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| From | "Stephen Thorn" <youngthorn@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | Re: Eric Carmen |
| Date | Fri, 3 Sep 2004 18:50:05 -0700 |
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Hi Auditeers--
I had the opportunity to meet Eric under interesting circumstances. It was
in the late 70s, and Arista Records held a three-day convention at the Hotel
Del Coronado Clive Davis assembled his troops and gave them a corporate pep
talk. Entertainment was provided by the numerous acts of the Arista family.
Eric, assigned to the label, did not perform. He was seated at the sound
board and was chain-smoking with all the urgency of a film noir detective.
(This was a different time; I had college professors who used to light up
during lectures!)
I wanted to tell Eric how impressed I was that the title of his second solo
LP,. BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT, came from the great closing line of
Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY. He gave me a weak smile, signed my autograph,
and I returned to my seat with a signature that I could, at the very least,
slap on to an old copy of SIDE 3.
That Arista gathering proved to be prophetic in explaining why Mr.Carmen
eventually removed his rock and roll shoes. On that same night, Barry
Manilow took to the stage where Davis presented him with his umpteenth gold
record. Over the years, I started to believe that Clive was grooming Eric
to be his next Barry, with the musical direction heading south to the land
of ballads and MOR radio appeal. For the first two Arista LPs, Eric was
Arista's new gold calf and delivered the goods. After that, as we all know,
it was hit-and-miss.
Another highlight of that weekend included a set by the Dwight Twilley
Band, featuring the lead vocals of one of the greatest powerpop voices of
all time, the much-missed Phil Seymour. My friend and I also shared a few
pints with the cordial Alan Parsons, who spent hours entertaining us with
Abbey Road studio stories.
Best improv line of the convention: all through the weekend, Clive Davis
was constantly interrupted by a pathetic Patti Smith wanna-be who kept
yelling, "Where's Patti?!" Finally, an exasperated Davis could bear it
more. He said, "PATTI SMITH ISN'T HERE, BUT IF SHE WAS, SHE'D TELL YOU TO
SHUT THE @#$! Up!"
...from which commenced the loudest audience ovation of the convention!
Happy B-Day, Mr. Bash!!
Steve Thorn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Leve" <CraigL@ori.org>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: Eric Carmen
> Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 1:32 PM
> Subject: Re: Eric Carmen
>
>
> > On a completely different note...I also heard a lot of Beach boys on
> > Carmen's first solo album...I could imagine Carmen singing on the Beach
> Boys
> > song "Dierdre" from Sunflower...especially the chorus...
>
>
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