The Spectrum
"America's Showplace" "Broad Street"
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Former names	The Spectrum (1967–1994) CoreStates Spectrum (1994–1998) First Union Spectrum (1998–2003) Wachovia Spectrum (2003–2009)
Location	3601 South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19148
Broke ground	June 1, 1966[1]
Opened	September 30, 1967
Closed	October 31, 2009
Demolished	November 23, 2010 - May 2011
Owner	Comcast Spectacor, L.P.
Operator	Global Spectrum
Surface	Multi-surface
Construction cost	$12 million ($83.6 million in 2012 dollars[2])
Architect	Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
General Contractor	McCloskey & Company, Inc.
Capacity	Concerts: 18,369 Basketball: 18,168 Ice Hockey: 17,380
Tenants
Philadelphia Flyers (NHL; 1967–1996) Philadelphia 76ers (NBA; 1967–1996) Philadelphia Wings (NLL I (Original franchise 1974–75) and II (Current franchise 1987–1996) Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL; 1996–2009) Philadelphia KiXX (NPSL/MISL/NISL; 1996–2009) Philadelphia Soul (AFL; 2004–2008; selected home games) Philadelphia Freedoms (WTT; 1974) Philadelphia Bulldogs (RHI; 1994–1996) Philadelphia Fever (MISL; 1978–1981)

The Spectrum, known also as the CoreStates Spectrum (1994–1998), First Union Spectrum (1998–2003), and Wachovia Spectrum (2003–2009) was an indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Opened in the fall of 1967 as part of what is now known as the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, after several expansions of its seating capacity it eventually accommodated 18,168 for basketball and 17,380 for ice hockey, arena football, indoor soccer, and indoor lacrosse.

The Spectrum was demolished between November 2010 and May 2011, a little more than a year after the arena's final event (a Pearl Jam concert) took place on October 31, 2009.

History[link]

Opened as "The Spectrum" in fall 1967, Philadelphia's first modern indoor sports arena was built to be the home of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, and also to accommodate the existing Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. The building was the second major sports facility built at the south end of Broad Street in an area previously known as "East League Island Park" and now referred to simply as the "South Philadelphia Sports Complex."

Early years[link]

Ground was broken on the arena on June 1, 1966, by Jerry Wolman and then-Philadelphia Mayor James Tate.^[1] Construction was finished in 16 months at a cost of $7 million ($48.8 million in 2012 dollars^[2]). The first event at the arena was the Quaker City Jazz Festival on September 30, 1967,^[3] produced by Larry Magid.^[4] The 76ers moved there from Convention Hall. Lou Scheinfeld, former President of the Spectrum, explained that the name "Spectrum" was selected to evoke the broad range of events to be held there. "The 'SP' for 'sports' and 'South Philadelphia,' 'E' for 'entertainment,' 'C' for 'circuses,' 'T' for 'theatricals,' 'R' for 'recreation,' and 'UM' as 'um, what a nice building!" Scheinfeld also said that a seat in the city's first superbox initially cost $1,000 a year: "For every Flyers game, Sixers game, circus, you name it, you got 250 events for $1,000."^[5] The Flyers won their first ever home game in this arena by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0. Bill Sutherland scored the arena's first goal.

On March 1, 1968, wind blew part of the covering off the Spectrum's roof during a performance of the Ice Capades, forcing the building to close for a month while Mayor Tate fought with then-Philadelphia County District Attorney Arlen Specter over responsibility for the construction of the roof, and the damage was repaired.^[6] The 76ers moved their home games to Convention Hall and to the Palestra, but neither of those arenas had ice rinks at the time, and there were no other NHL-quality sites in the Philadelphia area. Thus the Flyers hurriedly moved their next home game (against the Oakland Seals) to Madison Square Garden in New York followed by a meeting with the Boston Bruins played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto before establishing a base at Le Colisée in Quebec City, home of their top minor league team, the AHL Quebec Aces, for the remainder of their regular season, marking the first NHL games in Quebec City in over four decades, and years before the Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL. (The roof was repaired in time to permit the Flyers to return to the Spectrum to open their first Stanley Cup playoffs against the St. Louis Blues on April 4, 1968; the opening faceoff came just as Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.)^[7] Similarly, in 1993, the Flyers played a day game against the Los Angeles Kings during a blizzard. A piece of flying debris smashed out one of the concourse windows, cancelling the game just after the first period.

In the 1970s, the venue's location on Broad Street and the reputation for fisticuffs that the Flyers had developed led to the nickname "Broad Street Bullies."

The Spectrum, along with the Met Center and The Forum, was one of the first sports arenas to have a scoreboard with a messageboard. Furthermore, the messageboards on the Spectrum scoreboard were the first dot matrix screens in pro hockey or basketball, capable of photos, animation, and replays as well as messages.

Seating Capacity[link]

Basketball:
15,332 (1967–1968)
15,244 (1968–1971)
15,304 (1971–1972)
17,300 (1972–1973)
18,276 (1973–1981)
18,364 (1981–1982)
17,921 (1982–1987)
18,168 (1987–2009)

Ice Hockey:

Flyers and 76ers' championships and All-Star Games hosted[link]

The Flyers won their first Stanley Cup at the Spectrum on May 19, 1974, defeating the Boston Bruins, 1–0, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals in front of a then-capacity crowd of 17,007. Perhaps the most important and emotional hockey game—or sporting event of any kind—ever held there, however, came at the height of the Cold War on January 11, 1976, when the Flyers became the first NHL team to defeat (by 4–1) the vaunted hockey team of the Soviet Central Red Army (ЦСКА). [1] Two games in the inaugural Canada Cup hockey tournament were also held at the Spectrum in September of that year, as the U.S. took on Czechoslovakia and the USSR.

Ten NHL or NBA playoff championship series were hosted at the Spectrum. The Flyers competed in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1985, and 1987. The 76ers played in the NBA Finals in 1977, 1980, 1982, and 1983. The 1976 and 1992 NHL, and 1970 and 1976 NBA All-Star Games were also held here. The AHL Phantoms also won their first Calder Cup title on Spectrum ice before a sellout crowd of 17,380 on June 10, 1998, by defeating the Saint John Flames, 6–1.

The Spectrum is the only venue to host the NBA and NHL All-Star Games in the same season, doing so in 1976, when it also hosted that year's Final Four. It is also one of a handful of venues to host the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals at the same time, doing so in 1980 (all four major Philadelphia teams would reach the championship round of their respective sport in the 1980 season).

College basketball tournaments[link]

The Spectrum was used for many basketball tournaments, including Big Five games, eight Atlantic Ten Conference tournaments (1977, 1983, 1997–2002), the 1975, 1980 and 1992 NCAA East Regional (site of the famous last-second shot by Christian Laettner of Duke to beat Kentucky), and the 1976 and 1981 Final Fours (both won by Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers). Smaller conferences preferred holding tournament games at this venue over the larger Center nearby.

Bull riding[link]

In 2003 and 2004, the PBR brought their Built Ford Tough Series tour to the Spectrum.

