Paul Sidoti Instagram – There was a false start of a Raspberries reunion in the summer of 1999 in which I was going to participate as a backing musician/vocalist playing guitar and keyboards. But it led to a performance at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame where I played bass with Eric’s solo band. It was a great night of storytelling accompanied by a set of his original hits and some fun cover songs.
In 2004, the House of Blues was set to open a venue in Cleveland and their mission was to get Raspberries to reunite after 32 years for the grand opening. This time the stars aligned and it came to fruition. The original lineup along with myself and my longtime band mate Billy Sullivan and Jennifer Lee joined them to fill out the complex musical and vocal arrangements to replicate the original recordings. What ensued was some of the most fun and memorable moments of my musical career. We would rehearse every night for two and a half months putting together the show Eric dreamed of giving an audience what they waited so long to hear. Every detail was meticulously gone over in the best possible way. Eric and I spent a lot of time together outside of regular band practice. For instance, he’d show me the way he would voice string parts on a synthesizer. Not playing a typical chord but arranging the voices like a string quartet, using a cello/violin patch. I’d split the keyboard with the violins on top and the cellos on the bottom. He was such an amazing teacher, composer, and arranger. The knowledge I obtained from him was priceless.
Then there was the humor. My goodness. We laughed harder than we’d ever laughed before during these rehearsals. Eric had an incredible sense of humor and he had a wonderful way of telling the most hilarious stories. He was especially effective at doing this at just the right time when he sensed work fatigue might be setting in. He’d break everybody up with some hysterical story from years past and we’d get right back to it refreshed having laughed for a good 10 minutes or so. After rehearsals we’d go next door and have dinner at a popular bar and the laughs would continue until the wee hours of the morning. Continued.. | Posted on 03/May/2024 03:58:02
