The Legendary Todd Rundgren Will Play His Classic Songs at Carmel, Indiana's Palladium

CARMEL, Ind. - March 17, 2016 - PRLog -- During Todd Rundgren's nearly fifty years as a driving force in the music industry, his fans have come to expect the unexpected.  But for his May 13 concert at The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana, the legendary singer-songwriter/producer/innovator will "play songs that fans have wanted to hear in the more or less original versions. And I don't do that often."

Presented by Rundgren Radio, "An Evening With Todd Rundgren" will feature a career-spanning set list with a band that includes John Ferenzik (keyboards), Jesse Gress (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums), and Kasim Sulton (bass). The show begins at 8 p.m. at the venue, located just north of Indianapolis.

Reviewing a concert last month in Charleston, S.C., Jon Santiago of the City Paper noted, "Rundgren's show called on nearly every port in his long career's voyage. His audience ate it up, clearly reveling in this sampler of Rundgren's work to date."

Get tickets for the Carmel show at http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/tickets/prod....

TODD RUNDGREN

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Rundgren began playing guitar as a teenager, going on to front The Nazz, a revered 60s psychedelic pop group. In 1969, he left the band to pursue a solo career, recording 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 limelight, prompting the media to dub him "Rock's New Wunderkind." This was followed by such landmark albums as A Wizard, A True Star; Todd and Hermit Of Mink Hollow. In 1974, Todd formed Utopia, a band which was on the cutting edge of progressive rock in the 70s, and developed into a tidy power pop outfit in the 80s (with early MTV hits such as "Set Me Free" and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now").

As a songwriter, video pioneer, producer, recording artist, computer software developer, conceptualist, and interactive artist, Todd Rundgren has made a lasting impact on both the form and content of popular music. Among his myriad of hits are "Hello It's Me", "I Saw the Light", "Can We Still Be Friends", "We Gotta Get You A Woman", "Open My Eyes", and "Bang the Drum" (the latter a mainstay on ESPN and in television commercials).

Rundgren's prolific producer's discography includes such classics as Skylarking by XTC, Grand Funk Railroad's We're an American Band, Wave by Patti Smith, and Meat Loaf's auspicious debut Bat Out of Hell (the fifth best-selling album of all-time with some 42 million sales). Sealing 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 (based on a screenplay commissioned by The Beatles), as well as the score for Dumb And Dumber and a number of television series, including Pee Wee's Playhouse and Crime Story. He is acknowledged as the godfather of the marriage of music and multimedia.

Rundgren, who now lives in Hawaii, has also been a recent fixture on Indiana college campuses.  In 2009 he presented an Ubben Lecture at DePauw University in Greencastle on "Music, Technology and Risk-Taking." The following year, he was Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, and later returned as grand marshal of IU's homecoming parade. This coming fall, Rundgren will begin a residency at the University of Notre Dame.

THE BAND

Keyboardist John Ferenzik was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is an American musician, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. He has performed most notably with Todd Rundgren (on keyboards, vocals and electric guitar), and also Jefferson Starship (on keyboards, electric guitar, and bass guitar). Ferenzik has released five solo CDs: Wild Man of Borneo, Wheel of Nash, Devil's Playground, Zero Points for Zeus, and House of Boris.

Guitarist Jesse Gress tours and records with Todd Rundgren, the Mahavishnu Project, 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, including GuitarRevolution : Lessons from the Groundbreakers & Innovators and The Guitar Cookbook. He continues to contribute content to Guitar Player.

Drummer Prairie Prince was born 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, XTC, George Harrison, and Richard Marx.

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, Blue Oyster Cult, Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Hall and Oates, Patti Smith, Patty Smyth, Mick Jagger, and Celine Dion, among others. The singer and multi-instrumentalist also produced Meat Loaf's VH1 Storytellers CD, released in 1999. Sulton has released four solo CDs: Kasim, Basement Tapes, Quid Pro Quo, and 3.

THE PALLADIUM AT THE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts is 1,600-seat, 151,000 square foot state-of-the-art concert hall. One of three venues that comprises the Center for the Performing Arts, it opened on January 29, 2011, and is home to the Great American Songbook Foundation. The organization's administrative headquarters are located on the Gallery level. Artists who have performed at the venue include Buddy Guy, The Chieftains, Bruce Hornsby, Melissa Etheridge, Johnny Mathis, Kansas, Hugh Laurie, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny and Aaron Neville.

Visit Rundgren Radio online at http://www.rundgrenradio.com/.