As far as hard news goes, it's been a slow summer. Todd has wrapped up the summer leg of his solo tour and will appear in "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tonight and tomorrow in Atlantic City. In addition to Todd, Alan Parsons, and Christopher Cross , Denny Laine (Moody Blues/Wings) and Joey Molland (Badfinger) have been added to the line up. The "house band" is Godfrey Townsend (guitar), Steve Murphy (drums), Manny Focarazzo (keyboards), and John Montagna (bass). No additional dates are scheduled.
The summer tour has generated a lot of publicity for Todd, and every once in a while, little tidbits are revealed as to future plans
1) A new CD, to be titled "Liars" is expected by the end of the year (the title was revealed in the writer's comments, so take it with a grain of salt). An earlier interview revealed new music to be worked on in July, Todd later cleared that statement up in a message to Patronet subscribers that accounted for the seeming delay.
2) Several interviews mentioned Todd's current touring outlook (see pre-publicity links at http://TRConnection.com/tour/2003)
3) Todd has implied touring plans for later this fall, and a couple of dates are booked in November. Presumably, these dates will feature some of the new material.
4) On newsstands August 12 - Todd in Playgirl. No, not a centerfold, but a four-page article "TODD the sex godd."
5) An interesting article about Todd's Mom, Ruth Rundgren, appeared as pre-publicity for the Abbey Road shows. See it at http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/lifestyle/080603A06RUNDGREN.html
Patronet is on the verge of a new launch (the site says estimated completion 8/7 - yesterday). Who knows, maybe something in the next week? http://www.patronet.com
The six-CD box set containing the first four releases from the Japanese Archive series are now available at a significantly lower price. Visit http://TRBazaar.com
The Utopia "Live in Columbus, Ohio 1980" DVD will be released August 19, 2003.
The Independent Film Channel has made a theatrical release called "Camp" which includes a cover of "The Want Of A Nail." It should be in theatres now. http://www.ifcfilms.com/camp/index.html
Stewkey of the Nazz had his preview show on August 1 in New York City. Still awaiting word on further dates for the "new Nazz." The earlier "Nazztopia" shows with Stewkey, Moogy Klingman and Kevin Ellman will soon be coming out on DVD from http://TRBazaar.com (scheduled release 9/1/2003).
KasimInfo.com has a new interview with Kasim that speaks about his time with Utopia (among other things). http://www.kasiminfo.com/Interview.html
Roger Powell is playing tomorrow with David Elias at the San Gregorio Coastal Protection Music Festival. See http://www.isart.com/cpmf_info_2003.htm
And finally, ToddFest/West 2003 is coming up in just two weeks. If you can't be there in person, please join us virtually by visiting http://ToddFestWest.com/ on Saturday, August 23.