Professional wrestling[link]

Professional wrestling exhibitions promoted by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) were performed at the Spectrum on a regular basis during the 1980s and 1990s. As were the Flyers and 76ers games, many of these performances were telecast live by PRISM, a regional sports and movies cable channel with its production and broadcast facilities physically located in the Spectrum from its founding in September 1976, until it ceased operations on October 1, 1997.^[8] (On that date PRISM was replaced by Comcast SportsNet located in the CoreStates Center.) Among the major WWF events which the building hosted were SummerSlam in 1990,^[9] King of the Ring in 1995, and various other live shows featuring performers such as Hulk Hogan and others.

After the WWF moved their shows to the CoreStates Center, rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW) moved their Philadelphia-based shows in 1997 to the Spectrum as a replacement to the Civic Center (a longtime WCW venue that had permanently closed down a few months before). WCW continued to promote their events in the arena during the subsequent years, with their last appearance being a live taping of Thunder on February 5, 2000.

Notable concerts[link]

The embedded lists in this article may contain items that are not encyclopedic. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (April 2011)

Billboard ad for the arena, 1974.

Many concerts have been staged at the Spectrum since the 1960s, which was renowned for its world-class acoustic properties.

• Cream performed during their farewell tour there, supported by Lee Michaels.
• The First Quaker City Rock Festival was an early all-star show there, featuring Moby Grape, The Chambers Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, and Big Brother & The Holding Company, among other acts.
• The Doors performed a 95-minute show, a recording of which was released years later as, The Doors Live in Philadelphia '70.
• The Grateful Dead played the Spectrum 53 times, by far the most of any musical act. Live albums recorded here include Dick's Picks Volume 36, Road Trips Full Show: Spectrum 11/5/79 and Road Trips Full Show: Spectrum 11/6/79.
• British Progressive rock band Yes played the Spectrum 32 times between 1971 and 2004, including a matinee show in 1974 for their Tales from Topographic Oceans Tour.
• Aerosmith played the venue 23 times between 1976 and 1994, including a few notorious performances in the late 1970s in which rowdy fans injured the band members with glass bottles and M-80s.
• Pink Floyd played the Spectrum in 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1977. They last played two shows there on June 28–29, 1977, during their Animals/In the Flesh Tour. On the second night (June 29, 1977), Floyd member Roger Waters fell ill and did most of the show after a painkiller injection. However, the painkiller wore off and was taken to the hospital and missed the final encore of "Us and Them" where second guitarist Snowy White had to fill in on bass guitar. Unbeknownst to the crowd, this was the first time that the rest of Pink Floyd (guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player Rick Wright) performed a song live without Waters (they would go on without Waters as of 1986). Roger's experience performing while ill at this venue would be documented on "Comfortably Numb".
• The Who performed at the Spectrum throughout the 1970s. The 1973 show was documented in a famous audio bootleg of their Quadrophenia performance. A CD has been released of John Entwistle's performance on March 15, 1975, when he opened for Humble Pie.
• 1978 saw the last tour of the original Black Sabbath lineup. Opening for them was Van Halan - featuring David Lee Roth.
• Genesis regularly played the venue during the Phil Collins era from 1977 to 1986 (they would play Veterans Stadium on their 1992 We Can't Dance tour and the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia) on their 2007 Turn it on Again reunion tour). Their three November 1983 performances on the band's Mama Tour were recorded for a US FM radio broadcast and was released as a bootleg entitled "Three Nights in Philly".
• KISS performed live during the Crazy Nights tour in 1987. The concert can be seen on the 3rd disk of Kissology Volume Two: 1978–1991, although footage is incomplete.
• Guns N' Roses performed two shows in 1988, opening for Aerosmith, another show in 1991 and a third show was cancelled in 2002.^[10]
• On the night of December 9, 1980, after learning of the assassination of John Lennon following a performance there the night before, Bruce Springsteen opened the show with a statement regarding Lennon and said, "It's a hard thing to come out and play but there's just nothing else you can do." With members of the E Street Band in tears, Springsteen and his band put on a 34-song marathon which ended nearly 3½ hours later, with a cover of "Twist and Shout". Bruce Springsteen played the Spectrum 42 times between 1978 and 2009.
• The hard rock band Dio, fronted by vocalist Ronnie James Dio played the Spectrum frequently in the '80s. Two of the mid-'80s appearances were filmed and released commercially. The first of these even went by the name A Special at the Spectrum (and as later released on DVD in the 2000s under the name We Rock).
• The last public events at the legendary arena took place on October 27–28 and 30–31, 2009, by Pearl Jam. The band came to the stage each night after a video montage of memorable Spectrum moments followed by the Rocky theme music. Over the four nights, Pearl Jam performed 103 different songs, with its final night on Halloween lasting over 3 hours and 35 minutes and including 41 songs.^[11]
• The final event was a large private cocktail party thrown by Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider on January 16, 2010. Musical acts included a duet of "God Bless America" featuring a recorded Kate Smith alongside a live Lauren Hart, headliner Earth, Wind & Fire, with the very last set being a performance by Elvis interpreter Johnny Seaton.^[12]

Spectrum Theater[link]

The Spectrum Theater was a venue for acts not big enough to fill the entire Spectrum arena. The stage was placed in the middle of the Spectrum floor, and the other half of the arena behind the stage was closed off with curtains, creating a theater-like environment. Some of the acts that played in this configuration included Frank Zappa in 1973, 1976 and 1977; David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour in 1974; Bob Marley's Natty Dread Tour in 1975 and Kaya Tour in 1978; Bruce Springsteen in 1976; Peter Gabriel's tour in 1982 and Howard Jones in 1987.

The Flyers and 76ers' move[link]

The 1995-96 NHL and NBA seasons were the final ones for the Flyers and the 76ers at the Spectrum. Mike Hough of the Florida Panthers scored the arena's final official NHL goal in the 2nd overtime of Game 5 of the 1996 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Although both the Flyers and 76ers moved across the parking lot to the new and larger Wells Fargo Center (then CoreStates Center), the arena remained in place and was used by the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL, the Philadelphia Kixx of the NISL, the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League for Saturday home games, and a variety of other sporting events and concerts.

The Flyers and 76ers had been in need of a new facility for some time. One reason was the need for more revenue streams to meet skyrocketing operating costs. The Spectrum had relatively few luxury suites or other amenities common in newer arenas.

In addition, the arena's sight lines left much to be desired. Some seats in both the hockey and basketball configurations (especially in the upper level) had badly obstructed views. There was only one concourse for all three levels, making for somewhat cramped conditions whenever attendance was anywhere near capacity.

Final season[link]

On July 14, 2008, Comcast Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider officially announced that the Spectrum would be shuttered and torn down to make way for Philly Live!, a proposed retail, dining and entertainment hub. "This has been one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make," said Snider. "The Spectrum is my baby. It's one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me."

