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Cinderella Ballroom


Raspbernie

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starting_over_poster-01.jpg

Every Raspberries fan has seen the full-color poster that came with Starting Over. Here, for the first time is a scan of the actual full color slide used to make the poster. It was taken by photographer Richard DiLello: "I was living in Rockland County, New York in a small town called Suffern. I had previously shot two album covers for Badfinger and was doing a lot of work for Capitol Records. I had this lovely little cottage on 17 acres and we shot the Starting Over album cover there. We had lunch, played ping pong, and then I stood them against a tree and shot a few rolls of film. They were nice kids—very cooperative, and very photogenic. It was a relaxing and pleasurable shoot. My book, The Longest Cocktail Party, about my days at Apple Records working for the Beatles had just been published and I remember that Eric asked me some questions about what it was like working with them."

cinderella_ballroom-01.jpg

After Starting Over came out to nearly universal acclaim, Eric, Wally, plus new Raspberries members Michael McBride and Scott McCarl, embarked on a string of live performances coast-to-coast. This ULTRA RARE live poster advertised a gig the boys played in Appleton, Wisconsin on December 28, 1974.

cinderella_ballroom-02.jpg

The local joint Raspberries blew the roof off that night was the Cinderella Ballroom in Appleton. Opening act was progressive rock band Circus. Lead singer Bernie Millar was often compared to Mick Jagger for showmanship and stage presence. That night, Raspberries performed a selection of hits along with most of the tunes from their new LP. No live recordings of 'Berries Cinderella Ballroom show are known to exist, but this live recording of a GREAT Scott McCarl power pop classic gives you some idea on what the crowd heard that night:

RASPBERRIES - CRY

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  • 4 months later...

I was there that night at Rutgers, Rob. VERY very very cool!

I believe it was at the Student Center, very intimate venue.

missm, Eric always had the greatest clothes on. Great taste!

I went crazy over the album cover and my uncle Steve and I decoupaged it onto a piece of wood and it hung on my apartment wall with other decoupaged Raspberries pictures and even newspaper articles. My boyfriend at the time was VERY jealous of Raspberries members, Eric in particular. He felt threatened every time he looked at that wall and called it "the shrine."

Haha--great memories this photo evokes. I love it. I should get out all the old decoupaged artifacts--they're up in my memory box...

:)--Darlene

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  • 6 years later...

I was there that night at the Cinderella Ballroom!

I grew up in Appleton, and my brother Mike got me a ticket as (part of) an eighteenth birthday present.

(I found my way here to your web site because somebody posted a "what was your first concert?" question on Facebook, and I wanted to check the date: fourth, I think; Badfinger, Washington DC 1972; Beach Boys in Madison in 1973; and then Loggins and Messina in Oshkosh in Sept '74)

I remember being a bit apprehensive about the new band lineup, but from what I remember they sounded just great.

No recollection of "Circus" at all. I remember that my high school (and friends on the team) had a basketball game that night that I went to, so I might have missed them entirely.
But I was certainly there in time for the Raspberries.

The Cinderella was towards the edge of town, on the south side, and was on its last legs at that point; I don't remember how much longer it lasted; I think that was the one and only time I was ever there. Picture a 1930s or '40s dance hall, wide open wood floor, small rise stage at one end. At another time, maybe roller-skating, like the "Rock Around With Ollie Vee" scene in the "Buddy Holly Story".

And speaking of...
The other thing to know about the Cinderella Ballroom: everybody knows Buddy Holly (and Richie Valens and the Big Bopper) died in the early morning hours of Feb 3rd, 1959.
And most everyone knows they played the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, earlier that night, Feb 2nd. Well, on Feb 1st, they were supposed to play an afternoon show at the Cinderella and then an evening show at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay. But they had bus trouble coming from a show in Duluth on Jan 31st, and ended up not making it to the show in Appleton; they did make Green Bay show.

(When the Gary Busey movie came out, I got a copy of the book the movie was based on. And the book said they had played in Appleton. So this Appleton kid went to the local library to see what the newspaper had said about the show, only to discover that they had actually missed the show. I wrote to the author, he sent me a thank-you note - that I still have - and made the correction in the next edition of his book, and now histories of the tour have the detail about the Appleton-Cinderella show correct.)

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  • 1 year later...

A nearly 10-year-old thread worth a new look. 

That Starting Over poster hung on my dorm walls all four years at college. They looked like a rowdy rock’n’roll band! (I wonder if I would have hung up a poster of the white-suit Raspberries....  Probably not. My buddies would have razzed me. 😂)

Bernie, great story on the posters.

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That first poster picture would have made a GREAT, great, first album cover leaving fans and people "new" to hearing Raspberries music, perhaps wanting to buy the album to see fully what they were all about and also peeking their curiosity as well. Think this look is the real deal and what they "were" all about back then because it's natural and that look was them. Nice picture and naturally done. Very nice. Only thing is, Dave and Jim aren't in there. Love them too.

 

Nancy.

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