Admiral Television?

Rick Derringer wouldn't surprise me. He was playing with Johnny Winter up until Winter got a bit heavy into heroin and disappeared from '72 -'73. The bass player for Hall and Oates in 1974 was Kenny Aaronson. After Kenny's stint with Hall and Oates, he moved to another band but ended up playing for Rick Derringer two years later. Derringer was in NYC in 1973 as he was from Ohio (gotta leave) and he performed for Donald Fagen and Walter Becker on Steely Dan's 'Show Biz Kids'. Kenny Aaronson the bass player was born and raised in Brooklyn and was the up and coming bass player in the New York scene. War Babies was recorded in New York. You guys are very close or you probably nailed it with Derringer. I would look to Kenny Aaronson forthe answer. He probably knows and he might more approachable than Daryl.

From an interview with Kenny

After Stories, I got a call from the keyboard player of Hall and Oates named Don York, this was in 1974, and he invited me to play with them. I toured with Hall and Oates for about a year, we were opening up for Lou Reed, believe it or not, and Hall and Oates had been known at this point for being an acoustic duo, and all of a sudden, they released an electric album. Entitled "War Babies," it was produced by Todd Rundgren, which was a departure for them. So, they’d mix it up by playing an acoustic first set, then bringing on the band for the second half. And we’d watch everybody leave. But it was cool, a nice experience, and it was nice to be part of it. I learned a lot from them never any regrets.

Oh, and Kenny Aaronson played some slide guitar. Rick Derringer played slide on War Babies. There's a connection here. Kenny played bass on the War Babies tour.

Also look to drummer Eddie Zyne. He played for Hall and Oates in '74 and also Derringer. He's one of the biggest Todd Rundgren fans of all time.

John Oates is listed as a guitarist. I like the contract idea, but that would mean Derringer was on the same label with Winter as Hall and Oates was on War Babies and that's not the case.

I need to correct that statement. They were on different labels so it could be a contract issue.

Im such an idiot. I have an in. My wife works with a guy who knows Todd Rundgren. Actually my wife works with two guys in their early 50's who travel to most of Todd's shows and know him very well. Ill keep you posted.

Okay, so he texted Todd's wife. She said that it is actually a television. She told him that there's a lot of funky things they put on the War Babies album cover and they even quoted people that didn't exist. This answer is coming from Todd Rundgrens wife this morning.

My wife works with these two guys that worhship Todd Rundgren like you cannot believe. These guys take vacation time to follow him around. They've been doing this their entire lives together and have become very good friends with Todd and his wife (obviously).

Oh, and Todd's wife said that your guess of Rick Derringer was a good one because he and Todd have always been such good friends.

Marty. I guess this guy my wife works with is friends with Paul Ryan who authored a book on Todd Rungren. He told my wife theres a whole chapter on War Babies. It must be interesting if there's a whole chapter on it.

Sorry about that. I think the news has gotten the best of me lately. It has taken over my brain (whats left of it). I have nightmares about politicians. I was mowing the lawn after that post and was asking myself if I typed Paul Ryan.

You know, I never expected it to be what it turned out to be but I guess it didn't surprise me. When my wife forwarded the information I actually said "get out" aloud at my office. I'm thinking about hunting down that book about Todd now that this thread has peaked my interest. I really like these threads about music and musicians. Between this web site and a interview on NPR with this fantastic female musician Kendra Morris Ive had new music showing up at my door step about every other day these past couple of weeks.