Jerry

With what song will the band open the show? "GATW" seems too obvious (actually a better encore), and "I Wanna Be With You" would be a good choice. Some think it will be "Ticket to Ride" for nostalgia's sake, but I think it is going to be "Tonight".

Back in 2002 my brother and I bought tickets to see "A Trip Down Abbey Road" featuring Eric, Todd Rundgren, Jack Bruce, Christopher Cross, Mark Farmer, and Alan Parsons. You know who dropped off the tour. We had already received our tickets, and they would not refund because of a change in lineup. So we went, and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. In case you are not familiar with the concept, this tour was a salute to The Beatles, and this all star band did Beatle covers. The first half of the show, every member did a song or two they had recorded, then they did a Beatle song. Jack Bruce did "White Room", "Sunshine of Your Love", and a Beatles song I just can't remember. But he was great.

According to the VH-1 website, the Scandal show will be rebroadcast Fri 11/12 at 2:00 PM.

Well knock me over with a feather! I guess that is reason #197 to go out and buy your book. The Discoveries review reported how "Carmen speaks openly about his disenchantment with how his music was recorded." I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but the words "disenchantment" and "crappy" suggested to me that there might be trouble in paradise. If you read my post where I tried to figure out how much time each member of the band would spend with a guest at the meet and greet, you saw that "doing the math" is not one of my strengths.

Has anyone watched VH-1ís ìBands Reunited? One of my favorite bands from the 80ís- Scandal- was featured last night. It was a great show. The band members had not seen each other in twenty years, were encouraged to do a show, got back together, aired a little dirty laundry, had a rehearsal, played a show, sounded great! Sound familiar?

This is a quote from a review of ìMarathon Manî, found in the ìPressî section of this website... On Raspberries producer Jimmy Ienner: "[the albums] sounded like they're coming over a crappy AM radio," Sure thing? I hope Jimmy has a short memory, or at least a sense of humor.

Thanks for the clarification Ted. My math was correct, but my answer was wrong. Itís not four minutes per person- itís four people per minute, or as you said, fifteen seconds.

Iím going to be the bad guy and make a couple of points regarding the logistics of this meet and greet. There has been more than one reference to how the band has not played together for thirty years, and how they need to get their ìchopsî back. They are pros, and they are great, but there is going to be a lot of stress regarding their performance and issues the rest of us can not begin to imagine. Stress makes you tired. Iím not a musician, but I have to think that the physical part of this performance will be like it is for an athlete. You think you are in shape for that first game, but you soon realize it is going to take five or ten games to get where you want to be physically. And I assume that just like practice is not like playing a game, rehearsals are not like playing a concert. The band is not in the middle of a tour. My guess is that they are going to be drained after this show. And as we all know, these guys are not twentysomethings. Of course, more than anything, after singing for 90 to 100 minutes, their voices are going to be tired. Iím sure the prospect of having to carry on conversations for another hour or two is daunting. If the HOB holds 1,100 and if 25% of the ticket holders are balcony (ie: Meet & Greeters) that means the band will have to greet around 225 people. Could be more than that in the balcony. If the meet and greet is an hour, that means everyone gets about four minutes a piece, or one minute with each band member. How many people do you think are going to be willing to keep it under a minute? When I lived in Chicago I was a make-up artist, worked with alot of musicians and celebrities, and was often present at their meet-and-greets (Richard Marx, Dolly Parton, Alabama, Poco, The Judds, Oprah, Michael Jordan, and many more). The sense of entitlement displayed by some of the ìfansî was a remarkable thing to witness. People just donít want to ìmove alongî. Celebs have learned that if you give someone an inch, some will try to take a couple of miles. Iím sure Daveís concern about being ìshreddedî is not meant in terms of screaming teenagers, but in terms of ,ìCan I have a hug?î, ìCan I have a kiss?î, ìCan I get my picture taken with you?î, ìWill you say hi (on a cell phone) to my sister in Nebraska?î. It is going to be chaos to just try to ìmeetî the balcony. Adding part of the GA is simply going to be a logistical nightmare. Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

I saw The Choir, The Blues Magoos, and The Who, open for (I kid you not) Herman's Hermits at Cleveland Public Hall. Another good one was Cheap Trick opening for 38 Special in Savannah, Ga. Also a band called The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver opening for Elton John in '73(?). Probably the only time I went out and bought an album because I saw an act that I had never heard of but was impressed with them live.

