Todd
Illinois Entertainer: What keeps you com-
ing back to Chicago so often as of late,
and specifically, to the Park West?
Todd Rundgren: Well, we have a special
relationship with Jam Productions,
who’ve been the promoters at Park West
for I guess as long as we’ve been playing
recent album, as well as highlighting some
other material. Some of it is more recent,
but often we get back to songs that people
probably remember from decades ago. It’s
more of a show actually than a concert.
Some people don’t quite know the distinc-
tion, but we don’t just get up and play the
songs. It’s designed to be entertainment.
The running order of the songs is impor-
tant and there’s a certain pacing to it. I’ve
got my singers/dancers up there in front
to add to the entertainment value, so yeah,
it’s more than just a rendition of the tunes.
IE: How would you describe White Knight
for those who’ve yet to hear it?
TR: It’s unusual in that it has a whole lot
of collaborations on it. I’ve recorded most
of my records at home in Kauai and that
12•2017
there and we get treated really well. There
are some limitations, for instance, the
stage size and how many people we can
get in there, but that’s solvable by doing
multiple shows. We’ve managed to cram
some fairly complex things onto the stage
and hopefully we’ll be successful with this
one. This is a pretty high production show
as well.
IE: Every time you visit, it’s usually a
totally different theme. What’s on tap this
time through?
TR: While this is the White Night Tour,
essentially promoting and performing the
causes them to be one man affairs often, so
I decided to be more consciously collabo-
rative. I contacted a bunch of people, some
that I knew, some that I never met before,
and asked if they’d like to work together.
White Knight is substantially the result of
that.
IE: Tell me about the decision making
process of who you called. Was it simply
going through your phone or eyeing spe-
cific artists for a particular sound?
TR: It was a combination of both. There
are musicians I’ve known that were just
sort of obvious choices, like Joe Walsh and
8 illinoisentertainer.com december 2017
Todd Rundgren