Hello It's Me

Rocker Todd Rundgren brings long-awaited Utopia reunion to Dallas

Utopia has arrived for Todd Rundgren fans.

Todd Rundgren/Facebook

For fans of rock star Todd Rundgren, Utopia has arrived. Rundgren and his original band Utopia — consisting of members Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox, and Ralph Schuckett — are reuniting for their first North American tour in 32 years, with a date in Dallas at the Majestic Theatre on April 23.

The tour launches in Pennsylvania on April 18 and hits most major North America cities. Tickets go on sale February 23 at 10 am; pre-sales begin February 20 at 9 am.

As a companion to the reunion tour, Friday Music will release a 7-disc box set called The Road to Utopia: The Complete Recordings (1974-82). A limited-edition collection, it includes the band's seven classic albums, for the first time with CD digipak gatefold covers featuring original album artwork elements; rare inner sleeve art; and 2018 written commentary from the band.

Todd Rundgren's Utopia formed in 1974 after four years of making solo albums, including the seminal Something/Anything?, which included hits such as "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw The Light."

The band began as a prog-rock-progenitor septet featuring Moogy Klingman, Ralph Schuckett, "M. Frog Labat" on keyboards, John Siegler on bass, Kevin Ellman on drums, and Rundgren on guitar. Their music ranged from extended synth experiments to four-song albums. Their live shows were distinguished by video backdrops and computer-generated music that was ahead of the curve.

By 1976, the group had become the power-pop rock quartet Utopia, with Willie Wilcox on drums, Roger Powell on keyboards, and Kasim Sulton on bass — the best-known and most commercially successful Utopian incarnation.

In 1986, after 10 years of nonstop recording and arena touring, the band took a sabbatical. Rundgren went on to produce albums by Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, Psychedelic Furs, XTC, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall And Oates, and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell.

The "sabbatical" is now over.

The tour even has an official pre-sale credit card, Citi, whose holders can purchase pre-sale tickets beginning February 20 at 10 am until February 22 at 10 pm through Citi's www.citiprivatepass.com program.

Tour dates are as follows:

April 18 – Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe, PA
April 20 – Bergen Performing Arts Center, Englewood, NJ
April 22 – House Of Blues, Houston
April 23 – Majestic Theatre, Dallas
April 25 – Broward Center For The Performing Arts, Broward, FL
April 27 – Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg
April 28 – Tabernacle, Atlanta
April 29 – Carolina Theater, Durham, NC
May 1 – Paramount Theater, Huntington, NY
May 2 – Warner Theater, Washington, DC
May 3 – Town Hall, New York, NY
May 5 – Tower Theater, Philadelphia
May 6 – Orpheum Theater, Boston
May 7 – Ridgefield Theater, Ridgefield, CT
May 9 – Peabody Opera House, St. Louis
May 10 – Taft Theater, Cincinnati
May 12 – Pabst Theater, Milwaukee
May 13 – State Theater, Minneapolis
May 15 – 20 Monroe Live, Grand Rapids, MI
May 16 – Massey Hall, Toronto
May 17 – The Fillmore, Detroit
May 19 – Hard Rock Live, Cleveland
May 22 – Chicago Theater, Chicago
May 24 – Paramount Theater, Denver
May 26 – The Joint At Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas
May 27 – Comerica Theater, Phoenix
May 29 – The Wiltern, Los Angeles
May 30 – The Masonic, San Francisco
June 1 – Moore Theater, Seattle
June 2 – Revolution Theater, Portland
June 4 – Crest Theater, Sacramento
June 5 – Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside, CA

concerts music

Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

movies film