Duane Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 When The Essential Eric Carmen was released in March of 2014, there was talk that it might lead to a tour. There was a lot of excitement here on the boards about that possibility. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and most of us have resigned ourselves to the almost certain possibility that EC will never do another concert. In interviews promoting the album, EC talked about the high cost and the difficulties of doing a concert and/or tour that would meet his standards. He wasn't going to do anything substandard just to make a buck. He wasn't going to embarrass himself. I fully understand that and appreciate his devotion and high standards. We were hoping the album would finally get EC the credit and acclaim that he deserved. Even if we didn't get a tour, I was hoping he would at least have a concert or two in Cleveland. Sadly, it didn't happen. No matter how great we fans think EC is, he just doesn't have enough fans to support the cost of a concert/tour that would meet his standards. Also, at his age, he has to decide if he can perform a concert that would meet his standards. We would be more than satisfied with a "less than perfect" Eric Carmen concert...he would not. Like he wrote...perfection is consuming. This is a problem for all older artists with a smaller following, no matter how devout their fans are. I think this format would work for them, too. Hear me out before you dismiss my "concert" suggestion. I will say that this format is not totally original. In fact, it has worked to promote new albums for decades. It was even used to promote The Essential Eric Carmen...it just wasn't used as a concert format. This is what I would do: I would put EC in a small venue with great acoustics and a great sound system. I would put him on stage with the piano of his choice and a few guitars of his choice, but I would not have him sing. That's right, I would not have him sing. I would have somebody on stage with him interviewing him, preferably Bernie but it could be a DJ type. Like the album promotions that have been on the radio for decades, they could talk about a song and then play it. They would play the remastered versions that meet EC's standards. While each song played, there could be a large screen behind/above EC showing slideshows and/or videos related to the song being played. Lyrics could be added, but we all know the lyrics! We know Eric loves to talk about the history of his songs. He would have the freedom to talk as much as he wants between/about each song. We would eat it up. He could play the "concert" in a scripted, predetermined order, or...my choice would be to ad lib each show. Field questions from the audience, questions submitted on this website, etc. While talking about the songs, Eric could play intros or parts of songs on the piano or guitar. He could explain and/or demonstrate why he wrote a song the way that he did. Let each "concert" be unique. If each concert was unique, his devoted fans would want to go to each one, knowing it would never be the same show twice. I think this could play as often as Eric wanted to do it, once a month, a few times a year, or just once a year. Heck, we'd settle for just one concert. If EC didn't want to travel, he could just perform in Cleveland and we'd come to him. I could also see this as a show that could travel at an affordable cost. I think each show should be filmed and the DVD's could be sold. I would buy the DVD even if I went to the concert. If each show was unique, each DVD would be collectable. The "concerts" could be marketed as an intimate evening with Eric Carmen...a meet and greet event featuring the music and thoughts of Eric Carmen. (Did I mention that each concert ticket sold would include a meet and great?) The DVD's would be available to fans that couldn't make it to the concerts. The fans that can make it to the concerts would pay a crazy price for that show. The advantages to Eric for this type of concert are many. The saving of time, expense, and trouble to put together a band and crew that could put on a show that would meet Eric's standards. The saving of time, expense, and trouble to rehearse such a show. The saving of the cost to promote a concert in a venue big enough to be profitable. The saving of the risks and costs involved if enough tickets weren't sold for a bigger venue. I'm sure there are many more. I can't help but believe that Eric would enjoy this type of show. It would also allow his kids and his wife to see Eric where he belongs...on a stage in front of his adoring fans. They could see, firsthand, what his music means to so many of us. Anyway, that's my thoughts. Probably not much chance of it actually happening, but it's a "concert" that could happen...and one that I would pay dearly to attend! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof2setsoftwins Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Hoping this is an old post.. Eric and Amy do not live in Cleveland anymore. Didn' t he already do "An Evening with Eric Carmen" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 No, it's a new post. Nice concept—could even be sort of a good way to say goodbye to fans and cap his career. Yes, other artists have done this sort of thing—I saw a great one with Billy Joel, for example. Of course, Billy's audience is a little bigger, right? Not sure there would be enough EC fans left. Sill, dreams are forever, so... good post. PS: I missed that "Evening with Eric Carmen" event. But I've heard about it—some nice posts here about it that only Kirk can find. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Intelligent as heck post Señor Duane, you are thinker! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Duane, you obviously put a lot of thought into your post. I started to cringe, then became rather rapt at what I was reading. Eric could even do it from his house, and the rest of us could watch from our own homes, for a small fee:) The Evening with Eric Carmen was about as close as you could get to this format. The evening started with an interview, a question and answer session, and Eric playing some music. The second segment had the overdubs (as they would be called on the Raspberries reunion shows) joining Eric on stage for a concert. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof2setsoftwins Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Bernie What do u have, on An Evening with Eric Carmen, in your vaults? any pictures of the concert.?? There's only 2 pics on the internet that I found. Friends told me it was so great to c him in that kind of setting, and as usual, his voice left them wanting more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raspbernie Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 40 minutes ago, Momof2setsoftwins said: Bernie What do u have, on An Evening with Eric Carmen, in your vaults? Bernie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof2setsoftwins Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Thank you Bernie.... You M A D E my day. Does Eric ever take a bad photo?....to answer my own question......N O. CAN I have some more please, sir? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Benfer Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 That evening was recorded. Where is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raspbernie Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 I have the soundcheck, which I filmed, and the show itself. I’ll see if I can post something in the “Ecstacy” section of the message board, with apologies to non-supporters who can’t access that area of EC.com. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof2setsoftwins Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 yeah where is it? You would make an "old woman", very happy to c the whole show... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Benfer Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 I never quite understood why the Rock Hall had the event, and recorded the event for supposed archive purposes, but no one can actually get it. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 23 hours ago, Raspbernie said: I have the soundcheck, which I filmed, and the show itself. I’ll see if I can post something in the “Ecstacy” section of the message board, with apologies to non-supporters who can’t access that area of EC.com. YES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doreen Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 So tell us about supporters. How do you get to be one??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 1 minute ago, Doreen said: So tell us about supporters. How do you get to be one??? Supporters are members who have donated to help with the cost of keeping the website going. There is a donate button on the site if you'd like to become a supporter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doreen Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, Kirk said: Supporters are members who have donated to help with the cost of keeping the website going. There is a donate button on the site if you'd like to become a supporter Do you all do one time or monthly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 7 hours ago, Doreen said: Do you all do one time or monthly? Personal choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raspbernie Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 Doreen, I set it up so anyone can be a "Supporter" by donating anything from a penny to a million dollars. Either donation (or anything in between) gives you access to the "Ecstasy" section of the website. Bernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doreen Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 Just now, Raspbernie said: Doreen, I set it up so anyone can be a "Supporter" by donating anything from a penny to a million dollars. Either donation (or anything in between) gives you access to the "Ecstasy" section of the website. Bernie thanks - on it's way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkpat Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 I would be so “in” if Eric decided to do a virtual concert from home as a pay-per-view! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 I remember some of the promotions for The Essential Eric Carmen back in March of 2014 were posted here. Some were audio interviews where they would talk to Eric about the remastering of the songs, the history of the songs, etc. Eric used to enjoy talking and writing about music...his own and other's. (The most life this site ever had was when Eric was participating. We loved it when he weighed in on any subject). He also talked about a possible tour, but....he mentioned the costs of doing a concert to his standards might prevent a tour from happening. That's when I thought about this. I knew how much we loved to hear him talk about his music, and we had so many questions. I didn't care if the music was live, maybe nobody else would either. I thought a Q and A would be right up Eric's alley. This format seemed perfect to me. He could talk all he wanted, play a song, and talk some more. We would eat it up. A Meet and Greet would be icing on the cake! I was going to wait to see if any concerts actually happened before I suggested it, then my life changed. My wife, who had health issues anyway, had a blood clot that caused emergency surgery on May 20, 2014. She survived the surgery but spent the next two weeks in ICU, mostly sedated. Just when we thought she was recovering, she coded and passed away on June 4th, 2014. I didn't listen to any music for quite a while. I didn't even have the radio on in my car. I lost all interest in this site and everything else. By the time I came back, this site was pretty dead. Eric had left the site and a lot of the regulars had moved on to facebook and/or twitter. Bernie finally pulled the plug on the place. I thought everything was gone forever. I was very excited to get a message from Elle saying that Bernie was firing the message boards back up! Thanks, Bernie!!! It's been nice to see some of my favorite people back on the boards, along with some new ones. I've also enjoyed reading a lot of the old threads. It felt good to finally get this off my chest, even though I know the odds of Eric ever doing anything now are slim. I just wish he would visit the site from time to time. Thanks for listening to me. I've got a couple more topics that I've got to get out at some point soon! P.S. - I'm doing fine now. After 4 years of telling people that I would never date or marry again, I crossed paths with a girl I went to high school with. She's a very popular retired middle school teacher and had never married. She was just waiting for me. We met at a weekly trivia game after being invited by a mutual friend. After months of talking and texting, we decided to try dating. It was both the scariest thing and the easiest thing that I'd ever done. Everything just clicked and fell into place. I had to deal with some guilt, but I knew I had my late wife's blessing. She knew she didn't have a lot of years left and talked about it from time to time. I told her that I would never remarry and she told me that she didn't want me to be alone. I just had to give myself permission. The guy that was never going to remarry celebrated his 2nd anniversary on February 9th. My second life is going well. Didn't mean to get into all this...it just happens when I get on a keyboard! You people will never know what you've meant to me over the years. I'm glad we're back. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Benfer Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 There are many things that happen to us in life that only TIME is the remedy for. Super glad to hear that weathered the storm Duane. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Duane, sorry for your loss, but glad you rebounded in fine style. Congrats on your 2nd anniversary! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lew Bundles Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Duane...glad you’ve battled back...life interferes with living a lot of the time...Sorry for your misfortunes, but it’s strange how this site can be a sort of catharsis or comfort for many of us...Keep posting...You were always one of my favorites...Also, get Elle back here...Not too hard on the page or the eyes... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Duane, I echo Lew's comments. You're one of my all-time favorites here. Glad that the fates are making up for some truly hard times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.