Fifty years ago this month I graduated from high school, and good riddance. I was also the lead singer of The Violations, which was odd because I wasn't much of a singer. Also in the band was Joe Travis (lead guitar/vocals), Bob Juanillo (rhythm guitar), Ronnie Morrisey (drums) and Johnny Kane (bass). Joe was a prodigy and by the time he was in his mid-teens could play circles around anyone in the county. Now, he and Bob are dead; I don't know anything about Ronnie and Johnny.
Before the summer was out I had been replaced. I didn't blame the guys at all. What little voice I had was shot. Nowadays I sound like a strangled cat when I exercise my pipes.
The Violations continued for many years with the usual personnel changes. I missed being in the band because it not only was a lot of fun, but I--a skinny geek who was dismissed by every teenage girl as beneath contempt--was now given google eyes by these same creatures. What a difference a microphone makes.
There are no photos of the group so I'm using a 1964 Beatles picture. Naturally, we did a bunch of their songs--the ones that weren't too challenging vocally, of course.
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