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Hey, Darlene, I don't know where to get an Eric Carmen t-shirt (I could use one myself!), but an "ERIC CARTMAN" t-shirt can be found at comedycentral.com . I wonder if the South Park guys are fans of our Eric and the character name was their tribute...or just a coincidence? Howard

June: You're very welcome, and thanks for your kind complements. Anytime... Howard

Ron, I don't have an Eric Carmen t-shirt, or else I'd wear one...would a t-shirt featuring his bastard namesake, Eric Cartman from "South Park," be a reasonable substitute? Howard

Hi June, No, I'm not a DJ, lol, just an avid record/cd collector and total music trivia geek! Thanks for asking though! Howard

Hey Aggiesjc: Some other ELP songs that may ring a bell: "Still..You Turn Me On" "From the Beginning" "Welcome Back My Friends" "I Believe in Father Christmas" "C'est La Vie" "Knife Edge" ELP didn't have a lot of conventional hits, but the above are probably their most recognizable radio hits. Most of them are softer acoustic-based tunes featuring singer Greg Lake, but much of ELP's music was heavy prog rock driven by Keith Emerson's flamboyant organ and symphonic keyboards. I had the pleasure of seeing ELP live (in a reformed state, with drummer Cozy Powell) and Emerson is a spectacular performer--one of the few keyboard players who incorporated showmanship besides just sitting at the 'boards. Rhino has a nice ELP greatest hits collection available, as well as boxed set for the more obsessive fan. ELP is not for all tastes--critics generally hated them, calling them pretentious and bombastic--but IMHO there's plenty of superb musicianship and composition at work in their music. Thanks, Howard

Hey Bernie, I totally agree with you about "So You Are a Star." Mark Hudson is a self-proclaimed Lennon-head, and it really showed in his vocal on this one. For those interested, "So You Are a Star" is also the title a CD of the bros.' greatest hits that was released in 1995 by Varese Sarabande. It appears to be out of print but you may be able to find copies out there if you dig. Worth the effort. Howard

Hi there, glad to be of service. ELP=Emerson, Lake and Palmer, progressive rock supergroup famous for "Lucky Man" and other FM radio staples. Drummer Carl Palmer later drummed for Asia and bassist/vocalist Greg Lake played in the most recent Ringo All-Starr Band (not the one with EC). Complex keyboard-driven music. The Hudson Bros.=The Hudson Brothers were a seventies power-pop trio made up of three brothers who were major Beatles fans. They briefly had a couple of TV shows on CBS in the Sonny and Cher style, and they made some very fine pop-rock records, including "Ba Fa" produced by Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin. Raspberries/EC fans would fine much to love in their music. More recently, Mark Hudson has become a prominent producer, working with Aerosmith, Hanson and Ringo Starr. His brother Bill is probably best known these days as Goldie Hawn's ex-husband and dad to Kate Hudson. World Trade is a 90s band that did two fine CDs in the style of Trevor Rabin-era Yes. The band was led by Billy Sherwood, who later became a member of Yes and is currently producing a Todd Rundgren tribute CD and continues to work with Yes bassist Chris Squire in his side project, Conspiracy. Hope this helps, and thanks for asking. Howard

Nice words, Kirk. Hope you're planning to set this to music and record it for the fan tribute cd we're discussing...let me know if you'd like to have a fellow fan set it to music and/or record it for ya... Thanks, Howard howardbwhitman@yahoo.com

Cool, Gary. Let's GO FOR IT! ...And hopefully see some others step up to the plate! Thanks again for your thoughts. If you're ever in the Philly area, I'll buy you a drink and we can trade music biz war stories... Howard

Hello again Gary, and thanks for sharing your thoughts...WOW...you've clearly given a lot of thought to this topic and I very much respect what you have to say. I've been around "da biz" a bit myself and have seen friends totally destroyed by it, financially and spiritually. This type of fan tribute is, one would hope, operating "out of the business". That's the whole idea. Call me an old hippie. I apologize for "name dropping" some bands or harping on my own experiences again and again. I just was trying to say that I've been a part of a project like this and it worked out nicely for all concerned in just the way I described. If there are concerns about the business end of this, I'll step aside and let a "business type" take over or just run it into the ground. I'm no record company mogul--just a guy who has been a huge fan of a band for over 25 years and likes to record songs in his basement. That's not to say that this kind of thing is without benefit to its participants. Certainly it affords contributing artists some nice exposure, among fans around the world and possibly even the artists being saluted. I would hope that the finished product would elicit response and dialogue on this message board, and the hopefully positive feedback would be encouraging to those who contributed. And being on an internationally distributed CD never looks bad on anyone's resume, no matter how humble its origins. And I'm not saying there's even going to be a cd. At present, we have two tracks promised for it--from you and me. We'll need more to even warrant moving ahead. Hopefully more people will read about this topic and sign up! It would be nice, if we're going to do this, to complete and release it in the year of the 30th anniversary of Go All the Way--also a banner year for a national tour featuring Eric Carmen. Once again, Gary, I really appreciate your insights, and thanks for signing on...for all the right reasons. Happy Dad's Day, all! Howard

