Todd Rundgren

Happy New Year. Sorry about all the negativity in last night's blog, but it was one of those situations where I really needed to express myself, so I did. And now it's overwith, and we can move on to better things in the New Year.

For one thing, I had a nice hike today! Man, it was such a great feeling to be back up at Aliso, after the fires of December left the air filled with smoke, and the constant winds also contributed to making conditions inhospitable for hiking. But today the weather was really nice : 75 degrees, no wind, a bit cloudy but still enough sun to take a few pictures. It was just such a good vibe, and it felt wonderful. A great way to start the year.

Because I was preoccupied with reporting the "stressful event" in last night's blog, I did not mention the good stuff that happened after that event, and I will do so now. On Saturday night, I went to see Todd Rundgren at The Canyon Club in Agoura. I love The Canyon because it's so close, just 25 minutes from Pearl's, and it's also a really nice venue. It's a supper club, where most of the patrons have reserved tables for the show. Those reservations require that you buy dinner. The floor next to the stage, then, is all filled up with dinner tables. Not my thing; I don't wanna eat dinner and watch a rock concert at the same time, but the good thing is that The Canyon has a little standing-room-only area right behind all the tables, where you are only 20 feet from the stage and you can see everything because the dinner patrons are all sitting down. So there are not the usual dozen or so of 6'5" Guys blocking your view, as there usually is at most general admission shows, haha.  :)

So that's why I love The Canyon, because it's close and because I can see good. They also have a really good sound system. I've even seen Opeth there, and you've gotta have good sound to handle Opeth.

Todd Rundgren put on a state-of-the-art concert there on Saturday night. I went with Grimsley. We were joking before the show, saying, "well....there is a chance it might suck". We only said that because Todd can be unpredictable. Now, you should know that he is one of my all-time Top Ten Artists, in every way, from his music to his singing to his guitar playing. The guy is a musical genius, and "A Wizard A True Star" as his classic album title attests.

However, though I have seen Todd in many different guises starting way back in 1977 with his progressive rock band Utopia, and in solo shows from 1978 through 1990, there was a time when I ceased to follow him, because - just like with other bands I broke away from for a time - he began to "experiment" with his sound and his style, and for a couple of decades there, what Todd was doing didn't grab me to the point that I stopped paying attention. Just like I stopped paying attention to Van Halen and Sparks, two more of my all time Top Ten favorite artists.

Bands and artists can be great when they first come out. Then, if they stick around for a decade or two, they can start to really suck. It's just the way it is. Usually, though, bands only truly begin to suck if they go off the beam, and change their style to something so different that you go, "hmmm, why would they make such a record"?

Sparks made disco records in the 80s. Good Lordy Moses.

Van Halen made Sammy records. Fuggeddabouddit.

And Todd, well......he didn't do anything as egregious as the previous two bands. He just experimented with different styles, like Techno, and he stopped playing guitar on his records, and he just got very electronic and computerised. I gave up on him after 1990, and didn't hear anything new that I liked until 2004, when he made "Liars". That album was still very digital sounding, with no guitar and all electronic sounds, but it at least had the classic style of Todd Rundgren pop compositions that we all love from the old days. He seemed to be back.

But even after that, I didn't pay a lot of notice. The reason why is because I had seen him at his peak. I had seen him with Utopia, his own version of a progressive rock band that could rival the greats of European prog. Todd was Godd, as the saying went - he could do it all, from Top Forty Pop to hard core Progressive. And, he had created All Timer albums like "A Wizard A True Star" and "Todd". Those two albums are as great as anything that has been produced in the rock n' roll era, and along with his other solo works in the 70s and early 80s and his advanced work with Utopia, they add up to create a musical career that - for me - is as great as an artist can have. And in this case - as with Sparks and Van Halen - despite a decades-long dry spell where I stopped paying attention.

But the deal is this, and this is the deal : The Greats are The Greats, and The Cream not only Rises To The Top....it Rises Back To The Top, so long as the desire is there, and the focus is never lost.

The Canyon was packed on Saturday night. I said to Grimsley, "I didn't know Todd was still this popular". We were both worried that it might suck, based on Youtube clips from years past that indeed were not too great.

But we had also seen Todd last year, in Summer 2016, at a free concert in Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles. That was what got me back into Todd. That concert was the reason I began paying attention once again, because he not only played a full show of his greatest songs (as opposed to his "greatest hits"), but he also had a flawless band, and as I watched that concert, I thought "this is mindblowing.....it's like seeing him in the 70s". That show was my Concert Of The Year for 2016.

And the show on Saturday night at The Canyon just might have been my Concert Of The Year for 2017. Todd was on fire with a Really Big Shew, to quote Ed Sullivan. He had the same band, but this time he also had two very energetic female singer/dancers backing him up vocally, and they joined in with the harmony vocals of the band members to present a multi level of dynamics that you don't often hear on record, let alone in a live situation.

The instrumentation was so seamless that you wonder how it could be pulled off.

Prairie Prince on drums (from The Tubes), Kasim Sulton on bass, Greg Hawkes (from The Cars) on Keys, and studio master Jesse Gress on second guitar. That's how they pulled it off, but it still blows your mind because it sounds too perfect to be live, and too rockin' to be some kind of digital trickery.

It was as great a band as I have seen. And Todd himself was in great form, vocally and on lead guitar in a middle section of songs in the setlist. He shredded on a green Strat, and if you want to picture it, you can check out my photo of Todd in my "Photos From The Past" album on FB. That pic was taken at The Roxy in 1978, almost 40 years ago.

And he still plays and sings as well as he did back then, and with an all new visually and sonically stimulating show that kicks so much ass that it may well be my concert of the year for 2017, which would give Todd the honor back-to-back.

That's how great he is, even though he wasn't so great - for me - for about 15 or 20 years.

But they always come back. Todd came back big time, and he really saved my weekend, and ended my year on an incredible note, with a spirited performance that is really remarkable for a guy who is soon to be 70 years old.

You'd have to see it to believe it, and I for one will not be missing any of Todd's concerts from now on.

And we also had good singing in church on Sunday morning the next day.

So the vibe turned around and has been wonderful since.

See you in the morn.  :):)