UPDATE - 4/3@12:29PM: The 3 lucky book winners are Eric S, Kelly D and Kevin C. Thanks for playing! :)
The theme of the past week seems to have been Rush History 101. We celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Moon Records release of Rush's debut album, uncovered an old photo of Rush as Hadrian from 1969, cleared up some misconceptions regarding another old Rush photo, and I April Fooled you all with my pre-1974 Rush videos post. Continuing on that early Rush theme, Michael of NeilPeartDrumsticks.com just sent me yet another old picture of Rush with Mitch Bossi which also looks like it was taken during the same shoot as the photo discussed in my previous post. You can check it out at this link or click on the thumbnail above. On the subject of early Rush, I thought for my next poll I'd ask you which of Rush's early unreleased (not on an album at least) tracks is your favorite. The tracks are Bad Boy, Can't Fight It, Fancy Dancer, Garden Road and Not Fade Away. If you've never heard these before you can give them a listen using the player below. Then take the Poll and let us know which one you like the best.
Earlier this week Neil Peart updated the News Page on his website,
discussing time recently spent at his retreat in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec. He describes the recent installation of a cell phone tower close to his home there, and curses the intrusion of technology to his soulscape. He calls the red light from the tower the eye of satan and chronicles a quest he and his neighbor went on last winter to see the tower up close, complete with several beautiful photographs. You can read the the entire thing and check out the photos at this link.
It's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction time once again; the induction ceremony takes place this weekend at Public Hall in Cleveland, OH. MSNBC posted a great article earlier this week titled Why the Rock Hall says: No Rush for you! by Tony Sclafani which discusses the snubbing of Rush and other progressive rock acts by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selection committee. There's also this poll at Newsvine asking the question Do bands like Rush belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?. You know the answer - go vote! (thanks to Power Windows for the heads up) And I highly suggest you read this article at Fox News that does a wonderful job of explaining the important distinction between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation - the entity which selects inductees every year - and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum itself.
Wednesday was April Fools' Day and I hoodwinked many of you with my Rare pre-1974 Rush videos post. Buffalo's 97 Rock got in on the action with an April Fools' joke of their own which was centered around Rush. They reported that Rush played a surprise show at the old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (which is in the process of being demolitioned) on March 31st. You can check out the article at this link.
On Wednesday we got to see a fantastic new interview with Geddy Lee in the latest Heeb magazine. Yesterday we were treated by RushFanForever to some scans of Geddy Lee's recent feature in Spin magazine. Reader PhillyMike let me know that Geddy is also mentioned in this week's Entertainment Weekly Bullseye section. Geddy is pictured as on target along with this caption:
The revival of Rush: Bullseye wishes he paid more attention in the '80s instead of being weirded out by all the guys in high school who tried to grow Geddy Lee hair.
You can check out a scan of the feature here or by clicking on the thumbnail above (thanks Kelly D for the scan). In the same issue, there's a letter to the editor from a reader asking where she could get one of the wines that Geddy mentioned he liked in his EW interview that ran a couple weeks ago. It turns out that only one barrel of the wine was made by the restaurant owner, who gives it only to important people.
The Rush-reference-filled movie I Love You Man - which features a cameo from Rush themselves - continued to do well in its 2nd week of release coming in 4th place with 12.6 million. Today sees the release of yet another film which contains a Rush reference. Adventureland is a comedy set in the summer of 1987 which centers around a recent college grad who takes a job at his local amusement park. The trailer for the film features Rush's Limelight although there's no Rush on the soundtrack (unlike the I Love You Man soundtrack), and there's a character in the film who is a Rush-obsessed park employee.
A couple weeks ago Harmonix - the makers of the popular Rock Band video game - announced that they'd be releasing a Rock Band Classic Rock Edition this coming May 19th which will include 2 Rush tracks; Closer to the Heart and Red Barchetta. Both tracks had already been made available for individual download last year. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.
Thanks to Sean, I finally have the final sales numbers in for the 2008 Snakes & Arrows tour! The dates that had been missing were the western Canada dates along with Indianapolis, Atlanta and Milwaukee. I also updated the tour page. Here they are:
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park - Alpharetta, GA - July 22 - 10,559/12,000 - $701,025
Verizon Wireless Music Center Indianapolis, IN - July 24 - 9,987/24,000 - $445,652
Marcus Amphitheater Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Summerfest - June 27 - 11,272/25000 - $787,005
GM Place - The Garage - Vancouver, B.C. - May 29 - 10,150/14,000 - $589,540 CDN
Rexall Place - Edmonton, Alb - May 27 - 8,779/11,250 - $496,569 CDN
Brandt Centre - Regina, SK - May 25 - 5,548/6,186 - $375,778 CDN
MTS Center - Winnipeg, MB - May 24 - 7,802/10,333 - $419,459 CDN
A World Without Divide: The Night Sarah Came Home is a science-fiction novel from first time author William Joseph which came out this past November. The book focuses on a group of college students who manage to survive a cataclysmic event in the near future brought about by a multi-national, governmental social-conditioning experiment called the Utopia Project whose leaders intend to re-populate and inhabit Earth with perfectly-conditioned members of their utopian society. You can learn more about the book and read a short excerpt at this link. The story has many parallels with Ayn Rand's Anthem and Rush's 2112 story, so the author thought I might enjoy it and was kind enough to send me a copy. Being both a science-fiction fan and Rush fan I really enjoyed it. He's offered to give away 3 more free copies to anyone who is interested - just shoot me an email. The first 3 people to email me get the books! The books have been spoken for!
AskMen.com have a feature up on their website titled 5 Things You Didn't Know: Rush. Thanks to robertkincaid96 for the heads up.
Several classic rock stations across the nation are conducting their annual March Madness battle of the bands competitions. Rush has made it to the Elite 8 in WDVE's Greatest Band Ever bracket. They are currently up against The Who. You know what to do. And UK magazine NME is running a greatest drummer poll where you can vote for Neil Peart. Thanks to Graham T for the heads up.
A few weeks ago I let you know that SaltyRockz t-shirts had released their first Rush t-shirt; a Rush star with the names Geddy, Alex, Neil overlain. You can check it out at this link. Next week they'll be releasing 3 more t-shirts; one for each member of the band. Here's a teaser image of the Geddy design.
I'll leave you this week with this rare, pre-1974 live video of Rush performing The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again:
Have a great weekend everybody!
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