because I wasn't a groupie - I did the interview and got the hell out of there.

At a Ramones concert, he vouched for me to Linda while I stood there and her response was to literally scream, "NO" and to dramatically slam the door as hard as she could, using both hands.

We were stunned... Today, I had to laugh when I read various descriptions of her character. Most wrote that she was tough, but fair and so forth.

Tough? She was a Class A c*nt to a geeky 16 year old kid in front of a lot of people. Makes me wonder how she behaved when there weren't witnesses and I'm not surprised she was murdered.

Um I know screaming at a 16 year old kid ain't nice, but you were interfering with her business. Not sure if that makes a person deserving of murder.

I do have to say when I heard the murder scene description, I could swear the gavel's "bang - bang" was off in the distance.

"Screaming NO to an interview" and "not surprised she was murdered"? Hmm, did it ever occur to you that maybe there were backstage problems and it was her job to get back to them and keep outsiders out? Maybe the infamous Ramones personality conflicts or maybe some bit of promoter/performer glitch, maybe many things. As someone who wrote about the music scene, certainly you must have known that some bands are private at times, or that things happen at shows, hotels, whatever that throw everything outta whack and sometimes there's no time to be polite and quiet. Maybe she was just doing her job and needed to quickly get back to a crisis. Maybe you should read Monte Melnick's "On the Road with the Ramones" to know it wasn't all smooth sailing.

I hung out backstage and shot Van Halen when they played the Whisky. Later I saw them at the Long Beach Arena. David Lee Roth was friendly while Eddie acted the big rock star. You think I'm ever happy or not surprised he has personal issues? I'm happy he's healthier now, and always wish him the best, no matter how he treated me.

You think every band wants to or can be interviewed by a 16 yr for a high school paper? Who did you think you were, a Rolling Stone writer? Even then, it might not have made a difference. It wasn't unusual for me to have a photo pass from a record company or major magazine and still not get backstage or the security guards didn't care that I had a legit photo pass.

It's show biz, but I sure as heck never wished anyone dead or would say something as stupid and heartless at what you wrote. Every time someone in the biz from that era dies, a part of our cultural history dies.

Linda Stein changed our culture. What have you done, then or now? Who the hell do you think you are to diss someone who played such an important part in changing sooo many lives? Dissing her is like dissing the Ramones. All Ramones fans should say a prayer of gratitude to Linda Stein. RIP.

I forgot to mention I shot Linda a few times, and she was quiet and blended into the backstage area at both times. I had no idea she even co-managed the Ramones until recently. I only wish I had the courage to talk to her (I was really shy) when I photographed her backstage with the Ramones, Feb 77, at their Whisky debut, their triumphant return to LA, after their West Coast debut the previous August. I shot her at the Santa Monica Pier Party Jan 78. Always smiling, radiating great energy. Both photos with Dee Dee and it was obvious she was quite beloved by him and others.

Who cares if you met her a few times and you liked her? The majority of people, who weren't her peers, were not treated graciously by her. I have heard dozens of stories her behaving badly.

People who behave badly have more enemies than those who behave well towards others. More enemies, means more suspects. More enemies, more likely someone will take matters into their own hands... Ask a cop if you don't believe me.

There's huge and an unofficial club for people who have been fucked over and/or screamed at by Harvey Weinstein. (I'm a proud member.) He's done wonderful things for independent film, but that doesn't negate the fact that he's earned his reputation as a prick.

Linda was human. Good, bad and in between. Just because you had positive experiences with her, doesn't mean everyone else did.

As a kid, I really didn't expect an interview as 50 per cent of the time the query was declined. Have no issue with being turned down. However, I have worked in the entertain biz for 30 years, have witnessed almost every excess and bizarre behavior immaginable in the music and film industries. Linda ranks right up there as one of the rudest people I have encountered.

Shouting is rude. I don't care what's going on. And I never spoke to her. The stage manager spoke to her very briefly on my behalf. I was standing behind him. However, after his 12 second pitch, she glared at me, shouted NO, walked into an office and slammed the door using both hands.

When she was approached, she was standing by herself, watching the audience come into the hall.

Maybe she was in a bad mood that day. Doesn't mattter. Adults with manners and class suck it up. Do you honestly believe she would have behaved like that if she had been approached by someone she considered a peer?

With all of the stories I heard about her, the common theme that emerged is those she treateda poorly also had less power than her. A real measure of class is how one chooses to treat those with over whom one has power.