Return From Paradiso: The Amsterdam Diary, Part II

As I have mentioned before, I have started a subscription service to the Wild Wild East Monthly, a monthly archive of adventures, thoughts, impressions and back stories to many of the entries here on the Wild Wild East Dailies. Our suggested contribution to be included for one year of the Wild Wild East Monthly is $25 but we won't argue if you send more. Many people did for my travel to see Todd Rundgren in Amsterdam last week. That story has now been sent to the members and they will be seeing it before you see this. To subscribe to WWEM just click the PayPal button the the sidebar and follow the instructions. This story will be continued today so come back later if you're reading this on a feed. Thank you. Following is the continuation...

11:00pm 02.08.10

Greg Hawks (former Cars keyboard player) comes out to get his Mac and some cables and a guy goes up to him with maybe 20 Cars albums, CDs and whatnot to sign. Greg sits down on the stage and is happy to do it. Michele Rundgren comes out to talk with some fans waiting at the stage, sees me and says, "Hey you!" recognizing me from our Facebook conversations. I'm pleased enough with that.

I have a beer, as the bar is still open and the place still a party. I go back out to the lobby and buy the USB stick from the show. You can get your own, here, if you like.

A number of us wait at the stage left side door as instructed by Michele but it is cold as fuck. Really cold - yet there stands a guy from Scotland in a full kilt and fans from Mexico (this guy flew in from Mexico!) , Denmark, The UK, Germany, America, Finland, Holland - my, what a diverse and odd mix, yet there is something we all share and some sense of calm out there in the cold, some sense of common purpose. Parts of the band come out, Jesse Gresse, Bobby Strickland and Ralph Shuckett. They sign a few things and pose for a quick photo or two, and then off to a cab.

A roadie comes out swinging the door with the call, "Hello! It's me!", and we all laugh at that. But no Todd. After a while, the English promoter comes up behind us and says that it's just to damn cold and Todd won't be coming out for any signings or photo opps. We wonder if this is standard bullshit or true, decide on bullshit, wait for five more minutes, and then figure it's true. Time to disperse.

11:15pm 02.08.10

On my walk around the front of the building I talk with the guy who got the 20 albums signed by Greg Hawks and ask him if there are any after-parties or anything. He says not really, but he knows what hotel the band has been booked in and suggests we simply go there and hang at the bar. It's called the American Hotel so that's where we go.

As we walk in looking of course for Todd with his skunk-like hairdoo, we spot Greg Hawks, Prairie Prince and another guy sitting in a corner. Greg immediately recognizes the 20-album guy and motions for us to come and sit down - and so for the first time all day, I am able to take off my backpack, coat, other small bag and sit the fuck down. Hitching involves mostly standing you understand.

We order a beer, chat and the guys are more than happy to sign the USB stick I bought in its nice little black gift box. It's all just nice and normal. Prairie is also the drummer for The Tubes and I tell him that I saw Utopia Open for The Tubes at the Universal Studios Ampitheatre sometime in the early 80s. He's pretty impressed by that.

One of their handlers comes up and tells them that their cab is waiting to take them to dinner and they all beg off immediately. "Can't we just hang and finish our beer?" says Greg with half a glass left. "Yeah", says Prairie, "it's just five minutes away, we'll walk and meet you all there". And so it's decided and we all hang out for another 10 minutes. Greg tags the waiter, pays for our beers and we all wish each other well for the evening. Just nice guys.

And another day comes...
12:00am 02.09.10

Walking around downtown Amsterdam is absolutely charming and it doesn't take the sharpest tool in the shed to find the streets with all the pubs, brothels and pot joints - all of which would have been interesting to me, had I not just have hitchhiked for 22 hours and felt more like just chilling out with a beer and deflating a bit. And so I found a jazz bar with a trio onstage, beers for €2.50 and a real low-key atmosphere.

Sitting there, listening to live music and just enjoying that simple groove, I realized that that was something I had not done in six months. Sucked actually. And I had to come all this way just to realize that. To be continued, again...



For more on Todd Rundgren See:

1)Happy Birthday Todd
2) "Professor" Todd Rundgren will see you now

I Made It but I haven't made It back

For anyone following the previous post regarding AWATS in Amsterdam - I made it. 416 miles or 669.34 Kilometers. But not without significant damage. In the end it became all about making something come true, and a lot less about seeing the concert - and I'm not sure that is necessarily a good thing.

It became about following the positive encouragement of some and disregarding the negative influences of others - and about inspiring some, in maybe some greater endeavor. And there's got to be something good come from that. It began six months ago with just an artistic wish, and became something much, much more. I learned a lot on this journey, but I can't tell you exactly what yet. As I mentioned before, I will be telling the detailed story of the trip in a private newsletter to those who joined me in this quest. I'm afraid the blog will just have to live with this final thought: That I was able to see Todd onstage at all was a sheer miracle - and I felt it in my heart at the end of the show. My heart swelled with warmth over just being there, and not having given up.

