Via the wonders of the internet, I received – via Kasim Sultan’s mailing list – an invite to a “mystery show” in Burbank which transpired this past weekend. My girlfriend, Nipper Seaturtle, and I opted to attend the Sunday evening performance as the Friday show was likely to be a real packed-to-the-rafters, star-studded, Hollywood event. I figured the Sunday show might be a little more low-key, perhaps offering a better chance to hang with the band (I’ve never met Todd but I’d love to; perhaps one of these days). Unfortunately, we missed the first song (and, for the record, I believe the setlist was the same for both shows, which I believe has already been posted), but we eventually made our way to Studio Eleven and found ourselves in the midst of a hundred and fifty or so people (I’m terrible at guessing audience sizes). It was a full-blown set with lights, crew, you name it. I felt a tangible sense of electricity buzzing in the air (most likely due to the high winds and low humidity we’re currently experiencing in Sunny Southern, but I’d like to think otherwise). I have been a fan of The Cars since the debut album blasted like a hurricane through my teenaged world; that first record was nothing less than a revelation. Before The Cars, my friends and I were listening to Rush, Frampton, ELP, KISS, Pink Floyd, Styx, Supertramp; you know, classic ‘70’s arena rock. The Cars ushered in an era of new sounds, new approaches, or so it seemed to those of us growing up far off the beaten track in then-rural Colchester, Vermont. In our world, after The Cars came Joe Jackson, The Knack, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, The Police, all those quirky new wave bands; the Cars ushered in an entirely new scene, and none of us were ever the quite the same. Much later in life – in fact, about seven years ago – I discovered Todd Rundgren largely via Auditeer Pat Bueltimer. Years ago, I had sent Pat one of my demo albums, and he suggested I check out Nazz and Todd’s solo stuff, which I soon did, courtesy of an excellent TR mix tape that Pat so thoughtfully provided. I was familiar with “I Saw the Light” and I especially LOVED “We Gotta Get You a Woman” as a youngster, but I was totally ignorant of the vast majority of TR’s extensive catalog. From the opening piano chords of “Take the Hand”, well, I was smitten, beguiled, enchanted, blown away. I've been a TR geek ever since. Nipper, on the other flipper, finds the music of The Cars to be bland, a-melodic, and somewhat boring. She experienced the Punk Explosion(tm) firsthand, and I believe she’s always considered The Cars to be Johnny-come-lately’s. She’s also been a hardcore Todd fan since Day One, so, you know, she’s definitely biased. I can see her point (there, just under the cascading blonde fall she sometimes wears). I mean, melodically speaking, there’s really no comparing Todd to The Cars. Part of the whole point of The Cars was to cloak the music in a sort of cold, futuristic vibe, which necessitated a somewhat flat vocal approach. As such, there aren’t a lot of the soaring vocal melodies that are a hallmark of TR’s body of work. I see no problem with either approach, frankly; hey, whatever works. I was pretty much blown away by how seamlessly TR fit into The Cars mold. Nipper kept saying that his voice was under-utilized, and it was, no question about it; if TR had been wailing serious Philly-soul vocals over those squarewave analog riffs, I’m not sure the blend would be palatable (unlike his work with Utopia, where the blend of future-past is nothing if not astonishing). That said, TR fit the music perfectly – I thought it was a match made in heaven. Whoever suggested the pairing deserves serious kudos. I won’t go into detail over the performance other than to say that the band was fantastic, loose-yet-tight, relaxed, and obviously having fun. A highlight for me was Elliot Easton’s and Rundgren’s harmony guitar solo on “I Saw the Light”; that was an extremely cool moment. Easton was a monster, nailing his quasi-countrified solos note-for-note (I’d have loved to hear a little more spontaneity, honestly), and Prairie Prince drove the bus with taste and a seriously deep groove. Kasim, well, what can you say? The dude is a world-class vocalist and bassist, and he had his moments; his harmony vocals were pop-perfection. Greg Hawks pretty much just did that thing he does, and flawlessly at that (great old-skool analog sounds!). If I could've changed one minor thing, it would've been that TR play more freaking lead guitar -- however, that said, The Cars are Easton's territory and TR respectfully allowed him the six-string spotlight. Total respect, how cool is that? The crowd was alive and into the performance, quieting down between songs as Los Angeles audiences tend to do. During one quiet moment, TR said something like “....and then a pall came over the crowd.” Nipper yelled back “You mean Paul McCartney?” which prompted titters of scattered laughter from the crowd. I swear, Winona Ryder was standing next to us; it turned out not to be her, but, still, this woman was a dead-ringer. We hung out with her and her boyfriend for a while, making new friends in the process, everyone enjoying the music. After the show, it was a bit of a Star Search situation; we ran into Weird Al and his girlfriend (we’d met him a couple of times prior at They Might Be Giants shows). It was a cool moment for me to be able to tell him that I deeply enjoyed his Frank Zappa homage “Genius in France”, and he seemed truly grateful for the compliment. Shortly thereafter, Kasim came out and we got to chat him up for a few moments. I asked him who had written the new tune “But Not Tonight” and he said it was basically a band composition, and that there were plenty more in the works. Kasim said he liked my shirt, which was kind of funny, because Nipper is a Power Thrift Shopper and she has my eternal gratitude for dressing me like a rockstar (LOL). I offered Kasim the shirt off my back but he graciously declined. We got to hang out with Prairie Prince, who we were introduced to via my friend Victor (of The Quarter After and The Blondes), and he was a blast to talk to; so many great stories! Nipper told him of our plan to one day assemble a crack band for the sole purpose of playing The Tubes’ “Remote Control” in a live setting; Prairie handed her his card and said “Call me when you put this together.” I’m not sure if he was kidding or not, but it was pretty insane. Prairie introduced us to a gentleman whose name escapes me now, but who had worked with Yes during the fantastic Trevor Rabin years. I got a chance to gush like an idiot to this guy over my Brokeback Mountain-esque obsession with all things Trevor Rabin. Fanboy! Later, Greg Hawkes took a moment to thank us for coming, and expressed unbridled excitement about the band and upcoming tour. Very nice gentlemen, all. Enough with the name-dropping already... We decided to leave shortly thereafter, since it seemed likely that TR and Elliot Easton were hanging backstage, and that we probably wouldn’t get an opportunity to meet them this evening. All good; after a performance like the one we witnessed, those guys deserved a break. In summary, it was a fantastic, fun show, the vibe was electric, the crowd intense, the band rockin’, and the blend of TR, Kasim and Prairie with Hawkes and Easton is nothing if not inspired. I’m not sure what hardcore The Cars fans might think of this line up, but, for me, it’s a great, great band. How could it not be? Thanks for reading... kErrY kOMpOsT www.abelincolnstory.com (swing-punk-soul project) www.myspace.com/kompost (solo project, blogs) www.myspace.com/theultrasuede (sunshine-powerpop project) www.ryookumoto.com (prog-rock project) www.tribecamusic.net (pop-fusion project) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com