Witness the Band

Site Updates (Blog) Archive (2007)

12/30/07 Texas Roadhouse Meeting Update: Nancy joined Michael, Holly, Mitch, Amy, Roy, Michelle, Sandi, and myself (JD) for a juicy steak dinner at our Favorite feasting grounds! We are still working on the Spring Witness reunion. There has been another date change (I know, we hear you all moaning!) but we are shooting for something near our original reunion date in April. The primary reason for the change is that several of our members are enjoying some good successes playing together! (see 11/11 below) It seems there is a real public desire for the type of music Witness did so well. Currently, "Hot Ticket" does primarily private jobs, but if a public show comes up, you will hear about it here. Another consideration was the unstable weather that March usually has. By the way, we misplaced Billy's number, so if someone has it please Email the site!
PS: Our best wishes go out to Ted Scandlin who is currently in the hospital.

11/30/07 It's hard being a 1980's Lighting Designer in the 21st Century!

I thought I would bring a little humor to these quiet times as we approach the Holiday Season. Pictured at right is my Roscolux Swash Book from 1979, my trusty companion for many years with Witness. As it is now 29 years old, I figured I should get a new one which I received in the mail yesterday. One color, shown at right, always brought a chuckle to those in my profession. Imagine my shock and dismay at the Political Correct world we live in now when I opened up my new Swash Book! (click on picture)

11/16/07 Looks like the date has been tweaked a bit due to some Rip-Chord gigs, but there is some great news! We have booked the hall for Saturday, March 22 and Steelman is reserving the date! (As for Billy, see milk carton below.) We really want to do this one with you Billy, so give us a call!
11/11/07 Roadhouse Meeting: Witness will begin rehearsals in a few weeks for the April show. Marc, Flip, and Michael are playing together (see below) in Hot Ticket along with the old bass player John from Egdon Heath. On non-show weeks Mitch and Roy will be rehearsing with M,F & M. Steelman, if you happen upon this thread, Michael and Mitch are going to be calling you so we can make sure everyone is available for the Saturday gig in April. In other site news, we are going to be working on a "Stories" page to cover some of the outrageous times that occurred at some of the Private gigs the band did! (Like the Booze-Cruise where that band played on a boat out at sea... "Boat" might be an over-description of the vessel!) ;)
11/4/07 Although the "Roadhouse" got put off, there is some news in the "Witness- Other Lives" front: Flip, Marc, and Michael LaBuono did their first gig together in the Britton's band, "Hot Ticket", although he is currently missing from their website info. Congrats Mike!
10/31/07 Tech Note: If you have trouble getting into chat, check the date in the upper left of your screen. It should be today's date. (GMT) Computers have a habit of displaying old pages and this trips up our anti-spam system! If it's old, refresh the page, or delete you temp internet files. Remember, always use the "Shoutbox" button on the left of the screen.
10/26/07 Changed the site navigation today. I hope it works out for everyone! The new system should make it easier to jump around the site and look at things without having to loop back to the opening page so much.

10/22/07 Here's another strange story. Had our fall reunion gone ahead, it would have meant I would have had to rush back from my 25th anniversary Honeymoon at Disney, and scrambled to get the Witness show together to do at Brownies (formerly known as 23 East.) The irony was that 25 years ago, I rushed back from my Honeymoon at Disney to get the Witness show ready for..... (You guessed it!)
I took a picture of the 1982 October Witness schedule. (see above.) In other Witness news, Michael LaBuono is no longer with the band "Sound Investment", he has now joined Marc & Flip Britton's band "Hot Ticket", so there are now Three former Witness members playing in the same band! (This is breaking news so it looks like the HT website has not caught up with that quite yet.)

10/13/07 In looking back over the years, we thought it would be fun to compose a list of all the clubs the band played over the years... Kind of surprised when the list hit 150! Brings back a lot of memories. Where did you first see Witness? Here is a list of the possible locations! (we may have missed a few)

10/7/07 We met at the Roadhouse tonight to discuss the reunion. The feedback we have been receiving is that we would be better off waiting on the reunion until we can get more members involved and actually rehearse and produce a show on the caliber of what we did back in the band's heydays. So, the November show is off. As soon as we have solid plans, we will be announcing them here. One thought is to do a club gig on a Saturday night.

