Thursday, July 9, 2009

press: AWATS show CT

Todd Rundgren To Perform "A Wizard, A True Star" Live In Stamford CT at The Palace Theatre 09/09/09
Rock/Pop Icon Todd Rundgren is returning to Fairfield County to perform his seminal 1973 album "A Wizard, A True Star" live in its entirety at the Palace Theater in Stamford, CT on September 9, 2009. Ticket information available @ www.AWATSlive.com.

Stamford Center For The Performing Arts Palace Theater in Stamford, CT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 09, 2009 – Rock/Pop Icon Todd Rundgren is returning to Fairfield County to perform his seminal 1973 album "A Wizard, A True Star" live in its entirety at the Stamford Center for the Performing Arts Palace Theater on September 9, 2009. Ticket information is available at www.AWATSlive.com. Todd will perform the entire AWATS album plus a second full set of songs spanning his remarkable 40 year career backed by an all-star band featuring Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Greg Hawkes, & Roger Powell.

"A Wizard, A True Star" was Todd’s follow up to his most commercially successful album, “Something /Anything?” which included popular hits like “I Saw The Light” and “Hello It’s Me”. Instead of going with a similar sound, Todd Rundgren went in a completely different direction with his electrical psychedelic album "A Wizard, A True Star".

Although the album wasn’t a big hit with critics and didn’t reach near the sales as Todd’s previous album, it’s the clear cut favorite of Todd’s most avid fans and is considered a very influential album to thousands of musicians. Todd’s manager, Eric Gardner of Panacea Entertainment, said, “It was Todd’s 180 degree turn after 'Something/Anything?' much to the dismay of the record company and much to the dismay of radio. Back then they were hoping for a follow up of 'Something/Anything?' something in the same vein. 'A Wizard, A True Star' is actually a record that’s near and dear to Todd’s heart because it was so contrary”.

"A Wizard, A True Star" was listed in the 2006 musical reference book, “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. In 2003, British music critic Barney Hoskyns wrote in MOJO magazine, "Rundgren’s 'A Wizard, A True Star' is simply the greatest album ever made”.

The Todd Rundgren AWATS Live concert in Stamford is being presented by RundgrenRadio.com. This will be the third AWATS Live performance ever. The first two AWATS Live performances are being held in Akron, OH on September 6th and 7th.
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Rundgren Radio is an online talk radio show for Todd Rundgren fans that airs Tuesday nights at 8:30pm Eastern time.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

3RD USA GIG FOR AWATS ANNOUNCED

Wed 9/09/09
STAMFORD CT
STAMFORD PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
TICKET SALE WILL START ON THE 18TH OF JULY

Todd on Daryl Hall's show Saturday 8/15/09

http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/

Live from Daryl's House.

DARYL HALL FLOATING ON AIR AFTER VISIT FROM PARACHUTE TO LIVE FROM DARYL'S HOUSE

Landmark 20th edition of acclaimed web show features Daryl and Mercury Records group with #1 iTunes album singing its hit "She Is Love," Daryl Hall & John Oates classics

NEW YORK, June 09, 2009—Marking the 20th episode of his critically acclaimed online series Live From Daryl's House, Daryl Hall invited Mercury Records rockers (and longtime Daryl Hall and John Oates fans) Parachute to join him, in a brand-new installment which debuts June 15 at www.livefromdarylshouse.com, where it can be seen along with archived footage of past episodes.

The Charlottesville, VA-based band recently climbed to #1 on the iTunes album charts with their debut, Losing Sleep, and hit single, "She Is Love," one of seven songs the five-piece band performed with Daryl Hall for the show. "She Is Love" was also featured in the national television advertising campaign for Nivea Body's Smooth Sensations, while the group has had its music spotlighted on such shows as 90210 and One Tree Hill, with a recent performance on the CBS Early Show.

