Todd Rundgren will be performing his entire "A Wizard, A True Star" album live for the first time ever on September 6th, 2009 at the Akron Civic Theatre in Akron, Ohio. The hosts at RundgrenRadio.com announced on their radio program tonight that because ticket sales have gone so well for the Sunday AWATS concert, there will be a repeat AWATS concert the following Monday night, September 7th, 2009, which is Labor Day. Both concerts are being presented by RundgrenRadio.com
Ticket prices start at $50 and are available at http://www.AWATSlive.com and http://www.Ticketmaster.com. Additional information can be found at http://www.AWATSlive.com. Todd and his band will perform other songs from his vast catalog before embarking on the full album presentation.
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 Akron "A Wizard, A True Star" gigs include: Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, and Roger Powell.
Bass player Kasim Sulton, a former member of the band Utopia, is a highly coveted sideman, singer/songwriter and is recognized and respected the world over for his work with other artists including Todd Rundgren, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Hall and Oates, Patti Smith, Patty Smyth, Mick Jagger, and Celine Dion to name just a few. His level of involvement has ranged from playing bass, keyboards, and/or guitar, to adding vocal harmonies, singing lead, and contributing as a songwriter, to producing entire albums, as he did with the Meat Loaf VH-1 Storytellers CD, released in 1999. There isn’t much he hasn’t done in his 25 years in the music industry.
Drummer Prairie Prince was born on May 7, 1950 in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been a founding member of art-rock band The Tubes since 1969. He was also a major player in getting the band Journey off the ground, and over the years he's worked with Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, Jefferson Airplane, George Harrison, and Richard Marx.
Guitarist Jesse Gress tours and records with Todd Rundgren and the Grammy-nominated Tony Levin Band. A respected performer, music educator, and former music editor of Guitar Player magazine, Jesse has hundreds of transcription folios and magazine articles to his credit, as well as five acclaimed reference books: Guitar Licks of the Texas Blues-Rock Heroes, GuitaRevolution - Lessons from the Groundbreakers & Innovators, The Guitar Cookbook, Guitar Lick Factory, and Guitar Licks of the Brit-Rock Heroes. He currently creates content for Guitar Player and Line 6's GuitarPort.
Greg Hawkes is the famed keyboardist and co-founder of The Cars (1977-1987), who helped define the sounds of the 80’s with his signature keyboard style heard on The Cars’ “Let’s Go” and “Just What I Needed,” as well as his arpeggiated and syncopated synth lines on “Shake it Up” and “Heartbeat City.” Greg was a member of The New Cars along with other members of the Akron AWATS band Todd, Kasim, and Prairie.
Keyboardist Roger Powell was a member of the band Utopia. Powell played keyboards and synthesizers for the band from 1974 until its disbanding in 1985, playing, writing, and singing on ten of the band's eleven albums. For its live shows, Powell created the Powell Probe; the first remote, hand-held polyphonic synthesizer controller, which featured a custom-made shell used to access a complex stack of sequencers and other peripherals offstage. He was also the protege of Robert Moog (who created the Moog synthesizer)
Less than 200 tickets remain for the the first Todd Rundgren "A Wizard, A True Star" theme concert in Akron and a sellout is expected by the end of June. Hundreds of fans from all over the USA will be visiting Akron to attend this "A Wizard, A True Star" concert. Some Todd Rundgren fans from 4 other countries - - - Japan, United Kingdom, Scotland, and Canada - - - will also be in attendance. Tickets go on sale for the Monday night repeat AWATS concert this Monday, June 29, 2009.
"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". Rundgren chose to abandon stardom and, with it, conventional pop music. He began a course through uncharted musical territory, becoming a pioneer not only in electronic music and prog rock, but in music video, computer software, and Internet music delivery as well.
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?
"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”.
Todd Rundgren has released over 30 albums either as a solo artist or with his bands Nazz, Utopia, and The New Cars while producing acclaimed, successful records for artists as diverse as Badfinger, Meat Loaf, Grand Funk Railroad, the New York Dolls, and XTC. Despite Todd's incredible accomplishments and influence on the music industry, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee - - - in Akron's neighboring town of Cleveland - - - has failed to induct him. Ironically, one of the reasons Ohio was chosen as the place to host this concert was because of the strong Todd fan base in Cleveland.