The Phantoms commemorated the final season of the Spectrum by wearing a special patch on their uniforms, as illustrated on the right. The team also celebrated some of the building's memorable moments throughout the season. The Flyers marked the last season by playing two-preseason games at the Spectrum. They played the Carolina Hurricanes in an NHL pre-season game on September 27, 2008, and the Phantoms on October 7 of that same year. Before the game against Carolina, the Flyers honored the team captains in the franchise's history. Those honored in the pre-game ceremony were Lou Angotti, Ed Van Impe, Bob Clarke, Mel Bridgman, Bill Barber, Dave Poulin, Ron Sutter, Kevin Dineen, Éric Desjardins, Keith Primeau and Derian Hatcher.^[13]

The last NCAA basketball game the Spectrum hosted saw the Villanova Wildcats defeat the Pittsburgh Panthers on January 28, 2009.^[14] The Sixers played one regular season game against Chicago Bulls on March 13, 2009, winning by a score of 104–101 in the final NBA game in the Spectrum.^[15][16] The game was sold-out and attendance was 17,563.^[15][17]

The Phantoms' last regular season game at the Spectrum was played April 10, 2009, against the Hershey Bears, as the Phantoms won the game, 5–2, while the last Kixx game was against the Massachusetts Twisters on March 22. The Kixx moved onto the Temple University campus and played the 2009–10 season at the Liacouras Center. The Phantoms were sold to a Pittsburgh-based ownership group, and moved to Glens Falls, New York, for the 2009–10 season.

"With this season being the final season of the Wachovia Spectrum, we will celebrate the history of the Spectrum with an exciting, year-long, celebration of events," Comcast Spectacor President Peter Luukko said. Phish was rumored to be among the acts to commemorate the closing of the arena. "It is our hope and intent to bring back many of the musical acts and entertainers who have made the Spectrum 'America's Showplace.'" Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played two shows at The Spectrum on April 28 and 29 as part of their Working on a Dream Tour, and returned on October 13–14 and 19–20 for their Spectrum swan song, followed by Pearl Jam on October 27, 28, 30 and 31 to close the building; their opening acts included Social Distortion on the 27th and 28th and Bad Religion on the 30th and 31st.

A scheduled concert with Leonard Cohen on October 22 was moved to the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, instead. On October 23, 2009, Philadelphia area musicians The Hooters, Todd Rundgren and Hall & Oates headlined a concert titled "Last Call". [2] Tickets were as low as $6.00. The remaining members of The Grateful Dead; including Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann performed their final set of shows at the Spectrum on May 1 and 2, 2009; the May 2 show was their 54th consecutive sell out at the Spectrum. The Dead closed the May 2 show with the song "Samson and Delilah". The song contains the fitting refrain "If I had my way, I would tear this old building down." The lyric was changed by bands singer Bob Weir to say "I wouldn't tear this old building down." With the demolition of The Spectrum, all five venues (within the City Of Philadelphia) The Grateful Dead played through their career have succumb to the wrecking ball.

The Spectrum & the South Philadelphia Sports Complex[link]

The Spectrum (center left) and the Complex (2008)

Opened in 1967 as the first of the five modern facilities to be built at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex between 1967 and 2004, by the time it closed in 2009 the Spectrum was the oldest of the four venues still standing of the two indoor arenas and four outdoor stadiums built at the South end of Broad Street since 1926. The complex's total area expanded with the addition of each new facility and now takes up the entire SE quadrant of the grounds occupied in 1926 by Philadelphia's Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition, a massive 184-day World's Fair built on 700+ acres of until then largely undeveloped city owned swamp and park land (including League Island Park) adjacent to the U.S. Navy Yard bounded by 10th Street, Packer Ave., 23rd Street, and Terminal Avenue. The Spectrum itself occupied the portion of the Exposition's grounds on the south side of Pattison Avenue between Broad and 11th Streets that in 1926 served as the fair's main trolley terminal operated by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company.^[18]

The Spectrum once sat between JFK Stadium (top) and Veterans Stadium (below) all of which are now gone.

For its first 25 years, the Spectrum overlooked the 102,000 seat John F. Kennedy Stadium (known prior to 1964 as "Municipal Stadium") located roughly 600 feet south of the indoor arena. Opened on April 15, 1926, the stadium was also the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition's only intentionally permanent facility.^[19] The site of 42 Army–Navy Games between 1936 and 1979, JFK Stadium eventually fell into disuse in favor of the newer nearby Veterans Stadium, was condemned in 1989, and demolished in 1992 to make way for the Wells Fargo Center which opened four years later in August, 1996. Known earlier as the "CoreStates Center" (1996–1998), the "First Union Center" (1998–2003), and the "Wachovia Center" (July 2003 – June 2010), the 20,000+ seat indoor arena replaced the Spectrum as the home of the Flyers, 76ers, and Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League beginning with each club's 1996-97 season. With the demolition of the Spectrum, the Center has now become the oldest of the complex's three current venues.

The Spectrum's closest sports complex neighbor was Veterans Stadium (opened 1971, closed 2003, demolished 2004) which was located north of the arena directly across Pattison Avenue. The 60,000+ seat "Vet" accommodated the MLB Philadelphia Phillies and NFL Philadelphia Eagles for just over three decades before it was itself replaced by two new facilities. In 2003 the Eagles moved to Lincoln Financial Field, a purpose built football/soccer stadium located SE of the Spectrum site directly across 11th Street from the Wells Fargo Center. The following year the Phillies relocated to Citizens Bank Park, a dedicated baseball stadium completed in 2004 and located catty-corner to the Spectrum site at the northeast corner of Pattison Ave and Citizens Bank Way (11th St.), immediately east of the former Veterans Stadium site which now serves as a parking lot for the entire complex.

The Spectrum (center) was the oldest (1967) of the four venues which made up the South Philadelphia Sports Complex in this 2004 view from the Wells Fargo Center (1996). Citizens Bank Park (right) is the complex's newest (2004) facility while Lincoln Financial Field (2003) is just out of view to the far right.

Demolition[link]

Although the Spectrum formally closed on October 31, 2009, demolition of the structure did not begin for more than a year with internal work commencing on November 8, 2010.^[20] Two weeks later a public "wrecking ball ceremony" attended by some of the athletes who made the building famous such as Hockey Hall of Famers Bernie Parent and Bob Clarke of the Flyers and Hall of Famer Julius Erving of the 76ers, was held in the adjacent parking lot "H" on November 23, 2010 to formally begin its external demolition.^[21] However unlike Veterans Stadium, its onetime neighbor which had been located immediately across Pattison Avenue from the Spectrum before it was imploded on March 21, 2004, the almost half year process of demolishing the then 44-year old arena, done without the use of explosives, was completed in May 2011.

Composite "before, during and after" image of the Spectrum site. The top image was taken in April 2004, five years before the arena was closed. The middle image was taken seven years later as its demolition was being completed in April 2011. The white areas seen at ground level of this image were the back walls of the hockey and basketball locker rooms used by the Flyers, 76ers, Phantoms, Kixx and visiting teams. The parking lot across Pattison Avenue from the Spectrum was the former site of Veterans Stadium (demolished in 2004). The bottom image is how the site appeared in September 2011 after it had been converted to a parking lot. All three images were taken from the same location in the Wells Fargo Center, the arena that replaced the Spectrum. The tallest building visible in the distant Philadelphia skyline (just to the left of the Spectrum site) in the 2011 images is the 59-story Comcast Center (completed in 2008), the headquarters building of the Comcast Corporation which owns both the Spectrum and Wells Fargo Center.

