Rush is a Band

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

Fri, Mar 29, 2024

RushCon Update

Sat, Jul 15, 2006@5:36PM | comments removed/disabled

My brother and I arrived in Toronto yesterday afternoon around 4 - then we drove around the hotel for a while in search of the parking garage. We finally found the entrance after calling the front desk, unpacked our stuff and checked into the Days Inn Toronto. The only Friday night activity was the "In the Mood" mixer which started around 8 - so we had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and have a couple beers. We found a nice pub nearby the hotel, had a meal and some beers. It was a hot day in Toronto (close to 90) so it was nice to unwind in an air-conditioned bar with a cold beer.

At 7:30 we headed back to the hotel, signed in to the Conference, got our badges and waited for the mixer to start. There was a decent crowd; at least 100 people. The mixer was fun. They had a large projector screen and soundsystem set up for showing videos as people showed up. And they also had plenty of finger food and a cash bar. Once everyone was gathered, the organizers gave a short welcome announcement and commenced the activities. They first showed a synch-up video of a portion of Disney's Fantasia (the beginning) played with 2112 as the music. I'd never seen this before and, unlike the Willy Wonka 2112 synch, I was very impressed; it worked well.

There also was a kimono contest, door prizes (I didn't win) and some silly Rush-themed games. But for the most part, people drank and talked about Rush. I met a lot of great people; some whom I've only known previously online by their various Rush forum screennames. I was really pleased that I finally got to meet MitA, who runs the Rush Oddities site. And I met a lot of Rush fans from Texas, including John and David of Dallas-based Rush tribute band Anthem. After too-much beer we finally went to sleep.

We awoke this morning around 9, ate breakfast and headed to the Rush matinee at 11am. The organizers did a great job of putting together Rush-related material from TV, movies and pop culture into a nice little video presentation. Most of the clips I had already seen online (many of them are on my Rush TV page). But I was pleased to see many things I'd never seen before including the 1986 Rush-inspired sci-fi cartoon The Body Electric.

After the movies we walked down the street to Anthem Records for a short little tour. The building is not marked and is difficult to spot unless you know what you're looking for. The walls are covered with gold and platinum records from Rush and other bands. It was a really neat experience.

Tonight we'll be having a private little party at Alex Lifeson's club, The Orbit Room, before heading over to see Toronto Airport at the Marquee Events Theater. More updates coming tomorrow.

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