Hi Gary, Thanks very much for your well thought out letter. I very much respect your position in terms of publishing. I can only speak from my previous experience with the Klaatu tribute cd as well as the Bill Nelson/BeBop Deluxe tribute that I contributed a song to. In both cases, there was no contract, no haggling over copyrights, no royalties. I am a full proponent of composers/creators retaining the full copyrights to their work. That would be the case if we do get together an informal EC/Razz tribute. Your song is, was and always will be yours. Contributors would be welcome to register copyrights on their own songs. There would be no implication of ownership by anyone other than the author. If your song's been published and you still want to contribute it to the tribute, you are more than welcome, provided it is done with the understanding that this is a not-for-profit project and therefore will yield no royalties. In the case of the Klaatu tribute, a few of the artists actually wanted to do new interpretations of their favorite Klaatu songs. As we had a pipeline to the band members (namely, Jamie Vernon, prez of Bullseye Records of Canada, which is reissuing the original Klaatu albums on CD and was a supporter of our informal tribute effort), we got consent to include cover versions royalty-free, due to the nature of the project being by/for fans at no cost to anyone. As far as protecting your own original work, well, that's a challenge that faces anyone creating original material and putting it out there. Every once and a while you hear about some unknown songwriter suing somebody for supposedly stealing their work...I believe there was an item in the news recently about a guy who claims Britney Spears stole a couple of his tunes (gee, I always thought she had exactly ONE song written and just keeps on repeating it). He'll probably lose the case. That type of lawsuit is very hard to prove, taking into account the volume of mail the artists receive and how difficult it must be to prove that the artist heard it and plagirized it. Because, like the Klaatu CD, our little project would be produced by and for a limited audience (limited to the # of fans who request a copy), I question whether it would have the wide exposure that would put the music at risk of being stolen. I believe in an "honor system" with this kind of thing--that we're all fellow fans here, and therefore friends, and out of mutual respect and consideration, we would leave each other's music to each other. Personally, I would be flattered if one of you decided to cover a song of mine on tape or with a band. If I heard Britney Spears' recording of it on the radio, or saw it on someone else's for-sale CD, that might be another story... I hope you'll reconsider your reservations and contribute your song. I'm sure we'd all enjoy hearing it. Thanks for opening up this dialogue and I look forward to your future posts. Howard

Hey Bernie, My guess is that Eric used the "Sgt. Pepper Reprise"..."Magic Mystery Tour" has a similar isolated Ringo drum lick, but if Eric used that, he'd have to change the tempo, and he wouldn't have had much to sample before the MC voice kicks in ("Roll up, roll up for the magic mystery tour...), while the "Sgt. Pepper" lick is an exact match to the one on Eric's CD...he may have used the version on "Beatles Anthology 2" that has no sound effects or studio treatment, just 16 bars of raw Ringo, and tailor-made for sampling. Whatever the case, "Cartoon World" is a great track, and the Ringo reference either way is a welcome wink to his former boss. Howard

Hey Craig, That's absolutely a great idea, yes, definitely, collaborations are a wonderful element of this type of thing. The other tribute CD I was involved in did yield such collaborations, even after it was done, contributors teamed up to do things. That would be wonderful if one fan wanted to write a lyric, another music, another to perform it. This is by its nature a collaborative effort all the way...fans working together...and this forum is certainly a great place for fans to make connections such as "anyone out there want to write a lyric to my tune?", etc. There are no rules in terms of who writes or performs on a track, whether its one person or 20, it's all good. Thanks for writing Craig! Howard

Hi all, I wanted to raise a new topic here. I've been involved in a few similiar things and they've been fun for all involved. OK, here goes... I suspect many of us Eric/Razz fans who participate in this forum are musicians, maybe not professionally but musically inclined, writing songs, playing instruments, doing home recordings, whatever... What I'd like to propose is a NOT FOR PROFIT fan tribute CD along the lines of one I contributed a song to, helped coordinate, and designed (and had printed) the cover and tray card in tribute to the legendary Canadian band Klaatu a few years back. Here's how it works: Those of us interested in writing and recording an original song IN THE STYLE OF solo or Raspberries era Eric Carmen...or maybe a song not in the style of but influenced by...or maybe just a song that you'd like to contribute to be part of the fun and fellowship with other EC fans...those of us interested will make contact with the CD coordinator (I'll volunteer, I guess, howardbwhitman@yahoo.com) to supply a song...participants should be unsigned artists to avoid contractual issues, songs should be original for the same reason...and we all get recording. The coordinator sets a deadline for song submissions. Participating artists send in their contributions, preferably on a CDR, along with a blank CD-R on which to burn their final CD, along with an SASE so it can be mailed back. The coordinator will collect the tracks on his PC, ultimately assembling a cd's worth of toons and burning them to the CDs supplied by the artists and sending them out to participants AT NO COST...the only potential expense may be $1 or so to cover costs if we'd like to have a cover professionally printed. Non-participants who'd like a copy of the CD could also get one by sending in a blank CD, SASE and possibly the printing cost (I work in publishing and would do my best to get free printing, we'll see...) Ultimately, the result would be a fun final CD that we could be proud of and enjoy together, as well as a forum to expose our musical creations to like-minded listeners. And if Bernie could arrange it, maybe we could get a copy or two to Eric and the other Razz members. We did get copies of our tribute to the members of Klaatu and they really appreciated it. On the Klaatu CD, not all of the recordings were of professional quality...material was recorded on everything from four-track cassette machines to PCs...we were not going for pro quality, just a fun experience for all...a chance to share and hear some original songs in a style we all cherish...and a way to give thanks to the man (and his cohorts) who have influenced us so much. I own the Raspberries tribute CD ("Preserved") of a few years back, and like it very much, but this is totally different...for the fans, by the fans, all original music, for fun not profit, a labor of love. Let me know if you're interested, either as a participant or a listener, all are welcome. If there is sufficient interest and participation, we'll work out a plan and start those tapes rollin'. One more thing...my idea for a title: "We Wanna Be Like You: A Fan Tribute" Let me know what you think! See you at the Keswick on the 24th... Howard Whitman howardbwhitman@yahoo.com