10/1/07 With the Reunion date up in the air, we are inviting fans to give us their opinion on how we should handle some key questions. You can be a part of this discussion by dropping by our Shoutbox!

In other news, show and set design work is well under way. At right is a pic from a 3d CAD program that we are using to work out some lighting design issues. Fun! ;)

9/22/07 A little artwork, care of Mitch, for our fall show ! (Composed out of a 1989 promo shot) Also, we updated the
members / crew page to include Mark Allen and Brian Yokum. For some reason, no one took picture back in the day! Mark's picture was from our April 2007 reunion, Brian's was a TV shot he sent us. At right, an ad page Mitch did for "Brazen Guitars" As usually, click for larger views!

9/21/07 A new feature has been added to the Shoutbox. When needed, we can post a "topic of the day" at the top to get peoples (your) opinion on subjects!
9/16/07 The reunion date still has not settled down, with new factors coming into play each week. The location may be coming into focus: Brownies! (The old 23 East Cabaret, not the other one.) We shall see.....
9/9/07 The Roadhouse meeting was very productive. There has been a last minute change in plans. We are trying to arrange things so that we can include one or two key members of the band that could not make the April reunion, and had a scheduling conflict with the November 11th date. We may be able to arrange a November 4th date, possibly in a "Real" club that is in the same area! STAY TUNED !
8/31/07 I made some long overdue changes to the Shoutbox, and also added a Help page to the room. You can give the help page a read here, or click on the word "Help" at the bottom of the Shoutbox screen when you need it.
8/18/07 Part Four of our Witness Story, called - Something's on the Move is now up! (or start with Part 1) This chapter continues the Witness story up to our current date! We will be adding more "Reflections" as band and crew members send them in.
8/7/07 Due to popular request, I have added a way to turn off the auto-refresh on our Shoutbox. Remember, when it is off, you will have to hit "Manual Refresh" to see anything new, including your own posts! This allows you to have time to scroll through all the posts without it popping back to the top of the page. (You can then turn it back on.)
8/5/07 There may be a date change in the works, The place where we really wanted to do the gig is booked for October 6, so we are seeing what options we have. Because a lot of halls are in use on Fridays and Saturdays for weddings, we are looking to do the show on a Sunday. We could do the gig where we wanted to, but would have to change the date by a month to November 11. Once we know what is for sure, we will post the info here as well as Email the gig info to our fan club.
7/29/07 Just returned from our planning dinner with Mitch, Roy, Michael, and all the significant others! It was very productive. The plan this time actually involves some rehearsal as we want to put on a show with sound and lights! The date still looks to be --- (Date Changed) although we are checking for conflicts at our possible venue. The real task now is to get the word out to our fans! When we compared notes, it was obvious that many fans missed the last show and were not happy about it! So as soon as things are set we need to get the word out! If you have not signed the fan list here or become a member at the myspace site, please do so now as that will be our main way of delivering news about the reunion!
7/5/07 Our next planning meeting will be July 29. With it being summer, it has been hard to get everyone together, but that does not mean things aren't happening!
6/17/07 Reunion meeting update: Roy, Michael L, and I met at the Roadhouse this last week to continue work on the next reunion. October 6th still is the date of favor. Steelman has indicated he can make it. (still waiting for word on Billy.) It is shaping up to be a "Club" type gig of one or maybe two nights.
6/10/07 New Toys! Tonight, we have another planning meeting at the Steakhouse. As we move into summer, we are collecting some new toys that will kick this fall's gig into high gear. (Below; trussing, lifts, and a new followspot are added to the collection of Vari-Lites and control equipment as DAE builds up for the fall gig.)

64 feet of high-tech box trussing for the lighting system

L 16 lifts to get the trussing off the ground !

6/3/07 Thanks to "K & C", more reunion pictures have been added to our Scrapbook!
5/29/07 "A New Day Yesterday" has been added to the AV Page. Again, from the 1981 show at heaven!

