Sheena Is A Punk Rocker. 1977.

Greensboro, North Carolina. 2020.

Sheila. My name’s Sheila. I never understood why they changed it, but it’s fine. I’m actually from High Point, NC, as well - never saw a surfboard in real life until I was about thirty. Honestly, creative people! Oh yes, and I’d never been in New York either, except for the one time I’d hitched up there with my boyfriend, the one who ended up at Cumberland County Jail for felonious restraint. I was a punk rocker, though, in a way. At least I wore a lot of black eye-shadow and loved Lou Reed.

I actually only met Tommy and Dee Dee the one time, in Raleigh, after a gig. I’d been waiting around the back of the hall. I sort of jumped at them when they came out, told them I’d loved the gig. Dee Dee asked me what Raleigh was like. I told him I loved living there but the truth was it was full of snarky, sneery cool kids and scary junkies and I couldn’t wait to move back to High Point. Which I did, a few weeks later. We actually only had a really quick chat that night - I remember Tommy said, ‘We’ve got to go and see the Royal Ballet’s touring production of Swan Lake, it’s meant to be divine’ - but I could tell they were fascinated by me (I was a good-looking girl back then!) and it was such a wonderful feeling when I heard the song for the first time a few weeks later and realised it was about me.

So sad what happened to them - all dead now, all of them. But every time I see a young kid wearing a Ramones teeshirt, it makes me smile. And, if they look friendly, I tell them my story.