Todd Rundgren Concert Part 2

As promised, here are the concert photos taken by Dean Martin's friend TJ.

People may have questioned what the result would be with Rachel Haden on bass. I think that while everybody, for the most part would have had Kasim Sulton play the bass on the tour, they ended up pleasantly surprised. She did a great job and added an element that had not been seen or heard at a Todd concert. Although she is very young, all of the old gray-haired dudes in the audience could drool with for good reason. I hope we all get to see Rachel again on another tour.

Todd Rundgren blew us all away with his guitar on this night. Many would say that he had strayed from the guitar for several years........well.........the man has not lost his touch and he verified why he should be held in high regard as a guitar player. Unbelievable!

It was loud. It was proud. It was exactly what we all needed. The right songs......the right theme......the right volume......the right venue.........and if you missed this show, you are a loser.
Let me put it correctly........if you didn't know about the show you have missed much. If you knew about the show but didn't attend.....then you are a loser.

While many years have passed since Todd first arrived in the music scene, he certainly has not failed to get better and better.......which is hard to do considering he was one of the best from the get-go. He has not failed to please........even though he has ventured into sometimes risky genres. Even if his music is not your cup of tea, you never feel ripped off after his performance. I have no idea where he gets his energy.

Rachel Haden thumped away on the bass as Kasim Sulton was providing some keyboards. Yeah......sure......Kasim can play keyboards.....remember?........remember "Love Alone" by Utopia?...........the man has many talents.

From the moment they took the stage until they walked off the stage two hours later it was non-stop excellence.........and yet we want more.

After playing two songs, I would need to go sit down for a while. Todd plays two songs and only needs to scratch the left side of his head with his right hand......hehehe.....what can I say?

Rachel Haden has come a long way since the beginning of the tour. She has loosened up on stage quite a bit yet she still keeps an intense focus on what she is playing. I have read reviews where people thought she wasn't moving around very much and that she seemed a bit over concentrated. It has been said throughout the years that if you do not remember the bass player in a band, then he did his job well. It would be very difficult to not notice Rachel, for obvious reasons, but nobody could ever say that she didn't have the caliber to perform with Todd.


How does this man scream like he does? Nobody screams as good as Todd does. I enjoy good screams. Now don't get me wrong here.........I ain't saying that all he does is scream..........what I am saying is that when he screams......it's proper.

Did you know that Rachel Haden is a triplet? She is the daughter of jazz musician Charlie Haden.....who also plays bass. Actor Jack Black is her brother-in-law.

What could I say about Kasim Sulton? Everybody has heard him and yet they do not necessarily know it. Aside from his long history performing with Todd and Utopia, Kasim has performed with such artists as Hall & Oates, Joan Jett, and Meat Loaf....to name a few. His voice is angelic and it was Kasim's voice heard singing background vocals on the majority of those Meat Loaf songs. He might just be the hardest working guy in the business. Here he was playing guitar..........is there nothing he cannot do?



There are two things here to take into consideration. TJ was standing right behind me at the concert and I was standing at the front edge of the stage between where Rachel and Kasim were performing. This would explain the numerous pictures of Rachel that TJ shot.........or would it?

If you haven't seen Prairie Prince play the drums.....make a point of it to do so sometime in the near future. He is one of the very best. Okay.......maybe you hadn't heard of him. Prairie was the original drummer for Journey (he left before the records came out) and was a founding member of the Tubes. He has played with Starship and many others over the years and can be heard on countless recordings including XTC........Now you know.

After the show, I asked Todd to come back to Baltimore again. He replied "I love Baltimore". I asked him what he thought of the crowd for this show and he said "They were great!......Was this a good turnout for a Tuesday night?" I told him YES considering it was a work night and the weather forecast had not been good. The venue filled up pretty good considering............but it surely was not a sellout. Now that rock radio is practically gone off the air here, it is hard to know who is coming to town.

I believe this is the bass that Todd bought for Rachel when they got to Austin earlier in the tour. I think that Todd thought Rachel needed a smaller and lighter bass than the Fender.

Jesse Gress was on the left side of the stage. He is one hell of a guitarist. Think of him as a guitar professor............there is not a sound that he cannot make with his guitar.

