Rush's Clockwork Angels Tour CD/DVD/Blu-ray was released back on November 19th, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Video charts, with the CD debuting at #33 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. The film had a one-night theatrical premiere across North America the night before its release, and a TV premiere on VH1 Classic and Palladia back on December 1st. When it was initially released, the CD was made available via iTunes, but not the concert video. We finally learned earlier this week that the film version is now also available for purchase on iTunes Movies for $15.99 at this location. It's not clear exactly when it was made available, but reader e2 purchased it on January 3rd, so it's been available at least since then. You can see the official trailer for the film here and order your copy at this location (DVD, Blu-ray, CD). Speaking of Clockwork Angels Tour, voting is currently underway in the 2014 Music Express Awards and Rush has been nominated in the following categories: Top Group, Top Compilation Album (Clockwork Angels Tour) and Top Live Performance. Voting will close tomorrow so go vote for Rush if you havent' already.
Sexy Intellectual Studios - who is known for making unofficial music documentaries - will be releasing a new Rush documentary titled Rush: The Rise Of Kings (1968-1981) on Tuesday, May 6th. Not much is known about the contents of the film except for the cover and that it has a listed running time of 123 minutes. From the Amazon editorial review:
...This film traces the history of Rush from the bar rooms of Toronto in the late 1960s to the world's largest arenas in the late 70s and early 1980s, by which time they were amongst the biggest bands on the planet. Through a stunning combination of rare and classic footage, the testimony of friends, colleagues and those who worked with the group across the years, plus exclusive and archive interviews and a host of other features, this programme makes the very unique history of Rush come alive in a manner previously undocumented.
You can pre-order you copy of the documentary at this location.
The dates and locations of 2 major Rush fan conventions/gatherings - RushCon and Rush RatCon - were announced earlier this week. The 14th RushCon will take place in Toronto the weekend of August 22-24, and the 6th annual RatCon will be held on July 11-12 at the newly dubbed Club Carnie in Marlboro, NJ. For all the RushCon details visit RushCon.org, and to keep up on all the latest RushCon news follow them on Facebook and Twitter. For RatCon, visit the Facebook page for details and updates. From personal experience, both events are a blast and a great way to connect with fellow Rush fans.
Paul Lamere's Music Machinery blog has been getting a lot of press over the past week due to a blog post and infographic posted earlier this week which explores US regional listening preferences using data from a variety of online streaming services. The infographic included with the blog post shows a map of the US with the most distinctive Top-50 artist for each state labeled. With a few exceptions, most of the states have fairly obscure artists listed, but Delaware's artist is Rush.
One of the contestants on FOX's American Idol - Caleb Johnson - indicated that Rush was his favorite band during his Five Things you Don't Know About Me segment on this past week's episode (thanks John at Cygnus-X1.net).
In a Facebook post earlier this week, former Styx singer/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung humorously addressed allegations that have been made by some over the years claiming that Styx's 1983 concept album Kilroy Was Here was a rip off of Rush's 1976 classic 2112. He claims the similarities are coincidental and then spends about 5 paragraphs on a tongue-in-cheek comparison between the stories told on the 2 albums.
... 2112 has the Red Star of the Solar Federation and the temple of the Syrinx. Neil's thinking big thinks here while Kilroy only has little old Dr Righteous and the Majority for Musical Morality. Wimpy by comparison. Hell Rush had the whole damn galaxy no wonder they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ...
Speaking of 2112, a recent Yahoo! News article discussing the tax revenues from legal sales of marijuana in Colorado contains a Rush 2112 reference in the accompanying photo. The photo in question depicts a pot store employee informing a first time customer about the different strains of marijuana they have available. In the background is a whiteboard indicating the prices of the different strains along with a tax rate of 21.12% jokingly listed (that's not the actual tax rate). You can check out the photo in the article online here (thanks Robert R). And VH1 posted their list of The 20 Longest Songs In Classic Rock History last week and 2112 made the cut:
Rush "2112", Time: 20:33 - This career-making single album-side track is a seven-part suite with lyrics written by drummer Neil Peart telling a dystopian saga set in a future with no music.
Back in the summer of 2012 we first learned that Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo was financing a documentary on legendary bass player Jaco Pastorius, and that Geddy Lee would be appearing in the film. It is being directed by Stephen Kijak and is currently still in post production. The movie's official website posted a few still photos from the film including this one of Geddy Lee. For all the latest news on the documentary's development visit the official website or follow them on Facebook.
Earlier this month Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich sat down with Guitar Center for a video interview and tells a story of how Neil Peart helped turn him on to Tama Drums back in 1984. Neil Peart was one of Tama's primary endorsers at the time, and mutual friend Cliff Burnstein helped set up a phone call between the two where Neil helped convince him. You can watch the entire interview on YouTube here; the part where he discusses Neil comes in at about the 2:12 mark.
Fender Stratocaster has been running a magazine ad listing memorable songs known to have been played on a strat, and one of the songs featured is Rush's Limelight. You can check out the ad here.
In honor of the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, this past Friday CBC Music's Graphic of the Day depicted an image of some Rushian Dolls; Geddy, Alex and Neil drawn as Russian Matryoshka dolls. You can check it out online here.
Mike Adams at TownHall.com posted an article/essay on Ayn Rand, Neil Peart and Rush's The Trees earlier this week. You can check it out online here.
The SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation is a collection of fictional works that its members contribute that deal with the paranormal. It's all fake information, but generally entertaining to read, well-written, and even somewaht believable, despite the strangeness factor. Each entry is given a number/classification in the form SCP-XXXX and reader Cary VP noticed the entry for SCP-2112 describes it as a memetic phenomenon associated with Rush's Caress of Steel album. You can check it out (if you dare) at this location. :)
Rush is featured in a Guardian Liberty Voice article from earlier this week on musical groups with longevity. You can check it out online here.
Tomorrow is the first day of March - the month that will mark the 40th anniversary of the Moon Records release of Rush's debut album. The album was re-released on Mercury Records the following summer. In celebration of the anniversary, Craig Breaden at Progarchy.com wrote a retrospective review of the album which you can check out here. And Dave Banks at GeekDad takes a look back at the album in this post from earlier today. Rush will be releasing a re-issue of the album at some point this year in celebration of the anniversary, although there is still very little information known about the contents. Here's the 1974 Bandstand video of Rush with John Rutsey performing Working Man live:
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!
