Classic & Current Contemporary Non-Schlock-Rock Metropolitan Music

Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson, & ETHEL - 2005 (Pt. 1)

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Intro to The Ethereal Six

Note: This show was at the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro, NC, April 20, 2005.

Last night my daughters Annecy and Avalon, ages seven and ten, went with my husband and me to see a unique performance with Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson, and the string quartet known as ETHEL.

This tour, which opened April 13 and continues into the summer, isn't just a series of musicians playing song sets. It isn't ETHEL opening up for Joe Jackson opening up for Todd Rundgren. This collaboration needs a name - something along the lines of the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Hmmm, I gotta come up with something to call this "conglomeration." Well, that's too heavy a word. I need something lighter.

I'm going to call this show The Ethereal Six. The name has all the letters in ETHEL and harkens back to the days of Initiation and Ra when thanks to Utopia and Todd, I had pyramids all over the place (each with one side facing magnetic north, of course) and I was reading Madame Blavatsky and CW Leadbetter. There are four members of ETHEL, and with Joe and Todd, this group totals six. For me the word ethereal evokes a sense of beyond the physical that is heavenly. That's how this music felt.

Next »

• DD's Concert Preview in goTriad (April 14, 2005)
• Part 1: Intro to The Ethereal Six
• Part 2: ETHEL's Strings, Joe Jackson's Piano
• Part 3: Todd Solo, Then Mix & Match
• Part 4: Todd Rundgren Autographs for the Kids