Todd has a great sense of humor and his between song banters with the crowd are great. Here he is telling us about growing up in a rowhouse, as we have in Baltimore, about 90 miles north.



This was a fun moment on the stage. I don't know the story behind this but I know they did it throughout the tour.

I watched intently as Kasim played his guitar. He never messed up......perfect throughout. I was in heaven........with Todd and Kasim onstage it was half of Utopia and when Kasim started to sing "Trapped", a chill went up my spine....... I had never been so close.

"Earth to TJ.......Earth to TJ...........it's a TODD show"



My music hero......Todd Rundgren.



Did I mention that Kasim can hold his own on guitar?

Three guitars! Wow!



Todd is multi-talented but his voice is often overlooked by many. This man can sing.

Rachel can sing too.
"Earth to TJ.............Earth to TJ..................pay attention"


















The show ended all to quickly some two hours into it. The lead guitar solo magical moment of "Just One Victory" wailed and wailed and wailed. The hairs on my back and neck stood up........the crowd in awe of the great one onstage................

.............."Give us just one victory and everything will be all right!"

Thanks Todd!

Thanks again to TJ for the photos. He saved the day.................psssst....hey Rachel.............You have a huge fan named TJ.........let me know when you are coming back to Baltimore so I can make sure TJ knows..........hehehe.

Todd Rundgren

So there I was...................planted at ground zero in front of the stage at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore. The only way to get any closer would be to actually get up onto the stage........ahhhh the temptation. Hey......but I ain't complainin'...........I happened to be situated where Rachel Haden and Kasim Sulton would be directly in front of me. Oh.......I suppose I could have located myself directly in front of Todd Rundgren, but I probably would have been mauled by the extreme Toddheads that were already taking up that particular space. The show was about to begin........I got my beer in hand and I am ready to ingest every moment of the concert..........but before I go any further here..........I have to tell you the story within the story.

This particular concert was an important one for me. I had already seen the "Arena" concert at Antone's in Austin, Texas.......and it was fantastic. Kasim wasn't in the band at that time and this time he would be.........okay.....now we are talking 50% of Utopia here.........what is not to like about that? Also........this is home turf......and there was a redeeming value involved in this show. Many, many years ago Utopia was booked to perform at what was then called the Civic Center in Baltimore. I planned on attending and so did some of my friends. One friend, in particular, was really excited about the upcoming Utopia concert. Sadly, for some reason......and as I try to remember I think it was because of lack of ticket sales, I don't really know.......the concert was cancelled. Maybe there was some other reason. Needless to say......me and my friends were heartbroken. It was a shock to us.........I remember that Murf was so upset by the bad news that he confined himself to his second floor bedroom and cranked up the "Ra" album on his stereo full blast......so loud that it could be heard spewing forth from his bedroom window all throughout the neighborhood. As it was.......the concert never happened.......but that never kept us from being huge fans...........needless to say....we were hurt by this and I had hoped that one day there would be some redemption. (I did manage to take a few friends with me to Radio City Music Hall to see the "Ra/Oops" concert.........but that wasn't in Baltimore.) We wanted Todd here.

Even though Todd has performed several concerts in the Baltimore area over the years since the cancelled Utopia show........none of the shows included the other members of Utopia. The "Nearly Human" concert and the "Second Wind" concert......along with the one-man shows were all fantastic.......but we longed for Utopia...........even though that was something never likely to ever happen again. So this time........with Kasim in the band.......it is as close as we could get and hopefully they would perform at least one or two Utopia songs........it would finally be some redemption.

When a Todd concert is to happen in the Baltimore area, I go into typical Toddhead mode and buy up several tickets. These shows mean alot to me...........Rundgren's music has been so much a part of my existence.......moreso probably than any other music.........that I want to share it with everyone I can. For this concert, I called Murf.........he was onboard for the show............I called Dean Martin and he was onboard (Dean never saw a Todd show before).......both of my sons were onboard. We could not get the other Murf to come to the show.......he declined for various good reasons......but he was with us in spirit.......after all.......the Uncle Murray Band......what happens to one of us, happens to all of us......hehehe. What more could I ask for?.......I have two of my best friends on the planet and my two sons going with me to see a Todd show........and THIS TIME it will be half of Utopia on that stage!

