Atones '79

Thanks to facebook, I was alerted to the fact that I had been "tagged" in a photo.

Sure enough, Marc Weinstein had posted some pix of THE ATONES, a band I was in with him back in 1979!

The top photo is a crude cut-n-paste of two photos taken of us during a gig at Hallwalls in Buffalo, NY. Left to right:

Rachel Weinstein - Organ
Tony Billoni - Sax & Vocals
Kenny Kearny - Guitar
Craig Davison - Bass
Marc Weintsein - Drums

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For me, the big thing about The Atones was that, after years of playing cover tunes in a various garage bands, I was in a band of that wrote all their own songs!

Amazingly, Tony had never evidenced any particular musical talents but became the lead vocalist, lyricist and saxophone player. I don't know how, when, where or why he got a sax, but there you are.

Our song-list included titles like, Tree Surgeon, Spheres of Influence, Four Wheeler, Music + Dance = Party and I Like To Talk. Once, we did a free-form jam where everyone, except the drummer, played bass guitars.

Wow, were were arty, or what?!?

We only played a few gigs and the band fell apart when Marc went off to school in the fall.

After that I returned to the land of garage bands. My next band (Mystic Eyes) played both covers and originals so you can see how "The Atones Experience" was an important stepping stone.