Ron Asheton updated 1.07.09*
Here is the LATEST news about Ron Asheton, legendary founding member of the Stooges.

Just before the Stooges reunion there was..
Asheton Asheton Mascis Watt

Backstage in Tilburg Dec. 2002. Thanks, Gen (with Watt.)

Ron Asheton RIP
July 17, 1948 - January 6, 2009
See Latest News to read more.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
Why the Stooges performed for Madonna
Even band's guitarist knows rock hall pairing is odd
By BRIAN McCOLLUM • FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER • March 10, 2008
full article and comments from the Detroit metro area newspaper

Don’t be too worried, Stooges fans: They haven’t sold out to the other side.

So proclaims guitarist Ron Asheton, who Monday night joined band mates Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton and Steve MacKay as the Stooges
to play a pair of Madonna songs — “Ray of Light” and “Burning Up” — during the latter’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Asheton was reacting to online reports that have described the band’s scheduled performance as a “tribute” to the dance-pop star,
whose music is a far cry from the Stooges’ own gritty, primal Detroit rock.

“The Stooges represent everything that’s against what she is,” Asheton told the Free Press from his New York hotel Monday afternoon
before the show. “I don’t wish her ill. I don’t hate her or anything. But I’d never even heard of these songs until I had to listen to a tape
and figure out what’s going on with them.”

In reality, Asheton said, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform as an act of protest: The group, widely considered a linchpin of early
punk, has yet to be inducted by the rock hall, despite six appearances on the nomination ballot. By inviting the group on stage, she sent
a message, said Asheton.

Last year’s rock hall ceremony featured a similar demonstration, when the night’s inductees performed the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be
Your Dog” during a jam session finale.

“Basically she was upset that we’ve been nominated so many times and never made it, so she asked us to play in protest. And it was
under those auspices that I thought we were doing it,” Asheton said. “At first I went, ‘Whaaat?’ Then Iggy said, ‘Why don’t you think
about it?’”

It came together quickly: Madonna reached out to Iggy Pop just two weeks ago, Asheton said. The band, which had not performed
together since closing out its latest tour in December, worked on the songs long-distance, with the Ashetons in Ann Arbor and Iggy
home in Florida.

“Iggy said, ‘We’re gonna rock them up — just play ‘em like Stooges songs,’” Asheton recounted. “They actually sound pretty cool. We
just rock ‘em out. You wouldn’t even recognize them as Madonna songs. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve actually enjoyed playing
them.”

On Monday afternoon Asheton had yet to meet Madonna, who was an elementary school student in Rochester Hills when the Stooges
started shaking up the Detroit rock scene in the late 1960s. He said if he encounters her during the rock hall’s afterparty action, he’d
be sure to be polite.

But he can’t help feeling a little cynicism about the whole ordeal: He probably wouldn’t be in the Stooges without it. With Madonna’s
entryinto the hall of fame drawing criticism from some diehard rock corners — and with the star’s new album due in April — he
figures she mayhave more than one motivation for handpicking his band.

“I thought that right off the top — that, gee, I just heard she’s got a record coming out, and she’s trying to get a little Stooge shine. She’s
a savvy businesswoman,” he said. “I think she actually does like the band. She wouldn’t have asked for us if she didn’t. But she’s also
using us for business purposes.”

Reverend Introduces Ron Asheton Signature Guitar At NAMM
January 10, 2008

Proto-punk guitar legend Ron Asheton (Iggy Pop & The Stooges) has collaborated with Reverend on a new signature model to debut at
January NAMM. Based on the popular Volcano model, this guitarincludes three Reverend P-90 pickups, lightning bolt body logo, and
Ron's signature on the back of the headstock.

The korina body construction features a raised center section which improves clarity and sustain, while the thinner wings increase
resonance for an instrument that is lively, clear and rich in harmonics.

The custom designed pickups consist of a bridge pickup that is slightly hotter than vintage, and middle/neck pickups that are slightly
cleaner. The passive Bass Contour adds versatility, ranging
from a slight low-end roll off to percussive single-coil sounds.

Ron Asheton will appear at the Reverend booth (5822) on Saturday, January 19th at 3pm.

Features:

Solid korina body
Three Reverend P-90 pickups (RWRP middle pickup)
5-way pickup switch
Wilkinson staggered EZ-Lock tuners
Volume, Tone, and Bass Contour (bass roll off) controls
24.75" scale
one-piece korina neck

Dual-action truss rod
Rosewood fingerboard with 12" radius
Options: Black or Rock Orange
List: $839

For more information, visit their web site at http://www.reverendguitars.com. and http://www.namm.org/

12.18.07: Major update, see new info thruout the page. The Ron Asheton website is MIA!
Well known in Iggy circles, the extensive 1999 Ken Shimamoto i94 Bar interview"Calling from the Funhouse"here.
Detroit Metro Times interview 2/4/04 here.
SFBG's April 2007 interview with Ron about the reunion of the Stooges.

