If Geddy Lee's only role in Rush was to play the bass he'd be unbelievably accomplished. The fact that he does it while singing and playing keyboards proves that the man is almost a freak of nature. Few singers in the history of rock could have handled this triple duty. The group has occasionally flirted with the idea of adding a fourth member to their stage show to ease Lee's load, but they always decide that fans only want to see the three members of Rush onstage. He manages it all by playing bass pedals during his keyboard parts. The band is currently performing their 1980 LP Moving Pictures on a world tour.
Today was opening day of professional baseball here in the US and Canada so the Toronto Star ran an article titled The old ball game brings together Canadians of all stripes where they asked Geddy Lee and several other famous Canadians about their favorite baseball game ever. Here's what Geddy said:
... Rush lead vocalist Geddy Lee is no stranger to Blue Jays fans. He's been a longtime fan himself, and has attended hundreds of games through the good and not-so-good times.
When asked about his fave game, the Toronto native knew right away:
"Game 6 of the 1992 World Series in Atlanta," Lee said this week, just as the band was leaving Toronto for Tampa to open a tour.
"Sitting with my brother Allan and beside Candy Maldonado's dentist from Puerto Rico and the wives of the Blue Jay coaches ... an island of Jays fans in a sea of Braves T-shirts, cheering in the top of the 11th inning as Dave Winfield hit a double off of Charlie Liebrandt to drive in two runs, which would lead to the Blue Jays capturing the Holy Grail, a long-awaited World Series championship.
"Truly the greatest Blue Jay play for me ... Even the 1993 championship and Joe Carter's jaw-dropping home run could not compare to that spectacular moment in Atlanta." ...
Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up. And one other thing ... go Tribe!
New Geddy Lee radio interview at the UK's 106.1 Rock Radio
... We've got about - I guess - 3/4 of the record written and are kind of ready to go. We've got 2 or 3 more tracks we'd like to write. We've kind of run out of time now. We're gonna have to go on tour so when this tour is over we'll get back to writing and hopefully finish the record in the Fall. ... We're having fun with it. I mean - you know - there are some very complex moments. There are some very beautiful moments. It's kind of what you'd expect from Rush I guess - a little bit of everything. Now the indication you can get from the first 2 songs kind of sets the tone for where we're going with this record. But there are a few surprises as you get deeper into the record.
So it sounds as if they still have a little more writing to do but still plan on finishing up this Fall. The interview runs about 11 minutes and you can listen to it at this link. Thanks to Flygaricdrummer for the heads up.
UPDATE - 4/7@4:16PM: From The Miami Herald (thanks RushFanForever):
Following their Wednesday night show at BankAtlantic Center, members of Rush had dinner Thursday night at Michael's Genuine Food & Drink. Vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart were seen sitting outdoors enjoying the food and scenery.
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Date/Time: Wednesday, March 30th @ 7:30PM Show Number: 1 Venue:Bank Atlantic Center Place: Sunrise, FL (outside Ft. Lauderdale)
UPDATE - 3/31@8:55PM: Correction: I guess those Slobovich t-shirts are not new - they were around on the 2010 leg too. New to me though! Shows you how much I know ... :)
UPDATE - 3/31@7:31PM: Reader reillygolfpro shot over 200 great photos from front row center which you can check out here and here.
UPDATE - 3/31@7:53AM:One new thing from last night were the t-shirts that get thrown out to the audience towards the end of the show. Alex did the honors this time and the shirt has his character from the concert videos - Slobovich - on them with the slogan, Slobovich says... (front) the last time someone grabbed my sausage ... (back). You can check out some photos sent in by reader angiodan by clicking on the thumbnails.
UPDATE - 3/30@11:12PM: The show's over and no setlist changes or new videos. As expected, it was the exact same show as on the 2010 tour.
UPDATE - 3/30@9:57PM:Rush.com has launched a newly refreshed website to celebrate the kickoff of the 2011 Time Machine Tour. Still no setlist changes or show surprises. It sounds like Alex wasn't lying.
UPDATE - 3/30@9:39PM: RIAB is having issues due to heavy traffic - it's up and down. But I've been told that there were NO setlist changes/surprises through intermission (thanks Mary Jo).
Rush will be kicking off the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour tonight at 7:30PM in Sunrise, FL at the Bank Atlantic Center. The band has stated in interviews that the show and setlist won't be changing from the 2010 tour, but if there are any surprises I'll post them here. And if you are going tonight and notice any changes, please let us know. For everyone going to the show, have fun, be safe and make sure to share your reports, reviews, and photos with us. Rush on!!!
For those of you who'd like to follow the tour on your mobile device, laptop or PC - Eric at Power Windows has created a special Google iCalendar for the 2011 leg of the tour. Click here for more information.
2011 Time Machine Tour VIP ticket package swag details and photo
Copy of "Rush - Classic Albums - 2112 and Moving Pictures" DVD (the making of "2112" and "Moving Pictures")
Rush "Caravan/BU2B" CD single
Specially Designed Tour Shirt (exclusive design, available to ticket packages only)
Exclusive Tour Poster (numbered, limited)
Official Time Machine Tour Program
Set of Official Rush Guitar Picks
The Rush 2112/Moving Pictures Classic Albums DVD and the Caravan/BU2B CD single were the only 2 items on the list where it was clear as to what would be included in the package. The tour shirt this time around is a white jersey-style t-shirt with black sleeves and a movie cue cardTime Machine Tour logo. The poster is a retro-style Rush live tour poster. The guitar picks come in a little black and white metal case with the classic RUSH logo on it that has sliding lid. Inside are two white picks with the classic RUSH logo, two red picks with the Starman logo, and two black ones with both the classic RUSH logo and Starman logo. The white ones have Alex's signature on the back of one, and Geddy's on the back of the other. The big disappointment is that the Tourbook looks to be the 2010 Tourbook rather than the updated version for the 2011 Tour. Many thanks to RestlessOldRomantic for the information and the photo.
Check it out: every week RUSH BACKSTAGE will draw two winners to win a pair of Meet and Greet passes to meet RUSH during the Time Machine 2011 tour. The winners will meet members of the band, before the show. These lucky people will have the opportunity to say hello and have their picture taken with the guys!
In order to qualify to win the prize, entrants MUST already have in their possession tickets to a Rush Time Machine concert during the Time Machine 2011 tour. Rush Backstage will not be providing concert tickets to the winners. Good luck!
The first drawing will be made in 2 days on Thursday, March 31st so enter now at this link! Thanks to ReGorLaTroy for the heads up.
A 30-second video trailer for the Moving Pictures 30th anniversary deluxe edition is now available online. You can watch it below or at this location (thanks rosmakloma). Both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the remix will release this coming Tuesday, April 5th, but the Blu-ray will only be sold exclusively through Best Buy for the first 30 days; other retailers will have the Blu-ray version on May 3rd. In celebration of the release, John at Cygnus-X1.net is holding a contest to give away five copies of the CD/DVD version - one per week starting this Friday, April 1st. To enter just go to this link.
... Both DVD & Blu-ray formats will boast the 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio in 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audiophile playback which offers 256 times more resolution than CD audio, providing the listener with the closest experience you can have to what the artists hear in the studio. The DVD is playable on both DVD-Audio and DVD-Video players, the latter players will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo playback. Blu-ray discs will also feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in addition to 96kHz/24-bit PCM 5.1 surround sound and stereo. ... Also included in the package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme ...
You can read all the details from Rush.com at this link and pre-order your copy of the remix at Amazon (CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray).
Live Nation announced today that due to unforeseen circumstances the Rush performance previously scheduled for this Friday, April 1st in Greensboro has been postponed one day and will now take place on Saturday, April 2nd at the Greensboro Coliseum. Doors remain 6:30 pm with show time at 7:30 pm.
After much consideration, as the Toledo performance would have been the 4th show in 5 days the decision was made to delay the show rather than move forward as previously scheduled. The added time between shows will ensure that fans in Toledo are treated to the best performance that Rush can deliver. As a result, the Toledo performance previously scheduled for Wednesday, April 6th will be postponed one week and will now take place on Wednesday, April 13th at Huntington Center.
Tickets for both of the previously scheduled performance will be honored at the rescheduled dates. Fans requiring a refund may do so at point of purchase. ...
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UPDATE - 3/28@5:44PM: What the hell? The Toledo date has been rescheduled too (thanks mike). It's been pushed back one week from Wednesday, April 6th to Wednesday, April 13th.
It looks like the Friday, April 1st Rush show at the Greensboro Coliseum has been pushed back one day to Saturday, April 2nd. From the venue's website:
Live Nation announced today that due to unforeseen circumstances the Rush performance previously scheduled for this Friday, April 1st in Greensboro has been postponed one day and will now take place on Saturday, April 2nd at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Doors remain 6:30 pm with show time at 7:30 pm.
Tickets for the previously scheduled performance will be honored at the rescheduled date. Fans requiring a refund may do so at point of purchase. ...
This had better not be an elaborate April Fool's joke! Thanks to RammsteinSkins for the heads up.
The 2011 Time Machine Tour kicks off in 2 days and the Rush Backstage Club is ready with all the new 2011 Time Machine Tour merchandise. There are several new apparel options available along with an updated Time Machine tourbook for 2011 complete with several new photos of the band from the 2010 Time Machine Tour:
As always, here is another beautiful Rush tourbook with laminated covers and high quality photography of the band. This book also features a passage written by Neil Peart and band gear lists with a twist (you'll see what we mean if you get the book!). This new tourbook features brand new photos of the band from the Time Machine 2010 tour. Available on tour and right here in the webstore, this is a must have keepsake for any avid Rush fan.
Thanks to rushfan82 for the heads up.
Hearts's Nancy Wilson discusses Geddy Lee credit on Red Velvet Car
Last August Heart released their new album Red Velvet Car which was produced and engineered by Ben Mink and David Leonard respectively, both of whom had the same credits on Geddy Lee's 2000 solo album My Favorite Headache. One of the tracks on the album is called Death Valley and the following appears in the credits: Geddy Lee - Whistle on 'Death Valley,' Mazel. The Mazel part simply means good luck or congratulations in Yiddish. Other musicians on the album also have their names listed with the instrument they performed on along with a phrase that represents who they are by heritage, character, and/or personality. At the time it wasn't initially clear what Geddy's contribution was, but after some intrepid research by RushFanForever - who emailed sound engineer David Leonard - it was revealed as simply an inside joke between Ben and Nancy Wilson:
I just heard back from Mr. Mink. Kudos to you for picking up on an inside joke between Ben and Nancy Wilson. Ben says "Nancy (Wilson) heard some hi pitched thing in "Death Valley" and he (Ben) said "it's probably Geddy whistling". They gave Geddy credit. That's the story.
