UPDATE - 6/10@8:20AM: The full episode is now online at the CBS website. There are also some YouTube videos of the solo floating around, but those will likely be removed at some point. Here's the performance on YouTube:

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This past Monday Neil Peart performed a drum solo on the Late Show with David Letterman as part of the show's Drum Solo Week. The episode airs tonight on CBS at 11:30PM and should be available online at the show's website sometime in the next couple days. Also appearing on the show this week were the Late Show's very own Anton Fig on Monday, Sheila E. on Tuesday and drum legend Roy Haynes last night. According to fans who attended the taping, Neil was a bit nervous and dropped a stick twice but ended up doing a second take. Neil spoke about his solo in an interview with MusicRadar.com before his performance on Monday:

... It's half improvised and half composed. I've tried to become more of an improvisational soloist over the past few years, pushing myself in the direction. So the first half of it follows a certain pattern of basic grooves - essentially, I try never to repeat, though - and then the second half is composed. I always say, 'I know where I'm going, but I don't always know how I'm going to get there.' To me, drum soloing is like doing a marathon and solving equations at the same time. Trying to edit everything for the Letterman performance is a lot for my tiny poo brain." ...

On last night's episode of the Late Show they did a humorous bit promoting Drum Solo Week at the expense of Representative Anthony Weiner, who is the latest US politician dealing with a sex scandal. They superimposed a photo of Weiner sitting behind Neil Peart's Snakes & Arrows kit and playing the drums with ... his weiner. :) You can watch the video at this link (thanks sesquatch).

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