Jump to content

Hindsight, Band Names, Labels, Success, Failure, Democracy and Entitlement


Eric Carmen

Recommended Posts

On 3/16/2014 at 3:37 PM, Raspbernie said:

Sorry, guys. But this was the most AWESOME thread of all time, and it went someplace it wasn't intended. Feel free to start up this dialog again over at Cartoon World, but I'm going to do some housecleaning and get it back on track.

Thanks Bernie... -_-

I was thinking about how I was going to untangle some of this thread.

Tim

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"All Through The Night" was my way of helping Mike McBride share in some of the writing and publishing royalties. Mike wrote all the verses, lyrically. I helped him out with the title and chorus lyric, and wrote the music. The song began with Mike's notoriously sarcastic, and misogynistic sense of humor. I'm pretty sure it was influenced by a Rod Stewart and the Faces song, "Stay With Me," which featured a pretty similar "attitude," lyrically. I felt no "emotional connection" with it. It was just a song.

I CAN tell you a story I thought about, today, after reading some of the posts in this thread.

In 1968, The Quick ( Danny and Randy Klawon, Mike McBride and yours truly ) went to New York to play a three night gig at a huge, crazy, psychedelic club/ ballroom in the East Village called The Electric Circus. It was kind of like a big fun house with weird, angled walls,  and mirrors and strobe lights.

After our first show, we walked offstage and into the dressing room, where, three minutes later, the door flew open and in walked four or five girls. One of them walked up to Danny and shoved her hand into his pants. I was sitting in a chair, tuning my guitar with a strobe tuner, when another girl began to undress herself, completely, and then came over and sat down on my lap, naked ( making it pretty difficult to continue tuning ). She asked if I had a girlfriend in New York, and when I said "no," she said "Great! I'll be your girlfriend, then!" I don't remember what the other girls were doing because, frankly, I was pretty "stunned" by the whole scene. We told them they had to leave the dressing room so we could get ready for the second show, and they dutifully exited.

The stage was shaped like a large "half circle" with the front of the stage being the rounded part. The band had set up across the front of the stage in a straight line, leaving the round part of the stage, closest to the audience, unoccupied.

When we eventually took the stage for the second show, the girl who was naked in the dressing room was about half dressed, and sitting in the middle of the round part of the stage, facing the band. She had her jacket on, but seemed to have forgotten her blouse. She just sat there, cross legged, Indian style, facing us, and when we began to play, she calmly unbuttoned her jacket and opened it wide for everyone to see, including anyone offstage, who had a good angle.

Amazed, we continued to play, and throughout the show, she alternately closed and buttoned her jacket, and then unbuttoned it again, holding her arms as far apart as she could. We finished the second show, and when we eventually piled into our waiting van, the girls were already there, asking to go back to the hotel with us.

I will end my story there, for everyone's sake, but, suffice to say, The Quick witnessed a pretty mind-blowing experience that evening. Being "rockers", we didn't want to let on that we were shocked, but we had never seen anything like that before.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you haven't seen the "History Of the Eagles" documentary, do yourself a favor and watch it. Band dissension, successes and failures plays no favourites whether you're a hugely successful group (the Eagles) or one that struggled (Raspberries). There are some interesting parallels in entitlement and democracy. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This HAS been an AWESOME thread..because of Eric's posts...and the tangent discussion on ATTN has made it even more awesome.  Some thoughtful posts on the tangent subject from some good people.  Great thread.

And back to Eric's stories here:  Eric, I don't blow smoke...you are as good as it gets re: using prose to tell a story.  I  have read a lot of books and there is no author I have read that can articulate and keep a reader glued to the text like you can.  Your writing flows so well and your stories are always captivating.  You could have been (or still can be) a tremendous author.

P.S.  Looking forward to more installments, for sure.

James

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/17/2014 at 9:09 AM, James said:

This HAS been an AWESOME thread..because of Eric's posts...and the tangent discussion on ATTN has made it even more awesome.  Some thoughtful posts on the tangent subject from some good people.  Great thread.

And back to Eric's stories here:  Eric, I don't blow smoke...you are as good as it gets re: using prose to tell a story.  I  have read a lot of books and there is no author I have read that can articulate and keep a reader glued to the text like you can.  Your writing flows so well and your stories are always captivating.  You could have been (or still can be) a tremendous author.

P.S.  Looking forward to more installments, for sure.

SO true, James! Many thanks to Dave ( LobsterLvr), for starting the thread, "Renaming the Raspberries", and to Duane, for "spurring" Eric's memory enough to entice him to  start this thread, and share these amazingly detailed recounts of his career!

I've told Eric many times he needs to write a book...With his effortless and enthralling writing abilities, Eric could easily add "Best Selling Author", to his list of impressive achievements!

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

 I play piano (with BOTH hands)

Haven't finished reading the whole thing, but this part made me giggle. My poor, pitiful attempts at piano sadly ended because I couldn't get both hands in sync. I did great with the right hand. The left, well, it seemed to work better in my lap. LOL

Back to reading ...

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I am a new member here, but a long time "player of the music" in my 37 years in the radio business.  It always saddens me to hear about how business always seems to interfere with the art.  I guess Mick Jagger is the only one to really ever get it right, as his background was accounting!

Although it sounds like there are deep divides among the members of this great group, the Raspberries,  (greater divides than ever maybe) , the one thing that lives on is what is embedded in those vinyl grooves. That can never be taken away because of Facebook posts, writing credit disputes, or bad attitudes. And although I will probably die now without getting to see a reunion show, I can relish the archive that is residing in my music library, and look forward to any creative output in the future, however that may present itself.  The Beatle's couldn't get along either but look at all that they gave us! I put the Raspberries right up there in that same league.

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...