"If I had the power, I'd say, 'If you're a Trump supporter, don't come to my show.' "
--Todd Rundgren
[Edited on 5/15/2017 by robslob]
I read the interview which was interesting but I am not certain why you decided to focus on that statement. It seems stupid to say; of course he has the power and even if he didn't he already said it.
In any event I don't understand why you would want to limit your audience especially if your in the business of selling tickets to your show and promoting your latest release.
I saw him back in May '16, two nights in Kent, Ohio.
He started in on candidate Trump then. No cheering from the crowd in solidarity with Todd's comments at these shows, matter of fact there was just awkward silence and some groans.
Someone up front said something to Todd, I couldn't hear it but then Todd said something like, "ok fair enough, we'll just play."
I could care less what Todd thinks politically, wasn't planning to see this latest tour anyhow.
Here is my new interview with Todd Rundgren....a little bit more palatable;
It seems stupid to say; of course he has the power and even if he didn't he already said it.
I would HOPE that even in the prejudicial age of Trump, Todd Rundgren does NOT have the power to dictate that anyone with some specific political leaning not be allowed to come to his shows. If he really did make it an official policy you must know that he would be the subject of a discrimination lawsuit.
Have to disagree; he does NOT "have the power".
Does anybody go to his shows? LOL
Producer - he has done many great albums.
Musician - I have no idea how he has retained some sort of legend. He was never popular, successful or has any real "classic " albums. If he is going to bang his drum all day, I am not paying. 😉
In my opinion, the first Utopia album is a classic. Me and my peeps played the crap out of that thing. And for pop music of the day, "Hello, It's Me" and " I Saw The Light" are classics as well.
Does anybody go to his shows? LOL
Producer - he has done many great albums.
Musician - I have no idea how he has retained some sort of legend. He was never popular, successful or has any real "classic " albums. If he is going to bang his drum all day, I am not paying.
I think Todd is much more popular than you are giving him credit for even though he never made it "big". And I HAVE seen him...........twice........2013 at The Fillmore, San Francisco, and 1997 at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz. Both shows to me were near genius level as far as musicianship, and he only had one other musician accompanying him at either show. He did a portion of both shows solo. I think in the overall picture of his singing, guitar playing, keyboard playing, writing, and producing (did I miss anything?), he IS probably on genius level as a musician. At that Fillmore show he did much of the show accompanying himself vocally along with taped music that he had pre-recorded. I know that probably sounds boring and stale, but if you heard it, you might have changed your mind. Fortunately I did shoot a little video that evening............here's just one, his encore medley. Keep in mind that this is the only portion of the show to my memory where he ran through some hits; the remainder was fresh material, at least to me, having never heard most of it, and I loved the entire set.
[Edited on 5/17/2017 by robslob]
And how about this..........Live @ Darryl's House.
More from Darryl's house.........a great 60's Soul tune............
Musician - I have no idea how he has retained some sort of legend. He was never popular, successful or has any real "classic " albums. If he is going to bang his drum all day, I am not paying. 😉
I consider Something/Anything a classic.
I passed out and got trampled at a Todd Rundgren show, during the opening song "Rock Love". We had all rushed in. Crushed against the stage general admission, pressure was a bit much, I went under. It was in Ohio around the same time as the Who disaster, charging and crushing was all the rage. It was all sneakers and boots for an eternal moment. My buddy dragged me out and I lived to tell the tale. Took him a while to respond, we were right in front of Todd, so I'm sure he had to weigh out what was worth more.
he did much of the show accompanying himself vocally along with taped music that he had pre-recorded.
So he was doing karaoke? 😉 To a paying audience?
He is a genius. 
Hey if you dig him - great. To me a legend should have material. The amount of press that he has gotten over the years far exceeds actual sales, "classic albums" and popularity. Just one CMule's opinion.
Hello It's Me reminds me of a bad radio station I worked at that played easy listening 70s stuff. Jefferson Starship's Miracles, Al Stewart Year Of The Cat, 10CC Not In Love etc. 8-10 hours per day - it leaves an impression. LOL
Don't get me started on 10cc. Ultra Creepy. The 45 of I'm Not In Love was a time slip, glitch in the matrix. There I go . . . told ya not to get me started. For a general idea of what I experienced, a similar tale is laid out in the book "The Music of Time", by Preston B. Nichols, in which he describes some high strangeness around the song "Sky High" by Jigsaw. The 70s were strange days indeed, most peculiar mama.
[Edited on 5/16/2017 by BrerRabbit]
...go along for the ride......1974...unique and awesome -
My best buddy was a major Todd Rundgren fan and dragged me to a ton of shows. Seen Todd many, many times from the 80's onward.
