Introducing Joey

More high school hair.  I know.  It's just that Joey's hair was not only long, it was red!  Joey was a really sweet, happy-go-lucky guy in guitar.  When he played, though, he was all business.  All of my still pictures of Joey make him look very serious.  That's a bit of a crime, since all any of us did in guitar class was make each other laugh.

I have two great memories of Joey.  First, he could play that renaissance-y intro to "Love Song" by Tesla.  I loved that intro.  LOVED it.  When I bought my Reality Bites-inspired camcorder, I nervously asked Joey to play the intro for posterity.  He agreed, and we set up shop in the hall between woodshop and guitar.  Never more than now do I wish I could transfer all those hours of tape to DVD, so that I could share that little moment with everyone.  Someday, I will do it.  I knew so many talented people at Highland. 

Number two.  How did Joey, Zak, Will, and I convince Mrs. Hunnemueller that we should play at the Homecoming assembly?  I suppose the other question we should have asked ourselves was what we should name our little band.  We learned one song, "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd, and we auditioned for the principal, the activities director, and someone from the homecoming committee.  They liked it, and Hunnemueller asked what our band name was.  I jokingly answered, "Bree and the Banditos," knowing that we would have time to change it to something like "Torrent" or "Death Baby" before the assembly actually took place.  We never changed the name of the band, much to my embarassment, because those guys worked way harder than I did.  We should have named it "Joey, Zak, Will, and the Gal Who Learned the Words".  The assembly happened, I wore a dress, and the guys all wore nice button up shirts.  I was so proud of my friends.  I think we even got a spot in the yearbook for that gig.  There was something really wonderful about playing for the homecoming assembly, because we really didn't belong there otherwise.

Looks like Joey straightened up and joined the military, but he will forever be my long-red-haired friend from high school.  And I will always cherish the Joey video.