UPDATE - 12/25@10:44PM: ... Territories, Marathon and The Big Money (added to the player too).

UPDATE - 12/24@9:40AM: .... Mystic Rhythms (added to the player too).

UPDATE - 12/23@9:23AM: Grand Designs from the Power Windows lost demo tape is now available (added to the player too). Thanks MitA!

I'm a day late on the updates this week - sorry about that. I've had my hands full the last few days with compiling all the tour venue information I've been receiving. On top of that I had a crazy week at the day job and had a lot of last-minute Christmas stuff to care of. But all is good now; I have plenty of great Rush randomness to share with you all.

The big news of the week was the unofficial list of tour venues that I received. After several corrections and updates the list now contains 48 venues from Alaska to Buenos Aires. About 8 of these are still pending and more may be added in the coming weeks. When it all shakes out there will probably be around 43 and we'll get the official tour itinerary sometime in the 2nd week of January. At this point I only have solid dates for a few of the gigs; April 11 in Puerto Rico (with a possible 2nd show), May 1 in Chile, May 4 in Peru, June 30 in Saratoga Springs, July 4 in Atlantic City and July 14 at Jones Beach. I'm sure more of the dates will be revealed in the coming weeks. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on what I learn. Reader Rico put together a google map of all the venues to help us get our hands around the possible routes the band might take.

Tickets will go on the sale towards the end of January and beginning of February. There will no doubt be a fan presale like on the first leg. I'll be sure to post all the details on that when it becomes available. Reader krlowe is running a small petition to move the presale tickets to will call only to deter scalpers. Apparently this strategy has recently worked for some fans of other bands. Either way, it's worth a shot. To sign the petition go here.

Let's not forget that there was another bit of great news regarding the tour that was sort of lost in all the excitement; an IMAX crew is supposed to be filming one of the shows!

In their press release announcing the tour Rush revealed that they'd be revamping the setlist for the 2008 extension. So last week I asked you which of the 4 Snakes & Arrows songs not played on the first leg would you most like to see played on the 2008 leg. There was no runaway winner this time but Faithless ended up coming out on top with 39% of the vote. Rounding out the list was We Hold On with 28%, Bravest Face with 20% and Good News First with 13%. For this week's poll I thought I'd flip that question and ask you which of the 9 Snakes & Arrows songs played on the first leg would you like to see dropped on the second leg (if any). Take the poll and let us know.

Before I start in on the updates and Rush randomness I wanted to take a second to thank everybody who generously donated to the site in the past week. I really appreciate it; every little bit helps. If you want to help out too you can donate via PayPal through this link (or use the button to the right). Any donation of $3 or more and you'll receive a RUSH IS A BAND bumper sticker as a thank you gift.

Now for some items from the past week that you may have missed.

Neil Peart is supposed to have a cameo role playing himself in the upcoming Ari Gold indie flick Adventures of Power. Adventures of Power will star Ari Gold as Power - a small-town copper miner on a quest to become the world's best air drummer. For details see this post.

Part two of the Canadian Music Scene's Q&A with Rush lighting directer Howard Ungerleider was posted online last week. Be sure to check that out if you haven't yet.

Rush's Snakes & Arrows tour made Billboard's list of the top 25 grossing North American concert tours of 2007, coming in at #25.

WhistleStop Productions is currently putting the final touches on a 5 part documentary series shot this past summer during the Canadian leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour. The series - to air this Febraury - is called Backstage Secrets and was shot in High Definition and 5.1 surround audio with the full cooperation of the band. Each one-hour episode follows various members of the Rush road crew during a typical day out on the road with the band. For details see this post.

The Permanent Waves Gold Ultradisc - first mentioned here back in August - has finally shipped from MoFi.com. MoFi has also announced that the 180g Vinyl LP version will be shipping in January.

On to the Rush randomness...

If you follow any of the Rush messageboards - especially Counterparts - you may already know about the lost Power Windows demo or live rehearsal tapes. There's an interesting back story to them that's just too involved to get into here. If you're interested, just poke around on Counterparts and you can get caught up. Long story short, there's an old demo tape (possibly a live rehearsal) of Power Windows that found its way into the hands of some Counterpeeps recently - and it's legit. MitA has created digital copies of all 8 songs and is making them available for download via the Counterparts messageboard. So far he's made Emotion Detector, Manhatten Project and Middletown Dreams available. He's releasing one a day up until Christmas. I'll put up a separate post once they're all up. A big thanks to everyone at Counterparts who made these available. You can listen using the player below.

Andrew Olson has updated his Neil Peart site, adding two new postcards to the Postcards from Neil section and four new drum kits to the Replicas page.

Reader Brian B pointed me to a couple of recent articles in the Buffalo News from music critic and Rush fan Jeff Miers. They both discuss the recent book from Bob Mersereau titled The Top 100 Canadian Albums. The first article is an interview with Bob Mersereau himself where he says this about Rush:

Certainly an institution. The band has a huge following that has been with it forever. In Canada, we feel like Rush is our progressive rock. The band is made up of survivors, of serious musicians who have both a sense of humor about it all, and a high-minded approach to what they do. In Neil Peart, you’ve got such an extremely literary, agile mind. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Rush steadfastly avoided the pitfalls all bands face, and many succumb to. They’re the real deal.

In the second article Jeff Miers discusses Buffalo's connection to Canadian music.

The November issue of Projection, Light and Staging News has an interview with Rush lighting director Howard Ungerleider where he discusses the Snakes & Arrows tour and his history with the band. Thanks to interceptor for the heads up.

RAKA pointed me to this vintage 1987 Rush television special that is up on YouTube. You can check it out here.

Reader PhillyMike alerted me to this article which discusses the legality of guitar tablature websites. The article mentions that an Atlanta start-up company called iVideoSongs is working on plans to sell virtual music lessons and will feature video downloads of guitar pros demonstrating their playing technique. One of these guitar pros is our own Alex Lifeson. Cool.

Pete pointed me to a recently-launched site called Dear Rockers which encourages fans to pay back musicians for illegally downloading their music. It's actually a very interesting concept. The site tells you to pick an artist and write them a letter, scan or photograph the letter, send it to the website, mail off the letter along with $5 (or more) to the artist and finally to enjoy your new, guilt-free life. :) One of the letters featured on the site is addressed to one Gary Lee Weinrib.

Guitar Player Magazine is currently running their 2007 reader survey and the Alex Lifeson issue is one of the choices for Favorite 2007 Guitar Player Magazine Cover Feature. Most all of the other questions are write-ins. So go vote and write in Rush and Snakes & Arrows where appropriate. You can take the survey at this link. Thanks to Cat for the heads up.

Toronto's Q107 is featuring a list of the Top 40 classic rock singers of all time as chosen by listeners. Geddy Lee comes in at number 13. Thanks to Shrimp Cot over at Counterparts for the heads up.

Reader Prince Sphinc-Tor let me know that Howard Stern recently ran a 5-day documentary special on his radio show titled The History of Howard Stern. The first part included never before aired clips of his time on air at Boston University radio station WTBU. In one clip he says Queued up is a single from Rush from their new record Fly By Night, this is Best I can. They go on to play a minute or so of Best I Can with his mother talking over the song about how hard Howrad tried to do his very best. Cool.

Reader rmull's wife was recently watching adventure tourism TV series Globe Trekker and spotted a Counterparts t-shirt on host Megan McCormick.

I've been elf'd by reader joanna!! :)

Have a great holiday everybody!!!

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