Will Anderson, the group's vocalist/guitarist and piano player, was thrilled by the experience. "Getting to do Live From Daryl's House was amazing," he enthused. "We had an absolute blast singing some of the Daryl Hall and John Oates songs I grew up listening to and hope we'll get to jam with Daryl and the guys again soon!"

Parachute (www.weareparachute.com), which also includes saxophone player/keyboardist Kit French, bassist Alex Hargrave, drummer Johnny Stubblefield and lead guitarist Nate McFarland, performed four of their own songs with Daryl, including, in addition to "She Is Love," "Under Control," "All That I Am" and "She," two Daryl Hall and John Oates classics, "It's a Laugh" and "Say It Isn't So," as well as a rousing cover of Junior Walker's "Shotgun."

Past episodes of Live from Daryl's House have featured a mix of well-known performers like The Doors, Nick Lowe, K.T. Tunstall, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, Finger Eleven's James Black and Rick Jackett and the Bacon Brothers, along with newcomers such as Philly soul singer Mutlu, Canadian techno-rockers Chromeo, MySpace pop-rock phenom Eric Hutchinson, Cash Money rocker Kevin Rudolf, Wind-up Records' Chicago rockers Company of Thieves, Bay Area singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson and Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek of The Doors.

Live from Daryl's House started with Daryl's "light-bulb moment" idea of "playing music with my friends and putting it up on the Internet," and the show has subsequently been praised by such varied media outlets as Rolling Stone, Spin, Daily Variety, CNN, BBC, Yahoo and the influential Lefsetz Letter.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

INTERVIEW: AWATS shows WDET 101

Todd Rundgren discussed his upcoming live performances of his album, "A Wizard, A True Star", with Detroit FM radio station WDET 101 (wdetfm.org). Todd will be performing the album in it's entirety on September 7th, 2009 at the Akron Civic Theatre. He will also be performing it the night before but that show is expected to be sold out within a week of this video posting. Todd's band includes: Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Roger Powell, Prairie Prince, and Kasim Sulton. More information is available at www.AWATSlive.com. Both shows are being presented by RundgrenRadio.com.


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Article : Detroit Metro Times

http://www.metrotimes.com/music/story.asp?id=14134

Hello, it's Todd
The producer and rock star talks his Wizard, the New York Dolls and evils of Microsoft

Rundgren: "The mainstream of music is as crappy as it's ever been."

BY BILL HOLDSHIP

We came up our own theme for Cityfest this year — namely, second acts or second chances. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said there are no second acts in American lives … but Fitzgerald was a bad drunk and never met Kwame Kilpatrick. So what the hell did he know? Actually, the theme came up due to a whole day's worth of Cityfest artists — De La Soul, among them — getting a second chance to play this year after being rained out during a torrential downpour in 2008. So we got several local artists on the bill this year to list some of their favorite "seconds" or things having to do with "twos" following this feature. Yeah, it's kinda corny — but, hey, it works.

The ageless and timeless Todd Rundgren is one of the biggest names playing the festival this summer. And 2009 is definitely a time of "second chances" for him, what with the artist reconstructing his classic A Wizard, A True Star album for live presentations during the next several months, as well as recently producing the second album for the reconstructed New York Dolls. Rundgren, of course, produced the protopunk icons' debut LP in 1973 — just another notch in a storied production career that includes work behind the boards for such acts as Patti Smith, XTC, Meat Loaf, the Tubes, Cheap Trick, the Band, Bad Religion and Michigan's own Grand Funk Railroad, among others.

Always a true musical and technological innovator (and a one-man recording powerhouse when Prince was still in diapers), Rundgren recently took time out of his busy schedule to share with MT what he's been up to. Put this guy in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now!



Metro Times: I'm very curious about the upcoming live performances of your A Wizard, A True Star album in Akron and the UK later this year. Is the intent to play the album as originally recorded or will there be some new arrangements? How different is it doing it with a band as opposed to as a solo venture?

