Rush beer partner Henderson Brewing Company is hosting their 2nd annual Rush Day event this coming Sunday, August 25th at the brewery's Toronto location. Just like last year, the event will feature a unique Rush Day souvenir, special guests (Hugh Syme and Howard Ungerleider), Rush Memorabilia at their pop-up museum, Rush Beer tastings (with participants receiving a Beer Genius certificate), exclusive Rush merch, Rush karaoke, a Rush game show, Rush trivia, a screening of Beyond the Lighted Stage and more. Tickets to the event are $15 and include a Limited Edition Door Prize, with a 10% group discount available for parties of 4 or more using code BACKSTAGE PASS at checkout. The Rush beer tastings will run from 1PM-5PM but are limited to 25 people per session, so be sure to reserve a spot. As a special bonus, there will also be a Something for Nothing Rush podcast Pop-up on hand from 1PM-6PM. For all the details and to secure a spot, visit Henderson's website at this location.
Alex Lifeson announced earlier this week via his AlexLifeson.com newsletter that Lerxst Amps has partnered with the wah pedal masterminds over at Morley Effects to create a new, Limited Edition Lerxst Blah Blah Wah Pedal. From the product description:
... Inspired by Lifeson's singular use of wah and his never ending tone journey for new and innovative sounds, the Blah Blah is one of the most unique pedals ever designed and offers a bold new world of both classic and avante-garde wah sounds all available at the touch of a foot pedal. The Blah Blah uses Morley's iconic switchless optical wah circuit as a springboard, carefully tuned by Lifeson and the engineers at Lerxst and Morley for an expressively vocal response that is equally usable in both classic and modern wah-wah applications. Taking inspiration from Lifeson's iconic Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame Induction speech, the switchable Blah Blah Circuit provides a cornucopia of expressive, touch-sensitive filtering effects to the pedal that evoke both vocal and synth-like sounds out of whatever instrument that is run through the pedal - including a recognizable 'Blah'! The onboard tone control allows precise EQ control of these effects.
You can get all the specs and purchase one for yourself at reverb.com. Alex also posted this hilarious video to his Instagram where he demos the new pedal:
A couple of weeks ago, Canadian indie rockers The Rheostatics posted a very interesting photo to their official Facebook page showing the band along with Rush's Alex Lifeson and a caption reading, We gathered in THE MUSIC ROOM for a few days , and made some amazing new music. ... Rheostatics frontman Dave Bidini followed that up with a few more details in a separate Facebook post from earlier this week:
Late to post this-- our sessions happened a few weeks ago w Alex Lifeson adding to the creative tidal wave that saw us fill hours of tape over two days at Woodshed Studios, expertly engineered by Tim. The stuff sounds incredible. It was all created from the ground up in the moment, and we improvised together to make all of these new ethereal works. It's part of a larger musical/visual project (w Nick de Pencier and Jen Baichwal) that we hope to launch sometime in 2025, and include a few of our favourite writers/thinkers/filmmakers, based on watery themes that we're exploring as we go. Martin couldn't make the sessions but we're hoping he lends his genius to the effort moving forward in one form or another. After playing the Horseshoe a few years ago, it became apparent that, while honouring our repertoire is fine to a point, as artists we're about charging forward and continuing to grow and explore the world and we hope that this new epic achieves this. Excited for people to hear it.
A new book from author Daniel Bukszpan celebrating Rush's 50 year career will be released this coming fall. Rush at 50 comes in at 192 pages and was originally slated for a release on September 17th, but that has been pushed back to October 8th. It will examine the history of Rush through the lens of 50 milestone events and an illustrated gatefold timeline. From the product description:
... This richly illustrated and entertainingly written book from Rush expert and music journalist Dan Bukszpan pays tribute to the trio on the 50th anniversary of their debut album by curating and examining 50 of the most significant milestones in their career.