... When Ben was mixing Red Velvet Car, Geddy Lee was around, and he got the voice of Geddy Lee hidden in the beginning of the "Death Valley" song. It's sort of a secret signal from Geddy." ...
You can listen to the interview at this link - it starts around the 3:30 mark. Thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the heads up.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage wins Juno for Music DVD of the Year!
UPDATE - 4/1@10:08AM: Here's video of Geddy and Alex presenting Arcade Fire with their Album of the Year award (thanks RushFanForever):
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UPDATE - 3/28@10:18AM: There is video available online but apparently it's only viewable from Canada. It's in this clip at about the 1:40 mark (thanks The Clansman 2112).
UPDATE - 3/28@9:52AM:And here's a photo of Scot McFadyen, Pegi Cecconi (of Anthem) and Sam Dunn with their Juno for Music DVD of the Year! (thanks RushFanForever).
UPDATE - 3/28@9:43AM:Here is an audio clip of Alex and Geddy presenting the Album of the Year award courtesy Eric at Power Windows, and here's a transcript:
Announcer: Please welcome from the legendary rock group Rush - Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson! (applause)
Alex: And the winner is ... Oh - wait a second. We are honored to present the final Juno tonight - Album of the Year - sponsored by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. This award represents the best Canada has to offer.
Geddy: One of the things you learn quickly when you start out in the music business is that there are many different roads to success. These nominees illustrate that perfectly.
Alex: The routes these artists took vary from a major label to an independent path.
Geddy: From constant national tours to the global power of the internet.
Alex: But no matter what the business approach is, the music always has to be great. That's the other rule you'll learn quickly Geddy.
Geddy: Thanks Al. The nominees for Album of the Year are (announcer lists nominees)
Alex: And the Juno goes to.... The Suburbs, Arcade Fire!
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UPDATE - 3/28@9:22AM:The Canadian Music Scene has this photo posted of Geddy and Alex getting ready to present Arcade Fire with their Juno. Apparently you can watch the entire show at the CTV website, but as of right now the feed doesn't seem to be working (at least not for me).
UPDATE - 3/27@8:01PM:Geddy and Alex appeared on the CTV eTalk web broadcast of the Junos red carpet and reader Don C was able to get a screen grab. Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies joined them just after this photo was taken and said he was Neil Peart. :)
... [Canning] also thinks Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage will trump This Movie Is Broken for music DVD of the year. "As much as I like our film and our concert DVD, you gotta give credence and credit. What are you going to do? You can't take Rush, you can't knock them off the podium. And video, I honestly haven't looked at the other nominees in video."
Just over three weeks ago in the first week of March Rush's BU2B was quietly released as a radio single, and almost nobody even noticed. The song had already been released on June 1st of last year as the side B to the Caravan single that was released for mp3 download. So most stations had already been playing it for some time and it even emerged onto a few of the radio charts last summer. Not to mention the fact that Rush included it as part of their setlist on the Time Machine Tour. Sirius/XM satellite radio made a relatively big deal out of it and premiered it as their Breaking Bone track on Sunday, March 6th (thanks Sean). It's now in its 4th week of release and has moved into the top 40 on the Mediabase Rock Charts; at the time of this post it's sitting at #27. So if you are so inclined, call your local rock radio station and request the track. There also will be a 7" vinyl limited edition version of the song available for the UK's Record Store Day on Saturday, April 16; and a 7" vinyl Caravan/BU2B available for the US and Canadian Record Store Day on the same day.
1. Red Barchetta Album: Moving Pictures (1981) Artist: Rush Canadian content: Bassist Geddy Lee is from Toronto; guitarist Alex Lifeson was born in Fernie, B.C.; drummer Neil Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ont.
Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up. On a completely self-indulgent but related note, here's a photo of my son's Rush-mobile pinewood derby car. :)
Rush wraps up rehearsals for the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour this weekend in Toronto, while Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson get ready for the 2011 Juno Awards at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday where they will be presenters. Then it's on to Sunrise, Florida to get ready for the tour kick off on Wednesday of next week at the Bank Atlantic Center. The band will likely perform a full-scale rehearsal at the venue either Monday or Tuesday night - no other events are going on either day. Fans have been happily receiving their Music Today fan pre-sale tickets over the last couple of weeks, and VIP ticket packages should be going out soon. Reader Wendel inquired about the packages with FanFire a couple of weeks ago and was told that they do expect to begin shipping them out before the tour starts. They have less than one week, so let's hope so. I haven't heard from anyone who has actually received a package yet. If anyone does, please let us know. The news from across the pond is good too; tickets have begun shipping for the UK shows as well according to UK reader ByTorUK. Rush was also featured in yesterday's edition of the UK's Guardian Newspaper for a piece by Rob Fitzpatrick titled Rush: Our fans feel vindicated. The article talks about the resurgence in popularity of Rush in recent years and how it's no longer uncool to be a Rush fan. It contains interview snippets from Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from around the time of the November 8, 2010 London screening of the documentary where Geddy Lee made an appearance and answered questions from the audience.
The 2011 Juno Awards ceremony takes place this weekend at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee will attend the ceremony where they will be presenters and the Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage is nominated for Music DVD of the Year. On Tuesday the Ontario Media Development Corporation held their VIP Juno luncheon and Geddy Lee along with Rush documentary filmmakers Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn were in attendance. Here's a news story covering the Luncheon from CHCH News which includes some interview clips with Sam and Scot. Geddy did not appear in that clip but spoke a little about the state of the Canadian rock music industry as reported in this National Post article. Here's a CTV news story covering the history of the Junos which prominently features Rush. In one scene they show a rare Bruce Cole photograph of Geddy and Alex in the CHUM radio studios. They also talk about how Rush along with Bachman Turner Overdrive were instrumental in reshaping Canadian rock music in the 70s and show footage of Rush performing Closer To The Heart live in 1987. You can check out the video at this link. Larry Fedoruk of New Talk 610 CKTB probably is not rooting for the documentary to win. He wrote this scathing piece in his blog last week describing how much he hates Rush. At least he accepts the fact that he'll be getting a lot of email and angry comments from Rush fans because of his jerkitude.
Speaking of Neil, his 5th full-length book - Far and Away: A Prize Every Time - will release in May. I've received the official sell sheet for the book which you can check out at this link (PDF 180KB). Here are the technical details:
ISBN: 978-1-77041-058-9 8 x 10'', 260 pages, cloth 4-colour throughout, 150 photos $32.95 CDN, $29.95 U.S. May 2011 Memoir / Travel / Music
... "First impressions: W-O-W. It's going to be really, really HARD to ever listen to this album "only" in stereo ever again! THIS is what surround was built for, so to speak ... Living inside it and loving it! ... Everyone needs to know how GREAT this 5.1 mix is!"
... "One of my favorite albums of all time is now better than ever. I look forward to listening to it again and again and getting more out of it each time I do ... Each song has its own individual sense of space ... It's such a rewarding listening experience." ...
Chycki also remarks that he is busily planning for the recording of the Cleveland show on April 15th. Both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the remix will release on April 5th, but the Blu-ray will only be sold exclusively through Best Buy for the first 30 days; other retailers will have the Blu-ray version on May 3rd. Rush.com sent out a newsletter on Wednesday confirming this and providing some more details regarding the release. Reader PhillyMike also let me know that in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (April 1, 2011), there is a pullout titled Stuff We're Looking Forward to in April and under the April 5th they list the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix. For my next poll I thought I'd ask everyone what Rush album that they think should be next to get the 5.1 Surround Sound treatment. Take the poll and let us know. On a related note, Amazon.com is running a deal where you can download the Moving Pictures album on mp3 for just $3.99 (thanks plunge).
Record Store Day - April 16 BU2B/Caravan will be released as a limited edition 7" vinyl for Record Store Day in the US & Canada. The 7" will be on colour vinyl - with either red or white along with a lyric insert.
Alex Lifeson was featured at the Terry Fox Foundation website last Friday where he asked the Terry Fox Video Trivia question of the day: In 1980 we presented Terry with an album. Which album was that? He then gives the possible 3 answers as 2112, Permanent Waves or Power Windows. You can watch the video at this link (the answer by the way is Permanent Waves).
While on the subject of Alex Lifeson, back in January I'd mentioned that Lerxst had lent his studio and production expertise to the Toronto-based David Barrett Trio. Late last year after the Time Machine tour the Trio went into Alex's home studio and recorded three tunes: Hollowbody, Sonar, and Disappearance with Alex producing and Rich Chycki handling the engineering duties. Hollowbody was made available as an MP3 download via Amazon.com and iTunes last week for just $0.99 and the other 2 tracks should also soon be available as well. Hollowbody is a rocking, 2½-minute instrumental track with a bunch of crazy guitar riffs that any Rush fan should really appreciate. You can listen to a short preview of the track at this link and here's a promotional video of the band playing a live version of the song in studio. There will be a concert and cd release party this coming Thursday, March 31st at 8PM (doors open at 7PM), at the Gibson Guitar Artist Showroom (1205 King West, Toronto, ON). They'll have a special EP available for sale which will have the three aforementioned tunes on it. They'll also be recording some more tunes after the 2011 leg of the Time Machine tour. David talks about the songs and his collaboration with Lifeson came about in this January post on his blog. David will also be In The Studio with Bob and Blair this Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 10PM where they'll be playing the 3 new tunes for the first time on radio.
Back in June I'd mentioned that Canadian environmentalist organization the David Suzuki Foundation would be celebrating their 20th anniversary by launching a project that would bring together Rush and several other Canadian songwriters and performers for a compilation album called Playlist for the Planet. They also ran a songwriting contest over the past several months for environmentally-themed songs to include on the compilation. The compilation features Rush's Second Nature from the Hold Your Fire album. It was just released in Canada this past Tuesday and will release in the US next week. All proceeds from the sales of the compilation go to the David Suzuki Foundation.