A 300-room hotel is planned to eventually be built on the demolished Spectrum's site (which is now occupied by a parking lot) as an adjunct to the Xfinity Live! project the first portion of which was opened in April, 2012, at the SW corner of 11th Street and Pattison Avenue.^[22][23]

Statues[link]

Philadelphia portal

A statue of Sylvester Stallone, depicted in his role of Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa, stood for many years in front of the main (Pattison Avenue) entrance of the Spectrum, which had been represented in the movie as the site of Rocky's first and second fights with Apollo Creed. (The fight sequences were actually filmed at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.) The statue was removed several times over the years to be used in the filming of sequels to the original film. In September 2006, it was given a new home in an area near the base of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art not far from where a spot on the plaza at the top of the Museum's steps where it had appeared in the film Rocky III. Since the statue was not deemed "art,"^{[citation needed]} it was moved around the corner of the museum on Kelly Drive. Other statues that stood in the arena area included:

• "Score!", a statue depicting Flyers; right-wing Gary Dornhoefer's game-winning overtime goal in Game 5 of the 1973 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals against the Minnesota North Stars;
• A statue of Kate Smith, the Flyers' good luck charm, whose rendition of "God Bless America" is believed to have helped the Flyers become back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions in 1974 and 1975;
• A statue of Julius Erving, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers from 1976 to 1987.

The statues have been incorporated into the design of Xfinity Live!.^[24]

Former tenants[link]

Full-time[link]

• Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL
• Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA
• Both incarnations of the Philadelphia Wings (NLL I Original franchise 1974–75 and Eagle League/MILL/NLL II the current franchise 1987–1996)
• Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL
• Philadelphia KiXX of the NPSL
• Philadelphia Bulldogs of the RHI
• Philadelphia Freedoms of World Team Tennis (1974)
• Philadelphia Fever of the original Major Indoor Soccer League

Part-time[link]

• Villanova University Wildcats of the NCAA Big East Conference; some high-attendance men's basketball home games which the on-campus arena, The Pavilion, was too small to accommodate.
• Philadelphia Soul of the original AFL (when the Wells Fargo Center was not available)

Notable events[link]

• U.S. Figure Skating Championships – 1968
• NBA All-Star Game – 1970, 1976
• NHL Stanley Cup Finals – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987
  • The Flyers won the 1973-74 Stanley Cup at the Spectrum, defeating the Boston Bruins in Game 6 and winning the series, 4-2.
  • The Montreal Canadiens won the 1975-76 Stanley Cup at the Spectrum, winning Game 4 and the series, 4-0.
• NHL All-Star Game – 1976, 1992
• Philadelphia Flyers vs. Soviet Central Red Army Hockey Team (exhibition) – 1976
• 1976 Canada Cup (two games)
• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament – 1976 and 1981 Men's Final Four (both won by Indiana); 1980 East Regional (won by Iowa) and 1992 East Regional (won by Duke)
• NBA Finals – 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983
  • The Los Angeles Lakers won the 1979-80 NBA Championship at the Spectrum, winning Game 6 and the series, 4-2.
• MILL Championship – 1989, 1992, 1995
• WWF SummerSlam '90 – 1990
• WWF King of the Ring – 1995
• AHL Calder Cup Finals – 1998
  • The Phantoms won the Calder Cup at the Spectrum, defeating the Saint John Flames in Game 6 and winning the series, 4-2.
• NPSL Championship – 2001
• MISL Championship – 2002

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Donnellon, Sam (March 14, 2009). "Forever Young, Inside the Old Spectrum". Philadelphia Daily News. 
• Fitzpatrick, Frank (March 13, 2009). "A list of Spectrum Moments to Remember". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.rememberthespectrum.com/400/NewsClips.asp. Retrieved March 13, 2009. 
• Hoffman, Rich (2009-01-29). "Rich Hofmann: It took a While for Big 5 Fans to Warm Up to Spectrum". Philadelphia Daily News. 
• Rapa, Patrick (2009-11-03). "Top 20 Spectrum Moments: The Building Wanted Blood". Philadelphia City Paper. http://citypaper.net/articles/2009/11/05/top-20-spectrum-moments. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 

External links[link]

• Spectrum: Arena History
• Remember the Spectrum - a tribute to the arena

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Coordinates: 39°54′15″N 75°10′16″W / 39.90417°N 75.17111°W / 39.90417; -75.17111

The spectrum in a rainbow

A spectrum (plural spectra or spectrums^[1]) is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by analogy to many fields other than optics. Thus, one might talk about the spectrum of political opinion, or the spectrum of activity of a drug, or the autism spectrum. In these uses, values within a spectrum may not be associated with precisely quantifiable numbers or definitions. Such uses imply a broad range of conditions or behaviors grouped together and studied under a single title for ease of discussion.

In most modern usages of spectrum there is a unifying theme between extremes at either end. Some older usages of the word did not have a unifying theme, but they led to modern ones through a sequence of events set out below. Modern usages in mathematics did evolve from a unifying theme, but this may be difficult to recognize.

Origins[link]

In Latin spectrum means "image" or "apparition", including the meaning "spectre". Spectral evidence is testimony about what was done by spectres of persons not present physically, or hearsay evidence about what ghosts or apparitions of Satan said. It was used to convict a number of persons of witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th century. The word "spectrum" [Spektrum] was strictly used to designate a ghostly optical afterimage by Goethe in his Theory of Colors and Schopenhauer in On Vision and Colors.

Modern meaning in the physical sciences[link]

The spectrum of a uniform light source rendered into the sRGB color space.

In the 17th century the word spectrum was introduced into optics, referring to the range of colors observed when white light was dispersed through a prism. Soon the term referred to a plot of light intensity or power as a function of frequency or wavelength, also known as a spectral density.

Mass spectrum of a peptide showing the isotopic distribution

The term spectrum was expanded to apply to other waves, such as sound waves that could also be measured as a function of frequency. The term now applies to any signal that can be measured or decomposed along a continuous variable such as energy in electron spectroscopy or mass to charge ratio in mass spectrometry. Spectrum is also used to refer to a graphical representation of the as a function of the dependent variable.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spectrum

Physical science[link]

• Electromagnetic spectrum
  • Visible spectrum or optical spectrum, a subset of the electromagnetic spectrum
  • Emission spectrum observed in light
  • Absorption spectrum observed in light
• Energy spectrum of a collection of particles (particle physics)
• Frequency spectrum of a signal
• Mass spectrum chemical analysis of atoms and molecules
• Power spectrum of a signal
• Radio spectrum
• Spectrogram
• Spectrometer

Social and medical sciences[link]

• Antibiotic classification
• Economic spectrum
• Political spectrum of opinion
• Spectrum disorder, in psychiatry

Mathematics[link]

