My friend Kyle is the biggest Raspberries fan I’ve ever met, so all these reunion gigs and releases they’ve been doing this year (they officially broke up in ‘74) have turned his 2007 into a months-on-end mega-Christmas. He and his wife Lainie had already flown out to LA to catch them there, but then they couldn’t resist a chance to see them one more time on the boys’ home (snow-covered) turf of Cleveland where they played at the State Theatre on Dec. 14. I’m posting his account of the experience here in hopes that I can encourage you BYM readers with similar fan tendencies to keep on dreamin’:

It happened we were sitting behind members of Wally’s family and members of Eric’s family at the show, and at one point I yelled out ‘yeah Wally!’ during one of his blistering solos or up-front moments, which caught their ear, especially his niece’s, and Wally’s brother-in-law ended up getting us backstage to meet the fellas, which we did … My wife also kissed on all 4 Raspberries that night.

We happened to be staying at the Wyndham across the street too, where the ‘berries were put up, so we got to hang out and chat it up with folks there some more, including Eric and the band. Next day, when we were heading out around noon, who should step into the elevator with us but Mr. Carmen himself, on his way to checking out, so we got let him know one more time what a great show it was.

Also, Eric and I had a conversation at the after-party where he tried to win over my distaste (which i had posted on the mssg boards) about the ‘berries doing cover tunes – he feels they’re appropriate and I don’t. I’m in the minority among their die-hard fans on this count, though.

I applaud their decision to rave up on and pay tribute to their source material. When I first heard the Sunset Strip album, I wasn’t at all surprised that they’d performed songs like the Who’s “I Can’t Explain” and the Searchers’ “Needles and Pins” live, although I’d have much rather they’d included “Drivin’ Around,” which is a Beach Boys tribute and an original all in one, and “Every Way I Can” instead.

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