I had a plan......well....not really a plan.......more like a concept or an idea. I knew certain things about Todd shows and what could be expected and I figured I would expect some things to occur that my friends would enjoy as well as I would enjoy. I had told them that if we get there early, we might see Kasim walking around before we actually enter the venue. As it happens......we got there early and lo and behold.....Kasim comes walking past us....."Hi Guys!". We, of course let him continue on to wherever he was going. I had also told the guys we would stay late because I knew we would get an opportunity to get some autographs. Well...........more on that later.

I really wanted to take my camera to the show.....but cameras were not allowed according to the tickets.........and when I called the venue and asked about it, they informed me that cameras were not allowed. This, of course, pisses me off.......because I know full well that every person in the place has a cell phone that takes pictures and each and every one of them would be snapping away. Being the decent and honest law abiding dude that I am, I left my camera at home. I followed the rules......only to get to the show and see countless people with cameras.............what? I could have brought my own camera?! Needless to say...........it was a hit below the belt..........so I had to improvise a bit........we would take as many pictures we could with my son's cell phone and with his CAMERA! that he smuggled in......hehehe......unfortunately....his camera is not as nice as my camera and the majority of pictures taken with it, ended up rather blurry and not worth putting up on this blog. Fortunately, some of the pictures were keepers and the cell phone shots weren't too bad.

Fortunately for me, Dean Martin said one of the guys where he works told him that he would see him at the show. His friend just so happened to be a photographer and he brought his camera. I have all of his concert photos and they are fantastic. I will post those pictures on the next blog entry.

Okay.......so the concert started............and I just cannot describe how I felt. The hairs were standing on my back.........it was like being a teenager again...........well........maybe not.....but it was close............everybody in the crowd was either smiling with joy or so stunned and in awe that their mouths were hanging open as they stared at the band. I gotta say it folks.........this band ROCKED and were spot on! No mistakes. Nothing but perfection.

Fans of all ages were in attendance.......some even brought some rather young children along with them. Even the kids knew the Rundgren classics and sang along throughout the night.

My son, BooBoo, was really into it.........he sang and pumped his fist and shouted "Strike". At one point, while he was singing along with "Love Of The Common Man", a middle aged female Toddhead with kids reached over my shoulder to give my son a high-five. I never saw that happen before.

What can I say?...........This is what I saw when I looked up.

Rachel Haden did a great job on bass. And her backup vocals fit nicely.

What can I say about Todd? Why isn't this man in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame?

Me and my son BooBoo watch as Kasim plays some keyboards. This was a first.......Kasim on keyboards and guitars.........hmmmm.....as I think about it......no it wasn't a first.......but rare. I gotta tell you..........Kasim was fantastic on guitar. We all know that he is one hell of a bass player and vocalist.

They rattled off song after song.....it was virtually non-stop for two hours. I absorbed every moment........I was in my element. It just doesn't get much better than this...........can it?

But it CAN get better. After the show, we immediately headed to the back of the venue where I knew that they would be loading up the equipment onto a truck.

I knew we could probably get some pictures of the band..........sure enough Jesse Gress was hanging around. He seemed a bit busy and shy. All in all it was like we had an exclusive.......there was only a small handful of fans standing on the sidewalk behind a barricade. It was as if nobody else had figured out that this was the place to be after any show at the Ram's Head Live!

Baltimore isn't the safest place on the planet. We were standing less than a half block away from the Police Headquarters. Police cars were parked along the side street where the venue exit is. It is pretty bad when you see a police car with an anti-theft steering wheel bar.

Rachel Haden never exited the building......but we could see her in the hallway, talking on a payphone. Also, Prairie Prince was nowhere to be found. Kasim Sulton popped out of the door rolling his suitcase behind him.............he looks over at us and says "Wait a minute guys.......I'll be right there." He promptly loads up his suitcase into the SUV parked right next to us and walks behind the barricade and stands among us. Murf had a setlist and Kasim signed it for him.

Kasim used Murf's back for support to write on. He spent a fairly decent amount of time conversing with us. This was a huge thrill for Murf and he was almost speechless. All of those years being a Utopia fan and there he was with Kasim himself!