Bukszpan covers everything down through the decades:
* The band's formation by bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson in suburban Toronto and their early gigs and tours opening for the likes of Kiss
* Their breakthrough in the United States thanks to a Cleveland DJ
* The role of co-founding drummer John Rutsey
* Rush's early Led Zeppelin-influenced efforts and their breakthrough, 2112
* The band's ever-evolving musical style through the 1970s and 1980s
* The controversial influence of novelist Ayn Rand on Neil Peart's lyrics
* Geddy Lee's instantly recognizable vocal style
* Recording sessions with various producers in Wales, Quebec, and elsewhereIn examining 50 touchstones, Buszpan presents a unique look at Rush's career arc from Toronto bar band to international mega-platinum stadium fillers. Every page is illustrated with stunning concert and candid offstage photography, including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, ticket stubs, and more. ...
The book is currently available for pre-order via Amazon at this location.
Independent Danish book publisher Bjooks is releasing a new, Kickstarter-funded book next month titled The Minimoog Book, which includes a foreword penned by Rush's Geddy Lee. The book will release next month and can be pre-ordered at this location, with more details available on the Kickstarter page.
A new documentary on iconic Toronto radio station CFNY (The Spirit of Radio) is in the works, and former DJ Alan Cross (one of the film's producers) gave an update on the film's progress via a recent post to his A Journal of Musical Things blog (thanks RushFanForever). The station and their slogan was the direct inspiration for Rush's The Spirit of Radio from 1980's Permanent Waves album. From the update:
Almost two years ago, a group of us started filming what we hope will be the definite history of the Spirit of Radio years (1977-1992) at CFNY-FM/Toronto. (If you don't know the station, it's Canada's equivalent of KROQ/LA and broke hundreds of alt-rock bands in its history). I've written about our progress many times over these last many months and people seem to be really excited for its premiere.
Here's the latest:
* The documentary is DONE. Finished. Final product. Ready to go.
* We applied for a slot at the Toronto International Film Festival but weren't able to get in. I heard that programmers loved the film but there just wasn't an available slot.
* We also weren't able to make it into a festival in Amsterdam for the same reason.
* Will there be a chance for the general public to see it in a theatre? Absolutely. Stand by.
* Is there a trailer yet? No. I'm a little impatient on that point, but it is what it is.
* While we continue to look for an appropriate place(s) for a premiere, we're working on plans to have the film distributed on various platforms. It's all about timing now.
* Are we talking to some broadcast partners in Western New York? You bet we are. This looks good.
* Did I mention that the doc is ready to go?That's about all I have at the moment. Watch this space for updates.
In previous blog posts, Cross mentioned that both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were slated to appear in the documentary, and the Hollywood Reporter confirmed earlier this year that at least Geddy would be appearing:
Rush frontman-bassist Geddy Lee, Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr and Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley appear in a new documentary about the origins and high points of pioneering Toronto radio station CFNY. ... Geddy in the documentary recalls growing up in Toronto and the contribution of CFNY program director David Marsden in the 1980s. Earlier, in 1965, Marsden, using the pseudonym Dave Mickie, succeeded the late Alex Trebek of Jeopardy! fame as host of CBC TV's Music Hop, a Canadian teen music show modeled after American Bandstand stateside. ...
Sammy Hagar took his Best of All Worlds tour to the Kia Forum in LA earlier this week, and towards the end of their performance of Top Of The World, guitarist Joe Satriani plays a snippet of Rush's The Spirit of Radio as seen in this video at the 3:59 mark (thanks RushFanForever).
Canadian country singer Eric Sage has released a new song titled Canadian Beer, a rousing anthem that pays tribute to Canadians and their love of beer. The song's lyrics include a couple of shout-outs to Rush, and Sage can be seen sporting a Rush t-shirt in a few of the promotional images as seen in this Bravewords article (thanks RushFanForever). You can check out the music video below or on YouTube.
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#241) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their discussion of Vapor Trails with Sweet Miracle:
That's all for this week. Enjoy the weekend everybody!
