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 5 years ago. Since that initial announcement very little additional information had surfaced until this past January when the book's May 2024 release date and cover were revealed. The book release was then subsequently delayed a couple of times in the interim, but it will finally be seeing the light of day this upcoming week, with an official release slated for Tuesday. The hardback book comes in at 96 pages and you can order yours now via Amazon and other retailers.
Speaking of books, Geddy Lee will be releasing a new baseball book in 2025 titled 72 Stories from the Collection of Geddy Lee. A special edition of the book will be released in time for Christmas, with a general release in the Spring. The special edition is an autographed, limited-edition book available exclusively from the Rush Backstage Club. The 160-page book comes encased in a red cloth-bound slipcase and includes an exclusive, custom-made Geddy Lee baseball, created specifically for this project. The special edition costs $249.98 and can be pre-ordered now with an expected ship date of early December. Geddy had written the book itself over a year ago and presented it as part of a package given to the winning bidders in a baseball auction that included much of Ged's extensive collection. Geddy also addressed the book in an interview with the Illinois Entertainer in the lead-up to the auction last year:
... It's a collection of stories from some of my favorite items in my collection. Maybe I'll release it on opening day next year, I don't know. I'm going to include a copy of the book to the winning bidders of those particular items in my sale that are also featured in this book. I'll give them a signed copy. [The book] came together in a relatively painless way. I wrote it with my co-writer, Daniel Richler. Richard Sibbald, who shot the Big Beautiful Book of Bass, took the photographs. They're absolutely stunning. ... So, there is a book, and I'm really pleased with it. I'm trying to get it printed now, in time for the auction. It's called 72 Stories from the Collection of Geddy Lee....
Earlier this week Alex Lifeson announced the release of a new signature guitar in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Rush's Grace Under Pressure album. Alex Lifeson's Grace signature guitar was created in partnership with Godin Guitars and is a modern reimagining of the iconic Hentor Sportcaster guitars played throughout the recording and touring behind Rush's Grace Under Pressure album. From the announcement:
... Grace has a contoured swamp ash body for premium comfort and a maple neck with 12" radius ebony fretboard and medium stainless-steel frets for fast and intuitive playability. Like the original it has an HSS pickup configuration for maximum versatility, and the pickups have been custom wound by Mojotone to Alex's specifications to ensure balanced performance in all pickup positions. Players have a choice of the classic Floyd Rose tremolo system or a Vega Trem with 18:1 locking tuners for superior tremolo performance with rock solid tuning stability.
"We were blown away by the positive feedback we got from the release of Limelight earlier this year and knew that we wanted to do another one," said Lifeson. "With Grace, we wanted to pay tribute to the 40th Anniversary of Grace Under Pressure by building off of my favorite guitar from that period and - much like Limelight - evolving the concept to create an instrument with a sound and playability that would speak to modern players."
"It's a beautiful instrument that suits many different styles of playing," he continued, "and the mirrored pickguard comes in handy for late night sessions when you need, um, to check, ah, your hair or something." ...
Grace is available now as a limited edition of 200 for a suggested price of $3,999. For more information and to purchase from the official Lerxst Reverb shop, go to this location. There's also this video announcement featuring Lerxst himself.
A new book from author Adrien Begrand titled Cranking Up Rush: Their Musical Legacy in 11 Songs was released last month and is now available to order. The book is part of a Goes to 11 series of short, opinionated books which introduce the catalogs of major musical acts through 11 essential songs. This coming Friday, November 15, Librairie Resonance in Montreal will be hosting a launch party for the book from 6-8PM, and all are invited. From the book description:
From the band's early days in the Toronto music scene to their multiple Grammy wins to the aftermath of drummer Neil Peart's death, Rushremains one of the most beloved rock bands of all time. Renowned for their stylistic range, integrity, and legendary technical skill, the band's wry sense of humor and humility have also resonated with fans internationally. After more than four decades and nineteen studio albums, they've produced a rich body of work that continues to enthrall millions of listeners, new and old.
