Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Updates and other random Rush stuff

Fri, Jul 6, 2007@11:24AM | comments removed/disabled

It's time to get some updates out of the way as Rush wraps up their first East Coast swing on the Snakes & Arrows tour. Rush will play their last 3 East Coast dates over the next few days before taking a 9-day break and heading out West.

Last week's poll was a no-brainer for the most part. Over 75% of you said that the making-of documentary was the best reason to purchase the Snakes & Arrows MVI - I tend to agree. Another 10% said that the enhanced recording was the best reason while 7% said you should just buy it to support Rush. 5% said to not buy it at all.

For this week's poll I give you a list of notable songs that were excluded from the setlist on this tour and ask you to choose which ones that you think should have been included. You can vote for as many as you like too. Take the poll and let us know what you think (SPOILER).

Speaking of the setlist, it's no secret that Rush plays a lot of songs from Snakes & Arrows on the current tour. Reader Netboy notes that this tour sets the record for the most material played live from a single Rush album; it features about 43 minutes of material from Snakes & Arrows. The previous record was held by Moving Pictures, which has been played in its entirety (albeit on different tours) totalling 40 minutes. Unlike Moving Pictures, the next albums on the list had all their material (or all but one song) performed during their respective tours: Power Windows (all but Emotion Detector, a little over 39 minutes), Grace Under Pressure (entirety, 39 minutes), Signals (all but Losing It, 38 minutes) and Hemispheres (entirety, 36 minutes). These times are the running times of the songs on the albums themselves, not how long the songs last when performed live.

While in Boston for the Rush show at the Tweeter Center last Wednesday, Geddy Lee stopped in the Bin 26 Enoteca; a Beacon Hill bistro which boasts one of the city's best wine lists. From Boston.com: We don't know what Lee drank, but owner Babak Bina says he sure knows his stuff..

Back in May I called your attention to the fact that Alex Lifeson was a nominee for the Chop Shop Radio Guitar Hall of Fame. Thanks to your efforts (and other Rush fan sites) he made it in. Thanks to Kerry for the heads up.

Here's a short article/interview on Rush from Billboard's Gary Graff titled Three decades on, band still loves to rock. The article came out in the week of the MVI release and doesn't contain anything we haven't already heard, but it's a good read nonetheless.

Way back in 1974, shortly after Neil Peart joined the band Rush performed on the popular US music variety show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. I believe it was Rush's first television performance and took place on September 10, 1974. They played Best I Can (as yet unreleased at the time), In the Mood and Finding My Way. Low-quality versions of the songs were included as some of the extras on the R30 DVD. There have also been many copies floating around YouTube for the last couple of years. Just recently a very good quality version of the entire show was uploaded to YouTube. You can check it out here. Thanks to Steve for the heads up.

Reader nick alerted me to a contest at Jabra Music online where you must vote for the Best Band In the World. We all know who the winner should be... but right now our favorite Canadian power trio is only ranked at #258. So go vote for Rush. It requires that you register for the site and you can vote once a day. Voting closes on July 20th.

Here is some Lerxst-related news for you. Garrison Guitars, a manufacturer of high-end acoustic instruments who counts Alex Lifeson among their customers, has been purchased by Gibson Guitars.

In the August 2007 issue of WWE magazine there is a section on page 12 outlining the top ten things that the staff likes. Numero uno on the list was ... Rush! Here's what they say:

These Canadian rockers are undeniably staff favorites. "Red Barchetta", "By-tor & the Snowdog" and their face-melting new record, Snakes & Arrows are on constant rotation. Thanks to the slavish fandom of senior editor Jeremy Brown, we've all become converts to the cult of Geddy, Alex, and Neil.

Also included is a pic of the band with the caption Power Trio. Thanks to Shootist over at Rush Tour for the heads up.

Both Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci of Dream Theater discuss how Rush has influenced their music in a recent interview at heavymetalmusic.biz. You can read the entire interview here.

UltimoGuitarist over at YouTube has put together an 8-minute medley of himself performing songs from Snakes & Arrows on guitar. He does a really good job. You can check it out here.

In celebration of Canada Day (July 1st) Underground Online paid tribute to the Top 11 Canadians. In at #5 was Neil Peart. Here's what they said about him:

Back when video games were still just for geeks the beating heart inside every gamer was the rhythm of Neil Peart's 900-piece (give or take) drum set. The syncopated Morse code call of "YYZ" in a 10/8 time signature was like a tribal call for hardcore nerds to congregate, discuss the latest cheats for Zork, episodes of V: The Visitors, or to show off how many Python lines they'd memorized. Peart (the drummer from Rush, for those who aren't catching all this) not only kept the beat but wrote the lyrics, too. And to you, Neil Peart, we say, "The battle's over and the dust is clearing/Disciples of the Snow Dog sound the knell/Rejoicing echoes as the dawn is nearing/By-Tor in defeat retreats to Hell!"

Adam alerted me to this extremely rare interview with ... *gulp* ... a girl at a Rush concert conducted by ReadJunk's Adam Coozer. :) It's really very funny and is definitely worth checking out. You can read the entire interview here.

This past Sunday's Worcester Telegram & Gazette had an article about a very odd annulment case. From the article:

Michael P. is seeking to annul his Las Vegas marriage to his bride [Crystal] of five months. In his complaint, the Westboro man claims that his wife induced him into marriage "through a series of elaborately constructed gross misrepresentations and outright lies about her background, financial status, employment history, marital history, criminal background, family background and her very strong connections to the entertainment community in California." ...

One day over lunch, after Mr. P. revealed that his favorite band was "Rush," Crystal confided that the lead guitarist had been her best friend for 30 years.

"Michael was initially skeptical of her claim but, as with most of the lies Crystal told, the conviction, emotion and the detail with which she expressed them made Michael believe her," according to the complaint filed by Mr. P.'s lawyer, Jonathan E. Fields of Wellesley.

She also told him that she was once engaged to the son of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who was also friendly with Alex Lifeson, lead singer of Rush, and that the three had been inseparable until a tragic bungee jumping accident in California killed her fiance. ...

Alex Lifeson, lead singer of Rush?? :) Thanks to sweetmiracle for finding this for us.

That's all for now. On to New Jersey!

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