austinberries

ok roadie, now let's get to the meat of the matter: road stories from the *original* days - these guys had screaming & squawking girls as a major fan base, so which one of the guys in the band ended up being chased out of town by a furious, irate father &/or mother? ;-) btw, who is 'baby sister'? does eric or one of the other guys have a kid sis' on board?

no, actually i really meant to say "overrated" & have never understood why he was so popular, b/c he always struck me as a one-trick pony kind of guy who applied the "Saturday Night's Alright for Fightin'" lick/approach to almost everything i've seen him do, no matter who the artist. i did come across one performance, cant remember w/ whom, where i thought he sounded real hot, but everything else has always struck me as i mention here, including on Eric's tune "Inside Story". it doesn't take away from the song tho'; i'm really glad to have come across it b/c i think it's a brillaint tune in the way so many of his rockin' & smokin'-but-with-great-melody Raspberries tunes are

thanks Bernie! - i was just checking the ETV section late this morning & found some really cool new stuff, most notably an EC song i'd never heard - "The Inside Story"; wow - what a scorching hot tune & live version! (i have to say tho', this song reaffirms my long-held opinion that Davey Johnstone remains one of the most overrated guitarists out there, tho' he was obviously highly regarded enough by his peers). nor had i seen the "I'm a Rocker" segment of the Mike Douglas Show, which has the funky mix apparently b/c of the live vocals/canned music approach used that day. the Cyrus Eerie stuff is cool too. anyway, thanks for posting this stuff Bernie, as always!

wow - after reading Bernie's post about never getting any compensation, i am stunned; you, Bernie, are to be commended beyond words - you (& now Jim at raspberriesonline.com) have almost singlehandedly kept the legacy of the Raspberries afloat (w/ a nod to raspberries.net, too), & you've created an unrivaled place for all fans of the band & Eric to come together. it's so cool that your motivation is to return the favor for what these guys brought to you in joy over the years - the circle is complete! congrats & a bazillion katillion quadrillion thank-you's from all of us fans

& incriminating evidence notwithstanding! :rolleyes:

or maybe the 'berries never used actual string, horn, etc. sections in any of their recordings?... anyone know?

bernie has recently posted some cool new content on etv, including one i'd never seen of them doing 'party's over', which was real interesting to read about & see/hear. wally's singing seems a bit haphazard, which i guess could've been a reflection of the spirit & frustrations of the band at the time (& the issues on the set that day, as alluded to), which any musician can relate to if they've ever been in a band that has been thru communication, creative, logistical, etc. challenges. anyway, it's a great clip of our favorite band in action

the wondermints were phenomenal on the brian wilson 'shine' tour!

yeah, we got hit this week w/ some wintery, icy weather that shut everything down - it would probably be laughable anywhere else in the country where they have *real* winters eric said they had a great time in houston back in the day; now, let's hear about that "incident at holiday inn" - fork it over, buddy!

btw, i find it striking that there are so many musicians on the ec.com mssg boards, which makes it fun for us gearheads! i personally use a Lakland bass (& Hartke amp) - they are out of Chicago, & i can be spotted on their website at http://www.lakland.com/enth07AI.htm ; look for Kyle Etie on the page if you drop by! the bands i've been associated w/ as of late are power pop bands, hence my fandom related to all things Raspberries

bernie - do you have or know of photos anywhere of wally's vintage amp lineup? seems i remember seeing his guitars at raspberries.net...

fun to read roadie's perspective; let me guarantee y'all one thing: get the Raspberries down here to Austin, TX & it won't be cold - it'll be sooooooooooo HOT!

very cool pics, thanks for posting these for us, bernie; he sure had a lot of cool guitars for a piano player! ;-)

right - i always thought melodymakers were kinda the working man's step up to the les paul. lots of folks groan about the les paul's weight, but it doubtlessly contributes to its inimitable fat & juicy tone & sustain, so its kind of a tossup. anyway, great call on the tele, for its bright, twangy, & biting complement to Raspberries' tunes/sound

Eric - one of the things i've long been fascinated w/ is how the Raspberries era was the swan song era for bands to actually use real classical musicians to accompany their tracks, instead of synth-produced classical sounds. can you talk briefly about how the Raspberries may have made use of classical musicians back then on one/some of your tracks? presumedly they were always the last to be recorded, instrumentally...