Kasim has to be the nicest dude on the planet......seriously. I said to Kasim: "You're the best!". Kasim says "No, YOU are the best!". We went back and forth like that several times as he signed autographs for us. That he takes the time to sign autographs is one thing......but to spend the amount of time he does.....chatting with us.......posing for pictures........even though he must be tired.........what can I say? Thanks Kasim!

Alrighty then.......Let me just say that my sons were with me when I attended the Todd "Liars" concert in Lancaster , PA. After that show, we waited by the tour bus and Kasim stood with us. He was so friendly and accommodating and treated us like we were his family. Unfortunately the pictures we took were lost when our harddrive crashed. There was a rather large crowd there that night and Kasim spent most of his time chatting with us. He put his arm around my son Boo Boo without hesitation and posed for pictures. My son was thrilled. Heck.....I was thrilled! Todd Rundgren was busy signing autographs and was behind a barricade. My other son, Dash Riprock, went over to him and asked him to sign an autograph for "my Dad......he named me after you". Rundgren looked up at him and said "I do not usually personalize autographs but since it is for your Dad I will.......what is his name?" My son thanks him and walks over to me with the autograph...."Here Dad." The crowd was too big for me to get to meet Todd but my son had managed to get the prize. I remember that when they called a halt to the meet and greet because they had to leave.......I did manage to walk around the other side of the group where I encountered Todd about to get into a SUV in front of the bus. I said "Thanks Todd!" to which he replied "It's my pleasure!". That was as personal as it had gotten for this fan..............until now.

Todd's wife Michele poked her head outside the door and announced "He'll be right out!" and a minute later there he was...............he comes out of the door and walks right over to us. Now THIS is what I am talking about! It was almost as if we had an exclusive........Todd spent alot of time talking with me, Murf, Dean Martin, and my son Dash Riprock. He signed autographs for us and posed for pictures. I pointed out the police car with the anti-theft bar to Todd.....and he chuckled. It is hard to think of what you would like to say to your hero............you become dumbfounded. I said "Thanks Todd for making the soundtrack to my life!". He smiled and said "My pleasure". I cannot remember everything that was said at that moment but he was there for about fifteen minutes with us. I remember saying to him "Hey......we have the same kind of thumbs"......Todd held out both hands and said "Look at these fingers.........I have chubby fingers" and something about how hard it is playing the guitar with them. I think I said something like "but you do it so well". He laughed. Joked around with us. It was at this moment that my son's camera battery died and I could not get anymore pictures. All we had left was the cell phone.

Dean Martin told Todd that we played music too. Todd responded to that with "You guys are in a band?......Cool."

My son stood back and took the picture of us all together. Imagine that!..........Todd Rundgren and the Uncle Murray Band!

Finally........I got to meet Todd Rundgren.........my hero........rock and roll legend.

Have I mentioned how lucky and blessed that I am?


Stay Tuned...........next up: More photos of the concert!

Arrrrggghhhhh!

Sometimes you just wanna reach into your television or computer monitor and wring the necks of morons. For some reason such an act would be less violent than the majority of what is being broadcast through the airwaves and cables. Every time I see Nancy Pelosi she makes me nauseous. I understand that women do not want to show their age and do whatever they can to try to make themselves "pretty" and young looking. Well.....Pelosi ain't fooling nobody. It appears that even when she isn't surprised.......she always has that surprised look on her face. It must be the "cosmetic" facial surgery.......I don't know. Does she think that we aren't smart enough to know that at her age she has gray hair? Who is she foolin'? You? Me?.........I don't think so. My God!........please make her go away! This woman is not only psychotic looking but it is way too early for Halloween. Okay......okay........I apologize.......I should not write such things about some kid's grandmother. It is wrong to do that...........but..............it was bad enough when all of the politicians were men and that many of them..........even to this day............had their hair sculptured and dyed resulting in that "anti-whirlwind" kind of fake tv preacher look about themselves. But now we have Pelosi...................its like having a full technicolor nightmare. I tried to warn everyone about Pelosi. She was born and bred in the Little Italy neighborhood in Baltimore. Her maiden name is D'Alesandro. She has that corrupt Maryland Democrat type of blood running throughout her vieins.