Todd Rundgren: The idea to re-create A Wizard, A True Star came out of England, where I am enjoying something of renaissance among young electronica musicians. When word got out that I was considering this, someone in the U.S. decided to test the local waters and discovered interest was high enough here that we could make this a reality.

While I haven't locked my approach down yet, I think it's likely that the running order may be different than the original. A Wizard, A True Star was made when all long-players had to be split into sides, and I think the concept may actually be improved a bit with a little reordering.

I've picked the band and instrumentation with an ear toward recreating most of the signature sounds. I think audience expectation will be that we stay pretty true to the original, but everyone realizes that there are certain challenges that may require creative solutions. We certainly can't travel with a pack of dogs just for one little interlude!

MT: Are you planning a live album or document of the event?

Rundgren: We do plan on capturing the event for posterity, likely in hi-def video. We finish up touring [his latest] Arena [album] on July 4 — two days after the Detroit show — and from there, we'll begin the preparations for A Wizard, A True Star in Akron.

MT: Are there any other albums you'd like to revisit in this way? Any that you're particularly proud or fond of in retrospect?

Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star Live has been driven by events and personalities outside of my control — it's not the kind of idea I would have come up with on my own. I'm not a nostalgic musician and I always have a greater interest in exploring new projects rather than pandering to the "good old days."

MT: Have you ever considered doing something along the lines of Neil Young's Archives project with unreleased material and demos from your vaults?

Rundgren: Well, while we do have an archive of recordings and video of live performances dating back to the '70s, most of it has already been licensed to music distributors for plundering. I don't have a trove of unreleased studio material. I rarely complete things that don't get released.

MT: You reunited with the New York Dolls this year to produce their excellent new album, 'Cause I Sez So. How was it working with David [Johansen] and Syl [Sylvain] again after all these years? Did you use any of the same techniques for the new album that you did the first time out?

Rundgren: Well, David and Syl were the original workhorses of the Dolls. The other guys were more interested in experimenting with their body chemistry than knuckling down for serious work. That attitude probably permeated the first record and may be why it's considered such an important document of the times. But the results of this dichotomy are obvious today: Syl and David are still making music and the others are pushing up daisies. It was always obvious to me how much more important David's contribution was than Johnny Thunders' was, even though the latter is more often associated with "the sound."

Fortunately for me, the re-created band had already released an album, so we were free to move ahead instead of bearing the burden of history. The new record was a lot more fun for me [than the original 1973 debut LP], since I didn't have to deal with a zoo of journalists and groupies, let alone drug-addled and snotty guitarists this time.

MT: Are there any other artists — such as Patti Smith, etc. — you'd like to revisit working with again?

Rundgren: Well, as for the future of such reunions, I never drive these things. Whether or not I have any past experience of the artist, my approach will be the same: Show me the songs. The material always dictates when it's time to make a record.

MT: You were one of the pioneers of using the Internet for networking with your fans and bypassing the record labels, etc. Are you gratified that you were one of the leaders in this trend? Do you think this method has now peaked? Or do you foresee any new interesting directions it could take? And are there any plans to revive your PatroNet site, which hasn't been accepting subscribers for a while now?

Rundgren: You know the old saw about pioneers and arrows. I discovered the Internet at a time when it was still the domain of universities and research facilities. Now it's a realm of pop-up windows, e-mail scams and psychotic invective!

PatroNet was intended to be a world apart from what the Internet has become, where creative people can get support from and commune with their most avid supporters. Maybe the most important aspect about it is the ability to create an atmosphere where the most common pollutants of the Internet can't find their way in, while still using the ubiquitous connectivity that it now represents.

But something like PatroNet is not easy to maintain when you have gigantic and mischievous corporations like Microsoft undercutting your every move by releasing junk software like Vista, which breaks all previous conventions. Just trying to keep up with those boneheads required more technical support than we could muster. That doesn't mean we might not tempt fate and try again at some point, though.

MT: Are there any new or current producers or artists that you're particularly impressed with or interested in?