... "It's pretty tricky. I work at it a lot. I can strum the guitar and sing all day long. But to play bass and sing at the same time, especially with some of the things I do with my right hand, it's hard. It doesn't come naturally, but it can be done. You just have to sit down and work out your parts. ... "I remember when we had the great honor of touring the Rush at one point, and I'd sit and talk to Geddy Lee about it. He's one of the sweetest guys around, by the way. But he told me that he has to work at it big-time. I don't know anybody who does it better than him. Sting, he drifts through his bass playing by dropping time while still keeping time. It's quite an art." ...
Speaking of Geddy, he came in at #12 on XM radio's The Boneyard Top 19 Best Voices of Rock Countdown. The top 3 were Axl Rose, Bon Scott and Ronnie James Dio at #1. Thanks to Sniglets at Counterparts for the heads up.
... A bigger surprise comes when the subject of their influences is raised. Lovering acknowledged reverence for John Bonham, "any drummer who played for Steely Dan" and especially Rush's Neil Peart. "When I first started playing for the Pixies, I was doing a lot of fills, believe me, just like Neil would do. It took a long time and a lot of concentration to keep it toned down," he said. ...
Here's a photo of Lovering behind his kit at a Santiago, Chile show this past summer sporting a Rush Fly By Night t-shirt.
Last week Eric over at Power Windows posted this interesting bit about how some foreign pressings of Rush albums are censored in different ways. For instance, the iconic red star was censored from the cover of the original Korean pressing of 2112 because the red star is the on the iconic flag of North Korea.
There was a Rush reference on this past week's episode of the NBC action/comedy Chuck (Season 4, Episode 19: Chuck Versus the Muuurder). The character Morgan Grimes is interviewing potential new agents and after asking a series of serious questions to a group of candidates, he asks one of them Quick! What is Rush's best album?! to which the candidate replies Caress of Steel. Morgan then makes a buzzer noise, looks at the candidate with disappointment and says nope... next!. This is the second major Rush reference on Chuck. The first occurred in Episode 5 of Season 2: Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer back on October 27, 2008. You can watch Chuck Versus the Muuurder below or at this link. The Rush reference occurs at about the 5:40 mark.
What a crazy week it's been for Rush news! Have a great weekend. Only 5 more days until the Time Machine returns!
Rush is featured in today's edition of the UK's Guardian Newspaper for a piece by Rob Fitzpatrick titled Rush: Our fans feel vindicated. The article talks about the resurgence in popularity of Rush in recent years and how it's no longer uncool to be a Rush fan. It contains interview snippets from Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from around the time of the November 8, 2010 London screening of the documentary where Geddy Lee made an appearance and answered questions from the audience. From the article:
... Rush, and Rush fans, are long used to being the butt of the joke - kimono-wearing, book-learning, heavily moustachioed Canadian prog-rock overlords never seemed likely to be at the cutting edge of cool. But what's really interesting is how their fan archetype - that nerdy, computer-club, Dungeons and Dragons-playing, comic-reading, sci-fi geek - has moved from the margins right into the very heart of the mainstream. Rush have been uncool for so long that they are, finally, perhaps the coolest band in the world.
"We've been vindicated!" laughs guitarist Alex Lifeson ... "A lot of fans feel vindicated, too. There is a segment of our audience that are outsiders and some have grown into power and influence, but that bond they feel to us is still there. It's very, very deep and I don't think it's like that for a lot of other bands." ...
... After 37 years, Rush are still recording new material and still finding new places to play ("In South America they cry when they meet you," Lee says). More importantly, they're still friends.
"That's totally it," Lee says. "That's what Rush means, and that's the satisfying thing for all of us."
Back in his home office high above Toronto, Lifeson laughs out loud. "There are very, very few bands that get along anything like as well as we do. In fact, thinking about all the bands I've ever met, I really don't think there are any."
The article goes on to describe The Many Faces of Rush, one song at a time by showcasing the evolution of their songwriting over the years; Finding My Way, Xanadu, Rec Barchetta, Distant Early Warning and One Little Victory are profiled. The article also includes a piece from Neil Peart discussing Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose poem Kubla Khan was the inspiration for Rush's Xanadu that had appeared in a Guardian article back in October, 2010. You can read the entire article at this link. Thanks to Tony R for the heads up.
Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess Musician's Friend Sweepstakes
... The Grand Prize winner gets a pair of VIP tickets to see Rush live in Las Vegas, meet Alex, and take home a signed Gibson Alex Lifeson Axcess guitar. Musician's Friend will provide you and your guest with airfare, lodging, meals, local transportation, and premium concert seating in Las Vegas on June 24, 2011!
The Grand Prize has an approximate cash value of $5,999.00.
The winner will be selected in a random drawing on or around June 1, 2011. You're automatically entered every time you place an order with Musician's Friend between March 24, 2011, and May 31, 2011. No purchase necessary to enter.
UPDATE - 3/24@3:56PM: I just realized that all 5 parts of the interview are in the issue! I'd been confused because they initially mentioned that only part one was contained in this issue: ...The launch issue of iDrum features part one of an exclusive in-depth 40-minute video interview.... Anyways, just flip through to the next 3 pages in the issue and you'll see the other 4 parts to the interview. In total, all 5 parts add up to around 55 minutes of interview time! They are also running a contest for a cool Neil Peart package where all you need to do is sign up for their FREE subscription:
As if that wasn't enough the first issue will also feature a massive competition, giving readers the extraordinary opportunity to win the ultimate Neil Peart package. Worth in excess of $15,000, this piece of drumming history includes a set of four of Neil's favourite DW touring snares in a red velvet lined road style display case, plus a set of Sabian Paragon Cymbals and a brick of Neil's custom designed ProMark sticks. This is a once in a lifetime chance to own some seriously collectable Neil Peart signature products, all you need to do to enter is subscribe for FREE!
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Lick Library just launched a very cool and unique new interactive online drumming magazine called iDrum. Neil Peart graces the cover of their debut issue which also contains part 1 of an in-depth interview with Pratt. In this 8-minute portion of the 55-minute interview Neil talks a lot about his motorcycling adventures on the last tour, specifically his travels in South America. From the magazine:
Two Wheels Good
Honoured by the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) making him a motorcycle ambassador, is something that Neil is clearly very proud of, particularly as it was an unexpected honour from a field outside of music. His desire to combine adventure travel and business travel is renowned and the fact that Neil then transmits those adventures into books, interviews and of course into the musical world of Rush cannot be underestimated. Enjoy this fascinating and completely absorbing insight into the world of Neil Peart.
Rhythmic Ideas
Neil recalls sitting in a restaurant in Brazil hearing a beautiful hybrid rhythm that mixed Brazilian and West African music and the profound effect it was to have upon him. All this, plus his live of discovering musical and cultural influences whilst traveling, makes for a fascinating insight.
You can check out iDrum and Neil's interview at this link. Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up.
Juno Awards this weekend; history of Rush and the Junos
"I met Geddy Lee for the first time at the Junos. Now, this is back a million years ago at the Hummingbird Centre [in Toronto], but it speaks to the fact that it's a chance for a lot of us to meet, run into and have a conversation with our idols. Despite our own successes and what we've gone on to do, we were all teenagers with our walls plastered with music posters and we were fans like everybody else. And it's an opportunity for us to not just go hang out with friends, but our idols are there and it's an opportunity to walk up to - for me, Rush and Kim Mitchell and say 'I know you know that I'm a fan because I've talked about it for years, but I need to tell you that.' It's an opportunity to get to be that 15 year old kid who always wanted to meet that person."
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UPDATE - 3/25@9:51PM: In today's Globe and Mail, Juno Award winner Dan Hill - whom I mentioned below - describes how he recently discovered that his Juno had been stolen just before he needed it for a photo shoot with Caitlin Cronenberg. At one point he mentions possibly borrowing Alex Lifeson's for the shoot:
... "You lost your Juno award?" Suspicion curled round the edges of Caitlin's usually friendly voice, leaving me with the sinking feeling that she suspected I'd never actually won a Juno. That for decades I'd been making false claims and finally my bluff had been called. "If you don't have your Juno, I can't photograph you," Caitlin explained. "Well, can I borrow, say, one of Gordon Lightfoot's Junos, or Alex Lifeson's? They both live pretty close by." ...
The 2011 Juno Awards ceremony takes place this weekend at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto - the first time in over 10 years in which they will be held in that city. It's the 40th anniversary of the Awards so they are pulling out all the stops to celebrate. The Juno Awards are the Canadian equivalent of the US Grammy Awards and Rush has been nominated several times over the years and even won a few (unlike the Grammys). Their first Juno Award occurred exactly 36 years ago today on March 24, 1975 when they won for Most Promising Group (they really got it right with that one!). In 1978 they were named Group of the Year and here's a photo of Geddy and Alex accepting that award. Alex made the funny comment We'd like to thank Dan Hill for not being a group (Dan Hill had been nominated for his hit Sometimes When We Touch) when accepting the award. Photographer Bruce Cole took that photo and talks about his work with Rush and other bands in this recent Q&A interview with Cashbox Magazine (thanks RushFanForever for the info and links). They won another award for Group of the Year the following year in 1979 and didn't win any others until 1990 when they were named Artist of the Decade for the 1980s. For that award they were introduced by Sam the Record Man himself and you can watch a video of the presentation at this link. In 1991 their Presto album won Best Hard Rock/Metal Album and the following year in 1992 Roll the Bones won for Hard Rock Album of the Year. Then in 1994 they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and you can watch that presentation at this link. After a 10-year Juno dry spell, they were back in 2004 where they won Music DVD of the Year for Rush in Rio. This year the Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage is also nominated in that same category. Let's hope they can chalk up another Juno win with this nomination. In 1983 their single New World Man from Signals was nominated for Single of the Year but didn't win. Last month as part of the 40th anniversary Juno celebration the Junos ran a contest where they asked folks to vote on their Top 40 Canadian Songs that had been nominated over the history of the Awards. New World Man ended up making the list at #30 (thanks Sean). In addition to Rush being nominated for several Junos over the years, their album artist Hugh Syme was also nominated several times over the years for work he had done on various Rush albums, and won for Moving Pictures in 1982, Power Windows in 1986, Presto in 1990 and Roll the Bones in 1992. On Tuesday the Ontario Media Development Corporation held their VIP Juno luncheon celebrating Ontario Juno nominees and the companies supporting them, including record labels, music publishers, artist managers and agents. Geddy Lee along with Rush documentary filmmakers Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn were in attendance. Here's a news story covering the Luncheon from CHCH News which includes some interview clips with Sam and Scot. Geddy did not appear in that clip but spoke a little about the state of the Canadian rock music industry as reported in this National Post article:
... Talking about the current state of Canadian rock, Lee said, "Metal didn't ever rely on huge mainstream support. And so the fact that the mainstream music industry has been hit so hard hasn't affected a lot of the more underground rock and metal scene as it has most of the other genres." ...