One in particular stands out. He was solo except for occasional dancers, but he performed in the "Todd Pod" and it was an interactive show. My buddy and I were right down next to this thing and Todd would occasionally hit buttons to lower stuff to the audience, like video camera's for you to use on yourself or those around you - with that footage showing up on a big screen.
It wasn't ALL taped music either, he had a keyboard and other stuff in the pod, along with his searing guitar. Quite a show to be ringside for !
This pic doesn't really do it justice.
"A Wizard - A True Star"!
I think Todd Rundgren's talents transcends music. He has had his mainstream success - going back to the days of "We've Gotta Get You a Woman", "Hello, It's Me" and "I Saw the Light". He's a multi-instrumentalist who's done LPs where he's the only player. I have all the respect in the world for him.
I admire him for his willingness to make such a political statement - even if it was just something he said in an interview. Any artist - if it's Todd Rundgren, Charlie Daniels, Bruce Springsteen, Ted Nugent etc. must certainly realize that making statements of stringent political nature is liable to cut their gate in half.
If they realize this and make the statement anyway, that's putting their money where their mouth is - if I agree with them or not.
Getting political advice from a musician would be like getting 1959 Les Paul advice from politician.
It seems stupid to say; of course he has the power and even if he didn't he already said it.
I would HOPE that even in the prejudicial age of Trump, Todd Rundgren does NOT have the power to dictate that anyone with some specific political leaning not be allowed to come to his shows. If he really did make it an official policy you must know that he would be the subject of a discrimination lawsuit.
Have to disagree; he does NOT "have the power".
Don't matter he just said it
Pretty heavy suggestive language so what is the difference?
I'm not a Trump supporter but neither am I impressed by many on the national political landscape.
Hoping that's acceptable to Todd ( tongue firmly in cheek ) Paying good money to listen to a musician's political lecture has never been of interest to me. Todd certainly won't miss me as an attendee and I'll be able to spend my entertainment dollars in my own best interest.
Don't matter he just said it
Pretty heavy suggestive language so what is the difference?
Actually I agree with you 100% and that's the entire reason I started this thread.
All I'm saying is he would not have the power to enforce this..........not that he ever had any intentions of taking it that far. I agree though, it's a very powerful political statement to make, nonetheless.
So he was doing karaoke? To a paying audience?
Never said it was going to be everyone's cup of tea. I would agree that probably only Todd devotees would enjoy hearing that. I'm not a huge fan, kind of in the middle ground where I appreciate him but only own a few records. However I dug the show and found it interesting enough that I'd go see him again. Having only seen him twice, for me part of the lure of going to see him a third time would be that I am going to be spellbound just wondering what in the hell he might do that evening. I don't see Todd ever getting stale live.
looking forward to seeing todd in atl on may 30, whatever he does is fine with me. I think he was on fallon last night but I missed it.
Parse through this - lots of Todd's hits and other tunes scattered throughout. First hit at about 12:57. Great show with orchestra. His music and stage persona lend themselves well for an orchestra. Great writer. I've always liked how Todd arranges songs and his outstanding use of chords.
Todd and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen take on Trump head on with the song "Tin Foil Hat" on Todd's brand new album "White Knight." Listen here;
More;
Todd Rundgren With Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - "Deaf Ears"
Todd Rundgren With Joe Satriani, Prairie Prince, Kasim Sultan;
I don't know how you interpret this other than exactly what it says. I'm from Philly and Todd is pretty much a legend in these parts. I personally respect celebrities that stand up for their beliefs, whether I agree or not. Hard to disagree with this personal stance.
I've managed kill off more than one post on this site, so have at me on this one if you so choose.
...and despite the Trump statement, like Alice Cooper, I found Todd to be intelligent and easy to talk to......and we talked a lot about him being at the forefront with a lot of new technologies back in the day, which will be in a future article. Right now, he is in the loop with some forthcoming Virtual Reality techs coming.
...and despite the Trump statement, like Alice Cooper, I found Todd to be intelligent and easy to talk to......and we talked a lot about him being at the forefront with a lot of new technologies back in the day, which will be in a future article. Right now, he is in the loop with some forthcoming Virtual Reality techs coming.
Exactly, shows his intelligence to comment publicly.
Todd and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen take on Trump head on with the song "Tin Foil Hat" on Todd's brand new album "White Knight." Listen here;
Great tune, very sarcastic but very honest at the same time! Thanks for posting, I'll get to the other two later.
He apparently received an honorary degree (along with some others) and gave a commencement address at Berklee recently:
