John Mellencamp Community

Rocker Todd Rundgren garnered two standing ovations Sunday when he gave a Halloween night recital to about 400 at Indiana University’s packed Auer Hall.

The gig, which included Rundgren singing with a pipe organ, is part of his job as the ninth Wells Scholars Professor at IU. He is co-teaching an honors seminar with rock history professor Glenn Gass, who has a home near his in Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.

Rundgren’s late October, early November time as an IU professor has been a mix of scholarly duties, walks around campus and a short visit with the Bloomington area’s resident rock star, John Mellencamp. Mellencamp prepared for the Friday kick off of his latest tour, “No Better Than This,” in Bloomington.

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In an interview Thursday, Mellencamp said that in his bar-band days, he often performed tunes from Rundgren’s albums “Something/Anything” and “Runt.”
“Todd Rundgren’s a really unappreciated singer-songwriter,” Mellencamp said. “I don’t know why he’s not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He should be.”

And Mellencamp’s long-time guitarist, Mike Wanchic, loaned Rundgren an acoustic guitar for the Sunday recital called, “Cluster: The Birth of the T Chord.”

“I haven’t done a show like this in more than five years. In fact, I swore off doing this,” Rundgren told his audience before he played largely with only Wanchic’s acoustic guitar and a Steinway grand piano, instead of his usual rock band, as accompaniment.

Rundgren, who didn’t attend college, started the recital in a scholarly gown. But he took it off after a couple of songs, saying it was too hot.

“They said this gown would be kind of hot. I thought they meant it would look cool,” he joked.

Rundgren also said he was a bit “chagrined” at being in front of an audience with a guitar around his neck, and added that if he should break a string, “there are no roadies here. I’ll teach you how to change a guitar string.”

Among the songs he included in the show were his “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference,” “There Goes My Inspiration,” and “I Saw the Light.” Rundgren also covered the Beatles tune, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.”

He ended the evening, reminding the crowd, “don’t forget to vote,” in Tuesday’s election.

Rundgren — best known for 1973’s “Hello It’s Me” — also popped up to direct the IU marching band Saturday as they performed another of his popular tunes, “Bang the Drum All Day,” at IU’s football game against Northwestern.

Rundgren was last in Indiana in September, when he performed a concert at Butler University.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20101101/ENTERTAINMENT/101101016/1068/SPORTS06/Rundgren-rocks-IU-recital-Mellencamp-gives-props