Both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will be presenters at the Juno Awards ceremony Sunday night which airs on CTV at 8PM EST. Here's a CTV news story (thanks bucklemyshoe) covering the history of the Junos which prominently features Rush. In one scene they show a rare Bruce Cole photograph of Geddy and Alex (thanks Power Windows) in the CHUM radio studios. They also talk about Rush along with Bachman Turner Overdrive being instrumental in reshaping Canadian rock music in the 70s and show footage of Rush performing Closer To The Heart live in 1987. You can check out the video at this link. Here's the video of Rush's presentation as Artist of the Decade back in 1990:
Record Store Day - April 16 BU2B/Caravan will be released as a limited edition 7" vinyl for Record Store Day in the US & Canada. The 7" will be on colour vinyl - with either red or white along with a lyric insert.
UPDATE - 3/23@9:14PM: Here's a news story covering the Luncheon from CHCH News (thanks RushFanForever). Geddy doesn't appear in the video but Rush documentary filmmakers Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn do and even say a few words.
The Ontario Media Development Corporation held their VIP Juno luncheon yesterday in the run-up to this weekend's Juno Awards. The luncheon celebrated Ontario Juno nominees and the companies supporting them, including record labels, music publishers, artist managers and agents. Geddy Lee was in attendance and spoke a little about the state of the Canadian rock music industry. From the National Post:
... Talking about the current state of Canadian rock, Lee said, "Metal didn't ever rely on huge mainstream support. And so the fact that the mainstream music industry has been hit so hard hasn't affected a lot of the more underground rock and metal scene as it has most of the other genres." ...
UPDATE - 3/28@10:36AM: In celebration of the release of the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix, John at Cygnus-X1.net is holding a contest to give away five copies of the CD/DVD version - one per week starting this Friday, April 1st. To enter just go to this link.
UPDATE - 3/23@9:44PM: Rush.com just sent out a newsletter which confirms the Best Buy exclusive offer:
... Please note: For US fans: The CD+BLURAY edition will be available in the US exclusively at Best Buy for the first 4 weeks and the CD + DVD version will be available to all retailers in the US starting April 5th!...
... So I guess the review pre-release copies of Rush's Blu-Ray Moving Pictures 5.1 remix/remaster are making the rounds. It's so exciting to get feedback from people enjoying something that I had so much fun working on. With permission, I'm sharing pieces of a recent email here from a guy that listens to A LOT of 5.1:
... "First impressions: W-O-W. It's going to be really, really HARD to ever listen to this album "only" in stereo ever again! THIS is what surround was built for, so to speak ... Living inside it and loving it! ... Everyone needs to know how GREAT this 5.1 mix is!"
... "One of my favorite albums of all time is now better than ever. I look forward to listening to it again and again and getting more out of it each time I do ... Each song has its own individual sense of space ... It's such a rewarding listening experience."
... Both DVD & Blu-ray formats will boast the 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio in 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audiophile playback which offers 256 times more resolution than CD audio, providing the listener with the closest experience you can have to what the artists hear in the studio. The DVD is playable on both DVD-Audio and DVD-Video players, the latter players will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo playback. Blu-ray discs will also feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in addition to 96kHz/24-bit PCM 5.1 surround sound and stereo. ... Also included in the package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme ...
You can read all the details from Rush.com at this link and pre-order your copy of the remix at Amazon (CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray).
... "It's pretty tricky. I work at it a lot. I can strum the guitar and sing all day long. But to play bass and sing at the same time, especially with some of the things I do with my right hand, it's hard. It doesn't come naturally, but it can be done. You just have to sit down and work out your parts. ... "I remember when we had the great honor of touring the Rush at one point, and I'd sit and talk to Geddy Lee about it. He's one of the sweetest guys around, by the way. But he told me that he has to work at it big-time. I don't know anybody who does it better than him. Sting, he drifts through his bass playing by dropping time while still keeping time. It's quite an art." ...
UPDATE - 3/23@9:47PM: Rush.com just sent out a newsletter which confirms the release:
Record Store Day - April 16 BU2B/Caravan will be released as a limited edition 7" vinyl for Record Store Day in the US & Canada. The 7" will be on colour vinyl - with either red or white along with a lyric insert.
----- snip -----
Last month we learned that a 7-inch limited edition vinyl release of Rush's BU2B would be made available for the UK's Record Store Day which takes place on Saturday, April 16th. Now Canadian music store Sunrise Records is listing that they'll have a 7-inch limited edition vinyl release of Rush's Caravan/BU2B for Record Store Day. For more information check out their website. It's also possible that other participating stores may have the release available. To find a list of participating stores in the US check out this link and in Canada go to this link. To learn more about Record Store Day check out their website at RecordStoreDay.com.
Playlist for the Planet compilation featuring Rush's Second Nature
UPDATE - 3/22@11:47AM: Note: the compilation releases today in Canada but in the US it won't release until next Tuesday, March 29th.
Back in June I'd mentioned that Canadian environmentalist organization the David Suzuki Foundation would be celebrating their 20th anniversary by launching a project that would bring together Rush and several other Canadian songwriters and performers for a compilation album called Playlist for the Planet. They also ran a songwriting contest over the past several months for environmentally-themed songs to include on the compilation. The compilation features Rush's Second Nature from the Hold Your Fire album and was released today via Amazon, iTunes and to stores across Canada. You can purchase a copy at this link with all proceeds going to the David Suzuki Foundation. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.
UPDATE - 3/22@8:32AM: The episode is now available online at this link. The Rush reference occurs at about the 5:40 mark.
----- snip -----
There was a Rush reference on tonight's episode of the NBC action/comedy Chuck (Season 4, Episode 19: Chuck Versus the Muuurder). The character Morgan Grimes is interviewing potential new agents and after asking a series of serious questions to a group of candidates, he asks one of them Quick! What is Rush's best album?! to which the candidate replies Caress of Steel. Morgan then makes a buzzer noise, looks at the candidate with disappointment and says nope... next!. This is the second major Rush reference on Chuck. The first occurred in Episode 5 of Season 2: Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer back on October 27, 2008. Thanks to drmdawg13 and Falcon for the heads up.
It was taped today, but it won't be actually on TV for another week or two. I was in the audience. It was absolutely incredible to see Neil up close about 10-15 feet away in an intimate setting.
He talked about touring, his new book and then dissected Moving Pictures track by track among other things. It was an unbelievable experience that I will never forget.
----- snip -----
UPDATE - 3/22@9:08AM:RushFanForever confirmed with Bruce Cockburn's management that both Neil Peart and Cockburn did tape their respective appearances on Strombo yesterday. They even chatted backstage he said. But apparently Strombo tapes multiple shows on any given day for air at a later date. There's no word exactly when the show with Neil will air, but he was definitely interviewed.
UPDATE - 3/21@11:50PM: It doesn't sound as if Neil's interview appeared on tonight's show, although there's plenty of evidence supporting that his interview was taped earlier today. I've received reports from people who attended the taping and an email was definitely sent out last week announcing that Neil Peart and Bruce Cockburn would be appearing tonight. Perhaps they pre-record some interviews for a later airdate? I'm thoroughly confused here so if anyone has any insight, please let us know. The featured guest on tonight was Jay Baruchel.
The folks at RushCon announced the location and dates for this year's convention earlier today. RushCon X1 as it has been dubbed will take place the weekend of June 24-25th at the MGM Grand/Hooters Hotel in Las Vegas and coincide with the Rush concert on June 24th. From the RushCon website:
Ahhh 2011. Where has the time gone?
So, here at RushCon camp we've been doing a lot of thinking. Where to have this year's convention? What to do?
We have the Time Machine tour embarking in weeks, and we know we needed to make some decisions. As always, we want to give our attendees the best possible convention, filled with the best events. We have found, over the past years, that we usually get a great turnout when our event coincides with an actual Rush concert. It's the perfect way to celebrate this band that we love, with the fans that we cherish. Without a Toronto show this summer, combined with the incredible time we had in Las Vegas last year, we thought it would be best to keep the con around the same time as a concert.
So we are back in Vegas this summer. We will do 2 days of events: Friday, June 24th after the concert, and a full day of events Saturday June 25th.
What does this mean for you, dear Toronto? It means that in 2012, we will be coming back at you in a MAJOR way. RushCon will explode onto Toronto next summer.
But this year... here's looking at you, Vegas...
More details to come.
Foo Fighters discuss Rush influence on new single Rope
... So what does it sound like? In a word, Rush. The interplay between guitars, bass and drums could be an instrumental bit from A Farewell to Kings or bits of "La Villa Strangiato" from Hemispheres, complete with multi-park drum breaks and quick shifts in time signature. (YFI: Taylor Hawkins is a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEE Rush fan. Dave is, too.) ...
I owe Neil Peart a lot of money for the chorus of Rope. I'm splitting my royalties on that song with Neil Peart.
The video from this portion of the interview was just recently posted online to the MTV website. You can check it out below or at this link (thanks Power Windows):
You can listen to the Rope single at this link and watch the video here.
Benedictum's cover of Rush's 2112 now available for streaming
As I'd mentioned in a recent Friday Rush updates post, heavy metal band Benedictum's latest album Dominion contains a cover of Rush's 2112: Overture/The Temples of Syrinx as a bonus track on the international release. The album was released a few weeks ago via Frontiers Records and you can order a copy at this link. A full length clip of the cover was recently made available for streaming on YouTube and you can give it a listen below or at this link.
