Akron, OH (PRWEB) April 24, 2013

Todd Rundgren will perform with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Akron Youth Symphony on August 31st, 2013 at the Akron Civic Theatre in Akron, OH. This will be the first time ever Rundgren has performed with two different orchestras on the same stage at the same time and the first time he has performed with a youth orchestra. The concert is being presented by RundgrenRadio.com. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.com.

The August concert will include special guests keyboardist John Ferenzik, guitarist Jesse Gress, drummer Prairie Prince, bassist Kasim Sulton, and background singers Mary Lou Arnold and Michele Rundgren.
Full details about the concert can be found at http://www.MaestroToddRundgren.com.

The Todd Rundgren with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Akron Youth Symphony concert will be Rundgren's third symphonic concert in North America; in June of last year, Todd performed two concerts with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra in Rockford, IL. Both concerts in Rockford were presented by RundgrenRadio.com. The orchestra concert in Akron will consist of both the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Akron Youth Symphony.

The idea of Todd performing with a full orchestra was the brainchild of Netherland radio DJ and music connoisseur Co de Kloet. His idea came to life in September of 2011 when Todd performed two concerts in the Netherlands backed by the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. Todd returned to Amsterdam in November of last year and performed again with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra in front of a sold out crowd at the famous Paradiso venue. The conductor for the Dutch concerts was Steve Slidewell and the orchestral arrangements were done by Tom Trapp. The North American concerts would be difficult to do without the generosity of the Dutch Metropole Orchestra sharing their charts from those concerts.

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, and conceptualist, 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.

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.

For more than 60 years, the Akron Symphony Orchestra has been a driving musical force throughout the Greater Akron area. Widely recognized for musical excellence and performance versatility, the Akron Symphony Orchestra is committed to enhancing the quality of life of their community through educational and musical excellence.
Akron Youth Symphony is the Akron Youth Orchestra’s flagship ensemble and one of Ohio’s oldest youth orchestras. It presents three concerts each year at multiple venues and provides talented young musicians with an unforgettable, professional musical experience in their formative adolescent years. The orchestra celebrated its 50th anniversary by traveling to New York City and performing a concert in Carnegie Hall.

Todd Rundgren Jokes

Thought we would go to the lighter side of things today. Here are a few Todd Rundgren related jokes.

The first one is from the February 14, 2007 episode of 30 Rock:

In the episode one someone calls Tina Fey's charecter, Liz Lemon, the "C" word.

She was offended and when discussing it with her producer/another writer she refused to repeat the word.(which by the way was cleverly concealed).

She told the writer the word rhymed with the title of his favorite Todd Rundgren album and he looked puzzled and asked "someone called you something that rhymes with The Hermit of Mink Hollow?"



"Mommy! Mommy! When I grow up I want to be a guitar player like Todd Rundgren!"
"Now Johnny, you can't do both!"




A Todd fan died and ended up in hell. The devil greeted him and showed him to a room. All there was in this room was a stereo. The devil tells the Todd fan that only he controls the stereo, and anything he does to try and turn the stereo off will raise the temperature in his room one degree. So the devil turns the stereo on and puts on Something/Anything, and hits the repeat button. "I'll see you in a thousand years" he says, and slams the door.

A thousand years go by and the devil is making his rounds and comes to the Todd fan's room. He opens the door only to find the room the same temperature as when he left. The devil is amazed by how much self control the fan has shown and decides that he had learned his lesson and was going to let him go. So the devil turns off the music, and before the devil has a chance to say anything, the fan turns around and says "Hey, I was listening to that!"



How many Todd fans does it take to change a lightbulb? One to actually change it, 10 to take pictures of it, and 100 to talk about it on Facebook.