She needs to go away......and soon. Meanwhile......while I may be wrong to have written such nasty stuff..........somebody else managed to come up with a picture that sums it all up:

There ya go.....................and as it turns out......this kind of thing is as infectious as the H1N1 virus on a half eaten enchilada in the suitcase of a fat frequent flyer to Cancun. .........hmmmmm......well...........there is just ONE other case that I have found :

Oooooooh Yeah!...............This "Joker" thing is getting out of control............but.........I can see the similarities between Pelosi & Obama and the Joker. Now if Life would imitate Art just a few times............these two will find a way to eliminate themselves.


Remember that bogus election that was recently held in Iran? Remember the guy that "lost"?

Yep........That's the guy that "lost" the Presidential election in Iran. I knew he looked familiar.....................
............none other than movie director Steven Spielberg..........hehehe.........who knew?


Okay........enough "joker-ring" around.

When you read this blog, you surely must know that it is possible for you to respond or comment.........just click and respond and I will be notified via e-mail by Blogger and I will submit your commentary after making sure it is decent to post. I am not much on censoring and if I do I will specify the portion of your comment that I remove. Otherwise, I even let the Jehovah's Witnesses try to defend their beliefs.............by the way........if you missed the few posts I made about the Jehovah's Witnesses and their wacky beliefs, you most likely also missed all of the Jehovah's Witness comments to those posts. Such entertainment cannot be purchased anywhere, folks. You can go back and review all of the posts I have made since I began this blog.

Furthermore, as you may have noticed........there are no ads on my blog. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that I just simply haven't set it up for any ads and thus I make no money. And Two is that I simply do not have enough readers to warrant such. You may notice that I also do not have a "visitor counter" on my blog. I was tempted........but I kinda like not knowing exactly how many people are actually visiting my blog. Such info would have no bearing on what I write here.

I must say though, that It surely doesn't hurt to occasionally hear from those that stumble onto my blog. You can be a kind as you want or you can be as critical of the blog as you wish. You can rest assured that you will remain "anonymous" unless otherwise specified. That's the way I operate. Those that really know me already know my name and those that I myself already know, do not need to be reminded of who they are.......hehehe.

A little feedback would be nice.........occasionally.

Also.........popularity on the internet is not something I seek and it has never been the purpose of this blog. However..........if you happen to enjoy this blog, I do hope you would share it with your friends and families and co-workers, etc. There is nothing better than word-of-mouth promotion. Who knows...........maybe I can reach twenty readers soon......hehehe. Or maybe I can get twenty new enemies........it's all good.

Coming Soon:

The Todd Rundgren "Arena" concert in Baltimore......lots of pictures!

An Anniversary.........and Birthday.

Mancation Trip to Atlantic City.

Trip to Texas.....again.

Stay Tuned!

Obama & The Smart Car

I know....I know.......it has been so long since I last posted anything on this blog that some may have though that I vanished off the face of the earth. Nope......I didn't do that.......nor have I run away from everything. Sure.....I wouldn't mind running off to some island somewhere and somewhat escaping all of the shenanigans that is going on in our country.......but I have decided that I will be sticking around and putting up a good fight. I am not a quitter.......I just occasionally go on hiatus.......hehehe.

There is much to get caught up on here and it will take me several days to get completely back in gear. You might wonder what has been going on with Ole Signtopia lately.......well.......I have been enjoying life as best as I can, considering the circumstances. In the next few days to come, I intend on sharing some of my recent experiences. Also, I am looking forward to a few things to come. I also need to vent my mind here......I have been silent way too long about too many things. You might have gotten the impression that I threw in the towel and gave up on everything............hmmmm.......maybe not a bad idea being a hermit. I am trying to come to grips with the future.......particularly my immediate future............I feel like I have just entered the game and I am looking forward to swinging the bat at everything thrown in my direction.......if you know what I mean.