5/20/07 Witness, other lives!
I got together this weekend to do lighting augmentation with Mitch's band, The Ripcords. (Mitch plays lead guitar for them!) It gave me a chance to try out some of the new equipment we will be using at this fall's reunion, in this case a set of Varilites. There are some pictures on the DAE Lighting site of what effect they produced. Without rear trussing, we just set them on the stage and aimed them at the ceiling. The lack of trussing problem will be solved shortly ;)

5/13/07 "Songs from the Wood" has been added to our AV Page from our 1981 Heaven show.
5/6/07 Updates will be a little quieter this month, but not due to a lack of activity! I have decided to resurrect my Lighting and production company ( DAE Lighting ) as a result of our Witness Reunion Party. This should make things REAL interesting at this fall's Reunion. In the meantime, I am preparing for a May show for Witness's Drummer Mitch Schecter and his band The Ripcords.
5/1/07 The Video's section (which was getting large) has been sorted out into something that makes sense!
4/30/07 One More Time! "Roundabout" has been added to the AV Section from our Reunion Party!
4/29/07 Planning for the next Reunion GIG is underway! Tentative Date 10/6/07 (Recently changed to Nov 11)
4/28/07 We round out two weeks of Reunion Videos with "Rosalita" What a way to end it! AV Page
4/27/07 More of "The Who" with LRoy fronting! This time "5:15" AV Page
4/26/07 Pur come up and belts out "Born to be Wild" as only he could! AV Page
4/25/07 The third and final installment of the Cecile Erkel Show is up! AV Page
4/24/07 Today we have the second of three videos of Flip as Cecile! "Life During Wartime" AV Page.
4/23/07 Flip is back as "Cecile" !!! Check out the AV Page. BTW, someone needs to videotape this fall's gig, cause I'm going to be busy doing lights! (expect surprises)
4/22/07 How could we have a Reunion Party without Pur singing "Smoke on the Water"? Of course he did! AV Page
4/21/07 Today we add the Who song "Real Me" sung at the party by LRoy! AV Page
4/20/07 Two additions today, "Aqualung" from our party (AV Page) AND Part 3 of our Witness Story ! 1986 and Beyond
4/19/07 Flip performs "Cross Eyed Mary" at our party! AV Page
4/18/07 At the beginning of the night, Michael LaBuono made a presentation that set the mood for the night. This has been added to the AV Page along with our first of many performance video's, Flip doing Locomotive Breath!
4/17/07 And the video processing has begun! First a short interview from the end of the night! AV Page
4/16/07 Ouch! "I have Blisters on my fingers!" We have a massive update with over 100 pictures from the Reunion Party... Start HERE! (Its part of a new section about the April 2007 Reunion)

4/15/07 Reunion Party
Unbelievable !

It is safe to say that this party was the biggest blast I have had in years! The feelings in the room have been unmatched for over 15 years! Tons of video and pics to follow, so stay tuned this week !!!!

4/14/07 I think this was the highlight of Billy's Joel show, "Captain Jack" has been added to the AV page! Sunday is the big party so there should be some interesting stuff for next week barring any technical problems, or two feet of snow!

4/13/07

Here is a sneak preview of the special
Witness shirts that have been made up for
this Sunday's
Reunion Party!
(Click pictures for larger images)
See You There !

4/13/07 In some way, Billy's Theme song! "Billy the Kid" has been added to the AV Page
4/12/07 Here's one of the Girls favorites, Billy singing "You're My Home." AV Page
4/11/07 Billy week continues with "Somewhere Along the Line from the 1980 Ale House show AV Page
4/10/07 Today we added "Still Rock and Roll to ME" from the 1980 Ale House show AV Page
4/9/07 "Billy Joel" week kicks off with this 1980 Ale House clip of "All for Leyna" AV Page
4/8/07 "From the Witness Who Show, "The Punk And The Godfather" 1980 London Ale House! AV Page
4/7/07 "Band's Eye View" This footage was shot from the stage at Dick Lees to give the bands view of things! AV page
4/6/07 "Skating Away" has been added to our AV page, from the 1980 Shady Lane performance.
4/5/07 Michael Disston shares his experiences from joining the band, to when he left and what direction his journey in life has taken him in this Open Letter.
4/4/07 Marc Britton and Michael Disston play in this special version of "Scenes" from 1983 AV page.

