I peruse Ebay every now and then for items that may be of interest to fans like myself. This week has turned up several new items that hadn't been widely seen. Today turned up a rare live photo of Karen Peris from Christian music magazine Notebored (also available for viewing in the Gallery).
Their Nov/Dec 1980 issue featured an article with two photos. A debut album promo shoot photo was used along side the photo shown above.
Once the magazine arrives, I'll see if there are any interesting highlights worth posting as well as do a proper scan of the photo (the above picture is a photo of the photo) and update this news item.
I've been holding onto this story for several months, but it would seem now is good a time as any to highlight two unpublished photos that have turned up on the net.
During the making of the "Wonder of Birds" music video, Valerie Gates (Gates Studios) took photos for A&M Records. Many professional and personal photos were taken of the band during this time, and Valerie's husband, who worked for A&M Records at the time, become friends with both Karen and Don.
You can visit her two web sites to view the images in their entirety. One image is hosted at Gates Studios, and the other is hosted at her site at Behance Network.
Mike Bitts and Hunter Johnson performed with Lancaster resident Hiram Ring yesterday evening. Unfortunately, I just received this information early this morning. Unfortunately, this was a one-time performance with Mike and Hunter.
Hiram and Mike met at a local open mic in Lancaster, and Mike played upright bass on two of the songs from his new album, "One Girl for Me" and the title track "Breathe Deep". These two songs were recorded live with Sam Frantz engineering - other musicians on those two recordings are Aaron Walker (drums) and Matthew Monticchio (piano), as well as other local musicians and friends.
When Hiram was putting together a group for his CD-release, Mike was available, and since Aaron Walker was not, he suggested Hunter Johnson. So the three and Matthew Monticchio became the core musicians for the CD release. For those who may not be familiar with Hunter Johnson, he performed drums with Don Peris and Mike Bitts on Don's 2006 mini-tour.
Below is a video from the CD release party. The song is called "Eternity".
Thanks to a new printer that scans negatives, I've updated the images previously uploaded to the photos section (backstage) for the 9/12/91 Max's on Broadway show in Baltimore, MD. Want to submit an Innocence Mission photo? Send an email using the contact graphic to the left.
In part three of our Musician Magazine feature, we reprint the second half of the article, Originality Isn't A Four Letter Word which was written by John Lewis in December of 1986.
One particularly interesting note from the article, the song "Giants" which had been included on pre-debut album setlist is actually, "Giants and Windmills". If anyone runs across a recording of this song, please let us know.
Next week's final update will include several photos from the magazine. Below is the December issue cover.
In part two of our Musician Magazine feature, we reprint the first half of the article, Originality Isn't A Four Letter Word which was written by John Lewis in December of 1986.
Next week, we'll feature part two of that article.
Also below is the same photo used on the Tending The Rose Garden EP minus the pink squiggly lines, but of course in black and white.
Over the next month, we'll be publishing several updates in regardings to a purchase I recently made of a 1986 issue of Pennsylvania Musician Magazine.
The first update includes a tour schedule advert using the same photography used on the Tending The Rose Garden album cover.
Here's my own personal music video for "Spinning" which was filmed entirely in Lancaster this past weekend. Available via Vimeo...
I'm back from my first real trip to Lancaster, PA - home of The Innocence Mission. I had a blast. My wife and I saw "the Police" perform in Hershey (waited an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot jam). I thought it was an amazing show. We also visited Hershey Park (which I highly recommend) and took in the Lancaster countryside. Be sure to stay away from Rt. 30 East on a summer weekend as it's traffic jam central. The commercialism over the Amish isn't necessarily a suprise, but it's a bit more overwhelming than I expected. It's a bit distressing actually.
Did you know that Lancaster also has a baseball team? The Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League got slaughtered last night, but they kept it close most of the game despite the one bad inning. I learned that Virginians like myself are a bit more vocal for the hometeam than the typical Lancaster folk.
We also took in a visit to Lily's on Main to experience the reason why Steve Brown left the band. Let me tell you, Steve is just as good as a chef and owner than he is a drummer, and that's not a knock on his drumming either. He runs a fantastic restaurant and it's well worth the 20-30 minute drive from Lancaster.
If there's good news to report, it's that despite Steve's extremely busy schedule..he's willing to perform with the band on a future album. That bit of information made the trip all the more exciting.
Once again thanks to Bob Rousseau, Here is the set 6 of 7 of the new photos from the Lancaster 2003 Chamelon Club performance. Unfortunately these last few sets didn't come out as well as the earlier sets:
Once again thanks to Bob Rousseau, Here is the 5th set of 7 new photos from the Lancaster 2003 Chamelon Club performance. Unfortunately these last few sets didn't come out as well as the earlier sets:
Every once and awhile within a compilation CD or LP, you'll find band photos contained in the liners. Luckily with my purchase of Good Morning 90's, there was such an item. The below picture originally appeared in Pennsylvania Musician from February 1990. Previously, that's the only source I'd ever seen that photo used until now. The photo is downloadable in the Photos section upon following the gallery's registration process.
Thanks to Bob Rousseau, we now have available for the first time...never-before-seen restored images from the 11/1/03 Chameleon Club gig. You may have seen several of his earlier photos posted on this site. Those photos have also been restored and re-uploaded. You can download and view them in their full size in the Photos gallery.
Here are the last 4 photos that I have from Don's August performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
This particular series of photos were taken by Daniel Summers.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's August performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
This particular series of photos were taken by Daniel Summers.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Here are the 8th series of photos and the last of my personal set:
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Over the last few weeks, I've been rescanning the covers and bits and pieces of the artwork contained in each, including a new hi-res scan of Tending the Rose Garden. More scans will be added over the next several weeks.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
I recently upgraded my only copy of Preliminary Hearing on cassette to vinyl. It's a good thing too because I was finally able to get some decent scans.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer, Hunter Johnson and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Here are 3 more photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Over the next few weeks I'll be posting photos from Don's recent performance at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. Don performed with Denison Witmer and fellow Innocence Mission band member, Mike Bitts.
Extra thanks go to Jeff Teez for these very rare live debut album photos. All of these photos and more are available for download by visiting the Photos page. The Photo gallery requires an additional moderated registration in order to download.
Do you have any rare photos you'd like to contribute? Or perhaps you have something interesting you'd like to share? Feel free to drop me an email.