UPDATE - 3/19@4:00PM: The show will air Monday night at 11:05PM EST but will also be posted to the show's website and excerpts posted to their YouTube channel.
Alex Lifeson was featured at the Terry Fox Foundation website yesterday where he asked the Terry Fox Video Trivia question of the day: In 1980 we presented Terry with an album. Which album was that? He then gives the possible 3 answers as 2112, Permanent Waves or Power Windows. You can watch the video at this link:
If you aren't familiar with Terry Fox, here's some information from wikipedia:
Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox CC OD, (July 28, 1958 - June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name. ...
The Terry Fox Foundation organizes the Terry Fox Run every year. For more information and to donate, go to this link. Rush's Limelight was featured on the soundtrack of the 2005 TV movie Terry, which told the story of Terry's run. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.
As I'd mentioned yesterday, Rush began band rehearsals for the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour this past Wednesday in Toronto. They'll be rehearsing through next week before heading down to Florida for the tour kickoff on March 30th. We know that Alex and Geddy at least will remain in Toronto through next weekend since they are presenters at the 2011 Juno Awards ceremony at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday, March 27th. I've received several reports from fans saying that they have received their tickets that were ordered via the Music Today pre-sales. Music Today tickets typically mail out at least 2 weeks prior to the show date and that seems to be the way things are playing out so far. However, there are no reports of anyone having yet received their VIP ticket package. Those should start going out in the next few weeks but judging by the last tour it's really anybody's guess. If anyone receives any information regarding the VIP packages, please let us know. For anyone in the market for some discounted Time Machine Tour apparel, the Rush Backstage Club is having a closeout sale on a number of t-shirts along with a windbreaker for just $9.99. This probably means that we can expect some updated merchandise options on the 2011 leg of the tour. And while there's been no official word, from what I've been hearing there should be an updated version of the Time Machine Tourbook available on the upcoming 2011 leg.
Some more details regarding the CD+Blu-ray release of the Moving Pictures 5.1 surround sound remix came out earlier this week. Last week Amazon.com began listing just the Blu-ray version with a release date of May 3rd rather than April 5th. It was initially assumed that this was due to some delay related to the format. But on Wednesday we learned that it will still be released on April 5th but that Best Buy will be the exclusive retailer for the first 30 days. So you won't be able to purchase the Blu-ray version anywhere else until May 3rd.
Speaking of the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix, Tuesday night on his KLOS radio show DJ Jim Ladd announced that he had interviewed Neil Peart earlier in the day for close to 2 hours to discuss the release. The interview will air in 2 or 3 weeks on Ladd's KLOS radio show which airs Sunday through Thursday. More information as we learn it.
While on the subject of Alex Lifeson, back in January I'd mentioned that Lerxst had lent his studio and production expertise to the Toronto-based David Barrett Trio. Late last year after the Time Machine tour the Trio went into Alex's home studio and recorded three tunes: Hollowbody, Sonar, and Disappearance with Alex producing and Rich Chycki handling the engineering duties. Hollowbody was made available as an MP3 download via Amazon.com and iTunes earlier this week for just $0.99 and the other 2 tracks should also soon be available as well. Hollowbody is a rocking, 2½-minute instrumental track with a bunch of crazy guitar riffs that any Rush fan should really appreciate. You can listen to a short preview of the track at this link and here's a promotional video of the band playing a live version of the song in studio. There will be a concert and cd release party on Thursday, March 31st at 8PM (doors open at 7PM), at the Gibson Guitar Artist Showroom (1205 King West, Toronto, ON). They'll have a special EP available for sale which will have the three aforementioned tunes on it. They'll also be recording some more tunes after the 2011 leg of the Time Machine tour. David talks about the songs and his collaboration with Lifeson came about in this January post on his blog.
Speaking of Alex and his collaborations with other artists, back in 1985 Alex played guitar on Platinum Blonde's track Crying Over You from their album Alien Shores. Reader tignish located this hilarious old video interview with the band which includes a guest appearance from Alex being his goofy self. You can check it out at this link.
Eddie Trunk's debut book Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal releases in 2 weeks on Friday, April 1st. The book discusses Trunk's most essential hard rock and heavy metal artists and includes an entire chapter devoted to Rush. Eddie Trunk has been a radio and TV personality in the world of hard rock and heavy metal for more than twenty-five years. He is currently the host of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show and also has two weekly radio shows; Eddie Trunk Live on Sirius/XM radio's Boneyard channel, and the FM-syndicated Eddie Trunk Rocks. Trunk is a huge Rush fan and has been one of the loudest proponents for getting them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He interviewed Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson for VH1 Hangin' With back in 2005 and Neil Peart for the same program back in 2006. Geddy and Alex were also guests on the first season of That Metal Show back in 2009. You can pre-order a copy of the book at this link and check out a video preview here.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place earlier this week in New York City. As it usually does, the latest batch of inductees stirred up a bit of controversy, causing writers and bloggers across the web to create their own lists of artists that are not in the Rock Hall but should be. Included in most of these lists and often at the top is our favorite Canadian power trio, Rush. Rush gets a mention in this article from the Daily Aztec and in this Cleveland Plain Dealer article. Chesapeake, Virginia radio station 106.9 The Fox is running a contest to determine which artists most deserve to be inducted into the Rock Hall. Rush is in the running and you can vote for them at this link (thanks Rebecca B). And John Basso penned this article at Technorati.com earlier in the week discussing how both Rush and KISS are repeatedly snubbed by the Rock Hall.
Back in September of 1970 Rush performed for a mere $250 at Stayner Collegiate Institute in central Ontario. In this Simcoe.com article from yesterday, then student council president Jeff Parton recounts his experience of hiring the band and his memories of that show and another Rush show at the college in April, 1971:
... "Well I was voted in as student council president in May 1970. And we had a meeting, I believe in June, and my social convener was a Daiva Kryzanauskas. She was the pin to how it all happened. She'd moved up here a few years before. And at the meeting she mentioned she had a connection to Rush," Parton said. He can't remember exactly what the connection was. Possibly she knew the manager. At any rate, Parton said she was able to get the band to come to Stayner. "Nobody else in the area got them at that time," he said. "They rarely came north of the city. But we had the connection. So we paid $250 for them in September. We paid $600 for them in April because they were just getting more popular." Parton said that at the time Rush was well known but the group hadn't put out any albums. It was still an up and coming band. "But we all knew about them. They didn't have a lot of their own material but they had some. Their clone songs though were unbelievable," he said. That September afternoon when the band arrived in town, Parton said they had only a small number of "roadies" - mostly friends he suspects - and very little equipment. In the evening, when they walked out on the stage in the gymnasium, they were met by 350 screaming teenagers. "There was a lot of yelling. The place just went wild," he said, laughing at the memory. "They did predominantly covers. The Rolling Stones, some heavier stuff. I think they did some Grand Funk Railroad. I can't remember exactly what tunes because I was doing a bunch of running around, making sure the night was running smoothly." The band - Geddy Lee on lead vocals and bass, Alex Lifeson on guitar and John Rutsey on drums - played for about two hours. "I'm pretty sure it wrapped up around 10:30 or so," Parton said. "People just loved it." Asked if people knew back then the band was going places, Parton gives a mixed answer. "I think some people thought that," he said. "I don't know if I did - not knowing my music as well as some people. But you could definitely tell they had talent." Parton noted that when he met the band back stage they were all "extremely" nice. "The neat thing was I thought - because of the long hair - they were much older but they were my age," he said. Lee, Lifeson and Rutsey were all 17 at the time. ...
There's also a great rare promotional photo of the band included with the article. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.
Eric Wedum has a website called F*ck Yeah Headlines where each weekday he finds a headline on a major news site and illustrates it without reading a word of the story. Yesterday's headline was taken from the Wall Street Journal and read Rush to Fix Quake-Damaged Undersea Cables. You can check out his very funny Rush-related illustration at this link (thanks Craig).
Reader Professordrums let me know that Sammy Hagar was a guest on Howard Stern's radio show this past week to discuss his new book Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. They got on the subject of Michael Anthony and Sammy went on to say that Michael Anthony may be the best rock bassist/vocalist ever, second only to Geddy Lee. In chapter 11 (titled Father's Day) of Sammy's book he talks a bit about Rush and manager Ray Danniels. Ray was once married to Alex Van Halen's sister-in-law and Sammy partially blames Ray for Van Halen's breakup as outlined in this Guitars 101 forum post (thanks RushFanForever).
A woman wrote me recently to say that she and her husband had just watched the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage, which is about the Canadian rock trio Rush. In one scene on the DVD, lead singer Geddy Lee orders a wine called Jonata. The woman, a big Rush fan, couldn't find the wine here and wanted to know if it was worth buying direct from California and privately shipping it here. "It's quite pricey," she said. Yes, it is. How about $50 (U.S.) for the least expensive in the lineup - if you're lucky enough to score a bottle or two from the tiny quantities produced. Some of the wines cost $125. ...
Today we begin recording the bass guitar on the record! This record will be the first I have ever done as a three-piece [Bach on vocals, Nick Sterling on guitar and bass, and Bobby Jarzombek on drums]. Nick Sterling is a monster bass player and if anyone else played on the record, I would just say 'play it like Nick did,' so hey, why not let the man himself handle the low end?! Maybe the back cover will feature us three in kimonos ala RUSH '2112'. I can see it now, hahaha! Everything is sounding killer!
Enter Music Publishing are publishers of drum and percussion magazines worldwide including DRUM! Magazine Their annual Drummies readers poll has been gaining in popularity year after year and in 2010 had over 6500 ballots cast. Voting for this year's Drummies is now open and you can place your vote until May 1st at this link. Neil Peart has won Drummer of the Year multiple times including the lastfouryearsrunning along with many other awards. This year Enter Music Publishing will have its 20th anniversary and in celebration launched a Drummies Hall Of Fame where Neil Peart along with 10 other famous drummers who have won 5 or more total Drummie awards were inducted. Hall of Fame members are no longer eligible to win in the category for which they were inducted, so Neil Peart can no longer win in the Drummer of the Year category. He can still win in any of the other categories though, so go vote for Neil!