• Spectrum (homotopy theory)
• Spectrum of a matrix, in linear algebra
• Spectrum of an operator, in functional analysis (a generalisation of the spectrum of a matrix)
• Spectrum of a ring, in commutative algebra
• Spectrum of a C*-algebra
• Spectrum of a theory, in mathematical logic
• Stone space of Boolean algebra

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2011)

Todd Rundgren
Rundgren on March 25, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Background information
Birth name	Todd Harry Rundgren
Born	(1948-06-22) 22 June 1948 (age 64) Upper Darby, Pennsylvania United States
Genres	Rock, progressive rock, soft rock, power pop, pop rock, hard rock, blue-eyed soul, comedy rock, rap, proto-punk
Occupations	Musician Songwriter Musician Producer video director recording engineer computer programmer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, saxophone, theremin
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Ampex, Bearsville, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Nazz, Utopia, The New Cars, Meat Loaf, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Edgar Winter, David Sanborn, Mark Klingman, Daryl Hall, Hello People
Website	www.tr-i.com

Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972,^[1] Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including Straight Up by Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf, and Skylarking by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren's "Time Heals" being the eighth video played on MTV, and "Change Myself" was animated by Rundgren^[2] on commercially available Amiga Computers.

His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and "Bang the Drum All Day" featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. Although lesser known, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" has had a major influence on artists in the power pop musical genre.^[3]

Early career[link]

Rundgren was born in Upper Darby, on the edge of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began his career in Woody's Truck Stop, a Philadelphia-based group based on the model of Paul Butterfield Blues Band. However, Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten left the band to form the garage rock group Nazz in 1967 with Thom Mooney (drums) and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni (vocals and keyboards). The group gained minor recognition with the Rundgren-penned songs "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me". (He later recorded a solo, uptempo version of "Hello It's Me"; it became one of his signature songs.) Nazz released three albums during this time—Nazz (1968), Nazz Nazz (1969), and Nazz III (1971). ^[4] "Open My Eyes" gained belated recognition thanks to its inclusion in Nuggets (1972), the genre-defining anthology of American 1960s garage punk and psychedelia compiled by musician Lenny Kaye. The group's second LP was originally intended as double album (titled Fungo Bat), but instead a truncated version was released as Nazz Nazz in April 1969. Rundgren and Van Osten left the band shortly after. Under Stewkey's leadership the band continued (with new members) until 1970, and their label released a third LP Nazz III on which most of Rundgren's vocals on the unreleased songs from the Fungo Bat sessions were replaced by Stewkey's.

Rundgren's distinctive style was informed by a wide variety of musical influences—British pop-rock (notably Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds, Cream and The Move), the intricate vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys, classic American rock'n'roll, Broadway musicals, the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan and American soul and R&B, but as his music evolved he demonstrated an increasing interest in other genres as well, such as hard rock and experimental music.^{[citation needed]}

Particularly during the early years of his career, Rundgren's songwriting was heavily influenced by the music of singer-songwriter Laura Nyro:

"I knew her fairly well. I met her right after Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. I actually had arranged a meeting, just because I was so infatuated with her and I wanted to meet the person who had produced all this music. We got along, and we were kind of friendly, and actually, after I met her the first time, she asked me if I wanted to be her band leader. But the Nazz had just signed a record contract and I couldn't skip out on the band, even though it was incredibly tempting."^[5]

Rundgren's debut solo album Runt (1970) includes the strongly Nyro-influenced "Baby Let’s Swing", which was written about her and mentions her by name.

Nazz manager Michael Friedman who had joined Albert Grossman management brought Rundgren to the firm where he became both a solo artist and producer for many artists in the Grossman stable.

Solo work[link]

Rundgren playing in concert during his early years

After leaving the Nazz in 1969, Rundgren relocated temporarily to New York and began working as a producer for other groups. He also apparently considered working as a computer programmer.^[6] Ultimately, he became one of the first artists signed to the Bearsville Records label established by Albert Grossman, and in 1970 he formed the 'band' Runt, consisting of himself, Hunt Sales on drums, and his brother Tony Sales on bass (the Sales brothers are the sons of US comedian Soupy Sales and went on to play with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Tin Machine). Rundgren himself wrote, produced, sang and played guitars, keyboards and other instruments. Whether Runt is best described as a band or simply as a pseudonym for Rundgren as a solo artist is unclear—for the album Runt (1970) the group appeared to be a bona-fide trio, but on their second album Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971), Hunt Sales plays only on two tracks and is replaced by N.D. Smart on the rest of the album. Furthermore, only Rundgren is pictured on the covers of both albums, and both albums have been subsequently reissued with the same titles and cover art, but bearing the artist credit "Todd Rundgren". Whether a solo project or a band, Runt had a #20 hit in the U.S. with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" in 1970, and two other Runt songs placed in the lower reaches of the Hot 100.

By 1972, the Runt persona/band identity had been abandoned, and Rundgren's next project, the ambitious double LP Something/Anything? (1972) was credited simply to Rundgren, who wrote, played, sang, engineered, and produced everything on three of the four sides of the album. Something/Anything? featured the top 20 U.S. hits "I Saw The Light" (#16; not to be confused with the Hank Williams song of the same name), and a remake of the Nazz near-hit "Hello It's Me", which reached #5 in the U.S. and is Rundgren's biggest hit. The former song featured Rundgren on all vocals and instruments. On his ensuing concert tour, his backing band was the Hello People, whose own album he later produced.

Changing style[link]

Although he opposed the use of drugs during his days with Nazz, in the early 1970s Rundgren changed his views and began experimenting with various mind-altering substances including marijuana, LSD and the stimulant Ritalin and this had a marked effect both on the style of his music and his productivity:

"It (Ritalin) caused me to crank out songs at an incredible pace. 'I Saw the Light' took me all of 20 minutes. You can see why, too, the rhymes are just moon/June/spoon kind of stuff..."^[7]

Speaking of the effect on A Wizard, A True Star, Rundgren commented:

"With drugs I could suddenly abstract my thought processes in a certain way, and I wanted to see if I could put them on a record. A lot of people recognised it as the dynamics of a psychedelic trip—it was almost like painting with your head."^[7]

Though he often revisited the classic popular song format, during the early 1970s Rundgren's music began to incorporate elements of progressive rock. 1973's transitional A Wizard, a True Star marked the beginning of this trend, which came to fruition with his next two solo albums Todd (1974) and Initiation (1975) and the early recordings under the aegis of his new group project Utopia.

A Wizard, A True Star, which was sequenced as a continuous medley, featured a wildly eclectic range of songs set in dazzling arrangements and production, with Rundgren experimenting with the synthesiser and exploiting virtually every studio effect and technique then available. Backing musicians included renowned horn players Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker, guitarist Rick Derringer and several other musicians who subsequently joined the original incarnation of Utopia. Although it featured predominantly original material (including the anthemic "Just One Victory", which became a concert favorite), the album set a pattern followed on subsequent solo albums, with Rundgren recording cover versions of his favorite songs—in this case, "Never Never Land", from the Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, and a medley of soul classics, including a unique version of the Capitols' "Cool Jerk" played in the 7/8 time signature. The album was also notable for its extended running time—over 55 minutes in length, compared to around 40–45 minutes for a typical pop-rock LP of the period. This reflected Rundgren's skills as a mastering engineer, since this extended running time took the album close to the practical maximum for an LP. Due to the inherent physical limitations of the vinyl LP medium, on records with running times over 45 minutes there is an unfavorable trade-off between duration and the audio quality and volume. On the album cover, packed with his handwritten notes, he advised listeners to crank up their Victrolas accordingly.

