Obit: Bill (William) Whitman-Baltimore Musician

Subject: RE: Obit: Bill(William)Whitman-Baltimore Musician
From: GUEST,deborah lindsay
Date: 08 May 16 - 12:01 AM

does anyone know where Tom Kneipp is now?

Subject: RE: Obit: Bill(William)Whitman-Baltimore Musician
From: clueless don
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 09:05 AM

Very Sad.

I first heard Bill performing with the Hags at Delaney's Irish Pizza Pub, back in the eighties. He was often joined by a musician named Tom Kneipp (sp?), who was better known to the audience as "Tom Banjo". Bill, Tom, and John McIntyre (sp?) went on to make some really fine music as the Shamrock Aces. As has been mentioned, his music making continued with the Irish Edge, including his wife Denise.

Bill was a mainstay of the old Baltimore Ceili Band, singing the old-time waltzes, as well as playing flute and whistle. He, along with many other members of the band, was always very nice and accomodating to me, an inexperienced musician getting the hang of playing accompaniment to the tunes.

He touched many lives, and will be missed.

Don

Subject: RE: Obit: Bill(William)Whitman-Baltimore Musician
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 08:39 PM

I remember the Hags and meeting Bill there when we lived in Laurel.
I am still regretting not going to see the Hags EVERY time they performed. The Pizza Pub is still there but the music went with Delaney...that is another story.
He always sang from the heart and was a genuine partaker of the folk life.

Conrad

Subject: RE: Obit: Bill(William)Whitman-Baltimore Musician
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 08:04 PM

Bill was the first person to teach me bodhran technique.
He would occasionally sit in with The Hags at Delany's Irish Pizza Pub in Laurel, Md..
He had a wonderful sense for the balladic form.
He was a great guy, musician, father, husband.
It's a damned shame that he had to go this way

Subject: RE: Obit: Bill(William)Whitman-Baltimore Musician
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 05:57 PM

oh..how sad! I used to listen to Bill Whitman play the whistle at the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda many years ago. He was a fine fellow and fine musician! R.I.P

Subject: Obit: Bill(William)Whitman-Baltimore Musician
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 16 Jul 03 - 05:11 PM

The Whole of Baltimore Will Miss Bill Whitman who played over the years all over town. See details below from the Baltimore Sun-

William Moore Whitman, 51, PBS technician, singer
Originally published July 10, 2003

William Moore Whitman, a senior technician with Public Broadcasting Service and a singer who was an enthusiastic collector of Irish music, died of cancer Monday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Fells Point resident was 51.

Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, Mr. Whitman earned his bachelor's degree in television and broadcasting in 1974 from Kent State University.



He moved to Washington and for a number of years owned The Strip Joint, an antiques restoration business. He did voice-overs for commercials before taking a job with PBS in Alexandria, Va., in 1985. As a senior associate, his duties included screening new shows for technical problems before they were aired.

A baritone, Mr. Whitman was a former member of two singing groups, the Shamrock Aces and the Bog Wanderers. Since 1985, he had performed with his wife, the former Denise Bartenfelder, and C.B. Heinemann with Irish Edge. The trio regularly performed locally at Cat's Eye and J. Patrick's.

Mr. Whitman also played the Irish flute, the bodhran and the tin whistle. He also had an extensive collection of Irish sheet music and 78-rpm recordings.

"He collected Irish songs that were performed in music halls and those written by Tin Pan Alley songwriters. He was always going to antique shops and yard sales looking for music and had had tons of it," Mrs. Whitman said.

Mr. Whitman was a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Zion Lutheran Church, 400 E. Lexington St.

In addition to his wife of 15 years, survivors include a daughter, Katie M. Whitman of Fells Point; and his mother, Mary Patricia Moore Whitman; a brother, John A. Whitman; and two sisters, Ann Kerschner and Mary Schumacher, all of Akron.