4/1/07

(Video Rated L "R" oy)

NEWS:
Reunion Party Announcement
Once again, we got together to do some final planning on our
April 15 Reunion Party!
Click on the picture to see the results.

(Note: We were going to edit this down, but the outtakes were too funny)

4/2/07 Video of the Alternate Ending to "Tommy's New Guitar" I call the "Wizard of Oz" ending! AV page
4/1/07 And now for something completely different... "Uncle Albert!" AV page
3/31/07 Witness original "Taking Your Time" has been added to the AV page
3/30/07 Our latest addition to the AV page is a clip of Eric Rudy singing The Police "Synchronicity"
3/29/07 Original Witness! "Alive at Night" has been added to the AV page
3/28/07 By total coincidence, a new video has been added, Kent singing "Distant Early Warning" AV Page.
3/27/07 Kent Warner has been found! I spoke with our missing bass player, he is alive and well!
3/27/07 Yes: "All Good People" recorded at the Playpen is the latest addition to our AV Page!
3/26/07 NEWS: April 15th 2007 Witness Reunion Party! That's right, Sunday April 15th 2007 Michael La Buono will be having the party at the Collingdale Fire Co #1 on Clifton Ave (10 minutes from Phila Airport) from 4pm to 9pm. If you can attend, Contact Michael for more information and also let him know if you want a special Witness T-shirt as he is having them made up! Contact is required as we need a count to make arrangements. (The shirts will be made by the same company that made all of our other shirts)
3/26/07 "The Stranger" fills out this Billy Joel trio, with some cool shots from behind the drums! AV Page
3/25/07 Who can forget Steelman and Billy doing "Big Shot !" Well, guess what we just added... AV page
3/24/07 Great footage from the Playpen, Billy doing "Pressure!" with all his antics, on the AV page
3/23/07 Still digging through the 1979 tapes, today we add "The Minstrel in the Gallery" to the AV page.
3/21/07 Small Photo update on Tull and Promo-pics page. Also some boring tech stuff that makes viewing pictures better!
3/20/07 A new page has been added to our "Beyond" section, covering the "Robert Palmer" skit / show!
3/19/07 A BIG Thank you goes to Brian in Wildwood for some great pictures we just added to the Ale House page!
3/18/07 Some priceless shots have been added to the Originals Page.
3/17/07 New pictures have been added to our Backstage page!
3/17/07 As Tull week ends, two more clips are added. "Teacher" from 1979 Ale House, and "Something's on the Move"
3/16/07 Minggles has been added to our "Witness by the Venue" section! Work continues on a possible reunion party!
3/15/07 Tull week continues with two more cuts off the earliest known video of Witness, 3rd Hoorah, Living in the Past"
3/14/07 Going to be hitting the "Tull" archives this week! Here's two Videos, "Bungle" and "Crossfire"
3/13/07 More Witness Music! Thanks to Mitch, "She Gets Down" & "Make Me Feel Right" are now on our Audio page!
3/12/07 Another big Photo Update and New Pages! Check out the new "Beyond" section!
3/11/07 Huge picture update (40 !) New Venue "Brownies" and a big upgrade to "London Ale House" Galleries !
3/10/07 The "Mitch-Master" has put two more MP3s together! Finally Fallen in Love & Look Around! (Audio Page)
also, a rare demo done by Billy & Mitch, called The Fugitive has been added.
3/10/07 Just added Dick Lee's to the Venues page. Found these shots in our official archives.
3/9/07 The Stone Balloon has been added to our "Witness by Venue" page. 27 Great pictures from Charlie, Thanks!
3/9/07 The Witness Story continues with Part #2 Prime Time, the early 80's If you did not read Part #1, read it first!
3/9/07 Two great Promo shots (1989 & 1993) have been added to our promo pics page. Also our Site Map is upgraded!
3/8/07 Clips from "Syn" and "Money" have been added to our "Wildwood Strip" group on the AV Page.
3/7/07 Studio MP3 cuts of "Theresa" and "One Good Reason" have been added to page 4 of our AV section.
3/6/07 Watcher of the Skies has been added, as well as some footage of other bands that played the Wildwood Strip!
3/5/07 A new page covering Cecile !!! It will be expanded to cover some of the other later shows as well!