Todd (1974) continued in this vein and featured similarly diverse material. Alongside originals such as "A Dream Goes On Forever" and "Heavy Metal Kids", both of which became concert staples, Rundgren also satirised his chosen profession with the song "An Elpees' Worth of Tunes" and revisited his teenage obsession with the music of Gilbert & Sullivan in a rendition of "The Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" (from Iolanthe).

By contrast, Rundgren's work with Utopia (see below) and his next solo album took him decisively into progressive rock. Initiation (1975) addressed cosmic themes, showed a strong interest in spirituality (particularly Far Eastern religion and philosophy), and displayed the musical influence of psychedelic rock, as well as the avant-garde jazz fusion of contemporary acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa. Once again the original LP issue saw Rundgren pushing the medium to its physical limits, with the side-long suite "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" clocking in at over 35 minutes.

When touring, Rundgren presented the music in a lavish stage setting that echoed the ambitious space-themed shows of acts like Parliament/Funkadelic and he adopted an outlandish space-rock image on stage, including multi-coloured dyed hair. In this period he regularly played the eye-catching psychedelic Gibson SG (known as "Sunny") which Eric Clapton had played in Cream. After he had stopped using it ca. 1968, Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison, who subsequently 'loaned' it to British singer Jackie Lomax. In 1972, after meeting at a recording session, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for $500 with an option to buy it back, which he never took up.^[8] Rundgren played it extensively during the early years of Utopia before retiring the instrument, which he eventually auctioned off; he now owns a reproduction.^[9]

NME—September 1974^[10]

His 1976 album Faithful marked a return to the pop/rock genre, featuring one side of original songs and one side of covers of significant songs from 1966, including the Yardbirds' "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" (the B-side of that Yardbirds single gave Nazz its name) and a nearly identical re-creation of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". Faithful was followed by Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978); this included the hit ballad "Can We Still Be Friends" (covered a year later by Robert Palmer), which reached #29 in the U.S. (Palmer's version reached #52) and was accompanied by an innovative self-produced music video, and the album became the second most successful of his career (after Something? Anything!), reaching #36 in the U.S. During 1978 Rundgren undertook an American tour playing at smaller venues including The Bottom Line in New York and the Roxy in Los Angeles; this resulted in the double live album Back to the Bars, which featured a mixture of material from his solo work and Utopia, performed with backing musicians including Utopia, Edgar Winter, Spencer Davis, Daryl Hall and John Oates and Stevie Nicks.

Rundgren performing in 1978

Subsequent solo releases included the album-long concept work Healing (1981) and the New Wave-tinged The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982) which included a cover of The Small Faces hit "Tin Soldier". The latter album also marked the end of Rundgren's tenure with Bearsville Records. He then signed with Warner Bros. Records who issued his next album, A Cappella (1985), which was recorded using Rundgren's multi-tracked voice, accompanied by arrangements constructed entirely from programmed vocal samples. "Bang the Drum All Day", from The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect was a minor chart hit which has become more prominent in subsequent years, having been adopted as an unofficial theme by several professional sports franchises, notably the Green Bay Packers, and becoming popular on radio, where it was often featured on Friday afternoons."Bang..." was also used prominently in a Carnival Cruises television advertising campaign. It is now considered one of Rundgren's most popular songs.^[11] In 1986, Rundgren scored four episodes of the popular children's television show Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Nearly Human (1989) and 2nd Wind (1991) were both recorded live—the former in the studio, the latter in a theater before a live audience, which was instructed to remain silent. Each song on these albums was recorded as a complete single take with no later overdubbing. Both albums marked, in part, a return to his Philly soul roots. 2nd Wind also included several excerpts from Rundgren's musical Up Against It, which was adapted from the screenplay (originally titled "Prick Up Your Ears") that British playwright Joe Orton had originally offered to The Beatles for their never-made follow-up to Help!. 2nd Wind was Rundgren's last release through a major label and all his subsequent recordings have been self-released.

After a long absence from touring, Rundgren hit the road with Nearly Human—2nd Wind band, which included brass and a trio of slinky backup singers (one of whom, Michele Gray, Rundgren married). He also toured during this period with Ringo Starr's All-Starr band.

The next few years saw Rundgren recording under the pseudonym TR-i ("Todd Rundgren interactive") for two albums. The first of these, 1993's No World Order, consisted of hundreds of seconds-long snippets of music that could be combined in various ways to suit the listener. Initially targeted for the Philips CD-i platform, No World Order featured interactive controls for tempo, mood, and other parameters, along with pre-programmed mixes by Rundgren himself, Bob Clearmountain, Don Was, and Jerry Harrison. The disc was also released for PC and Macintosh and in two versions on standard audio CD, the continuous mix disc No World Order and, later, the more song-oriented No World Order Lite. The music itself was quite a departure from Rundgren's previous work, with a dance/techno feel and much rapping by Rundgren. The follow-up, 1995's The Individualist, featured interactive video content that could be viewed or in one case, played; it was a simple video game along with the music, which was more rock-oriented than No World Order.

Rundgren returned to recording under his own name for With a Twist, an album of bossa-nova covers of his older material. His Patronet work, which trickled out to subscribers over more than a year, was released in 2000 as One Long Year. In 2004, Rundgren released Liars, a concept album about "paucity of truth" that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds.

In early 2008, Rundgren launched his official Myspace page. Later that year, he released the rock album Arena. In concert, he had been performing the album in full and in sequence before its release.

Rundgren released the live compilation album, For Lack of Honest Work, in 2010. The album was advertised as a collection of bootleg recordings that were approved by Rundgren himself.

April 2011 saw the release of Todd Rundgren's Johnson, a collection of Robert Johnson covers which had been recorded more than a year earlier. On another 2011 release, scheduled for September 13, a further album of covers entitled re:Production sees him performing tracks he had previously produced for other acts, including Grand Funk Railroad's "Walk Like a Man" and XTC's "Dear God."

Utopia[link]

Utopia, touring to support the Ra album at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia; 1977, L to R: Roger Powell, Rundgren, Kasim Sulton

Rundgren's back-up band for A Wizard, a True Star evolved into the first version of Utopia, a larger prog-rock ensemble, which included multiple keyboards, synthesizers and brass and featured a character completely disguised in a silver suit, "M. Frog Labat" (Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi) on synthesizers, who also put out his own electronics/keyboards-based solo album. This incarnation premiered on 1974's Todd Rundgren's Utopia, which was book-ended by the 14-minute "Utopia Theme" (recorded live in concert) and the 30-minute suite "The Ikon", which occupied the whole of Side 2 of the album. Like Wizard, the album also showcased Rundgren's skills as a recording and mastering engineer, clocking in at over 30 minutes per side.