Reader The Clansman 2112 wanted me to let you all know that there is 1 spot open in his 4th annual rushisaband Fantasy Baseball League. It's free to join but only serious managers need apply! To join up go to this link and use the League ID 66957 with Password atmsite.
UPDATE - 3/23@11:15AM: Not that there was any doubt, but Eyeweekly confirms that it definitely was Geddy in line at the airport.
Rush began band rehearsals for the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour yesterday in Toronto. It looks like Neil Peart drum tech Lorne Wheaton arrived in YYZ on Monday and will remain there until next weekend according to a post on his MySpace page. Neil Peart himself followed shortly thereafter; Pratt was spotted by a lucky fan at LAX on Wednesday en route to Toronto to join his bandmates. And Drivenover at Counterparts spotted what looks to be Geddy Lee pictured in a photo (click on thumbnail above left) accompanying this Toronto Star article. The article talks about high volume issues that the Toronto Airport was experiencing on Wednesday. Assuming it is Geddy in the picture (looks like he's with his wife Nancy too), perhaps he was off taking a little R&R somewhere before rehearsals. Hopefully this didn't cause him to be late! Then there were a few postings from members of the road crew yesterday indicating that rehearsals have begun; Lorne Wheaton posted a simple Starting in YYZ message to his MySpace page yesterday afternoon, and Tony Gerianos (aka Jack Secret) posted Rehearsals about to start to his Facebook page early yesterday evening. So it sounds as if the boys will be rehearsing through next week before heading down to Florida for the tour kickoff on March 30th. Considering that the show and setlist will remain identical to the 2010 tour, I guess a week and a half of rehearsals is more than enough. We know that Alex and Geddy at least will remain in Toronto through next weekend since they are presenters at the 2011 Juno Awards ceremony at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday, March 27th. I hope everyone is enjoying my green St. Patty's day theme. The Rush Starman shamrock image I'm using is courtesy Eric at the Power Windows site. Eric is much better at that kind of thing than me. :) Only 13 days until the tour!!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Moving Pictures 5.1 surround sound remix Blu-ray release update
UPDATE - 3/23@9:45PM: Rush.com just sent out a newsletter which confirms the Best Buy exclusive offer:
... Please note: For US fans: The CD+BLURAY edition will be available in the US exclusively at Best Buy for the first 4 weeks and the CD + DVD version will be available to all retailers in the US starting April 5th!...
Delay Update: It has been learned that the Moving Pictures - Deluxe Edition is still slated for an April 5th release. However, although nothing has yet been officially announced, it is rumored that while the CD/DVD edition will be available both in retail stores and via online retailers on April 5th, Best Buy will be the exclusive retailer for 30 days of the CD/Blu-Ray edition, i.e. it cannot be purchased elsewhere until May 3rd. It is unknown if the Best Buy edition will any additional content, stay tuned...
... Both DVD & Blu-ray formats will boast the 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio in 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audiophile playback which offers 256 times more resolution than CD audio, providing the listener with the closest experience you can have to what the artists hear in the studio. The DVD is playable on both DVD-Audio and DVD-Video players, the latter players will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo playback. Blu-ray discs will also feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in addition to 96kHz/24-bit PCM 5.1 surround sound and stereo. ... Also included in the package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme.
You can read all the details from Rush.com at this link and pre-order your copy of the remix at Amazon (CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray).
Eddie Trunk's debut book Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal releases in 2 weeks on Friday, April 1st. The book discusses Trunk's most essential hard rock and heavy metal artists and includes an entire chapter devoted to Rush. Eddie Trunk has been a radio and TV personality in the world of hard rock and heavy metal for more than twenty-five years. He is currently the host of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show and also has two weekly radio shows; Eddie Trunk Live on Sirius/XM radio's Boneyard channel, and the FM-syndicated Eddie Trunk Rocks. Trunk is a huge Rush fan and has been one of the loudest proponents for getting them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He interviewed Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson for VH1 Hangin' With back in 2005 and Neil Peart for the same program back in 2006. Geddy and Alex were also guests on the first season of That Metal Show back in 2009. You can pre-order a copy of the book at this link and check out a video preview here. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Lifeson-produced David Barrett Trio track Hollowbody now available
Back in January I'd mentioned that Alex Lifeson had lent his studio and production expertise to the Toronto-based David Barrett Trio. Late last year after the Time Machine tour the Trio went into Alex's home studio and recorded three tunes: Hollowbody, Sonar, and Disappearance with Alex producing and Rich Chycki handling the engineering duties. Hollowbody is now available as an MP3 download via Amazon.com and iTunes for just $0.99 and the other 2 tracks should also soon be available as well. Hollowbody is a rocking, 2½-minute instrumental track with a bunch of crazy guitar riffs that any Rush fan should really appreciate. You can listen to a short preview of the track at this link. There will be a concert and cd release party on Thursday, March 31st at 8PM (doors open at 7PM), at the Gibson Guitar Artist Showroom (1205 King West, Toronto, ON). They'll have a special EP available for sale which will have the three aforementioned tunes on it. They'll also be recording some more tunes after the 2011 leg of the Time Machine tour. From a January post on David Barrett's blog:
Exactly a year ago, I played my new solo album The Dead Arm for guitar hero and mentor Alex Lifeson. He liked it and mentioned that maybe we should consider doing something together in the future. I agreed. He advised me to write a ton of music which we would then later sift through and pick the best tunes to develop. His other advice was to include some other musicians to further develop the songs. I asked Sascha Tukatsch to play drums and Jason Farrar to play bass. We arranged the music and worked really hard on it. Their contributions and enthusiasm have been truly outstanding! After the Rush Time Machine tour ended and Big Al was rested, we went into his studio and recorded three tunes: Hollowbody, Sonar, and Disappearance. Rich Chycki engineered. Rich produced my first solo album back in 1995, everything I've learned about recording I've learned from Rich, I don't think there's anyone better. And Big Al's approach to arranging, performance, and production was truly illuminating. We also had a lot of laughs in the studio, more than I can remember on any sessions I've ever done. We've finished these three and will release them soon, once we figure out the details. I just wanted to let everyone know that we've got some new music ready to be released and that we're very excited about the whole thing!
Monday, March 14, 2011
New Alex Lifeson video interview with Musician's Friend
UPDATE - 3/22@4:29PM:Musician's Friend just launched a really cool mini-site of their own highlighting the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess. It features their Alex Lifeson video interview along with detailed specs, high-res photos, Alex's gear list and more. You can check it out at this link.
UPDATE - 3/18@8:00PM: The interview is up on YouTube too (thanks RushFanForever):
----- snip -----
Alex Lifeson graces the cover of the April, 2011 issue of the Musician's Friend catalog to promote his new Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess. They've also uploaded a 5-minute video interview to their website where Alex talks about the guitar. You can check out the interview at this link (thanks Power Windows).
Rush's Time Machine Tour kicks off in less than 3 weeks on March 30th in Florida and Rush are busily rehearsing as we speak. In my last update I had assumed that they had already gotten together for group rehearsals, but that doesn't necessarily seem to be the case. Neil Peart drum tech Lorne Wheaton posted the following short message to his MySpace page Wednesday (thanks audiblesignals): 3 more days then off to YYZ. So it looks like the guys are probably still rehearsing individually (at least Neil is) this week but will get together next week in Toronto for band rehearsals. Lorne also posted this photo of Neil rehearsing in SoCal over the weekend (thanks Gornhay). I've been getting several questions regarding when people can expect to start receiving tickets that were ordered via the Music Today pre-sales. Music Today indicates upon purchase that all tickets are mailed out no later than 2 weeks prior to the show and they generally stick to this promise, so tickets should begin going out for the earlier shows this upcoming week. Indeed, I've already heard from a few folks who recently received notice that their tickets are being shipped. There have also been several questions regarding the VIP ticket packages and when those would get sent out. Those should start going out in the next few weeks but judging by the last tour it's really anybody's guess. If anyone has received their tickets or their VIP package already, please let us know.
A new Alex Lifeson interview with the UK's Express & Star was posted earlier this week. Alex touched on all the usual subjects including the upcoming tour and album. He also recalled the first time Rush ever played the UK and discussed the huge impact that all the great British bands of the 60s had on himself and Rush, particularly The Who and Pete Townsend. He didn't reveal much in the way of new information regarding the tour and upcoming Clockwork Angels album, but when asked if the experience of taking a couple of their new songs out on the road for this past tour changed how the album will turn out, Alex had the following to say:
... I think once we get into recording we'll see. I mean we record every concert and we reference those recording every week or every second week, just to see where we're going, to see where we're maybe slowing down or speeding up, those sort of things. It's a very analytical listen. But I have to say that those two songs sound really good and they sound a little more vibrant, that's to be expected I think. I wish we could do that with the whole record, write the whole record and then just go out and play it for a month or two and then record it. But it's just impossible to find the time to do something like that. But I think it would be a great benefit in how the songs develop. ...
Mojo Magazine has a short, one-page Rush article in the March, 2011 issue of the magazine for their Mojo Working feature. It's titled The High Priests of Conceptual Metal Go Steampunk for LP 19! and focuses on the band's upcoming Clockwork Angels album. It features a couple of interesting interview snippets with Geddy Lee including this one:
"Rush fans want those 20-minute songs, and a couple of tracks are pretty promising in terms of their scope - they're quite long and complex. We haven't hit 20 minutes yet, but it'll be interesting to see where it ends up."
Geddy also describes the Steampunk theme of the album:
"It's a utopian vision of the future yet trapped in a Victorian past. We were inspired by the visual aesthetic, and this concept lent itself to creating a story. So," he laughs, "I guess you could say it's a concept album!"
I told them, 'Give me Rush from back in the day.' Killer riffs, solos, pounding drums and Geddy singing up high the way he should - that, to me, is the sound of Rush.
The article also mentions some information that we already knew. Namely the fact that they plan to finish up writing for the album before the 2011 tour but won't get into the studio until the Fall, giving the album a likely release date of early 2012. You can check out a scan of the article here or by clicking on the thumbnail above.
