Basement Rock’s Glen Braget interviews Jim Bonfanti, drummer of 70’s power pop legends The Raspberries, in May 2005 to talk about the recent remastering of the Raspberries album catalog and band reunion.
The Raspberries were a power pop/pop rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. They had a run of success in the early 1970s music scene with their crisp pop sound, which exquisitely crafted melodies and achingly gorgeous harmonies. The group drew influence from the British Invasion era—especially The Beatles, The Who, The Hollies, and Small Faces—and its mod sensibility. In both the U.S. and the UK, the Raspberries helped pioneer the power pop music style that took off after the group disbanded. The Raspberries reformed in 2005 and have been playing together off and on since.
Basement Rock’s Glen Braget interviews Mark Farner, founding member of Grand Funk Railroad, In September 2005.
Mark Farner is best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist for Grand Funk Railroad, and later as a contemporary Christian musician. Farner was the guitarist and lead singer for Grand Funk Railroad as well as the songwriter for most of their material.
Basement Rock’s Glen Braget interviews Ian McLagan of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands Small Faces/Faces in May, 2005 about the well received Faces box set Five Guys Walk Into a Bar.
Ian McLagan is best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He has also collaborated with The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and has been leading his own band, the Bump Band for quite some time. McLagan has released several solo albums. In 2012, both the Small Faces and Faces were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Basement Rock’s Glen Braget interviews Minnesota born 1960’s pop music legend Gary Puckett in May 2006 to promote an appearance Puckett made at the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, MN.
Gary Puckett, along with the Union Gap, forged a series of massive chart ballads in the late 1960’s. They are known for such hits as Woman, Woman , Young Girl, Lady Willpower, Over You, and This Girl Is a Woman Now.
Basement Rocks’s Glen Braget talks with well known New York City DJ Pete Fornatale in August 2009 about his fantastic book about the 1969 Woodstock Festival titled Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock.
Pete Fornatale was a disc jockey who helped usher in a musical alternative to Top 40 AM radio in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s, presenting progressive rock and long album tracks that AM stations wouldn’t touch and helping to give WNEW a major presence on the still-young FM dial. Fornatale passed away in New York City at age 66 on April 26, 2012.
