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BILLBOARD.COM - NEW BERRIES ARTICLE!


Al K

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don't ya just love a well informed, well educated, well prepared journalistic professional?

And this from the industry bible Billboard?!

There are people on this board who could do a better job of educating the public and putting forth the written and spoken word.

Marv

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don't ya just love a well informed, well educated, well prepared journalistic professional?

What's amazing is that the "Seeker" line is followed by the songlist for the CD's. How can one not look at the list in their article and not go "Wait there's 'I Can't Explain' not 'The seeker'"?

My guess is badly translated short hand notes and what he really meant was covers of The Who and The Searchers.

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Hey, any press is good press, and I know there's more to come.... This is a great music story for this summer --- it's got the classic rock angle, the power-pop-invention angle, the human interest angle, the personalities. And just think of all the people that will hear "Go All the Way" and say, "Oh yeah! I love that song!"

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Here's my best "educated" guess. The person who wrote this rather uninspired (and uninspiring) little piece is probably under 25 years of age, and has never heard of the Raspberries. It was probably too much trouble for her to bother to google Raspberries to find out anything about us. They may as well have asked her to write a story on a new Benny Goodman CD. She just didn't care. She's probably never heard of the Who either, because she didn't recognize "I Can't Explain" in the songlist. She picked "Let's Pretend" and "I'm A Rocker" out of a hat, because she obviously had no idea what "hits" the band actually had, and was too lazy to access Billboard's own archives. Duh. Someone probably told her we did a song by the Searchers (another band she's never heard of) and that somehow got turned into "The Seeker." Finally, no one at Billboard bothered to look at her story to fact check it. How anyone could write a piece about the Raspberries and not mention "Go All The Way" is beyond me. They also got the title of the CD wrong. It's "Live On Sunset Strip." There's no "The." Duh. ec

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Eric,

Your notes prompted me to do a Yahoo search of the writer's name. She's no rookie, so the holes in her news item would be due to disinterest or laziness rather than inexperience. She's done a LOT of movie reviews (Premiere mag) but also has written for Circus (as far back as 1997, maybe earlier) and Spin.com. She's been around long enough to know she should have dug in and done some research considering that her knowledge of the Raspberries' history is lacking. (And clearly it is, because you're right: You don't ignore "GATW" --- or "IWBWY," for that matter --- in a Raspberries story.)

Generally speaking, when any reporter on any magazine writes a round-up news department, he/she will weed through press releases and make selections. The editor does NOT want him or her to run press releases verbatim (at least I hope not!), so the reporter has to use the press release as a starting point, doing some extra research along the way. With the Internet, that extra research can take just a few minutes (as opposed to pre-Internet days, when it could be a chore!). But picking up the phone and calling the publicist can be helpful, too....

So yeah, given the slap-dash quality of that Raspberries announcement, I'd say she mailed it in. At least it's in there, but... of course we'd all rather have her GET IT RIGHT.

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That didn't take long--corrections made.

The Raspberries reunited in 2004 and toured briefly the following year with their original lineup of Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti. At the House of Blues gig, the group played a blend of '70s hits like "Let's Pretend" and "I'm a Rocker," cuts from its four albums and a cover of the Who's "I Can't Explain."

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I agree.....she didn't do her homework. Just makes you wonder about journalism and the media in general. If you can't get a story like this straight....when there is a ton of reference available....just imagine the reporting on current events like the war in Irag!! The good news is that the word is out that this amazing disc(s) will be out soon, chronicling one the BEST live shows I've EVER seen!!!! CanNOT wait to get the 3-disc set!!!

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I let Ryko know about the errors yesterday.

Here's an excerpt from a communication I had with Ryko yesterday about the Billboard.com story, and my hope for future articles:

"Since many of today's younger journalists may not know who Raspberries are, or at best have a basic knowledge of the band but are not as well educated as they should be...should we structure any press releases in a "for dummies" format, with selected points highlighted or in bullet points to steer the more ignorant members of the media as to the important parts of the release they should be including in any piece they do, such as:

- Recorded by Grammy award winning engineer and producer Mark Linett, known for his groundbreaking work on Brian Wilson's "Smile".

-Produced by Mark Linett and Eric Carmen.

- The performance marks the triumphant return after 30 years of the band’s original line-up of Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti.

- Raspberries are considered by many to be the prime architects of the power-pop genre, and are well known for their legendary live performances.

- This is the first live album ever and first new release in 33 years from the influential power-pop group

- The deluxe set features all of the band’s classic radio hits including the million selling “Go All The Way,†“I Wanna Be With You,†and “Let’s Pretend,†plus Rolling Stone Magazine’s 1974 Record of the Year, “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record),†alongside critically acclaimed fan favorites and covers including a scorching version of The Who’s “I Can’t Explain.â€

- Both packages contain rare photos, special liner notes and hard to find lyrics to all of the songs.

Just a thought. I'd hate to get some good press like the Billboard .com piece, and then have the writer not include the main selling points of the release in the piece. Thanks...Al"

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