After reading the through these posts, I suspect I might be the only member who has seen The Mods. I was in eighth grade (?), and they played at the St. Mary's gymnasium in Mentor. I went to St. Maryís church, and I donít think I have to tell you that this was an all ages show. The band was wearing black pants, white shirts with black vests. Of course, at that age, it was all very exciting. They were ìjust like The Beatlesî. It was the line up of Wally, Dave, Jim, Danny Klawon, and Dave Burke. Dave Burkeís dad was my little league baseball coach, and his brother Tim was on my team. So it was not hard to keep up with news of the band. Just one other different ìconnectionî. As I have posted before, in the Mentor School system, middle school is seven through nine, and high school is ten through twelve. So although I was never under the same roof as Wally and Dave, I did attend Memorial Junior High with Marilyn Bryson. She was in ninth grade when I was in seventh, and sometimes I would sit next to her in a open study hall. She was very hip looking, very ìCherî looking with long, straight hair, dark eyeliner, mini skirts, and go-go boots. She told me I was cute, though I suspect she was just being kind to one of the nerds. She would occasionally pass me notes, and of course I thought I was King Youknowwhat. Very fond memories.

But Suede, you might be able to find "some chicks" there!

I found the article on Billboard's website. The feature starts as follows.. The Beat: The Raspberries Prep Their Return In our humble opinion, "Go All the Way" is one of the best power pop songs ever, which makes it all the more exciting that the Raspberries are reuniting for their first show in 31 years. However, the rest of the article costs between $155 and $590, depending on which subscription you sign up for. You can get a 72 hour pass for $30. That's probably three beers at the HOB. Since four balcony tickets, a round trip plane ticket, and hotel has cost almost $1000, I think I'll try to find the issue at Barnes and Noble for $2, scan it, and post it.

Iím hoping someone on this message board has some expertise in the area of paying royalties. Many years ago I read a story about a bar that "called the fedsî and had a competitorís bar down the street busted because the live entertainment was doing ìcoversî and royalties were not being paid to the composer. If I remember correctly, the article indicated that the venue pays an ASCAP fee so the live entertainment can do a cover of a recorded song, and this bar was not paying the fee. Is this at all accurate? If The Raspberries concert is going to be recorded and sold, I think I can go out on the limb and say that any composer who wrote a song that is performed is going to want their royalties. So as The Raspberries figure out their set list, I suspect maybe Dave Smalleyís line of thinking might go something like this, ìWell, we could cover ìTicket to Rideî and contribute to the Michael Jackson Defense Fund, or we could do ìShould I Waitî and I could make a few bucks off of royalties.î I think this falls into that category referred to as a ìno brainerî. If anyone out there can straighten me out the the legalities on this one, I would be grateful. Iím hoping for some covers, but if I was a betting man, I would bet that we are going to hear only original material by the band. I hope Iím wrong.

See "Raspberries Reunion DVD" posted on this message board by Jumpman on 10-05-04.

The message board community on the Marshall Crenshaw website often have discussions about the other musical act they enjoy. I was going to post the announcement of The Raspberries reunion concert, but someone from California (formerly of Elyria) beat me to it. The internet is quite the ìtown crierî and an amazing marketing tool. I suspect the band will be selling alot of DVDs of the concert.

that neither Wally or Dave have updated their websites to announce The Raspberries reunion? The Raspberries site and Jim's site have the concert info, but not Bryson's or Smalley's.

This is the first time I have tried to post on this site; I made a mistake with the first effort. I just wanted to thank Laura for her suggestion regarding joining the HOB "club". I joined last night and bought my tickets today around 12:05 PM. I graduated from Mentor High School. Wally & Dave were seniors when I was a freshman, so I was not under the same roof. But by the time I was a senior, it seemed we saw the band about every weekend, usually at the Chesterland Hullaballoo, sometimes the Cleveland Agora. I'm looking forward to a great show.