TransAtlantic
Magazine
March/April 2005 Volume 2 Number 2
By Benjamin Bain
Late last fall two seemingly unlikely friends headlined an event at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., called "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World: Rock and Roll as a Force for Freedom on Both Sides of the Iron Curtain."
The event paired the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States Andras Simonyi with Tommy Ramone, the last surviving member
and original manager and drummer of the legendary rock band The Ramones. During the evening's discussion portion, the two,
who as it turns out have a good deal in common, discussed the virtues of rock and roll in promoting freedom and expression
during the Cold War.
Tommy Ramone was born in 1949 as Tamas Erdelyi in Budapest just a few blocks from where Ambassador Simonyi grew up. However,
unlike the Ambassador who stayed in Budapest, Erdelyi moved with his family to New York in 1956. Remaining in Hungary,
Ambassador Simonyi demonstrated from an early age a great ability with the blues guitar and would eventually even work with
the famous Hungarian rock group Lokomotiv GT.
Divided by oceans and the Iron Curtain, the two continued to follow their passion for rock and roll music, albeit in
different ways. In the United States, as a young man, Erdelyi would become Tommy Ramone and star in one of the most
influential and prominent rock groups of the era-The Ramones. The group became well known for their innovative short songs,
flamboyant antics and cult-like following.
Meanwhile, back in Hungary, living in the Soviet-bloc, Ambassador Simonyi continued to be drawn to rock and rollfor its messages of freedom and expression, an inspiration that his Excellency recalled while speaking at the event. The
Ambassador discussed, in front of the large audience, the important motivating role that rock music has played for him in
both his career and personal life.
Ambassador Simonyi also gave a related speech in 2003 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where he
discussed his personal experiences with rock music and how it affected Hungary and other Eastern Bloc countries. The
Ambassador plays in a Washington, D.C.-based band called C.J.T.F or "Combined Joint Task Force," a NATO acronym. The band
was born in 2001 when Ambassador Simonyi was first stationed in D.C. and he reconnected with the now, U.S. Ambassador to the
Russian Federation, Alexander Vershbow, who he first met when they were stationed together in Brussels with NATO. The band
also features guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, formerly with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, who now works as a defense
consultant in Washington. The group has performed several times featuring other diplomats who are also "closet musicians."
After
the panel discussion about the tenets of rock and roll, Tommy Ramone,
Chuck M. Young of Rolling Stone magazine, who
moderated the event, and the Ambassador to Moscow took the stage to rock a few Ramones' songs including the
transatlantic-titled "Blitzkrieg Bop."
"TransAtlantic:
Europe, America & the World" is published by the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
(SAIS)
