austinberries

music is universal enough that anyone feels comfortable slipping into Rock Critic skin, especially fans. i may have tossed my hat in the "could do w/out the covers" camp, but also included in any of my own posts how great i thought they were (flew halfway across country to see 'em) & waxed superlative about them in the very same posts. so i don't think you can black-and-white it & say some folks just can't see the glass as half-full; fans know what they like & are gonna say so, & the one thing that's obvious here is that everyone *really* digs & loves the Raspberries - the unmistakable & unflinching common denominator among their biggest fans, who happen to also hang out here @ EC.com

i remember last year (or maybe '05) the 'berries rode in some christmas parade/winter wonderland-type event. is this same fest/event going on the weekend of the show (minus the band), & if so, is it downtown close to the venue? if not, is there a part of downtown or town square or something spruced up for the season that's worth checking out? basically looking for where to spend time sat. after the show, thx for any feedback-

that would be friday @ 1:00

just booked flights, can't believe i'm insane enough to go to LA last weekend & Cleveland next - these guys must be good or something!?! we know 0% about cleveland, any other tips about where to hang other than what's in the "cleveland "essentials" thread (mostly about weather!) are welcome so is the illustrious & industrious Bernie coming? hope to meet other fellow board'ers while there

now THAT'S funny - but their webcam (peecam?) appears to be down... don't eat the raspberry snow, btw

right, so they're not busting out nice long shows like then, which it seems they oughta be b/c it's a once in a lifetime reunion phase, seemingly, & who knows how many opp's they'll get to do so

it won't be below 70 degrees will it? ;-) i personally hope it snows if i make it up there - do y'all know how often (or how rarely) we get to see it down here? now heat, we got...

hollies - thx for almost hooking me up i think; can your kids camp up on the roof? ;-) . sounds like you are local - is the rental not avail either? thx for the tip on that part of town, i'd like to check it out if i make it tim - is your hotel anywhere near the venue, which i presume is downtown? still hoping to land a local empty room via a fellow fan if anyone can do - my place is open as a flophouse if/when they play Austin!

yeah, the show was a blast, but i thought they skipped a few more songs (as someone posted prior) like 'hard to get over a heartbreak', 'drivin' around', & a few others that slip my mind at the moment btw, hats off to wally for stepping up to the mike & jawing/noodling while they were troubleshooting the monitor situation - the guy has no shame! ;-)

looks like i can stream it here in austin, cleveland is eastern time, right? so 8:00 cleveland time = 7:00 austin time (central) i think. just thinking out loud here...

so does anyone know, w/out speculating, from a venue or band source why the HOB show was so short?

as the HOB show had its issues, i'm now giving serious consideration to slipping into cleveland for that show (never been there, btw). i hope they are planning for a nice, long, drawn out show for their hometown. does anyone happen to have any accommodations they can offer & open up to my wife & i if we were to come to town for this show? this might be the only way to make it really feasible for us to consider, we are very gracious guests, & i promise not to ask the 'berries to skip their cover tunes per the 'my two cents' thread ;-) thought i'd look into it if someone can accommodate or otherwise offer suggestions (besides booking a hotel, etc). thx- ps - also, it'd be really cool if you had one of those leg lamps from the 'christmas story' house

yeah, i don't really see it as arguing, & don't think people really 'love to argue'; more like volleying back & forth of opinions, impressions, perceptions, & the general take on the event as they experienced it. it's just spirited dialogue w/ a healthy dose of inevitable variety of how they personally experienced the event & what they came away from it with; no way around that fact o' life

ha! uh, let's see... how about, NO?!?