Rundgren: Likely there would be if I could find them! I don't do as much musical mining as I probably should. But the mainstream of music is as crappy as it's ever been.

Todd Rundgren plays at 9 p.m. Thursday, July 2, on the New Center Council Main Stage in the Fisher Building parking lot as part of Comerica Cityfest.


Thanks to Lee Lodyga and Marc Nathan.

Monday, June 29, 2009

marquee oustide of vegas show

tickets on sale today for second AWATS show in Akron

Don't forget today's the day! Tickets on sale for AWATS AKRON II at 11amET at http://rundgrenradio.tix.com/ or Ticketmaster! Show is set for 9/7/09 and begins at 7pm. The Sunday show is 8pm but we moved Monday's to 7pm so folks could get more sleep to make work easier on Tuesday :-).

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

VIDEO: Utopia COMMUNION WITH THE SUN

UPPED BY HARPO

VIDEO : UTOPIA / I'm Looking At You & Only Human

upped on youtube by imharpo
Filmed in 1982 at the "Country Club" in Reseda, California

I'm Looking At You

UTOPIA had great harmonies....



only human

2ND AWATS GIG IN THE USA ANNOUNCED

2nd AWATS gig in Akron NOW OFFICIAL! Monday Sept. 7th, 2009 at 7pm (one hour earlier than Sunday gig)!!! Tickets on sale MONDAY if all goes as planned. Check www.AWATSlive.com on Thursday for an update!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

RundgrenRadio: Bourgeois Tag tonight and special announcement..

Special announcements followed by Bourgeois Tagg. BOTH of them! Show starts at 8:30pm ET as always. Chat room will be open. Listeners can call in and ask questions. You know the drill -- just BE THERE alright :-)!

www.RundgrenRadio.com

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Michele Rundgrens play to debut soon...

North Shore's Rundgren to debut comedy play

Comedienne and North Shore resident Michele Rundgren will debut her new comedy play "What Was I Thinking? Bad Boyfriend Stories" based on a book of the same name on Kaua'i June 19, 20, 26 and 27 at 7 p.m. at the Wailapa Road Outdoor Amphitheater.

"It's a girls night out that the guys will finally be able to attend — if they're brave enough," Rundgren said.

Twelve Kaua'i women will join Rundgren performing skits, monologues and readings, written by well-known actresses and writers, that range from hilarious to pathetic, Rundgren said. "They all describe the moment when logic, common sense, and simple self respect finally take hold and we know it's over!"

Afterward, audience members can share their opinions about the play with Rundgren, who plans to eventually take the show on the road, followed by dancing under the stars.

Rundgren reminds everyone that material is for adult audiences only, akin to an NC-17 movie rating.

Tickets are $15 in advance; $20 on the day of the show; available at North Shore Pharmacy, Kilauea Video, Paradise Music in Princeville, Hanalei Surf Co., Backdoor or online at www.michelerundgren.com. Bring blankets, lawn chairs, picnic dinner and beverage of your choice. For more information, call 828-0074.

http://kauai.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090617/COMPUB0801/906170306
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ticket info and poster at:
http://www.michelerundgren.com/

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

new information about future stuff

this is brought to us via LYNN on Todds myspace page

Various interesting information
Todd is on the road again! I hear the Oslo show was great. It was filmed for Norway television. you can watch it ..... check out link a few posts below.

Tonight is the first show of a short US run. We have Paul Freeman opening. Paul will be calling into Rundgren Radio after soundcheck to have a chit-chat with Mel and Doug. listen in @ RundgrenRadio.

Our agent is diligently working on creating additional AWATS shows for early Sept. There are a few irons in the fire so to speak. I will let everyone know when I can.

The HDNet DVD is so close to being ready to roll. Just working out the details of the cover art which shouldnt be too much longer. I will give the release info as soon as I have it.

Lets see---I think thats all I have atm. Do you all have any questions?

xoxo
lynn