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14 comments:
Todd talks quite a bit about Global being like a Broadway show. I'm thinking 'Springtime for Hitler' considering the audience is walking out in droves and the whole thing is a financial sham.
There we have it. An informal intelligent & entertaining interview
Thanks to AOL, Jessie Gress & Mary Lou (who musta assisted even if it was officially a day off).
Here's where the dupas who rail about Todd's disdain for his audience can dissolve that thought or simply move on. Hopefully that was Part 1 of a 10 part series. Wish I was a part of the taping audience & at this evening's event.
Enjoy the Show, RR
Springtime For Hitler was great as a farce. It's depicted by a couple silly songs with way over the top costumes & staging. GLOBAL includes so many wonderful songs from Todd's catalog that relate to the Global album theme. The stage set up, clothing,lighting & LED towers are very tasteful & varied, likewise the music presented. The attempt to draw any comparison between the two productions is well beyond a s-t-r-e-a-c-h
Todd's simply too complex for some to see the depth in seeming simplicity. That's how it looks
from Greendale
I really doubt it's as funny, clever or ground-breaking as Springtime for Hitler, but I am bound to go see it anyway...
That was a very nice interview. Probably scripted (as in Todd approved all the questions) but very nice because when Todd gets on the subject of music he can talk interestingly forever and he really has something to say worth listening to, and people shouldn't dismiss him because he's an older artist.
I don't have any problem with whatever he chooses to do musically, that is the wrong end of the stick, I think what some people are having a problem with is the presentation of the show itself, and it makes you wonder what the original concept was, and how was he influenced to execute it the way it is now, as a "semi-theatrical production." He may have these great ideas and by the time they are out there they are not fully realized as they could be because he is not in control of everything himself. I think that's where the hitch comes; that and the finances.
I don't imagine younger fans or people who aren't interested in the history of rock and roll or Todd's career are even going to appreciate what he was talking about half the time if they never listen to his older music. He cited many instances and influences and that is one of the cool things about Todd talking about music because he will turn you on to artists you never heard of and he has great taste in music. He must sound very old fogey to them, and he talked quite a lot about his past, which is of course key to his work.
If people don't care where it's coming from, that's cool, I don't care about that, but to ignore it or pass it over in favor of whatever the latest experiment was I feel they are missing out.
I think he spoke very little about Global; more about his vision of what he had intended it to represent. Which may be a timely concept but it certainly is not new. Maybe the stage presentation just let him down. I recall reading a reprint of a Rolling Stone interview with Sally Grossman (Al's widow), and she said that Todd could never truly realize his vision because he was doing things on the cheap all the time and it held him back.
I'd be interested to know what the original performance ideas were.
Todd and Dam-Funk are nicer to look at than the dancing girls. And certainly nicer to hear.
I'd both disagree and agree with the last comment. I think the dancing girls are quite nice to look at....in great shape and very attractive!! However, the 'sing' worse than stray cats in an alley. They both have horrible voices and are never remotely on key. With most of the music being karaoke, I am stunned Todd is letting them howl and wail alongside him. Their dancing is pathetic, consisting of bobbing and weaving in those idiotic wigs like they were trying to avoid a punch from Floyd Mayweather.
He didn't mention they had talent. He just said they were nicer to look at than HE was. (Me being a girl, I disagree with this remark.)
They do have resumes so I'm surprised they aren't better than they are and agree is it very weird to have them all in a line like that because he's the star people pay to see. He doesn't seem to realize this.
This is a fun interview from The onion:
http://www.avclub.com/article/we-let-one-our-dads-interview-todd-rundgren-218848
O.K., you either like Global as a new song collection or you don't. You either appreciate the other people on the tour or you don't. Look up the cost of the lighting & LED towers, sound equipment & staff before you call it a cheap production. I see a fair amount of shows other than Todd & I believe he has outstanding taste & technology on every tour. Some are more about the staging than others.
Playing with Ethyl would not need crazy lights, same with something like TR's Johnson. The visuals for the WIZARD shows were great & the "Man & His Piano" sets were appropriately understated. RA was RA. Each tour has an idea that visually compliments the songs. After all these show & dozens more I know that each has a budget & Todd still to this day keeps his ticket prices low. Not Cheap but below what others charge for less. I needn't see Steve Winwood, Dylan,Stevie Wonder or many of the other 'classic'acts out this summer. With Rundgren it's never Been There Done THAT. I saw the Global show once & am glad I can see it again in the summer outdoors at night. Then again I have to wonder what Todd will do next.
I do not feel that way about any other musician living. RHR
Hopefully Todd's next musical foray will not feature the Sad Grandpa dancing, the wigged women who can't carry a tune or dance a lick, or a DJ. I am hopeful Todd will hire professional musicians to accompany him rather than continue with this bizarre tehcnoshit rut he is wallowing in. This pitiful, sad tour is clearly the low point of his career.
I want to agree with and emphasize an above point: Todd has always kept ticket prices within accessible ranges. I`ll gladly give him that! Whatever your opinion of any given tour, you didn`t have to risk missing a rent payment to have seen it.
I seem to recall my first ticket for the `73/`74 tour was $7.50. On average, he doesn`t charge much more than quadruple that today -over forty years later.
Help me out folks. Somewhere I heard one of the current backing singers has released albums. How can I find her/them without their given names ? Mr. Funk has 5 albums to date & I know he can sing & do way more musicly than most of the DJs that fill the RAVE venues.
Except for certain venues which are clip joints, I would agree about the ticket prices.
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