WILL WORK FOR TODD! Help Me See AWATS in Amsterdam!

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Here's the deal: Trains booked, time reserved, money coming in and money doesn't come in. I'm screwed - or my much loved concert is screwed, so I'm asking for work. $400 worth in three days. Because that's how long I've got before my train leaves from Munich to Amsterdam.

For those who want to help, here's how to do it: This is not a charity. Read more below.


Is there such a thing as a Rock & Roll emergency? Well, I believe there is. Is this immature, selfish and should I feel bad? Hell no! Explanation: Many of you will know what AWATS means, but for those who don't, here's the short version: "Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star is simply the greatest album ever made" - Bob Hoskyns, Mojo Magazine - and it's being performed live for the last time ever in Amsterdam this Monday, Feb. 8th. I decided months ago that I needed to be there.

People didn't pay their bills on time and I can't do anything about that - but I can get more work can't I?

Todd, for me, has been an adult-lifelong inspiration having listened to him first in high school and then finally, in 1977, seeing him with Utopia live in Davenport, Iowa on the "Ra" tour. Fast forward through Dallas, Baltimore, Chicago, Michigan, California and ending up in Tokyo in 2004, I've seen him more than 20 times and now hopefully, with a little help, again on Monday, in Amsterdam.

And of course, I want to work for this help. This is not a charity. For anyone who contributes, I'm happy to write copy for your business, website or whatever. If you've been a reader around here, you'll know I can write or know my history in the advertising business. Also, this spring I'll be starting a subscription only newsletter - and the first installment of course, will be a full review of this show along with photos and hopefully a few interviews and person to person perspective from people in the show - and none of that will hit the blog at all. After that I'll be putting out the newsletter on a monthly basis and it will all be inside, backstory and candid work that also will not be on the blog - ever. A number of you have already contributed to the WWED so don't worry, you're on that list already. For new supporters, just let me know how I can help you. I want to work for the money.

Method: ...Western Union.com
Name: ......David E. Carlson
Address: ..Munich Germany

(PayPal is not an option unfortunately as banks will be closed by Saturday)

And so thank you all. Thank you for reading. Thank you for helping if you can. But thank you most for just being there. Sometimes the people close to you are more far away than you'd like them to be, and in those cases I'm always amazed at how some other people far away can come in more closer to fill that gap.

Email me at David.E.Carlson@gmail.com for more info.

Do notice the picture on the computer screen behind me. That's in honor of "Dave" the Australian banker who was busted looking at lingerie models on his computer while a TV station was filming a report in his bank. Save Dave!

Tally of Todd Partners as of 6:34am - Sunday, 02.07.10: CRUNCH TIME!
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1) $25 (Cheryl)
2) $50 (Katie)
3) $100 (Rich)
4) $50 (Freya)
5) $75 (Joan)
------------------
$300

$100 to go! ($400 is the total of trains: $200, ticket: $50, hotel 1 night: $75, food, misc.: $75

TWEET THIS!


23:43 Sunday: I'm hitchen' it. On the road in minutes. Scared pissless. Please leave comments and bon mots below! I'll be okay once I'm on the road...See you in AWATSTERDAM!

Todd Rundgren's AWATS: While I was travelling

As I have been away on extended holiday, tons of things have been going on and I have been remiss in attending to them from a reporting perspective. My bad. So to make up for past sins, here's a musical update:

One of those things has been Todd Rundgren's restaging of his classic album from 1973, A Wizard A True Star, AWATS, which premiered in Akron, Ohio on 6, September this year. Make sure to click on the previous link and see a selection of highlights from the show. The following clip is just one example of how a "concept album" translates to the live stage:



In March, 2003, Barney Hoskyns wrote the following in Mojo Magazine (UK) regarding the album AWATS:

"Sometimes," Todd Rundgren sang, "I don't know what to feel." But sometimes you do know what to feel. And right now I feel like saying what I've contended for many years, which is that Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star is simply The Greatest Album Ever Made.

You heard me right, pardner. Better than Pet Sounds. Better than OK Computer. Certainly better than Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Farts Dub Band. An album of vaulting ambition - of wizardry and true stardom - released into an unsuspecting world by a contrary, super-precocious wonderboy who should have been the biggest thing to happen in the '70s but who was just too complex and polymorphous for lasting pop success.

A Wizard, A True Star came out 35 years ago but still sounds more bravely futuristic than any ostensibly cutting-edge electro-pop being made in the 21st Century. A dizzying, intoxicating rollercoaster ride of emotions and genre mutations, the album was substantially the work of Rundgren himself, pieced together in late 1972 at his own Secret Sound studio on NYC's West 24th Street."

Coming in February of 2010, this show will visit the UK & The Netherlands. I hope to catch it there with my partner and will make sure to post a full review. Thanks to Doug at RundgrenRadio.com for the Barney Hoskyns snippet and a big hey to all those stateside who have been lucky enough to have seen the show. I hope to join you in 2010!