Bryan Adams, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Daniel Lanois, Robbie Robertson, and Rush's Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are among the first group of presenters announced for the March 27 Juno Awards to be broadcast from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. They will be joined by Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley, deadmau5, K'Naan, Shad, Tokyo Police Club, Barenaked Ladies (the hosts of CTV's first Juno broadcast in 2002) and the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages, the Honorourable James Moore. Juno organizers have also announced the awards will air in a special two-and-a-half-hour broadcast for the first time in honour of the show's 40th anniversary.
... Both DVD & Blu-ray formats will boast the 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio in 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audiophile playback which offers 256 times more resolution than CD audio, providing the listener with the closest experience you can have to what the artists hear in the studio. The DVD is playable on both DVD-Audio and DVD-Video players, the latter players will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo playback. Blu-ray discs will also feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in addition to 96kHz/24-bit PCM 5.1 surround sound and stereo. ... Also included in the package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme.
You can read all the details from Rush.com at this link and pre-order your copy of the remix at Amazon (CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray).
Enter Music Publishing are publishers of drum and percussion magazines worldwide including DRUM! Magazine Their annual Drummies readers poll has been gaining in popularity year after year and in 2010 had over 6500 ballots cast. Voting for this year's Drummies is now open and you can place your vote until May 1st at this link. Neil Peart has won Drummer of the Year multiple times including the lastfouryearsrunning along with many other awards. This year Enter Music Publishing will have its 20th anniversary and in celebration launched a Drummies Hall Of Fame where Neil Peart along with 10 other famous drummers who have won 5 or more total Drummie awards were inducted. Hall of Fame members are no longer eligible to win in the category for which they were inducted, so Neil Peart can no longer win in the Drummer of the Year category. He can still win in any of the other categories though, so go vote for Neil!
Speaking of voting, there are a few other polls going on where Rush is in the running. The Herd with Colin Cowherd is one of the most listened to sports talk radio shows in the US. It's hosted by Colin Cowherd and broadcast on ESPN Radio weekdays from 10AM to 1PM EST. In celebration of March Madness they kicked off round 1 of their Herd Rock Band Bracket contest earlier this week to determine the greatest rock band of all time. Rush was the #5 seed in the Cleveland bracket and ended up handily defeatingStyx to make it to round 2 which kicked off this morning. This next match is a bit tougher as they are up against heavy metal juggernaut Metallica and are losing so far. So go vote for Rush! Goldmine Magazine is running a poll on their home page (scroll down and it'll be on the right side) where they ask the question If the only available music was 1970s prog and you ONLY could pick one band's catalog (and had to listen to every album at least once) what would you choose? Rush is one of the options and thanks to RIAB readers is currently in the lead. To help keep them on top, go vote for Rush! Milwaukee Brewers closing pitcher John Axford posted a poll on his Facebook page a couple weeks ago to let fans choose his entrance music for 2011. Rush's Working Man was one of the selections and has made it to round 2 of the voting. So go vote for Rush!.
A new book from Russ DiBella was released earlier this month titled From the Inside. It's about the author's life of looking inside the world of live music, going backstage and collecting drumsticks over the past few decades. Rush is heavily covered in the book including detailed stories from the three most recent Rush tours. The author recounts a chance meeting with Alex, Geddy and Neil and also the experience of catching a soundcheck during the Snakes & Arrows tour. You can purchase a copy of the book at this link. Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up.
... So what does it sound like? In a word, Rush. The interplay between guitars, bass and drums could be an instrumental bit from A Farewell to Kings or bits of "La Villa Strangiato" from Hemispheres, complete with multi-park drum breaks and quick shifts in time signature. (YFI: Taylor Hawkins is a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEE Rush fan. Dave is, too.) ...
Indeed they are. In an MTV interview yesterday Neil Peart's name came up a couple of times. The complete interview is not currently posted online but reader Kevin was able to watch it and gave me a brief report. Taylor Hawkins joked about the drum pattern in the chorus of the song saying that he would be splitting royalties with Neil because it has Neil's signature sound all over it. Taylor then went on to explain what a big influence Neil has been on him through the years.
Longtime riab reader and blogger Jaybird recently conducted an interview with yours truly for his blog Jaybird's Jottings. Jay asks me about how I got into Rush, how rushisaband.com came about, my thoughts on Rush and the Rock Hall, and many other subjects. You can check out the interview at this link.
... Prog still had its holdouts, though, including Canada's Rush, whose A Farewell To Kings is one of the band's (and the genre's) best, and even yielded a fluke hit single, "Closer To The Heart."...
A couple of months ago I let you know that heavy metal band Benedictum's new album Dominion contains a cover of Rush's 2112: Overture/The Temples of Syrinx as a bonus track on the international release. The album was just released earlier this week and you can order a copy at this link. There's a short preview of the track at this link.
Reader rosmakloma let me know about yet another 2112 reference in a computer game. It's a new universal game app for iPods, iPhones, iPads from game designer Jeff Minter called Minotron: 2112. It's based on the classic 1982 Williams arcade game Robotron: 2084. This makes me wonder what year will game designers from the post-2112 world reference in their games? :)
Neil Peart is the greatest drummer of all time and Rush are the greatest band of all time and if you do not agree, I will fight you in a Canadian mall parking lot, and I will win and then I will make you pay for me to have my mullet permed.
Ok. :)
Reader anologkid9 let me know about a very cool contest sponsored by Ontario radio station CanadasRock 95.1-100.7 where they are giving away a 5-day trip for 2 to Montreal to see Rush's April 20th show at the Bell Centre as the grand prize. There are also 10 secondary prizes for a pair of tickets to Rush's April 17th show in Detroit. For more information and to enter just go to this link.
Bryan Adams, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Daniel Lanois, Robbie Robertson, and Rush's Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are among the first group of presenters announced for the March 27 Juno Awards to be broadcast from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. ...
... Helping to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the JUNO Awards are iconic Canadian musicians Bryan Adams, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Daniel Lanois, Robbie Robertson, and Rush's Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee. They will be joined by Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley, deadmau5, the Honourable James Moore, K'Naan, Shad, Tokyo Police Club and the hosts of CTV's first JUNO broadcast in 2002, Barenaked Ladies. ...
A new Alex Lifeson interview with the UK's Express & Star was posted earlier today. Alex touches on all the usual subjects including the upcoming tour and album. He also recalls the first time Rush ever played the UK and discusses the huge impact that all the great British bands of the 60s had on himself and Rush:
... "The first time was, I guess in '76, when we were a relatively unknown band. I remember how exciting it was to come to the root of where our hearts lay in terms of music. There was The Who, for sure, and earlier on The Stones. For me it was always more The Stones than, say, The Beatles.
"But there were all those other great bands from the 60s. The Searchers were amazing, The Zombies were incredible. And then over the years came Cream, The Who, Zeppelin of course, Jeff Beck and then Yes - it just goes on and on and on.
"That really was where our musical tastes were centred. And I think that was more a Canadian thing as well. I think generally Canadians lean more towards the UK than they did to America. We had the benefit of absorbing from both sides.
"Pete Townsend for me was a huge influence. Because essentially they were a three-piece band and the way he structured his chords and took up a lot of space musically in the songs was really important to the way Rush developed. Geddy and Neil both were such active players and lot of the time we were all playing like crazy and it was too much and somebody had to reel it in and me being the faceless guy, I would do that," he laughs. ...
He didn't reveal much in the way of new information regarding the tour and upcoming Clockwork Angels album, but when asked if the experience of taking a couple of their new songs out on the road for this past tour changed how the album will turn out, Alex had the following to say:
... "Well, we'll see . . . I think once we get into recording we'll see. I mean we record every concert and we reference those recording every week or every second week, just to see where we're going, to see where we're maybe slowing down or speeding up, those sort of things. It's a very analytical listen.
"But I have to say that those two songs sound really good and they sound a little more vibrant, that's to be expected I think. I wish we could do that with the whole record, write the whole record and then just go out and play it for a month or two and then record it. But it's just impossible to find the time to do something like that. But I think it would be a great benefit in how the songs develop." ...
You can read the entire interview at this link. Thanks to BW&BK for the heads up.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Vote for Rush in ESPN Radio's Herd Rock Band Bracket
UPDATE - 3/11@10:11AM: Rush has handily defeated Styx and made it to round 2 which kicked off this morning. This next match is a bit tougher as they are up against heavy metal juggernaut Metallica. So go vote for Rush! They are now comfortably in the lead in the Goldmine poll. Keep voting!
UPDATE - 3/8@10:56AM: Reader Kelly M let me know of another poll going on where we can vote for Rush. Goldmine Magazine is running a poll on their home page (scroll down and it'll be on the right side). The poll asks the question If the only available music was 1970s prog and you ONLY could pick one band's catalog (and had to listen to every album at least once) what would you choose? Rush is one of the options and currently is losing with 5% of the vote. So go vote for Rush!
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is one of the most listened to sports talk radio shows in the US. It's hosted by Colin Cowherd and broadcast on ESPN Radio weekdays from 10AM to 1PM EST. Last month the show announced that in celebration of March Madness they'd be running a NCAA bracket-like contest in March to determine the greatest rock band of all time. Through feedback from listeners, Colin Cowherd and The Herd team have chosen the top 64 rock bands and put them in brackets for folks to vote on. They just revealed the brackets this morning and Rush is the #5 seed in the Cleveland bracket. They are currently up against Styx and winning handily. So go vote for Rush! Thanks to Bill M and kevin for the heads up.
Moving Pictures 5.1 surround sound remix Blu-ray release delayed
... Both DVD & Blu-ray formats will boast the 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio in 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audiophile playback which offers 256 times more resolution than CD audio, providing the listener with the closest experience you can have to what the artists hear in the studio. The DVD is playable on both DVD-Audio and DVD-Video players, the latter players will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo playback. Blu-ray discs will also feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in addition to 96kHz/24-bit PCM 5.1 surround sound and stereo. ... Also included in the package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme.
You can read all the details from Rush.com at this link and pre-order your copy of the remix at Amazon (CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray).
Mojo Magazine has a short, one-page Rush article in the March, 2011 issue of the magazine for their Mojo Working feature. It's titled The High Priests of Conceptual Metal Go Steampunk for LP 19! and focuses on the band's upcoming Clockwork Angels album. It features a couple of interesting interview snippets with Geddy Lee including this one:
"Rush fans want those 20-minute songs, and a couple of tracks are pretty promising in terms of their scope - they're quite long and complex. We haven't hit 20 minutes yet, but it'll be interesting to see where it ends up."
