Geddy Lee wrapped up his My Effin' Life spoken word book tour this past week with a pair of memorable shows in Portsmouth and London with his BFF and band-mate Alex Lifeson. Alex surprised everyone when he took the stage at Portsmouth's Guildhall, signing his name as My Effin' Lifeson on the big screen when introduced, just as he had in Toronto. Alex then showed up again for Ged's final show in London during the second portion of that show. Ged's UK tour consisted of 5 stops beginning 2 weeks ago in Wolverhampton with Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers. He then hit Sheffield with Melissa Auf der Maur and Glasgow with comedian Phill Jupitus last week before finishing up in Portsmouth and London earlier this week. Music journalist Philip Wilding also helped out with the Q&A portions of all 5 UK dates. The tour began over a month ago back on November 13th at the Beacon Theatre in New York City with guest speaker Paul Rudd. He then headed to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston, Cleveland, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Detroit, and wrapped up the North American leg in Toronto at Massey Hall with Alex Lifeson. All the shows on the tour followed essentially the same format, with those in attendance all receiving a hardback edition of My Effin' Life along with a 16-page program. The shows featured a wide variety of surprise guest interviewers, ranging from famous actors and musicians, to not-so-famous music writers, to radio DJs, and more. Some of the bigger names included Paul Rudd in NYC, actor Eric McCormack at both the Washington D.C. and Boston appearances, actor Jay Baruchel in Montreal, Krist Novoselic in Seattle, drummer Matt Cameron in San Franciso, Matt Stone in Denver, Jack Black in LA, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil in Chicago, drummer Chad Smith in Detroit, and bassist Melissa Auf der Maur in Sheffield. Other interviewers included showrunner/producer Brian Koppelman (Philly), DJ Pierre Robert (Philly), singer/songwriter Jann Arden, journalist Geoff Edgers (Boston), journalist Rob Tannenbaum (Cleveland), Donna Halper (Cleveland), Jann Arden (Vancouver), Strombo (Toronto), musician Nicky Wire (Wolverhampton), comedian Phill Jupitus (Glasgow), comedian/author David Baddiel (London), and journalist Philip Wilding (all 5 UK shows). The shows all began with a 15-minute slideshow before the secret guest interviewer was revealed. Ged was then interviewed for about 40-5 minutes, before closing out the 1st part by reading a book excerpt. The trailer for Geddy's docu-series on Paramount Plus Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? was shown before the intermission, and Ged then returned to read another book excerpt before the fan Q&A. Several of the shows featured another, different guest running the Q&A session. Otherwise, the original interviewer also ran that portion. After the Q&A, Geddy took an audience selfie and then made those available for download at Rush.com. The entire program lasts about 2 hours. You can get complete coverage of all of the shows, including the audience selfies, reviews, photos, videos and more using the links below:
Mon Nov 13 - [New York City, NY] (interviewer - Paul Rudd)
Wed Nov 15 - [Philadelphia, PA] (interviewers - Brian Koppelman and Pierre Robert)
Fri Nov 17 - [National Harbor, MD] (interviewer - Eric McCormack)
Sat Nov 18 - [Boston, MA] (interviewers - Eric McCormack and Geoff Edgers)
Sun Nov 19 - [Cleveland, OH] (interviewers - Rob Tannenbaum and Donna Halper)
Tue Nov 21 - [Montreal, QC] (interviewer - Jay Baruchel)
Thu Nov 23 - [Vancouver, BC] (interviewer - Jann Arden)
Fri Nov 24 - [Seattle, WA] (interviewer - Krist Novoselic)
Sun Nov 26 - [San Francisco, CA] (interviewer - Matt Cameron)
Tue Nov 28 - [Los Angeles, CA] (interviewer - Jack Black)
Thu Nov 30 - [Denver, CO] (interviewer - Matt Stone)
Sun Dec 3 - [Chicago, IL] (interviewer - Kim Thayil)
Mon Dec 4 - [Detroit, MI] (interviewer - Chad Smith)
Tue Dec 5 - [A Virtual Evening with Geddy Lee] (interviewer - Les Claypool)
Thu Dec 7 - [Toronto, ON] (interviewers - Alex Lifeson and Strombo)
Sun Dec 10 - [Wolverhampton, UK] (interviewers - Nicky Wire and Philip Wilding)
Wed Dec 13 - [Sheffield, UK] (interviewers - Melissa Auf der Maur and Philip Wilding)
Thu Dec 14 - [Glasgow, UK] (interviewers - Phill Jupitus and Philip Wilding)
Sun Dec 17 - [Portsmouth, UK] (interviewers Alex Lifeson and Philip Wilding)
Mon Dec 18 - [London, UK] (interviewers David and Ivor Baddiel, Alex Lifeson, Philip Wilding)
Geddy Lee included 2 new, unreleased songs as part of the My Effin' Life audio book release last month, and the tracks were also made available for streaming earlier this month on all major streaming platforms as The Lost Demos. The two songs are titled Gone and I Am ... You Are, and both tracks debuted in the Top 10 on Billboard's Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart as reported by Forbes.com earlier this week:
... Lee scores a pair of new top 10 hits on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart, which ranks the bestselling tunes in America labeled as hard rock by Billboard. The highest-ranking of the two new placements from Lee is "Gone," opening at No. 6 on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart. This time around, he manages to snag the top debut of the week with the track. Coming in just one space behind that instant smash is another from Lee, titled "I Am... You Are." That cut launches at No. 7 on the ranking of the most-purchased tracks in the country classified as hard rock. ...