EC - no worries there, these guys were glad to oblige (ehh, sorta ;-). did you hang on to any of your melodymakers & do you still find any performance or recording use for them? also, did you ever listen to any rachmanonoff pieces & listen for the ending to typically hit 4 notes (or chords) based on adapting the meter of the song to the 4 syllables of his name? may be one of those classical urban legends...

so "1" = "i've already covered that" - ha! well, thats why i mentioned "apologies if i've missed this guitarhead info in another post..." at least another fan was willing to fill me in (partially) here - thanks johno!

ok, for those of us not in on the joke (including the original post author here), what th' ???... must be a reference to some other thread, but would still like to know about said guitars, & will go w/ the seemingly-knowledgable johno's feedback for now, as i think he's right about the melodymaker

ohhhhhh, i see.... "1" - well that really clears the air for me - thanks for the in-depth feedback!

eric - in watching the 'flipside' video footage of 'tonight' at raspberriesonline (which is just scorching, btw), what was the double-cutaway solidbody you could often be seen playing back then? wally's guitars were always readily identifiable, but not necessarily true about yours - was this a gibson? seems you may have had a few - do you still have/play them? apologies if i've missed this guitarhead info in another post... also found it interesting & a fun surprise to see you playing a tele in the reunion footage, which sounds great! don't think you played one back in the day tho', did you?

this is a long thread, but i'll just chime in for being on the record, as honest feedback helps in any situation: price: too high by a substantial amount, tho' i bought into it. why? to support, encourage, & thank the band, & to obviously enjoy the material/media (missed the live shows being here in texas) glaring oversight: for the price, a copy of the book TONIGHT should absolutely be included, especially w/ it's tie-in to the harmonic reconvergence of the band quantity of LE run: if they can manage to reproduce & sell another run of the LE set - more power to them! there are other folks that know what we've known all along, that RASPERRIES are the greatest, & they should be able to take this all in too lawsuit or resentment toward band if they produce another LE run: laughable, but would love to see a couple of lawyers eat each other & get nothing out of it! (present legal company aside ;-) RASPBERRIES: still the greatest power pop band ever - get thee out on the road again in 2007, guys! & don't forget your austin, tx. swing - party at my place when they do! ;-)

just told my girlfriend "this is all i want for christmas" & she obliged accordingly ;-). the preview looks great, can't wait for the full-blown pkg. i'm thinking 300 copies are gonna go pretty quick if they get the word out..

thanks, i'm really interested in those two especially; on another note, your icon looks suspiciously like red green, master of duct tape..

ok, i had 'fresh' growing up, & i have the 'capitol greatest hits' collection - but i just ordered all 4 of their reissues! want to hear something that was 'hard to get over a heartbreak'?: i tried to pop out the 'fresh' cd from its clip, & it snapped right in half! the clip wouldn't release it, & i watched in horror as the cd split it two.. got another one on the way, tho'... raspberriesonline.com doesn't have the first cd, but i've got it coming from elsewhere anyone want to suggest which tracks to start with, given that i already know 'fresh' & 'capitol greatest'? ie: tunes that aren't on these two that i'm otherwise resultingly not familiar with? lots of you guys seem to know their full catalogue back to front, but i've got holes in my familiarity w/ it - so hit me w/ some 'must hear' suggestions on a side note, some of you probably had the same experience w/ particular favorite albums - the 'fresh' cassette that i had growing up was so good on side 1 that i rarely got to side 2 & don't recall any of those tunes!

brian - i'm pretty sure eric sang lead-throat on 'come around & see me'