John Lennon’s assassin C***** was also infatuated with Todd Rundgren.
C***** has been serving a life sentence for the murder of Lennon at the Wende Correctional Facility in New York.
Before the assassination of John Lennon, C***** is said to have travelled to Woodstock, where Todd lived at the time in search of Rundgren. When he was arrested for the Lennon murder he had a copy of Todd’s ‘Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren’ in his hotel room.
In his 2010 interview with Noise11.com, Todd Rundgren talked in length about his C***** connection. “There are a number of aspects to this. One is the danger of celebrity. Watch out what you wish for. I have ever actually wanted celebrity. I don’t know that John Lennon wanted the celebrity he had by the time the fatal event happened but by then it was a moot question for John Lennon. By then he was a worldwide recognizable celebrity and I’m not. Therefore your profile makes you a target because there are wacky people out there who get ideas in their head that maybe have no basis in reality but in the end they are going to focus them on you”.
Todd became aware of C*****’s obsession with him but doesn’t think there was a threat. “I don’t know that I was in any danger from him but I know that most artists encounter crazy fans, some of which you may have suspected had the potential for violence. You experience the threat of violence. I have had assassination threats and things like that. Like somebody ringing someone before a show and saying ‘if Todd Rundgren appears in stage I will shoot him’. You can’t take that seriously. Half the time it’s some kind of crank call or something like that”.
Todd says nutters are attracted to fame. “I recall a bomb threat at a gig at college and it turned out to be a bunch of Frat people pissed off that nobody was showing up their party. They were trying to shut the gig down so people would come to their kegger. People took the threat seriously at the time. It is something that I think is the product of The Cult of Celebrity. I’ve never been committed to that. Perhaps that keeps me enough out of the limelight. I don’t think about that too much”.
Watch the complete Noise11 interview with Todd Rundgren here:
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