THE STOOGES REUNITE! Read all about their first reunion show at Coachella here!

11/14/02: Asheton, Asheton, Mascis + Watt dates
(Thanks Watt and Donald)

december 5 at 10:30 pm
trans musicales festival
liberte bas
esplanade du general de gaulle
rennes, france
http://www.transmusicales.com/

december 6
013
veemarktstraat 44
tilburg, netherlands
013 4609500
http://www.013web.nl/

december 7
brixton academy
211 stockwell road
london, england
020 7 771 3000
http://www.brixton-academy.co.uk/

december 8
mean fiddler
165 charing cross road
london, england
020 7 434 9592
http://www.meanfiddler.com/

11/05/02: From the J Mascis camp: The shows in Europe are solo acoustic, except of course
for the Stooges Tribute that has been moved from Effenar to 013 Tilbur in Holland:

9/14/02: Asheton, Asheton, Mascis & Watt – A tribute to the Stooges at Pukkelpop 2002,
Belgium, August 24th.
Article and pix in Spanish.

SETLIST

Fun House
Real Cool
Loose
Not Right
Down on the street
No Fun
Dog
1969
Little Doll
1970 (niet gespeeld)
TV Eye

Interview with Ron Asheton, Ron talks about recent shows and recordings, influences, the old days with Dave Alexander in London,
with Iggy and Joey Ramone, how he's writing a book. Thanks Mr. Watt.

7/12/02: Ron and Scott Asheton will be playing with J Mascis and Mike Watt August 31, 2002 at a festival in Germany, venue TBA. Altho
listed as playing at a festival in BelgiumI have no confirmation of this...

3/31/02: Ashton, Mascis, Watt & Special Guests: All Tomorrow's Parties pix here. Photographed on March 15, 2002. © 2002 Peter G.
Whitfield. Thanks Peter.

3/17/02:
One More Real Cool Time
by Jay Babcock, LA Weekley, March 15 - 21, 2002

WHEN RON AND SCOTT ASHETON WALK onstage March 15 to perform songs from the first two Stooges albums, we will be witnessing
a genuinely special occasion. The last time the Asheton brothers played a full set of this material -- songs like "No Fun," "1969,"
"T.V. Eye," "Loose," "1970" and of course "I Wanna Be Your Dog" -- was in 1971. Since then, the albums they recorded with Iggy Pop
and bassist Dave Alexander have leaped in status from commercial and critical bombjobs to classics of the first order: ecstatic-
savage compositions that continue to speak poetic truths, musically and lyrically, in the simplest of ways. They have, in short, become
standards for successive generations of rock musicians and audiences.

"They're all so basic," says Stooges guitarist/co-songwriter Ron Asheton, on the phone from his Ann Arbor, Michigan, home, explaining
the songs' continuing appeal. "They're really good songs to learn guitar on, because you can tell that you're making progress. You can
learn them and then as you become more accomplished, do a lot with them."

"They've got a great drive," says ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt, conferencing from San Pedro. "And feel. Stooges is about feel, it's
not really about chord changes. It's different than an Emerson, Lake and Palmer song. It's more like Little Richard or something . . .
it's like a train you can hop on. There's a lot of emotion in that stuff.

"As you play longer and longer, you pick up the ability to play more and more notes, which is kind of destructive. You need an antidote
to that, or else you'll end up with fusion. Stooges is perfect medicine."

"These songs are really fun to play," says ex-Dinosaur Jr guitarist J Mascis, on the phone from his home in Massachusetts. "I dunno, I
guess it's our folk music, for our generation, you know?"

Mascis and Watt will be accompanying the brothers Asheton (Ron on guitar, Scott on drums) for this show. Which makes sense. In the
last year, J Mascis & the Fog (featuring Watt and drummer George Berz) have been joined regularly by Ron Asheton during the second
half of their shows for a ferocious run-through of Stooges covers from that band's 1969 self-titled debut and its follow-up, 1970's
Funhouse. (The group does not play any songs from the later Raw Power era when Ron was switched to bass guitar.) Mascis' gigs are
legendary for their high volume, but somehow, after the slightly sheepish, pudgy Asheton was called to center stage last April at El Rey,
the band not only got louder, it shifted into some previously unachievable supercharged gear. With Watt handling vocals as well as
bass, "Down on the Street" was pure power rock; "1969" a tuff mantric groove overlaid by consecutive, endless acid-burned guitar
runs by an enthusiastic Asheton and a grinning Mascis; and the closing "TV Eye," just plain staggering. (Other shows last year were
equally explosive: A highlight was in San Francisco, when the band was joined by Steve Mackay, the tenor saxophonist who played the
horns on Funhouse; the low point was in London when Primal Scream vocalist Bobby Gillespie finished his rendition of "No Fun" and
promptly split a heckler's head open (stitches, no charges pressed) with his mic stand.

GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY BY CURATORS Sonic Youth to reprise these performances at All Tomorrow's Parties, Mascis asked Ron if he
could coax his younger brother Scott -- the Stooges' original drummer -- back behind the drum kit. Scott agreed.

"I'm ready to go," says Scott, on the phone from his home in Sarasota, Florida. "To tell you the truth, I don't know anything about
[Watt and Mascis]. But if Ron likes them, they gotta be good."

With original Stooges bassist Dave Alexander gone (he died in 1975 from pneumonia, several years after leaving the band), this leaves
Iggy Pop as the one living original Stooge not scheduled to appear at the ATP show.

"I dunno, Iggy just doesn't seem to be interested," says Ron. "He called me in '96 just before Halloween, and said, 'Well, uh, you know
this reunion thing, I don't really like the idea of getting together and playing shows, but Rick Rubin approached me with an idea of
original guys doing a new bunch of music, with the original players.' And I said, 'Wow, that sounds cool, like when?' And he goes, 'Well,
I'm booked in '97.' He never called me back. The other time was like 2:30 in the morning -- he was trying to stay awake 'cause he was
catching an airplane after they threw that party for him remixing Raw Power. Other than that, he hasn't called. I mean, we had good
times together! We had such great times when the Stooges were doing well and the only drugs anyone took was smoking marijuana,
basically. There was lots of good times. You would think that when Iggy came to Detroit he would call and say, 'Hey, why don't you guys
come down to the show, I'll put you on the guest list.' He doesn't call anybody -- and I don't have his number."

Scott: "I thought I would see Iggy when we did the VH1 Behind the Music episode on Iggy, 'cause we did it in Miami Beach, and that's
where he was living. But I didn't get a chance to see him."

Referring to the band's demise, Scott says, "I always felt bad for my brother because he kinda got the raw end of the deal. Me and
James [Williamson, the band's guitarist in its later Raw Power?era phase] and Iggy were having some problems, and as a result the
band fell apart. But I have a lot of good memories too. I'd still love to do some type of reunion. I think the people would like it, I think it
would be cool. It's all up to Iggy. I used to call up his management and kinda bug 'em about if there's a chance we could get together,
him and myself and my brother, and do an album. His manager was a nice guy, he used to tell me, 'Well, Iggy's not opposed to the idea,
but he's busy.' But the last time I called, the number had been disconnected."

Ron: "My brother, he misses Iggy, 'cause those guys, they chummed a lot, they went through all the heroin bullshit. That kinda makes
me the outsider, 'cause I didn't go through all that crap. So . . . a reunion would be fun, but I doubt that's gonna happen. I've told Scott,
playing with these guys [Watt and Mascis] might be as close as you get.

"They know the songs inside and out."

The Ashetons, Watt and Mascis play at UCLA's Ackerman Grand Ballroom,
Friday, March 15, 2002.

6/19/01: Read an exclusive 2001 interview with the guitarist responsible for "TV Eye," "Dirt," and other classic Stooges tunes. Include
s photos of Dark Carnival and the Stooges.
http://www.d-filed.com/asheton.html

6/15/01: Ron in CA with J Mascis and the Fog (pix): Friday, April 27: Great American Music Hall / Saturday, April 28: The Catalyst
http://homepage.mac.com/pwhitfield/PhotoAlbum2.html

Review:
J MASCIS AND THE FOG, Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 5 June 2001
http://www.playlouder.com/feature/486jmascis/#

According to John Griffin http://death_by_noise.tripod.com Barring any trouble returning from Europe Ron Asheton will be back on
WCBN FM Ann Arbor next Wednesday Night (June 20, 2001) from 10pm - Midnight (Eastern Standard Time). Take a walking tour of Ann
Arbor at this site Tune in via http://wcbn.org

5/15/01: Ron WILL NOT be playing So What in Oslo June 16th, even tho the venue's website says he will be there with J and the Fog.

Confirmed dates:
6/4 Manchester-University
6/5 Glasgow-KIng Tut's Wah Wah Hut
6/7 Portsmouth-Wedgewood Rooms
6/8 London-Sheperd's Bush Empire
6/9 Brighton-Pavillion

San Francisco Gate's review of J Mascis + The Fog, April 27, 2001 at Great American Music Hall, SF. Ron and Mike Watt played this
show. Ron's appearance with J Mascis and the Fog at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C.(my 2nd attempt at booting) is now available fo
r trade ONLY here:
http://www.iggypop.org/dirtstradelist.html

3/16/01: J Mascis, Ron Asheton, Mike Watt play Austin, Austin Chronicle review and pix here.

j mascis & the fog "more light" tour 2001, first leg, Mike Watt's road diary.
j mascis & the fog "more light" tour 2001, second leg, Mike Watt's road diary.

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