Geddy also describes the Steampunk theme of the album:
"It's a utopian vision of the future yet trapped in a Victorian past. We were inspired by the visual aesthetic, and this concept lent itself to creating a story. So," he laughs, "I guess you could say it's a concept album!"
I told them, 'Give me Rush from back in the day.' Killer riffs, solos, pounding drums and Geddy singing up high the way he should - that, to me, is the sound of Rush.
The article also mentions some information that we already knew. Namely the fact that they plan to finish up writing for the album before the 2011 tour but won't get into the studio until the Fall, giving the album a likely release date of early 2012. You can check out a scan of the article here or by clicking on the thumbnail above. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up and the scan.
Rehearsal preparations are currently underway for the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour which kicks off on March 30th in Florida. Neil Peart drum tech Lorne Wheaton posted that he was in drum rehearsals in SoCalto his MySpace page on Saturday, and Sabian posted this grainy photo of Neil behind his kit to their Facebook page on Tuesday with the caption Guess who's rehearsing to hit the road!? (thanks rosmakloma). So it looks like this week the guys are all separately rehearsing to rehearse and that the whole band will be getting together next week in some undisclosed location to begin full rehearsals. They'll need to be in top form come April 15th when they will be recording their Cleveland show at Quicken Loans Arena for a live DVD. Not surprisingly, Rush sound engineer Richard Chycki looks like he'll be involved with this in some capacity as demonstrated by this post on his Twitter feed from over the weekend:
Planning in the works for Cleveland recording of #Rush for a live DVD of the upcoming continuation of the #TimeMachine tour. Off we go! 27 Feb
... Both DVD & Blu-ray formats will boast the 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio in 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audiophile playback which offers 256 times more resolution than CD audio, providing the listener with the closest experience you can have to what the artists hear in the studio. The DVD is playable on both DVD-Audio and DVD-Video players, the latter players will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo playback. Blu-ray discs will also feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in addition to 96kHz/24-bit PCM 5.1 surround sound and stereo. ... Also included in the package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme.
You can read all the details from Rush.com at this link and pre-order your copy of the remix at Amazon (CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray)
Soundtrack for Richard Gere movie 'Double' done and in the can, including the groovy out credit piece. Well, our part any way ... 25 Feb via web
The film is written and directed by Michael Brandt and centers around a retired CIA operative who is paired with a young FBI agent to unravel the mystery of a senator's murder. It's due out later this year but no specific release date has been given yet.
During Apple's public unveiling of the iPad 2 Wednesday, Apple's Director of Music Marketing - Xander Soren - briefly but unmistakably played the cymbal pattern intro to Rush's YYZ while introducing GarageBand for the iPad. You can watch the video of the event at this link. The YYZ part occurs around the 53:30 mark. GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iPad that allows users to create music or podcasts as a part of Apples's iLife software package.
Sabianhas made available a Limited Edition Paragon cymbal pack with a splash autographed by Neil Peart. It comes with an 8" and two 10" splashes (one autographed by Neil Peart), two 16" crashes, 18" crash, 20" crash, 22" ride, 19" and 20" Chinese, 20" Diamondback Chinese, and 13" and 14" hi-hat sets, each featuring a brilliant finish. The cymbal pack is shipped in a free flight case featuring custom Time Machine tour artwork and a portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that transforms children's lives by restoring and revitalizing music education in our public schools. The Paragon series was designed in collaboration with Neil Peart and blends 2 styles of lathing for a very balanced cymbal tone. Pinpoint lathing creates a narrower groove for a fast, lively response on the top, while the traditional AA lathing creates a wider groove for a fuller, richer tone on the bottom side. The pack can be purchased through Musician's Friend for $3,199.99 at this link. You can read a recent interview in The Daily Gleaner with Wendy Cosman - the designer of Neil Peart's Time Machine tour cymbals - at this link, and read Neil Peart's story of the creation of these cymbals at the Sabian website here.
Back in January I'd mentioned that Alex Lifeson had lent his studio and production expertise to the David Barrett Trio. Late last year after the Time Machine tour the Trio went into Alex's home studio and recorded three tunes: Hollowbody, Sonar, and Disappearance with Alex producing and Rich Chycki handling the engineering duties. David wanted me to let everyone know that there will be a concert and cd release party on Thursday, March 31st at 8PM (doors open at 7PM), at the Gibson Guitar Artist Showroom (1205 King West, Toronto, ON). They'll have a special EP available for sale which will have the three aforementioned tunes on it. They'll be recording some more tunes after the 2011 leg of the Time Machine tour, and they'll be releasing the 3 Lerxst-produced tunes as singles one at a time on iTunes starting later this month with Hollowbody.
Well, we did a lot of touring with Rush in the old days; a tour with Rush would be great, because they are such wonderful people. I didn't really know them that well before we toured with them, but getting to know the guys from Rush, they are just wonderful, wonderful people. We also toured with Bryan Adams; that was pretty cool, too, because he's got a zillion hits, and that was a lot of fun, too; a great tour.
Mr. Big opened for Rush on both the Presto and Roll The Bones tours.
We learned earlier this week that Vancouver-based heavy metal band 3 Inches of Blood have recorded a cover version of Rush's Anthem for their as-yet-unnamed forthcoming album. Guitarist Shane Clark spoke about Rush and their upcoming album in a RockStarWeekly.com interview which you can check out at this link. Canadian thrash metal band Sacrifice also recorded a cover of Anthem on the Canadian release of their 2009 album The Ones I Condemn. The track was included on a recent limited release 7" vinyl split with Canadian thrash punk band Propagandhi who covers Corrosion of Conformity's Technocracy on the flip side. The first pressing of the 7" vinyl had sold out quickly but due to overwhelming demand, War On Music Records announced a second and final pressing last month and copies are still available. You can listen to the Sacrifice cover on YouTube at this link.
... Kretz says it's hard not to pick one of three obvious choices as the best of all time, especially Neil Peart of Rush; but also John Bonham of Led Zeppelin; and Bill Bruford of Yes, King Crimson and Genesis. "Neil -- he's so great and precise. What is he, 60? He's still doing a huge drum solo toward the end of (a Rush) set, after two hours. ...
Not quite 60 yet, but close!
Eric at Power Windows let me know about a recent commercial for the Czech automaker Skoda Auto featuring a street drummer and advertising the fact that their Skoda Fabia car is offered in 2112 color combinations. You can watch the commercial at this link.
You carry a small flashlight everywhere, and use it at least three times a day.
I don't get it.
Brazilian reader and English teacher Marco André Rodrigues has created a website which aims to translate all of Rush's lyrics into Brazilian Portuguese. You can check out his site at this link. And reader Rob F has created a new rush site at RushVault.com which aims to organize in a systematic way as much information as possible for each and every Rush song. You can check it out at this link.
Reader The Clansman 2112 wanted me to let you all know that there are 7 spots open in his 4th annual rushisaband Fantasy Baseball League. It's free to join but only serious managers need apply! To join up go to this link and use the League ID 66957 with Password atmsite.
To get us geared up for the upcoming tour, here's a nice quality live bootleg video of Rush performing The Camera Eye in San Antonio, TX last September 23rd (thanks ted1001001):
That's all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Limited Edition Sabian Paragon Cymbal Pack signed by Neil Peart
Sabian has made available a Limited Edition Paragon cymbal pack with a splash autographed by Neil Peart. It comes with an 8" and two 10" splashes (one autographed by Neil Peart), two 16" crashes, 18" crash, 20" crash, 22" ride, 19" and 20" Chinese, 20" Diamondback Chinese, and 13" and 14" hi-hat sets, each featuring a brilliant finish. The cymbal pack is shipped in a free flight case featuring custom Time Machine tour artwork and a portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that transforms children's lives by restoring and revitalizing music education in our public schools. The Paragon series was designed in collaboration with Neil Peart and blends 2 styles of lathing for a very balanced cymbal tone. Pinpoint lathing creates a narrower groove for a fast, lively response on the top, while the traditional AA lathing creates a wider groove for a fuller, richer tone on the bottom side. The pack can be purchased through Musician's Friend for $3,199.99 at this link. You can read a recent interview in The Daily Gleaner with Wendy Cosman - the designer of Neil Peart's Time Machine tour cymbals - at this link, and read Neil Peart's story of the creation of these cymbals at the Sabian website here.
Rush's YYZ played at unveiling of Apple's iPad 2 yesterday
During Apple's public unveiling of the iPad 2 yesterday, Apple's Director of Music Marketing - Xander Soren - briefly but unmistakably played the cymbal pattern intro to Rush's YYZ while introducing GarageBand for the iPad. You can watch the video of the event at this link. The YYZ part occurs around the 53:30 mark. GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iPad that allows users to create music or podcasts as a part of Apples's iLife software package. Thanks to A Digital Fan in Silicon Valley for the heads up.
Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan talks Rush in recent interview
Well, we did a lot of touring with Rush in the old days; a tour with Rush would be great, because they are such wonderful people. I didn't really know them that well before we toured with them, but getting to know the guys from Rush, they are just wonderful, wonderful people. We also toured with Bryan Adams; that was pretty cool, too, because he's got a zillion hits, and that was a lot of fun, too; a great tour.
Mr. Big opened for Rush on both the Presto and Roll The Bones tours. Thanks to chutch15 for the heads up.
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 30th @ 7:30PM
[
UPDATE - 3/28@7:27PM: More 
The 2011 Time Machine Tour kicks off in 2 days and the Rush Backstage Club is ready with all the new 
... And another. 
On Monday 
Drumming legend and former 
Last week Eric over at 
UPDATE - 3/27@11:13AM: The 
Bass player extraordinaire 
Speaking of voting, there are a few other polls going on where Rush is in the running. 
UPDATE - 3/11@10:11AM: Rush has handily defeated Styx and made it to round 2 which kicked off this morning. This next match is a bit tougher as they are up against heavy metal juggernaut 
During Apple's public unveiling of the 
During Apple's public unveiling of the 
Bass player extraordinaire 