3/4/07

Mini Reunion!
(Pictured, JD, LRoy, Michael La Buono, Mitch Schecter.)

We met Sunday to discuss Witness Past, Present, and Future! Also along (not pictured) was Mitch's wife Amy and JD's wife Sandi. Plans are in the works for a Witness Party in April.

3/2/07 Found some unique artwork done of the members and crew around 82. Added it to the Members page.
3/2/07 A new Photo page has been added covering the 1993/1994 Witness Lineup (After Billy)
2/27/07 People keep asking about the Yes Steelman used to sing, well, I found it! AV Page.
2/26/07 Original "With You" and from the Genesis Show "Squonk" have been added to the AV page.
2/25/07 Originals "Anybody's Man" & "Look Around" have been added to the AV Page.
2/24/07 Picture Update! A new page has been added covering the Steelman Reunion ! Thanks go to Charlie for the pics!
2/23/07 From the 92/93 NYE party at the Green Pine, two more videos: Nothing is Easy and Hocus Pocus
For those with Dial-up connections who haven't been able to enjoy the YouTube stuff, don't worry, we have a lot of new pictures and other stuff in the pipeline that will be coming soon.
2/22/07 "One More Chance" and "From the Begining" have been added to the growing list of videos!
2/21/07 Two clips from the McDade House: Funeral Line (Written by Steelman) and classic Clapton- Cocaine.
2/20/07 Couple of songs recorded LATE at night at the McDade House, including "Steelman's Favorite Song."
2/19/07 More Videos! One of "Bend in the Road" (an Original) and the other from the Who Show, Baba, the full cut.
2/18/07 L.Roy sings Peter Gabriel's DIY & Solsbury Hill in these clips filmed by a fan on NYE 1992 at the Green Pine
2/17/07 With the addition of "My Present" & Wait Until", we now have 20 Originals on the site! AV page
2/16/07 Two more new videos from the Who show, "Sister Disco" & "Substitute" have been added to the AV page
2/15/07 Two new videos of the originals "She Gets Down" & "Hey Kid" have been added to the AV Page
2/14/07 I received an email asking why there was so little of the Who show on the site. Me bad! Fixed: AV Page
2/14/07 From the Witness Genesis Show, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" filmed in 1982 AV Page We also
had to add a third a/v page to handle all the videos. We now have over 60 for you to enjoy!
2/13/07 For the Ale House crowd, Billy doing an early ELP show piece from 1979, "Josie" AV Page
2/12/07 Here is some raw footage shot at the Playpen (raw/unedited) of "Poor Lonely Man" AV Page
2/11/07 Very early (1979) footage of the early version of the Tull Show at the Ale House has been added. AV Page
also, another 1979 video of Michael La Buono playing "Root Beer Rag" in the Billy Joel Show.
2/10/07 Some goodbyes from Steelman's last night with Witness have been added. (bottom of page)
2/9/07 New Page ! The story of the early years of the band has been written! How it all Started
2/5/07 Somewhat sad addition to the AV Page, The last Witness show with Billy Spence; "Parting Shot" (bot. of page 2)
2/4/07 Another day, another new show! This time featuring an Original Set.
2/3/07 NEWS: Wow, where do I start! We have a whole new feature on the site! You can watch an entire Witness Show! I am going to add more shows, and an originals set, but for now we only have the one Tull Show. It has twelve songs in it. You can watch the songs in sequence, or skip around and only play the ones you want! Give it a try, Just remember to only click on the big "play" button in the middle of each screen.
2/1/07 Two new videos have been added to the AV Page, both of Billy, one from the Joel show, one from the Who show.
1/31/07 Billy B has been found! He emailed me tonight! That leaves only Kent Warner on the Missing list! ALSO, for Witness Tull fans, two new videos have been added to the AV page including footage from the McDade house.
1/30/07 Four more videos, some great stuff on Michael La Buono, as well as two originals (one Michael D, One Billy)
1/29/07 Four videos have been added to the AV Page, Michael D, Higgins, Billy are interviewed at the Ale House, also an interview with Pur, and a great rendition of Locomotive Breath. (Good audio on this, Thanks Higgs!)
