  A universal set of third--nearest neighbour tight--binding (TB) parameters is
presented for calculation of the quasiparticle (QP) dispersion of $N$ stacked
$sp^2$ graphene layers ($N=1... \infty$) with $AB$ stacking sequence. The QP
bands are strongly renormalized by electron--electron interactions which
results in a 20% increase of the nearest neighbour in--plane and out--of--plane
TB parameters when compared to band structure from density functional theory.
With the new set of TB parameters we determine the Fermi surface and evaluate
exciton energies, charge carrier plasmon frequencies and the conductivities
which are relevant for recent angle--resolved photoemission, optical, electron
energy loss and transport measurements. A comparision of these quantitities to
experiments yields an excellent agreement. Furthermore we discuss the
transition from few layer graphene to graphite and a semimetal to metal
transition in a TB framework.
