Rundgren Radio Exceeds Half A Million Online Listens

Rundgren Radio Exceeds Half A Million Online Listens Rundgren Radio is an online talk radio show for Todd Rundgren fans that aired weekly for 4 years from 2007-2011 and still airs occasionally for special edition shows. The shows recently exceeded 500,000 listens on Blog Talk Radio. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RR and Blog Talk Radio PRLog (Press Release) - May 03, 2012 - Rundgren Radio is an online talk radio show for Todd Rundgren fans that aired weekly for 4 years from 2007-2011 and still airs occasionally for special edition shows. The shows recently exceeded 500,000 listens on Blog Talk Radio. The two hosts, Doug and Melinda, also promote a few Todd Rundgren concerts each year using the Rundgren Radio name or RundgrenRadio.com. "Several websites download and offer our shows so the true number is larger than the number available to us from Blog Talk Radio but knowing for certain we have over half a million listens for a niche market online show is a testament to how much Todd fans are interested in all things Todd", Doug said. Most of the Rundgren Radio online radio shows include a guest that the hosts interview for a while and then let fans call in to ask questions. All of their guests have some type of connection with Todd like performing on one of his albums or having one of their albums produced by Todd. Some of the past guests include John Oates, Andy Partridge, Roy Firestone, Denny Laine, David Sanborn, Lenny Kaye, Rick Derringer, Greg Hawkes, Stewkey Antoni of Nazz, all of the members of Utopia, and more. Todd has also been a guest on several RR shows including a live interview from his 60th birthday party in Hawaii known as Toddstock. "Thanks to our listeners we've also been able to present over 20 Todd Rundgren concerts with several of them being the first-ever like the A Wizard A True Star album concerts and the Todd and Healing album concerts", Doug added. "Our radio show has succeeded because the Todd fan community is interested in helping more people discover the music of one of the greatest musicians of our time, Todd Rundgren. We have fellow Todd fans helping us with just about everything we do like social media, web design, photography, graphic design, party decor, and even hanging concert flyers. Todd fans go to eleven", Melinda said. The next Todd concerts being promoted by Rundgren Radio will be his first-ever symphonic shows in the USA. The concerts are being held in Rockford, IL on June 1st and 2nd at the Coronado Performing Arts Center and Todd will be accompanied by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. Currently, the majority of tickets purchased for the two concerts have been by people outside of the city of Rockford including 30 different US States and 6 different countries. "Todd's hardcore fan base will travel for the special and rare concerts like these two in Rockford which will likely be the only ones in the USA with this incredible setlist that was used in the two symphonic shows last year in Amsterdam", Doug said. "Todd will be performing several songs in Rockford that he's never performed live in the USA", he added.

How can a 53 year old man be a Todd Rundgren fan for 40 years?

May 04, 2012

How can a 53 year old man be a Todd Rundgren fan for 40 years?

Jonathan Knowles, me, Tom Wujec: Photo courtesy of Shaan Hurley
On Tuesday we had an all-day meeting of the Corporate Strategy and Engagement team of which Autodesk Labs is now a part. We had participants from Los Gatos, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, San Rafael, and Toronto all in one place at the same time. As part of kicking things off, we had to share something about ourselves that the others probably didn't know.
I told my story about being a Todd Rundgren fan. In 1973, when I was 13 years old, I purchased a copy of an album entitled A Wizard, A True Star,

To the causal listener the album gets its name because one side features ornate synthesizer arrangements (musical instrument wizardry) and the other side features soulful balladeering (star quality singing). But that's not why I am a fan. The album had a non-rectangular shaped cover, painted by artist Arthur Wood, with odd symbols strewn about it. At first glance these symbols seemed to be gibberish; however, they were a cipher that when decoded had messages like "Be true to your word and your work." and "I will be as true to you as I can." In this case "true," meant "loyal," not "real." Todd Rundgren was making music true to his musical vision independent of its commercial appeal. As a 13 year old, that made an impression on me and has stuck with me ever since. Words to live by.
As I told this story one of my teammates inquired - "Todd Rundgren - the 'Hello It's Me' guy?" I of course said "yes" because that is one of his popular songs, but I cringed a little bit inside because that song is not really representative of why I am a fan. Then I thought, I have been a fan a long time. It started when I was 13. How many people still like something that they liked when they were 13? As counter-examples: I don't watch cartoons anymore. I can eat a variety of foods other than macaroni and cheese. I drive a car instead of peddle a bicycle. I am not the same person I was when I was 13, so how could this musical taste have endured?
So since it's Friday, and I try to blog about something other than work, I thought I'd share 5 reasons I am still a Todd Rundgren fan after all these years.

1. Self-suffiencyTodd Rundgren writes his own lyrics and music, plays all of the instruments himself, does all of his own lead and background vocals, and records/mixes/produces the music himself. As a successful music producer for other artists (e.g., Meatloaf, Hall & Oates, XTC), his solo albums are exercises in personal satisfaction and don't reflect the top 40 trends that record companies buy their way into via FM radio and TV shows like American Idol. I respect that.
2. Complex Background VocalsTodd Rundgren is able to create a choir of his own voices by simply recording basic, bass, and alto versions of song choruses. Using only 3 different tracks, he is able to stagger multiples of them to make a song sound like many people are singing in tune.
   Example: "Can We Still Be Friends" from Hermit of Mink Hollow (hear 28 seconds)
3. GuitarTodd Rundgren can play guitar with dexterity that equals his contemporaries like Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, or Jeff Beck.
   Example: "Mercenary" from Arena (hear 20 seconds)
4. LyricsTodd Rundgren's lyrics are just right for me - not too simple like Bruce Springsteen and not too obfuscated like Peter Gabriel (whom I also like). Some of my favorite lines include:
   