yeah, i don't think anyone'll change anyone's opinions here; i'd still rather not see them play a single cover, as much as others don't mind covers in the set, but obviously will take it as they dish it. but ultimately i'm there to hear the Raspberries play Raspberries/EC tunes, & in the end, it's just great to have them back

hmm - maybe they should do a half-originals/half-covers show for the cover fans among y'all; but when they come to Austin our club rider will specifically delineate: 'NO COVERS!' ;-) our airport already says 'Live Music Capitol of the World' & is outfitted w/ giant artwork pieces of famous Texas/Austin musicians, while Texas/Austin music is piped thru the airport speaker system. maybe the sub-caption should say 'NOT counting cover bands' ;-)

the Raspberries did not get where they got to, influence so many other bands & garner the respect of so many fellow musicians (you all know this is a long list, from arena rockers to indie artists) on the back of being able to render spot-on cover tunes. the weight they carry in the music world is based 110% on their original material (especially Eric's). they came from an era when delivering a well-done cover was impressive, & that day is long gone, b/c it's a 'lowest common denominator' approach. so it does end up reeking slightly of 'wedding band' stigma among long-time fans, or people who don't know them, or only know their hits, or don't know their 2nd tier/deep tracks, or fellow musicians, etc. etc. the Raspberries should be doing Raspberries material, b/c they have so much of it (almost all awesome) & to avoid the cheeze factor - this is what they are known & respected for if they went out & banged out a 3-hour show in which they did cover more of their material (someone counted 8 dropped original tunes since earlier shows), & if the tech glitches hadn't cut into even more of their time for their material, then a cover or two on top of all that wouldn't have been quite so out of place, but in this case w/ the reunion shows, because of those factors, i think it is

yes, but interesting for them is not necessarily interesting for fans. i mean, there are TONS of bands who nail the heck out of Beatles, the Who, etc covers. fans are there to see & hear the Raspberries & their tunes - in spite of the fact that they come from an age back when it was cool to do covers, that is not the case now. this once-in-a-lifetime harmonic convergence shouldn't be frittered away on cover tunes; give me an Eric Carmen-penned Raspberries tune over a cover ANYDAY!

i gotta toss in $.02 here too: the band was great, they're real pros & it's one of rock's/power pop's greatest reunions (& original bands, of course); the in-ears/monitors situation was obviously not however, i gotta say, they should do without the cover tunes for the fans. it was disappointing to listen thru a couple of them, & i felt left hanging when original tunes could have been played in their place, & then on top of that have more original tunes cut out b/c of the technical problems. i came all the way from Texas for the show & hearing cover tunes for me was a matter of waiting it out for the next original tune. & to really put it into it's proper perpective, the Raspberries are a very influential band that are themselves *covered by other artists* - they are, & should be, above covering others' tunes themselves! i honestly feel the same about 'All By Myself' - the Raspberries song catalog is plenty deep enough w/out them dipping into this song, & Eric will be able to play this tune at any performance he does for the rest of his life - great song, but *not* a 'berries song - again, they've got too many great songs to default back to this one what else can one say? they are prob still groaning about the "LA HOB curse", but i got to meet 3 or 4 EC.com board folks, brought along a couple of new converts who were very impressed, & got to see one of my favorite all time bands lay down the law & own it w/ a vengeance after all these years, a true harmonic convergence, pun intended! damn, they sounded good... i still hope they get down to Austin (everyone's invited) where we'll promise to provide a glitch-free show; but be forewarned 'berries, musically astute Austin crowds don't take too kindly to cover bands ;^)

these are the inherent evils of in-ear monitors, i think. i've tried & used them for a while but dislike them & pulled away from doing so. was def disappointing for me to finally get to see them (1st time, came all the way from texas) & have the flow of the show undermined by the gear, but otherwise they were as great-sounding as i could've imagined & tore into everything they played. so what's w/ this LA HOB curse?! ;-)

how was attendance? someone on another post surmised it was going to be low... was the place half-full, full, etc?

any official word on the # of live cd's the band has turned these days from someone in the know that posts to these boards?

it turns out thats what it was - thx!

cant get on the raspberriesonline.com mssg boards (surfing for west coast tix). anyone know if theyre officially down? error message below pops up no matter how you set your sort parameters: "No topics were found. This is either because there are no topics in this forum, or the topics are older than the current age cutoff."

if anyone's got any available, let me know asap tonight