From "Xanadu" to "Time Stand Still" and beyond, Cranking Up Rush provides a whirlwind tour of 11 essential Rush tracks. It covers every era of their output-from their teenage years to their final tour in 2015-and highlights what truly makes Rush the Spirit of Radio.
The 162-page book is available as a paperback or for Kindle, and you can order yours here.
Guitarist Chris Herin of Detroit-based prog rockers Tiles officially released his debut solo album Hiding In Plain Sight earlier this month via The Laser's Edge, and one of the guest musicians on the album is Rush's Alex Lifeson. Alex plays on a track titled Second Ending which also features vocalist Matthew Parmenter of Detroit-based band Discipline. Some other notable guests on the album are Doane Perry, Michael Sadler, Peter Frampton, Kim Mitchell, and Crown Lands. Tiles has several connections with Rush, most notably their producer - former Rush producer Terry Brown - who also produced Hiding In Plain Sight. Brown introduced Lifeson to the band's work back in the 2000s and Lifeson ended up guesting on their 2008 Fly Paper album, adding guitar tracks to the song Sacred and Mundane. Rush album artist Hugh Syme also did the album's cover, as he did for most of Tiles' previous albums. Videos for a few of the album's tracks are available on YouTube, including The Darkest Hour, Warning Signs, and The Heart of You. Herin was a recent guest on the Metal Mayhem ROC podcast to discuss the album, and you can listen in to that interview here or wherever you get your podcasts. The album is available on digipack CD and streaming, and you can order it online here.
The January 2025 edition of Mojo magazine includes a Neil Young cover feature where they ask multiple artists to rank their favorite Neil Young songs. One of these artists is Rush's Geddy Lee, who selected Buffalo Springfield's Mr. Soul which came in at #8 (thanks RushFanForever):
(Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967)
Satisfaction fed through Neil's mincer: "You're strange, but don't change." As selected by Rush's Geddy Lee.
"When we were growing up in Toronto, we were all big Buffalo Springfield fans, and Neil Young was one of our first heroes. We used to play Mr. Soul when we were a struggling bar band. We were trying to play our own material, but you couldn't get work unless you played cover songs. So we tried to find cover songs that were not so obvious, not Top 40 songs. We were pretty crude and pretty loud, and so is Mr. Soul, so it would go over pretty well with our crowd. Neil Young is someone I really respect. We met in 1985 when a bunch of Canadian artists got together to record a single to raise money for African famine charities [under the name Northern Lights]. We did a song called Tears Are Not Enough that Bryan Adams wrote, and all these different singers each sang a line. David Foster was producing, and I remember watching another of my heroes, Joni Mitchell, sing her line. In my view, it was perfect the first time, but David made her sing it over and over. Then Neil Young sang his line, and Foster said, 'Can you do it again? I think there's a little bit out of pitch.' But Neil said, 'Hey man, that's my style!' And that was that. That really summed up Neil Young for me. The guy's got big balls."
Reader OU812112 let me know of a Rush 2112 reference in the new animated film Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Three. About 29 minutes into the film, one of the infinite Earths referenced is Earth-2112 as seen in this screenshot.
Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers was featured on an episode of the BBC's Rock Show with Shaun Keaveny this past week as part of their Rock Gods segment. Nicky chose Rush's Neil Peart as his Rock God and talks a bit about his choice as he plays snippets of some classic Rush tunes at around the 40-minute mark of the show. You can listen in at this location or wherever you get your podcasts (thanks Mark W).
Back in August, the Something for Nothing podcast recorded 3 episodes live from Henderson Brewing in Toronto for Rush Day 2024 and have now released all three installments from that weekend, the latest of which features Rush superfan and collector Ray Wawrzyniak. The first installment featured Henderson owner Steve Himel and Rush lighting director Howard Ungerleider, and in the 2nd episode Steve and Gerry chatted with RushCon Creative Director Jillian Maryonovich. You can listen in to the show below or wherever you get your podcasts:
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#251) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel kicks off their Snakes & Arrows song discussions with the album opener Far Cry:
That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!!