A slightly altered version of this group performed on the eclectic 1975 live album Another Live. It featured three new extended progressive tracks (which appear only on this LP), a version of "Heavy Metal Kids" (from Todd) and covers of "Something's Coming" (from "West Side Story") and "Do Ya" by The Move. By the time this album was recorded the Utopia lineup included keyboard player/trumpeter/vocalist Roger Powell and drummer John "Willie" Wilcox.

In 1976 Siegler left Utopia and was replaced by Kasim Sulton (bass, keyboards, vocals), who had previously played with New York singer-poetess Cherry Vanilla. This formidable ensemble was widely regarded as one of the best live acts of its day—all four members were highly accomplished on their main instrument as well as being able to play multiple other instruments, and all four could sing lead vocals.

After 1977's prog-rock fusion homage, Ra, Utopia moved toward a more concise pop-oriented style with 1977's Oops! Wrong Planet, which included "Love Is the Answer", later a hit for England Dan & John Ford Coley, followed by the more successful Adventures In Utopia in 1980, which spawned the hits "Road to Utopia", "Set Me Free" and "Caravan". During that year Utopia also acted as the backing band for the Rundgren-produced Shaun Cassidy solo album Wasp.

Other releases include Deface the Music (also 1980), an uncanny Beatles homage that borders on parody; the more politicised Swing to the Right (1982), incorporating more new wave elements; their pop-referenced, self-titled album Utopia (1982), as well as Oblivion (1984), which showed a cynical side of Utopia, sporting a black cover; 1985's P.O.V. includes "Mated", later a staple of Rundgren solo tours. Rundgren eventually disbanded Utopia in the mid-80s; they released Trivia (1986) as their "swan song" effort. However, in 1992 a brief tour of Japan reunited the Rundgren/Powell/Sulton/Wilcox lineup, and "Redux '92: Live In Japan" was released on Rhino Records.

Eventually, the compilation Oblivion, P.O.V. and Some Trivia was released in 1996, an effort by Rhino Records to re-release selections from the Todd/Utopia discography. In addition, many Utopia concerts from the mid-1970s onwards were taped (e.g. their 1975 London debut, recorded by BBC Radio) and these were widely bootlegged by fans, although some have since gained an official release and can now be obtained as commercial digital downloads from iTunes.

Production, video and other work[link]

In addition to his own recordings, Rundgren has engineered and/or produced albums for many notable acts. Sparked by his dissatisfaction with the sound quality of the Nazz albums, Rundgren learned how to engineer and master his own records and since 1970 he has overseen production of all his solo recordings and those by Utopia. His earliest outside credits were as producer on a long-unreleased Janis Joplin track (recorded with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and as recording engineer for the LP Stage Fright by The Band. Other notable production credits include Halfnelson (first incarnation of Sparks), New York Dolls, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Ian and Sylvia (on their "Great Speckled Bird" album), Meat Loaf, Patti Smith, Shaun Cassidy, The Tubes, Tom Robinson Band, XTC, Bad Religion, John Sloman, Cheap Trick, Hello People, Hiroshi Takano, Bourgeois Tagg, Dragon (aka Hunter), 12 Rods, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Psychedelic Furs, Steve Hillage, The American Dream, and many others. The difficult XTC sessions produced the album Skylarking, now considered a high point for band and producer despite its acrimonious origin. Rundgren's production of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell (on which he also played lead guitar) helped that album become one of the top selling LPs released in the 1970s. The industry regard for Rundgren's production work has been a lofty one: Jim Steinman, with whom Rundgren worked on Bat Out of Hell, has said in interviews that "Todd Rundgren is a genius and I don't use that word a lot."^[12]

Rundgren has long been on the cutting edge of music and video technologies. His music video for the song "Time Heals" was among the first videos aired on MTV, and a video he produced for RCA, accompanied by Gustav Holst's The Planets, was used as a demo for their videodisc players. His experience with computer graphics dates back to 1981, when he developed one of the first computer paint programs, dubbed the Utopia Graphics System; it ran on an Apple II with Apple's digitizer tablet.^[13] He is also the co-developer of the computer screensaver system Flowfazer.

In the 1990s, Rundgren was an early adopter of the NewTek Video Toaster and made several videos with it. The first, for "Change Myself" from 2nd Wind, was widely distributed as a demo reel for the Toaster; he also used the system for videos from No World Order (songs "Fascist Christ" and "Property"). Later, he set up a company to produce 3D animation using the Toaster; this company's first demo, "Theology" (a look at religious architecture through the ages featuring music by former Utopia bandmate Roger Powell) also became a widely-circulated item among Toaster users. Most of Rundgren's Toaster work is available on the video compilation The Desktop Collection.

Rundgren composed music for the 1986 TV series Pee-wee's Playhouse and Crime Story as well as the movies "Undercover" (a/k/a "Under Cover") (1987), and Dumb and Dumber (1994), plus background cues for several other TV shows. He hosted a syndicated radio show called "The Difference" in the early 1990s.

In 1986 he sang a duet with Bonnie Tyler: Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It, released (also as a single) on Bonnie's album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire.

As the Internet gained mass acceptance in the mid-1990s Rundgren, along with longtime manager Eric Gardner and Apple digital music exec Kelli Richards, started Patronet, which offered fans (patrons) access to his works-in-progress and new unreleased tracks in exchange for a subscription fee, cutting out record labels. The songs from Rundgren's first Patronet run were later released as the album One Long Year. Since then, Rundgren has severed his connections with major record labels and continues to offer new music direct to subscribers via his website, although he also continues to record and release CDs through independent labels. (However, as of November 2007, the PatroNet.com website offers the following message: "PatroNet is undergoing a major software revision and is not accepting memberships at this time.")

Rundgren produced the 1999 debut album for the band Splender, entitled "Halfway to the Sky."

In the summer of 2001, Rundgren joined artists such as Alan Parsons, The Who's John Entwistle, Heart's Ann Wilson and Ambrosia's David Pack for the successful "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour, in which the musicians played their own hits alongside Beatles favorites. The also did a short tour of Japan in Winter of 2001. John Entwistle's guitarist/vocalist, Godfrey Townsend acted as musical director for the tours and stayed on for the following year's "sequel" tour which included Todd and Parsons returning, with a slightly changed lineup which featured Jack Bruce of Cream, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Christopher Cross and Eric Carmen. Godfrey also brought drummer/vocalist Steve Murphy on board for "A Walk Down Abbey Road's" 2002 Summer tour.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks Rundgren created the score for the film 'A Face to a Name', directed by Douglas Sloan (filmmaker). The film depicted the many photographs of NY's missing that were displayed on Bellevue Hospital's 'wall of prayers' following the attacks. The film was part of a special screening at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2002.^[14]

Rundgren toured the US and Europe in 2004 with Joe Jackson and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing their collaborative cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (video)

In 2009, Rundgren produced Cause I Sez So by the New York Dolls. In October, in one of the last concerts at the famed Wachovia Spectrum, Rundgren and Philadelphia area musicians The Hooters and Hall & Oates headlined a concert titled "Last Call". Tickets were as low as $6.00, the deep discount reflected ticket prices in 1967 when the Spectrum first staged concerts.