The tracks were unreleased demos from the recording of Geddy Lee's 2000 solo album My Favorite Headache which he co-wrote with Ben Mink, and you can listen to both songs on YouTube and other major streaming services.
Back in the summer of 2021, Neil Peart's extensive classic car collection - dubbed the Silver Surfers by Neil himself - was sold at Gooding & Company's 17th annual Pebble Beach Auctions. Just before the auction, it was revealed via an announcement at Rush.com that this collection of classic cars was the subject of a coffee table book that Neil Peart was working on prior to his untimely passing nearly 4 years ago:
... Neil's love of classic cars was a lifelong passion, and prior to his passing, he was extremely proud to have completed his final book titled, "Silver Surfers." The following passage from his first coffee table book explains, in his own words, how the collection name came about:
"The title Silver Surfers for my collection of cars occurred to me while driving my DB5 up and down the Pacific Ocean. Because it felt right to me, I guess - the idea that I was just one of the wave riders .... In search of natural peace, I often drove out that way and up in to the Santa Monica Mountains. Out past Malibu to Ventura County, I'd weave along barren ridges of rock and vegetation, the ocean always on one big side. The waves were slow and gentle, or churned out a powerful, rolling rhythm..."
We are happy that his wish to see this book published will be fulfilled, with a release date to be announced. This will certainly be a loving homage to the man and one of his true passions.
Since that initial announcement very little additional information has surfaced, but it now looks like the book will finally see the light of day according to this Amazon listing giving an expected release date of May 7, 2024. From the listing:
... The final piece of writing by legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart was about one of the great passions of his life-collecting cars; the joy of collecting them, and the even bigger joy of driving them. In this never-before-seen piece, finished just before his passing in 2020, Neil writes about not only his lifelong passion for cars and the open road, but about his Silver Surfers-a rare collection of the best sports cars from the 1960s.
Each image in the book, personally selected by Neil, takes you on his journey of car collecting-including a photo of him at 22 with his first car, a 1969 Lotus Europa, purchased when he was working as a parts manager at his father's farm equipment dealer; a 1948 MGTC he bought in London while on tour; and the black Ferrari car he drove while writing the songs for the seminal album Moving Pictures. And then there are his beloved Silver Surfers-seven classic 1960s sports cars, from an Aston Martin DB5 Saloon to a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, each one a gorgeous silver, except one: a black 1964 Shelby Cobra whose patina Neil loved so much he refused to change it.
Beautiful studio images showing both the interior and exterior of these extraordinary cars, as well as personal images of Neil driving them along the California coast, accompany Neil's warm, personal memories of why and how he bought the cars, the friends he made along the way, and what it was like to be behind the wheel. Neil's final work is a love letter to these cars that meant so much to him, and to the passion of the road that fueled his life.
The book also includes a foreword from Peart's wife Carrie Nuttall Peart, along with stunning photographs of Neil's car collection from her personal archives. The book is currently available for pre-order in hard cover at this location.
Iconic By Collectionzz commemorated International Rush Day (aka 21/12 Day) yesterday with a set of two officially-licensed, limited-edition poster screenprints by illustrator Ian Permana - the third installment in their 2112 print series, where each print is inspired by one part of the 7-part 2112 suite. The first was their 2020 Temples of Syrinx print, and the second was 2021's Oracle: The Dream print. This latest print is inspired by Overture and was created by artist Ian Permana. The 18"x24" screenprints come in a main edition for $75 (130 available) and a Colored Foil Edition for $100 (50 available), and you can purchase yours at iconic.collectionzz.com, although the Colored Foil Edition is now SOLD OUT. You can check out their entire line of Rush prints here.
Well-respected DJ Jim Ladd, a central figure in the emergence of FM rock radio in Los Angeles, died this past Saturday after a heart attack at age 75. Ladd had a long relationship with Rush, having interviewed the band multiple times since the mid '70s, and he also inducted the band into the Guitar Center Hollywood Rockwalk back in 2012 as seen in this video. RIP Jim.
Reader Will C let me know that Rush's The Trees was short-listed for nomination in the Libertarian Futurist Society's Prometheus Hall of Fame class of 2024:
... The fantasy-genre song warns against coerced equality in a beast fable - or in this case, a "tree fable." The concise lyrics poetically present a Nature-based parable of envy, "oppression" and misguided revolution motivated by a true-believer ideology of radical and murderously coercive egalitarianism. The survival and individuality of different kinds of trees - both agitating Maples and lofty Oaks - are threatened when a seemingly "noble law" is adopted in the forest to keep the trees "equal by hatchet, axe and saw."
You can learn more about the Award via the Libertarian Futurist Society website here.
This past summer Alex Lifeson was featured in the debut episode of Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett's new podcast Shred With Shifty. Shiflett was recently interviewed for Classic Rock magazine, and when asked about the Alex Lifeson episode, here's what he had to say (thanks RushFanForever):
... He was so thoughtful, digging into why he played the Limelight guitar solo the way he did. I've never heard somebody express an approach like that. And it changed the way I think about my own solos. ...
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#210) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their Test For Echo album discussion with the track Half The World. The channel will also be debuting a special episode tomorrow evening at 6:30PM where they'll chat with Cathy Rankin and Michael Mosbach about the upcoming Bubba Bash 2024.
That's all for this week. I hope everyone is having a great Holiday season so far. For those who celebrate it, have a very Merry Christmas this coming Monday, and here's to hoping that Santa leaves a ton of Rush swag in your stocking. Have a great Holiday weekend everybody!!