Hi everyone, cool topic here and interesting comments by all... I'd say my two favorite genres of music are power pop (exemplified in my book by the 3 b's: Beatles, 'Berries and Badfinger) and progressive rock (a la Yes, Genesis, ELP)...and what I can suggest that may be of interest to those here are some artists whose work represents an intersection of those styles...such as Trevor Rabin, onetime member of Yes, whose work with that band (90125, Big Generator, Talk) as well as his stellar solo work (especially Can't Look Away) are stellar pop/prog hybrids...or Klaatu, the band rumored to be the Beatles in disguise (see them at www.Klaatu.org) but was really a fine Beatlesque Canadian trio that melded pop with orchestration and fine arrangements on 5 excellent albums...how about Pilot, who had a hit in the states with "Magic" and made 4 great albums (two produced by Eric's tourmate Alan Parsons) of accomplished pop/rock. On the harder-eged side, Razz fans may enjoy the work of King's X, a melodic hard rock trio from Texas that combines Cream/Hendrix-style instrumental dynamics with Sly Stone-like lead vocals and Beatlesque harmonies...they did 6 albums for Atlantic and 3 for MetalBlade, all worth checking out..."Gretchen Goes to Nebraska" (#2) and "King's X"(#4) are special high points... Razz fans will also find much to love in the work of the Posies, a Seattle quartet (really a singing/writing duo plus rhythm section) that released three excellent power-pop with a grunge edge cds on Geffen. They were so well-versed and well-regarded that when Big Star reunited a few years back, they drafted the Posies into the band. Other altars I worship at...10cc, ELO, Queen, Asia (a very successful pop/prog hybrid), Ben Folds (with and without the 5, check out his new solo CD, "Rocking the Suburbs"), Lindsey Buckingham rules, the Hudson Bros., Jason Falkner, Kansas, JULIAN Lennon (get "Photograph Smile"), World Trade, Elton John ("Songs from the West Coast" is awesome). Of course, Eric Carmen and Raspberries are lifelong faves and always will be... Howard

I'll look for that flag...and my dad's name is Bernie, lol... Too bad Todd R. can't make it for his hometown show...I'll keep watching and hoping for that asterisk on the 24th. Howard

Hi Bernie, I'll be there on the 24th...unbelievable that I'll finally be seeing Eric live after all these years. I remember when I was in elementary school, word was that the "Starting Over" Raspberries lineup was going to play a concert at the junior high because it won a radio station contest, collecting the most gum wrappers or something...and I was already a die-hard Razz fan...but not going to that school yet, so I couldn't go...it didn't pan out and the station provided a different band I believe...so to get that opportunity to see Eric in person is just incredible, thank you for alerting us to this tour. Also, thanks Bernie for forwarding my question about the Ringo drum sample to Eric, it was a thrill to see it on the new "Ask Eric." Hope to see you at the Keswick! Howard

Thanks for the reply, Bernie. It would be so great if some dates worked out with Todd. The mind boggles -- "Locomotion" yes!!! Looking forward to seeing fellow EC fans there! Thanks again, and thanks for all you do, Raspbernie, HB

Hey folks, Just reserved my tix for the Walk Down Abbey Road show at the Keswick in the Philadelphia area on July 24. I noticed that on some of the other listings for this tour on Ticketmaster, EC's fellow power-pop legend Todd Rundgren is set to appear at many of the dates on this tour, but not this one! It seems like Eric's Todd's "replacement" at his dates on the tour, that they won't be performing together. That's a shame, sounds like a dream band to me...although readers of Ken Sharp's "Overnight Sensation" will recall a story of tension between Todd and Eric over the song title and concept, "I Saw the Light." Any news of them appearing together on any dates, hopefully at the Keswick? How awesome would it be to hear Todd do the lead on "GATW" or Eric play piano on "Hello It's Me." Oh well, I can dream... HB