MICKEY LEIGH walked up to a small house on an unremarkable street in Forest Hills, Queens. The teenager who answered the door was unsure what to make of the tall man with salt-and-pepper hair standing before him wearing black jeans, a long black coat and dirty yellow Converse sneakers.

“Have you heard of the Ramones?” Mr. Leigh asked.

The boy nodded.

“Did you know one of the Ramones grew up here? I’m Joey Ramone’s brother. We lived here a long time ago.”

A suspicious father with thinning hair appeared.

“We’re not interested,” he said in a foreign accent.

Mr. Leigh, 61, persisted. “You know, the Ramones,” he said. “‘Gabba Gabba Hey’? My brother was Joey Ramone. We lived here as kids. Did you know that?”