The year also included a lecture at DePauw University in Indiana, in which he discussed "Music, Technology and Risk-Taking."

In late-October to early-November 2010, Rundgren was the IU Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University. He taught a course with IU Professor Glenn Gass entitled The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.

The New Cars[link]

In late 2005, rumors began circulating that the influential Boston-based band The Cars were planning to re-form despite bass player Benjamin Orr's death and the oft-mentioned refusal of former lead singer Ric Ocasek to even consider any reunion. Soon the rumors mentioned that Rundgren had joined Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes in rehearsals for a possible new Cars lineup. Initial speculation pointed to The New Cars being fleshed out with Clem Burke of Blondie and Art Alexakis of Everclear. Eventually it was revealed that The New Cars were to complete their lineup with veteran bass player and former Rundgren bandmate Kasim Sulton and studio drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes, who had played on XTC's Rundgren-produced Skylarking and who has recorded and toured with Rundgren.

In early 2006, the new lineup played a few private shows for industry professionals, played live on The Tonight Show and made other media appearances before commencing a 2006 summer tour with the re-formed Blondie.

Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year."

The New Cars' first single, "Not Tonight," was released on March 20, 2006. A portion of the song is featured on a promotional teaser for the band online. A live album/greatest hits collection, The New Cars: It's Alive, was released in June, 2006. The album includes classic Cars songs (and two Rundgren hits) recorded live plus three new studio tracks.

Touring, 2009–2012[link]

Rundgren, (with Tony Levin, right) at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, September 4, 2006.

In April 2009, Rundgren discussed his career during an Ubben Lecture at Indiana's DePauw University. In September 2009, Rundgren assembled a very limited-engagement tour with Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Greg Hawkes, Bobby Strickland, and Roger Powell (and his wife Michele as costume designer and back-up singer for the concerts finale'), covering his 1973 album, "A Wizard, A True Star." The shows included a complete, start-to-finish rendition of the album, with multiple costume changes and theatrical props to accent the songs. The opening band for the shows was Utopia, with Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince.

In December 2009, Rundgren once again took the AWATS Live show on the road with four shows in California. Roger Powell returned to his real job in the computer/software industry and was replaced by Ralph Schuckett, who played keyboards on the studio recording of the original album.

The AWATS show has had two European dates as well; playing in London, England at the Hammersmith Apollo on February 6, 2010, and the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland on February 8, 2010.^[15] Rundgren opened the London and Amsterdam shows by showcasing his new project, entitled 'Todd Rundgren's Johnson'; consisting of Rundgren, Jesse Gress (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums) and Kasim Sulton (bass) reworking Robert Johnson songs.

In January 2010 Rundgren gave his first ever concert performance in Australia as a participant in the Rogue's Gallery show, produced by Hal Willner for the 2010 Sydney Festival. In October 2010 Rundgren returned for a three-date tour of Australia performing his 'Johnson' project, with concerts at The Basement, Sydney, the Great Southern Blues Festival at Bateman's Bay and the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. The band consisted of Todd, guitarist Jesse Gress, Australian bassplayer Damien Steele Scott and Australian drummer Mick Skelton.

A Photographic Journal of each American show was created by rock photographer J Bloomrosen.^[16][17]

In October 2010, Rundgren was selected as the Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University (Bloomington). In that capacity, he taught two weeks of a four-week, one-credit hour honors seminar designed for 22 Wells Scholars (HON-H300: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren). Co-teaching the class was IU Professor of Music Glenn Gass—whose relationship with Rundgren helped make the professorship possible—and IU Distinguished Professor of Sociology Bernice Pescosolido, who was instrumental in helping to plan the course.^[18]

In September 2010, Rundgren performed his "Todd" and "Healing" albums live for the first time ever in Akron, OH and followed that up with five more of the album concerts in Muskegon MI, Indianapolis IN, St. Louis MO, Glenside PA, and Morristown NJ. A large LED display and lasers were on display throughout the shows with Rundgren and the band dressed in extravagant costumes. Rundgren brought out his SG Gibson "The Fool" replica guitar and also performed a few songs on the piano. The band consisted of Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton. Led by Choir Master Dirk Hillyer, local choirs from near each venue joined the band during parts of the "Healing" album set which added a brand new element to the music for fans that had only heard it by listening to the album. The shows closed with the song, "Sons Of 1984" which included fan participation even after the band left the stage. In March 2011, Rundgren took the "Todd" and "Healing" albums live concerts back on the road for a mini-tour and included stops in Hartford CT, Boston MA, Red Bank NJ, Toledo OH, and Columbus OH.

In January 2011, a reunion of the most of the members of the 1974 Utopia personnel (Rundgren, Klingman, Shuckett, Siegler, and Ellman) was held for two nights in New York City, with proceeds to defray medical treatment for Klingman who was battling with cancer. Material was drawn from the 1972–1975 catalogs of Rundgren and Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Both shows sold out in just three days which may have influenced the idea for a full tour that took place in November 2011 as "Todd Rundgren's Utopia". The original plan for the tour included Moogy Klingman but his health condition worsened during rehearsals and he died before the 12 concert tour was finished.

In September of 2011, for the first time ever with a symphony orchestra, Todd performed two concerts in the Netherlands backed by the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. On June 1st and 2nd of 2012, Todd will perform in two concerts accompanied by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra at the historic Coronado Performing Arts Center in Rockford, IL. The concerts will be Rundgren's first ever symphonic shows in North America.

Rundgren will tour with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for the third time and for the first time in 13 years, in the summer of 2012.

Personal life[link]

Rundgren's son, Rex (born 1980), is a baseball player (Infield position) for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.^[19][20]

For the first nine years of her life, Liv Rundgren Tyler (born Liv Rundgren) was raised by Rundgren and her mother, Bebe Buell, as though Rundgren was Liv's father. At Liv's birth, Buell had claimed that Rundgren was Liv's biological father. At age nine, Liv Tyler discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter.^[21][22][23]

In popular culture[link]

• Rundgren also composed and recorded theme music for the American pilot for cult UK sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, though it never aired.
• On the day Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, he left an eight-track tape of Rundgren's album Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, along with other artifacts, in his New York hotel room in an orderly semicircle on the hotel dresser. Some^[who?] have speculated that the album Healing (Todd Rundgren album) was recorded partly as a therapeutic exercise in reaction to Mark David Chapman's obsession with Rundgren's music (see sleeve notes to the CD remaster, Castle Music, 1999), though Rundgren himself says he didn't learn of Chapman's obsession with him until years later, when books about Chapman were published.^{[citation needed]} More information about Chapman's obsession with Rundgren is provided in the chapter "God and Todd" in Jack Jones' biography of Mark Chapman Let Me Take You Down (1999).
• The pilot episode of "That '70s Show" (That '70s Pilot)), featured a plot line involving the main characters sneaking away to go to a Todd Rundgren concert.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

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