ON A ROLL
The Raspberries reunite for a sold-out show

By Anastasia Pantsios

After Pere Ubu, the Raspberries were likely the most influential band to come from Cleveland. Unlike Pere Ubu, the pop-rocking 'berries had hit records—though not enough to guarantee them classic rock immortality. Though subsequently admired by a diverse range of major artists, the quartet was also saddled with a teen-pop image, the result of a Capitol Records marketing ploy gone off the rails.

At the time, they left critics and pre-teen girls starry-eyed and serious rock fans unimpressed in an era that favored "serious" music: Allman Brothers guitar rock, singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and David Bowie's jaded glitter. A teen mag even offered a "Raspberry Rolls" (a pink Volkswagen disguised as a Rolls-Royce) to the winner of a "Pick the Foxiest Raspberry" contest.

Today the Foxiest Raspberry, drummer Jim Bonfanti, is, like his bandmates, in his mid-50s. and he just became a grandfather for the second time. And the band that disintegrated acrimoniously in the spring of 1975 has reunited and plays a sold-out show this weekend at the House of Blues. It also just announced a second show New Year's Eve.

"It's been fabulous—not even a small skirmish," says Bonfanti of rehearsals. "I can't tell you how good it's been."

The Raspberries formed in 1970. By the time they made their self-titled debut album, released in 1972, they'd coalesced into the classic lineup of three of their four albums: Bonfanti, guitarist Wally Bryson, keyboardist/guitarist Eric Carmen and bassist Dave Smalley. All four sang and the band, which was packing crowds into the Agora on Sunday nights soon after forming, was known for its luscious harmonies, as well as references, in appearance and sound, to '60s British Invasion pop.

By mid-1972, their exhilarating "Go All the Way" was a national top five hit and their future looked wide-open. Sadly, it didn't happen. Three more Top 40 hits and three more albums (the last with a different lineup) and it was over. Bonfanti, Bryson, Carmen and Smalley got together in the spring of 1999 for one casual rehearsal with a possible reunion tour in mind.

"That didn't go anywhere," Bonfanti recalls. "This one's a lot different. The House of Blues contacted me about mid-June. They thought it would be great for us to start the grand opening weekend festivities. My answer at the time was I don't know if it's possible."

But by late July, everyone was on board. The band began rehearsals in mid- September, and it's been putting in eight-hour days since early November, with Smalley flying in from his current home in Phoenix. Area musicians Billy Sullivan, Paul Sidoti and Jennifer Lee augment the original lineup.

"They're doing things we couldn't do before that were always there on the recordings—that extra harmony part we threw on but we could never do live," says Bonfanti. "With four of us, we were limited at the time."

Bonfanti says the group's learned some 30 tunes from all four albums, and "a few surprises," including songs it's never played before.

During its original run, the group never drew local crowds as big as the one it'll play to at the House of Blues—1,200 people. It's not just absence making the heart grow fonder, but out-of-town fans snapping up the tickets. "We have people coming in from Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, England and Canada and at least half the states," Bonfanti says. "My sense based on people I know that didn't get tickets is that 50 percent could be from out of town, and that's very conservative."

Emily Kopp of the House of Blues concurs. "We've been getting dinner reservations for large groups, people from different places who've never met getting together."

"A lot of people that have become fans long after we broke up can now have an opportunity to hear the band," says Bonfanti. "More than the old fans, it's those people I'm excited for, like my daughters. For me on a personal level, that's huge."

Cleveland Free Times / November 24, 2004