The band will hit Philadelphia and Boston over the weekend before taking a 10-day break. They'll kickoff the last third of the tour on June 25th for the rescheduled show at Red Rocks. Other than the tour there's not much going on in Rush-land this week so this will be a short update; just a few bits of Rush randomness to report.

Here's a little preview article for the Boston show from the Boston Phoenix which includes a mini-interview with Geddy Lee.

There's a wikipedia-born rumor floating around regarding the producer of Rush's next studio album. The wikipedia entry for producer Bob Rock states the following:

Rock was asked directly and interviewed with Canadian rock trio Rush to produce their eighteenth studio album Snakes & Arrows, because Rock had prior obligations he was unable to produce the record but directed the band to Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver producer Nick Raskulinecz for the gig. Bob Rock attended the Rush concert at the Los Angeles Nokia Live on May 8, 2008 where he discussed with band members about Rush's next record. He also was unavailable to produce Rush's 2002 album Vapor Trails, due to obligations with Metallica.

And under his production credits is listed 2009 - Rush - untitled 20th studio album. The information is not sourced so I'm a bit skeptical. From all the band interviews conducted over the past year it sounds like Rush would prefer to work with Nick Raskulinecz again. I'm trying to find out more about this and will report back when I do.

Back in February I'd put up a post about an independent film which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival called Adventures of Power. The film is chock full of Rush references and most notably includes a cameo from Neil Peart; his first speaking role in a live-action film. The movie recently won the Audience Award at the Vail Film Festival and there are several screenings coming up. This Saturday, June 14th at 7PM the film will be shown in Toronto, ON at the NXNE Festival at the Royal Cinema (608 College St.). It will also be screened in Provincetown, MA at the Provincetown International Film Festival on Friday and Saturday, June 20-21 at 9:30PM at the Provincetown Theater; and also in San Antonio, TX on Saturday June 21st at 8PM (not clear on the exact location). It will also make its European premier at the Karlovy-Vary International Film Festival on Thursday, July 10 at 7:30PM and Friday, July 11 at 4PM at the Kino Cas/Espace Dorleans. And there will be an air drum competition in San Francisco in August to coincide with a week of screenings there as well. For more information on the film you can visit the website, the mySpace page or the Facebook page.

Early last month I told you about Rush fan and RIAB reader Stephen's (aka ReGorLaTroy) Great Rush Fan Challenge. He was inspired by Rush's recent donation to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in New Orleans to put forth a challenge to Rush fans to donate to the New Orleans Area Habitat For Humanity. To donate simply go to their website donation page and write Great Rush Fan Challenge in the comment field. From anecdotal evidence Stephen estimates that Rush fans have already contributed close to $2500! Way to go!

Here's an interesting little article on the recently released Moog Guitar in which Geddy Lee is mentioned. Rush made use of the Moog synthesizer on several of their 70s-era recordings.

Geddy's recent donation of a collection of baseballs to the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame made the news at MLB.com recently. Unfortunately they refer to Geddy as a punk rocker but it's a good article otherwise. :) Thanks to The Clansman 2112 for the heads up.

And since not much else is going on, here's a video of the unreleased early-era Rush track Garden Road synched up with some vintage bootleg video (thanks zenarcade2003); and here's a well-made fan video for The Pass that I recently came across.

And if you're ever in Fremont, CA be sure to check out the intersection of Geddy Way and Geddy Court (thanks Tom H).

Have a great weekend and a great Father's Day for all you daddies out there.

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