Mickey Leigh on his brother Joey Ramone's 'New York City' video

You may have seen the new video for Joey Ramone's "New York City," which was released last Tuesday. (I first saw it over at Flaming Pablum.)

Ramone died in 2001; his posthumous album, "Ya Know" came out in the spring.

"We had to do something without the artist’s involvement, but that would pay homage to the artist," director Greg Jardin told Fast Company.

So Jardin took thousands of still photographs of Ramone's friends, fans and strangers throughout the city and "pieced them together to create a stop-motion tribute film in the spirit of the artist and the song," per Fast Company. (You'll likely spot a lot of familiar faces in the video.)

As you can see, the video starts in the East Village and first features Ramone's brother, Mickey Leigh, a longtime musician who also plays on "Ya Know?"

Via Facebook, I asked Leigh a few questions about the video.

What are your thoughts on seeing the final product — especially thinking back to how terribly hot it was during the filming in July?

I could not be happier about the way this video turned out. I love it! Director Greg Jardin did an amazing job. It's perfect for this song, and perfect for Joey. Fast, funny — the energy and feeling you get from it is just totally uplifting.

The love and respect all the people involved had for Joey emanates off the screen. Everyone had the right spirit, which is what inevitably got them through the shoot, as this was filmed during the most brutal heat wave in NYC on record. One of the producers actually did suffer heat stroke. But, thankfully, a few days later she was OK and back in action.

You do a lot to keep Joey's spirit alive as well as raise money for lymphoma research through the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash. How does it make you feel to see the continued outpouring of affection/accolades with the new record and now the video?

Seeing that outpouring of love for my brother is what makes it all worthwhile for me. It's what enables me to keep going, and ward off the attacks and vicious insults hurled at me by the few blackhearted hatemongers too poisoned to enjoy what the vast majority of Joey's fans are so thrilled about. Their loss.

I do get a little appreciation from some of the more thoughtful people out there, and I appreciate that more than I can say right here. But, the display of sheer joy, and expressions of love for Joey from the overwhelming majority of his fans, far outweighs anything and everything else. They are just so happy to be hearing these new songs, and seeing this video. That's what it's all about for me.