It's been another great week for Rush news. Early in the week we learned that Rush won Band of the Year in the Classic Rock Roll of Honour. A couple days ago Neil Peart gave us his latest (and last one from the 2007 leg) update from the road on his website and amused us all with his new MySpace avatar. Just yesterday I revealed that Rush will be featured in a special Legends issue of Guitar World magazine due out December 4th. And the really big news were the new details regarding the 2008 tour. The latest as-yet-unofficial news is that Rush will kick off the '08 leg in Atlantic Canada and work their way South playing a total of 48 dates. These will include a dozen dates in the Western US and a 2-week run of South American dates. The official tour announcement will come in early January with tickets on sale late January and early February. The band will be releasing the Workin' Them Angels single to coincide with the tour announcement. A video using live footage from Rotterdam is also planned.
Andrew Olson has made a few notable updates to his Neil Peart fansite recently. He's added a couple new postcards to his Postcards from Neil page, and added a new entry to his Replica Drum Kit page. Andy's also added a few pages of Snakes & Arrows tour content. He's created several Snakes & Arrows news feeds utilizing de.licio.us, and there's now an Afterimage page containing links to stories by fans about the concerts they attended on the tour. Andy also visited a Guitar Center last weekend and was able to check out and play one of the Neil Peart signature snare drums. He took this great pic too. And check out Andy's auction page - there's some cool new stuff up there for sale.
Rush really closed out the tour in Helsinki with a bang ... literally. Several folks emailed me this bootleg video of Far Cry from the Helsinki gig where Alex's amp was taken out by the pyro explosion in the middle of the song. It's definitely worth checking out.
The current bid on Alex's painting for the Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope project is over $3000!! And there are still 3 days of bidding left. To check out the auction and make your own bid go here.
Several folks emailed me about an apparent Rush reference in the recently released Guitar Hero 3 video game. One of the guitars you can purchase comes with a faceplate modeled after the king on a deck of playing cards. The guitar is called Farewell To Kings and the description on it says It's time to play your hand, but don't rush into it. There were no Rush songs included on Guitar Hero 3, but the soon-to-be-released Rock Band game (releases November 20th) will contain Tom Sawyer.
Just before the tour started I'd mentioned a website called the Rush Fan Film Project - the brainchild of Rush fan Ray. His goal was to collect fan-filmed footage of Rush fans throughout the tour. Now that the tour is over he's gathering the footage folks have sent him and is in the process of putting it all together. He's just one man, so he could use some help. If you have footage of your own, or have experience in this area go visit the website and help Ray out.
Speaking of fan films, reader Andy N followed Rush around the UK for 4 shows in October and filmed the experience. He edited the film into a nicely-put-together package and posted them to YouTube. Here are the vids:
Rushin' around Newcastle – 5th October 2007
Rushin' around Sheffield – 6th October 2007
Rushin' around Birmingham – 12th October 2007
Rushin' around Manchester – 14th October 2007
He did a really good job with these - check them out if you get a chance.
The Weekly Dig recently interviewed standup comedian Lisa Lampanelli and they asked her the following compelling question:
Q: Which member of Rush would you need to be paid the most money to fuck?
A: Oh, Geddy! Geddy Lee is the ugliest motherfucker, but I'll tell you what, I don't judge on the basis of looks anymore, now that I have inner peace. I totally would fuck Geddy Lee, because he's ugly cute. He's like Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex & The City -- ugly cute.
Thanks to RushFan82 for the heads up.
Shane pointed me to a poll at misterpoll.com where they are voting for the best progressive rock album of 2007. Snakes & Arrows and a lot of other albums are up for voting.
Reader missionman just let me know that St. Louis local rock station KSHE95 just opened their real rock museum. Included are several photos and videos of the boys and a spot in the local Hall of Fame. Included is a cool video interview with Geddy and Alex talking about their first live radio interview in St. louis back in 1974. You have to take a minute to register in order to view the museum, but it's free and well worth it. Just go here, sign up and when you're in the Rock Museum go to the Hall of Fame and look for Rush's spot on the wall.
And I'll end with this recent Fark.com Photoshop contest where they asked folks to mashup their favorite album covers. There are a few Rush albums thrown in here and there; it's fun to try and spot them. Thanks to kshmr1 for the heads up.
Have a great weekend!
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