03/13/2024
Sometime in mid 2007, one ordinary unexciting evening, I was sitting in my kitchen and the phone rang (I believe it was the "real" phone, which were still widely in use, even then). I picked up the blower in question and the voice on the other end said,
"Hello, is Freddie Katz available?"
"This is Freddie"
"Hi - this is Eric Carmen calling...Rick Chertoff gave me your number - were doing a couple of Raspberries reunion shows in New York and Rick says you're the guy who should mix. Are you interested? Available?"
Needless to say I nearly fell over...and although things like this were known to happen back then...people still actually TALKED on phones...not EVERYTHING was through text and email quite yet...but still. Phone or not it wasn't a living legend reaching out to you everyday.
Immediately in my mind was the image of Ira Sebastian Elliot and me driving around Queens at 4am (probably after some Danceteria hang) blasting "Tonight" and "Overnight Sensation" on the car stereo. Ira was a Raspberries fan, and he helped turn me into one. We don't bump into one another all that often these days, but that was a bond we shared, and I'll never forget it.
It made sense that Eric had mentioned Rick Chertoff…I had been doing some live sound work for him around that time, a project he’d been involved in with Willie Nile. Obviously he’s passed my number along…thanks Rick! Thanks Willie!
Needless to say I took the gig.
And especially, thank you ERIC CARMEN! It was glorious!
RIP - TAKE A BOW❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Btw, one of the frustrating things about live sound is how ephemeral it is...once the show's over, it's gone. Your whole glorious mix...up into the ether. Very different than making a record. But a YouTube search revealed that someone did in fact post some video from that show, and although the audio isn't as powerful as if you were there, it does catch the flavor of my mix, the drum sound, the beautiful ambience. There are a few clips, but here's the best one I could find. Dig it!! https://vimeo.com/74904463