   • "Oh but when push came to shove, I had lost the thing I love, when I lost the courage of my convictions."
     "Courage" from Arena
   • "Pity the man, searching in the sky, looking for a sign from above, and he never caught a glimpse of what he's worthy of."
     "Drive" from The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect
   • "And I'm still running to something, running to something far away, unseen by the others in the herd, I'm only running to something, running to something, into the arms of my dream."
     "Can't Stop Running" from Nearly Human
5. VarietyNo two Todd Rundgren albums are alike. He certainly has his share of contemporary pop hits like "I Saw The Light" or "Bang The Drum All Day," but his albums include styles such as blues, bossa nova, Broadway, country, dance, heavy metal, hip-hop, jazz, new age, rap, rock, techno, and movie soundtracks. He even has a 1985 album entitled A Cappella where all of the sounds on the record were made using his voice and a Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument). This predates Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" which won a Grammy in 1988.
   Example: "Something To Fall Back" On from A Cappella (hear 22 seconds)

Todd Rundgren is also a computer graphics programmer. When I worked at Ithaca Software, I gave him a copy of our 3D graphics library, HOOPS, to experiment with. He would come by our booth at SIGGraph. In fact Gary Yost, of the Yost Group that developed 3d Studio and the original 3ds Max, played tambourine and sang on the Nearly Human album. That one was recorded live in the studio, no overdubs, instead of Rundgren playing all the parts himself.
So there you have it. I could have gone on and on, but I kept it to 5 reasons.
Musical explanations are alive in the lab.

Video: Todd Rundgren ♥Chasing Your Ghost♥

Replay of RundgrenRadio show: Pete Fornatale (RIP) Interview With Todd

Listen to internet radio with Rundgren Radio on Blog Talk Radio

RundgrenRadio announcement / Ethel Tour dates

40 Years of Something/Anything? Campaign now underway from Toddata.com

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Todd Rundgren's first-ever USA symphonic shows 5 weeks away Rockford, IL June 1st and June 2nd

Sorry for the late notice but we are airing a show right now -- no worries the archive will be available as always. 8:30PM EASTERN TIME. SPECIAL EDITION RUNDGREN RADIO SHOW: The classic and epic Pete Fornatale Mixed Bag interview with Todd Rundgren from the LIARS period. This show is being aired in honor and memory of Pete. Unfortunately Pete passed away on April 26th. He was 66. Pete 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. Last year, Pete was a special guest panelist at Todd Rundgren's Musical Survival Camp and a guest on one of Rundgren Radio's "Camp Counselor Series" shows. On tonight's show we announced the Todd and Ethel Tour Dates and here they are for you to see ... Oct 17 University of FLA @ Gainesville Oct 18 off Oct 19 New London CT Oct 20 Zeiterion Theater New Bedford MA Oct 21 Ramapo Cllege, Mahwah NJ Oct 22 off Oct 23 Redfern Arts Center- Keene State College, Keene, NH Oct 24 Midland Th, Newark OH (afternoon workshop @ Denison U.) Oct 25 0ff Oct 26 Clowes Hall, Indianapolis IN Oct 27 off Oct 28 Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park MD Oct 29 off Oct 30 American Theater Hampton VA Oct 31 off Nov 1 Los Cerritos PAC, Cerritos CA Nov 2 Off Nov 3 Mondavi Center , UC Davis Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man, I'd sure like to own some Rundgren Radio merchandise"? Probably not, but we've made it available anyway :-)! Check out our new storefront site and do some shopping if you're in the mood ... http://www.RundgrenRadio2.com 100% of any profits go to Todd & Michele Rundgren via the Todd Store. If you haven't seen the new Todd Store, you can check it out at http://www.ToddStore.com. If you're interested in our concert world outside of the Todd gigs, check out our events page at http://www.onwardpromotions.com/events.html. We're doing gigs this year with several new wave bands and even heavy metal bands so if you are into either of those genres we hope to see you at some of the shows. If you don't like the music but we are in your town maybe you can least meet up with us before the show for a quick beverage or some food - we'd love to see ya! If you are a Facebooker, please join the RR group if you like … http://www.facebook.com/groups/17618438938/ And for you twitter folks, stay in touch with us at … http://twitter.com/#!/rundgrenradio See you on the road to Utopia! Doug & Melinda RundgrenRadio.com

special edition rundgrenradio show tonight Pete Fornatale

Today. 8:30pm. RundgrenRa​dio.com 8:30PM EASTERN TIME. SPECIAL EDITION RUNDGREN RADIO SHOW: The classic and epic Pete Fornatale Mixed Bag interview with Todd Rundgren from the LIARS period. This show is being aired in honor and memory of Pete. Unfortunately Pete passed away on April 26th. He was 66. Pete 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. Last year, Pete was a special guest panelist at Todd Rundgren's Musical Survival Camp and a guest on one of Rundgren Radio's "Camp Counselor Series" shows. www.rundgrenradio.com

Todd "live healing " cd and dvd ordering info.

Go to http://www.toddstore.com/ for ordering info along with other merch .

A Brief History of Todd by Michael and Veronica brown. #1

Discuss / Stream / Download (40.76 MB)Wed Oct 12, 2005
Play: 00:29:40Author: Michael and Veronica Brown

From the UK, Michael and Veronica Brown give us episode #1 of "A Brief History of Todd," which will be a monthly feature on the TRConnection ToddCast. The episode is titled "Jazz to Grunt."

A Brief History of Todd #1- Jazz to Grunt