1/28/07 BIG UPDATE! First, two new videos have been added. One is an Ale House interview with JD. The second is titled "Billy Unleashed!" (AV page) Also, Silo, Trax, and Tally Ho have been added to the "Witness by the Venue" page.
01/27/07 Two new videos added ! another Live at Tally Ho & Evening Magazine recorded at Kajem, AV page.
01/26/07 A new section called "Witness by the Venue" has been added. Pics are by where the band was playing!
01/25/07 Big update (over 20 pictures) to our Scrapbook Page, which is now two pages!
01/24/07 New crop of pictures (Thanks Kathy Z.) are on the Parties Page!
01/23/07 New pics on the Billy page! Also, Thanks go to Mitch who did some GREAT work on our MySpace Witness page!
01/22/07 Witness now has it's own "MySpace" Portal !
01/21/07 The band "Syn" joins Witness on stage for a crazy moment! Also, a flute solo my Flip has been found! AV page
01/20/07 Video - "Steelman Vs Schecter!" and a great Mitch drum solo have been added to the AV page.
01/19/07 Five short interviews and some intense footage recorded at the Playpen in 84 have been added to the AV page.
01/18/07 Two New videos have been added to the AV Page from the JDF Telethon (Bleedin, She Made Me Cry)
01/18/07 The Witness Fan club Lives again! Want to join or reactivate your old membership card?
01/18/07 We have a NEW Domain name! www.witness-rocks.com The old address will still work!
01/17/07 New pictures have been added to the Scrapbook and Backstage pages.
01/17/06 Two New videos have been added to the AV Page "Theresa" from AM Philly & "Finally Fallen in Love"
01/16/07 Two New videos have been added to the AV Page "One Good Reason" & "You Do It Anyway"
01/16/07 Performance shots have been added to the Challenging Locations page (see section on Ale House)
01/16/07 A new page focusing on memorable facial expressions called The "Eye's" Have it! has been added.
01/15/07 Pictures from the Studio Work, and a Friends & Parties page have been added.
01/15/07 Pictures on the Billy and the Tull pages have been updated..
01/14/07 NEWS: Just spent the afternoon with Roy Altemus who gave me about 400 pounds of all things Witness.
It will probably take a year to process it all and get it on the web, but some of it is REAL cool !
01/14/07 Great new picture/wallpaper of Michael in the "Pirate" outfit has been added to the Wallpaper page.
01/13/07 Thanks go to long term fan Nancy E. for sending us her pics of Witness Promo gear!
01/13/07 Three new videos shot at the Playpen have been added to the AV Page (and another "Crew" video)
01/13/07 Our "Missing" list has been shortened by one! Band missing are- Kent Warner, Tim Rooney, & B.Bidebech.
On our Crew, we are still missing- Ted Matkowski, Eddie Waldic, Joe White, & Craig Dwyer.
01/12/07 By request, I added a short YouTube clip to the AV Page with the Audio from that Truck Meeting.
01/11/07 "Tommy's New Guitar" has been added to the AV Page, for Steelman fans!
01/11/07 More promo stuff has been added thanks to Michael La Buono!
01/11/07 Proof that John Higgins can sleep through anything! New YouTube! on AV page.
01/11/07 A second page of Challenging Locations has been added, along with "The Silo"
01/11/07 Screen caps of Eric Rudy "Police" show have been added to the Challenging Locations page.
01/10/07 Pictures have been added to "The Scrapbook" and "Promo-Pics" pages.
01/10/07 "The Playpen" has been added to our Challenging Locations page.
01/09/07 A new page called "The Scrapbook" has been added with Random pictures in it!
01/09/07 A Link has been added to Mark & Flip Britton's band site.
01/09/07 A Site Map link has been added to the site to help people navigate the site quickly.
01/08/07 A new page has been added to our sound & lights page explaining some of the challenges we had at some of the locations we played. You can jump to it here.
01/08/07 Wheeu! We just got the site up, but when we add things, we will list them here, so check this page each time!

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