Let me get off to a good start here and begin with what is considered by our government and all of the tree huggers out there............."global warming" or "climate change" as some call it. Well......have you been enjoying your weather? I firmly believe that our weather is cyclical.....climate is cyclical and our earth and universe is cyclical. There is nothing we can do about it and nothing we can do to change it unless everything blows up into smithereens. With that said........we find that there are many conniving evil people in power positions and enough morons willing to accept and believe their every word......NO.....this time I wasn't just talking about the Jehovah's Witnesses....hehehe........arrrrgggghhhh! So Obama wants us all to have "smart cars"............imagine that. I don't know about that term....."smart cars". Cars are cars........mechanical things intended to move you from one place to another. Sounds all well and good except that politicians, in particular, our so-called leaders such as Obama figured out that the car has been one way that citizens can vanish from their complete control. We can pretty much drive all over the place without being tracked easily unless we use a cell phone. Furthermore......some of the powers that be also are firm believers in eugenics. They believe they must do what they can to decrease the surface population of the planet..............just like an abortion. On one hand they wanted more votes, and then they want them killed off. Sounds like a giant conspiracy theory....right?...............well.......it isn't. This is reality, folks. Proof of such is seen in the following pictures:

Remember the Corvair? I liked the Corvair. Ralph Nader made a living out of getting the Corvair off the road and into oblivion......he said it was "Unsafe At Any Speed"......he even wrote a book entitled exactly that. It was said that it was bad because we didn't stand a chance in the Corvair in a collision. Rear engine.......nothing solid up front for protection.......you know the spiel. Oddly....it was ok to have a VW Beetle which also had a rear engine and nothing up front to protect you except your groceries in the trunk. The Corvair just had to go............and then there was the Pinto.......which I won't even get into that one...........and this brings us to today and the Smart Car:

Don't you just love it? The "Smart" car........Gee.....I wonder where the engine is??.........and HEY!..........Where is the trunk!??????

Ralph Nader ought to be jumping out of his skin over this vehicle but we haven't heard squat out of him. Maybe he is too busy driving a VW around..........maybe he is in a coma somewhere...........maybe he hasn't watched television since the last episode of Knight Rider. So at this point we are to accept the "smart cars" that our government wants the auto makers to produce. I recently was at the airport waiting for my son to come pick me up. As we stood there waiting I watched countless busses, trucks, SUV's, limosines and assorted mid-size to large cars pulling up to the curb and loading and unloading people with numerous, huge travel suitcases. I never saw a "smart car" picking anyone up. Imagine the problems with the smart car.....no place to pack your bags to go to the airports.........are we supposed to wear "smart clothes" that do not require changing for weeks at a time?........could that be next? The "smart car" idea just doesn't make any sense to me..........except if.........the whole idea is to.........

........make sure none of us can walk away from an accident.

Think about that.

Princess Fartknocker's stage debut!!!!!!

Princess Fartknocker is gonna be a star one day. You saw her here first.

Todd Rundgren Baltimore Concert - Coming Soon

What more can I say?

Todd Rundgren "Arena" concert at Ram's Head Live! in Baltimore, Tuesday April 14th.
During the first leg of the tour, I went to the Todd concert in Austin, Texas and it was awesome. This is one show you don't want to miss.

Supporting Todd onstage will be Kasim Sulton, Jesse Gress, Prairie Prince and Rachel Haden.
Anytime you get half of the members of Utopia onstage it's gonna be great. I am so looking forward to this show.

You might be wondering who are these people in Todd's band? Kasim Sulton has pretty much been performing with Todd for many years. He was the bass player for the second incarnation of Utopia. He also has been the music director for Meatloaf for many years. Kasim is one of the best......for this tour, Kasim will be playing guitar and keyboard. Jesse Gress is a guitarist to the nth power and was/is part of the Tony Levin Band. Prairie Prince is on drums and he has been on countless albums of various bands. Prairie is probably best known for being the drummer of The Tubes and I gotta tell ya, he is fantastic. Rachel Haden will be on bass. Rachel is the daughter of jazz musician Charlie Haden and was a member of the group "that dog". Rachel is just one of a set of triplets. She does a great job on bass and you will be pleasantly surprised.

The show is gonna be loud and tons of guitar and I like it. Don't expect to hear Hello, It's Me or Bang The Drum All Day.......they ain't on the setlist.

If you are in Baltimore, go get your tickets now!.........you will NOT regret it. If you ain't gonna go, then at least order the Todd Rundgren "Arena" cd online.......forget AC/DC.

I will write about the show the day or two afterwards. I will include pictures if I can manage to sneak a few.