By Tom Lounges

In 1972, thousands of rock 'n' roll kids across the country were trying to win a Carefree Sugarless Gum-sponsored contest to bring that year's hottest pop band, The Raspberries, to their school for a performance.

Three weeks of filling out postcards and chewing endless packs of gum were for naught. The group responsible for the rich vocal harmonies that powered such hits as "Go All the Way," "I Wanna Be with You" and "Let's Pretend" were never to set foot in a region high school.

"Wow! I remember that contest, because it was the group's first national tour," laughed Raspberries founder-drummer Jim Bonfanti. "I don't remember what school wound up winning, but I do remember that it was us and the Grassroots who did that Carefree contest."

Bonfanti, who sold his drums in 1977 and began a quarter-century-long career as an auto broker, explained that he has been enjoying the opportunity to re-live his pop star past as the promotional "point man" for the re-formed all-original lineup of The Raspberries.

Bonfanti will be onstage tomorrow night beating his drums at Chicago's House of Blues for The Raspberries' third reunion show. He will be joined by his old friends—vocalist Eric Carmen, bassist Dave Smalley and guitarist Wally Bryson—also with a trio of supplemental touring players.

Eric Carmen had the most successful post-Raspberries career, landing solo hits like "All By Myself," "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" and "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" on the charts throughout the '70s and '80s. Bonfanti got back into music three years ago, forming the band Boxer. Bryson and Smalley have released solo albums, but have landed no hits.

The Raspberries reunion came about because of constant prodding by Anthony Nicolaides, who wanted Cleveland's most famous native rockers to open that city's brand new House of Blues last November.

"Anthony is the talent buyer for Cleveland's House of Blues. He was very persistent," Bonfanti explained. "I didn't think it would happen, but I contacted Eric and Wally who live here in Cleveland with me and then we contacted Dave who lives in Arizona. Everyone was up for doing it."

Tickets for the grand opening of Cleveland's House of Blues sold out in less than four minutes. Nicolaides did not have too much trouble talking the band into returning for an encore performance there on New Year's Eve.

That show was another sellout.

"Between those two Cleveland shows, we accepted an offer to play at Chicago's House of Blues, which happens this Saturday," Bonfanti said.

While nothing is confirmed yet, The Raspberries are making plans to undertake a more structured major market American tour in spring 2005, which Bonfanti expects will bring them back to Chicago.

Bonfanti's music career started while drumming for Cleveland's most popular local band, The Mods, in the mid- to late-1960s alongside guitarist Wally Bryson and Dave Smalley.

After changing their name to The Choir, the band landed a minor national hit on the charts in 1967 with the single, "It's Cold Outside." Bonfanti has wrongly been credited in rock history books with having played drums on The Outsiders' 1966 hit, "Time Won't Let Me," but stressed that he did not and has no idea how that misinformation ever got so widespread.

Keeping beat on "Time Won't Let Me" was Bonfanti's fellow Cleveland drummer, Jim Fox, who later went on to fame with The James Gang.

Eric Carmen's career had not faired as well as Bonfanti's. Carmen had played with Bryson in a local band called Cyrus Erie, which recorded a few singles for Epic Records that went completely unnoticed.

"Eric wanted to join The Choir, but by that point (1969) I was done. I didn't want to be in a band anymore," Bonfanti recalled. "But it only took a few months away to make me realize I wasn't ready to quit. So I called up Eric and Wally. We put together The Raspberries in 1970 with a different bass player who was with us for about three months."

Carmen began playing bass, until Smalley returned from a short stint of military service and rejoined his old band mates. The Raspberries caught the attention of future hit-making producer and record mogul, Jimmy Lenner, who landed them a deal with Capitol Records in late 1971. By the summer of 1972, "Go All The Way," a song with highly suggestive lyrics for that time, became a Top 5 national hit.

Many great memories were culled from his three years and three albums with The Raspberries, said Bonfanti, but his very favorite memory is headlining New York's Carnegie Hall in September 1973.

"That was a night I will never forget," he said. "To be on that stage was just an amazing experience."

He expects that more amazing experiences lie ahead now that the legendary Ohio power pop band has gotten back together.

Bonfanti shies away from talking about why he and Smalley quit the band shortly after their Carnegie concert. Bryson and Carmen released one more album before disbanding The Raspberries for what all thought would be forever.

"We don't like to even go there," he said of the band's break up. What is important to a person when they are 21 and 22 is not important later in life. We all go back as friends too many years. We've left all the baggage behind. We're just having fun with the music again! If this all ends tomorrow, it's all been worth it to me just to hang out and play again with my old friends."

The Raspberries may stay in season for a long while, as there has been talk of writing new songs. "Remember, this was only supposed to be a one-night hometown reunion," he concluded. "Now here we are talking about a Chicago concert and a spring tour. We'll just take things as it comes and enjoy it while it lasts."

Northwest Indiana Times / January 14, 2005