RundgrenRadio.com announces Todd Rundgren AWATS gigs on the West Coast

Oct. 9, 2009 - PRLog -- RundgrenRadio.com will be officially announcing on their weekly online radio show this Tuesday night that they have booked four more Todd Rundgren AWATS gigs and this time they will all be on the West Coast.  The first ever USA West Coast Todd Rundgren AWATS gig will be held on December 1st, 2009 in San Francisco at The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre returning him to where he recorded his album "2nd Wind" in 1991.  Three more West Coast gigs will follow including Sacramento at Crest Theatre, Los Angeles at The Orpheum Theatre, and Ventura at the Majestic Theatre.  More information will be available soon at www.AWATSlive.com.

Todd Rundgren has only performed the "A Wizard, A True Star" album live in its entirety seven times and all of them took place in September of this year.  The first ever performance was presented by RundgrenRadio.com in Akron, OH and was sold out with over 2400 fans in attendance.  

The AWATS performances included multiple costume changes by Todd.  He was accompanied by an all-star band consisting of Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Roger Powell, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton.   Many of Todd's most avid and long term fans deemed the shows "best ever" in their reviews.

A Wizard, A True Star - - - The title of Todd Rundgren's 1973 solo album aptly sums up the contributions of this multi-faceted artist to state-of-the-art music. As a songwriter, video pioneer, producer, recording artist, computer software developer, conceptualist, and, most recently, interactive artist (re-designated TR-i), Rundgren has made a lasting impact on both the form and content of popular music.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Rundgren began playing guitar as a teenager, going on to found and front The Nazz, the quintessential `60's cult group. In 1969, he left the band to pursue a solo career, recording his debut offering, the legendary Runt. But it was 1972's seminal Something/Anything?, on which he played all the instruments, sang all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer, that catapulted Todd into the superstar limelight, prompting the press to unanimously dub him 'Rock's New Wunderkind'. It was followed by such landmark LPs as The Hermit of Mink Hollow and the above mentioned A Wizard, A True Star, as well as such hit singles as I Saw The Light, Hello It's Me, Can We Still Be Friends, and Bang The Drum.

In 1974, Todd formed Utopia, an entirely new approach to the concept of interactive musicianship, and embarked on an extensive round of touring and recording. Standout Utopia offerings included Oops! Wrong Planet, Adventures in Utopia, and Oblivion. Along the way, Utopia combined technical virtuosity and creative passion to create music that, for millions, defined the term "progressive rock."

Rundgren's myriad production projects include albums by Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, Psychedelic Furs, Meatloaf, XTC, Grand Funk Railroad, and Hall And Oates. Rounding out his reputation as rock's Renaissance Man, Rundgren composed all the music and lyrics for Joe Papp's 1989 Off-Broadway production of Joe Orton's Up Against It  (the screenplay commisioned by The Beatles for what was meant to have been their third motion picture). He also has composed the music for a number of television series, including Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Crime Story.

In 1998 Todd debuted his new PatroNet technology which for the first time allows fans of a musical artist to subscribe directly to the artist’s musical output via the Internet. This caps a long history of groundbreaking early multimedia "firsts", including:

• 1978: The first interactive television concert, broadcast live over the Warner/QUBE system in Columbus, Ohio (the home audience chose each song.in real time during the concert by voting via QUBE’s 2-way operating system).

• 1978: The first live nationally broadcast stereo radio concert (by microwave), linking 40 cities around the country.

• 1979: The opening of Utopia Video Studios, a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art facility. The first project produced by Todd there is Gustav Holst’s The Planets, commissioned by RCA SelectaVision as the first demonstration software for their new videodisc format.

• 1980: Creation of the first color graphics tablet, which was licensed to Apple and released as The Utopia Graphics Tablet.

• 1981: Time Heals, the first music video to utilize state-of-the-art compositing of live action and computer graphics (produced and directed by Todd), becomes the second video to be played on MTV (after Video Killed the Radio Star).

• 1982: The first live national cablecast of a rock concert (on the USA Network), simulcast in stereo to over 120 radio stations.

• 1982: The first two commercially released music videos, one of which was nominated for the first-ever Grammy awarded for “Best Short Form Video” in 1983.

• 1992: The release of “No World Order”, the world’s first interactive record album on CD-i. Also the first commercially available music downloads via CompuServe.

• 1994: The release of “The Individualist”, the world’s first full-length Enhanced CD.

• 1995: The world’s first interactive concert tour.

• 1998: Launched PatroNet, the world’s first direct artist subscription service

Todd's "A Wizard, A True Star" band lineup will include some of the members from his former bands Utopia and The New Cars.  The all-star band lineup for the  "A Wizard, A True Star" performances include:  Todd Rundgren, Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Ralph Schuckett, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton.

Guitarist Jesse Gress tours and records with Todd Rundgren and the Grammy-nominated Tony Levin Band.  

Greg Hawkes is the famed keyboardist and co-founder of The Cars (1977-1987).  

Drummer Prairie Prince has been a founding member of art-rock band The Tubes since 1969.

Keyboardist Ralph Schuckett was a member of the band Utopia and played keyboards for the band from 1972 to 1975.  Ralph has composed music for hundreds of TV commercials.

Saxophonist Bobby Strickland played and toured for two of Todd's albums and is currently with the Gary Cambra Band.  

Bass player Kasim Sulton, was member of the band Utopia and has worked with other artists including Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Hall and Oates, Patti Smith, and Patty Smyth.

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Rundgren Radio is an online talk radio show for Todd Rundgren fans that airs Tuesday nights at 8:30pm ET. The shows aren't all about Todd but he's the common theme among the guests as they all have some type of connection with him. Listeners can call into shows.

The shows are archived permanently online.

Former special guests include ...

Todd Rundgren of Utopia
Kasim Sulton of Utopia
Prairie Prince of The Tubes
Michele Rundgren
Roger Powell of Utopia
Michael Urbano of Cake
John Montagna of Alan Parsons Project
John Ferenzik
Moogy Klingman
Tony Levin
Lyle Workman
Jesse Gress
Willie Wilcox of Utopia
Andy Partridge of XTC
Dave Gregory of XTC
Larry Tagg of Bourgeois Tagg
Godfrey Townsend
Hunt & Tony Sales
Greg Hawkes of The Cars
Brent Bourgeois of Bourgeois Tagg
Rachel Haden of The Rentals
Colin Moulding of XTC
Jill Sobule
Ellen Foley
David Sanborn
Rick Derringer
John Oates of Hall & Oates
Tony Stevens of Foghat
Steve Petrone
Eliot Lewis
Bob Leinbach