The big news of the last week was Neil Peart's original Slingerland drum kit being put up for auction on eBay. The bidding is already up over $10,000 and the auction runs through Sunday. For all the details and to place your bid go to this link at eBay.

About a month ago the news came out that Rush's Grace Under Pressure Tour video would finally be released as a standalone audio CD this coming Tuesday, August 11th. Earlier this week we learned that the CD is now available for pre-order at Amazon and other online retailers. Rush recorded this show back on September 21, 1984 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto and later released the video on both VHS and LaserDisc. In 2006 they released a remastered DVD version of the concert as part of the Replay X3 Box Set which also included a bonus audio CD of the Grace Under Pressure Tour video. They later made the DVD available to be purchased as a separate item.

The Classic Rock presents ... Prog special Rush issue became available on Wednesday. The feature story is titled Everything's Fun Again Now! Alex Lifeson on RUSH & the story of Prog Metal and the issue features 4 separate collectible Rush covers each representing a different era of the band (click on the thumbnails above to see the covers). Starting with this issue international customers are now able to purchase the magazine online via this link.

Tuesday we found out that Rush now has an official Twitter page. To check out their page and follow their updates just go to twitter.com/rushtheband. So far they have 2 tweets posted. And in case you didn't already know, RIAB is on Twitter too. Rush also has an official Facebook page and an official MySpace page.

This past Tuesday Survivorman creator and host Les Stroud was a guest on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The 2 got to talking about the fact that Les is Canadian and once worked as a music video set builder. It turns out he worked on the set of Rush's The Big Money music video. For a transcript of the exchange as well as video, check out this post.

Axe Heaven makes miniature replica guitars of famous musicians, including several Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson models. I've mentioned them a couple of times in the past and Eric over at the Power Windows site has collaborated with Jason from Axe Heaven to help ensure that the replicas were as accurate as possible. They currently have 2 Alex Lifeson replicas, a Geddy bass replica and a Geddy 3-bass set replica. I'd mentioned last month that they'd also soon have a Geddy Lee Rickenbacker 4001 as well as a Neil Peart Snakes & Arrows kit replica available. The Neil Peart Snakes & Arrows kit replica is now available for purchase for $59.99. The kit is made from solid wood and metal parts and includes 12 drums, 9 cymbals, sticks, stands and a stool. For all the details along with photos, and to purchase one for yourself go to this link. Only 20 of the kits have been made so far so act quickly if you want one. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

I often get a lot of questions from readers regarding information about a particular Rush tour or tour date, and I almost always direct them to the Power Windows Tour Archive. This page has every known tour date and tour for Rush listed along with scans of ticket stubs and concert posters. Site owner/administrator Eric does a great job of compiling all this information and recently made a significant number of updates which he wrote about in this post:

... For the last few months, fellow fans Skip Daly, Heiko Klages, Jeff AnalogKidAudioVideo, and Darren RushFanForever have separately provided many details to verify and/or dispel rumored tourdates and setlists dating back to 1974. Skip and Jeff have been invaluable in cleaning up the early setlist and tourdate info, and Jeff has even helped dispel a long standing rumor that Rush opened for Styx during the All The World's A Stage Tour (the opposite was true, meaning the infamous "Seattle '76" show is now believed to be March 28th, 1976, i.e. from the 2112 tour.). Heiko has long been providing many historical newspaper clippings from the 70's, including this humorous review of Rush's second show ever in the UK, June 2, 1977. For more information, check the tourdates and setlists found in the Tour Archives area, especially for those distant tours from the mid-70's.

Today, I've added something that fellow Rush historians will find very special, a poster and newspaper review of a "lost show" which predates the 2112 tour by a couple of weeks. Rush fan Max Lobster unearthed a very interesting newspaper article from the Brantford Collegiate Institute in Ontario. The story includes a very informative interview with Geddy Lee, given after a show in the BCI gym. In the interview, Geddy discusses the concepts found in their 'soon to be released' album, 2112. The article doesn't give the date of the concert, unfortunately, but fellow fan RushFanForever found a BCI graduate online who still has in his possession the show's concert poster from February 21st, 1976; this means that this show took place at least two weeks before the 2112 tour was previously believed to have begun. Personally, I believe that Rush likely performed more than one show in Ontario before kicking off the 2112 tour, hopefully more information can be unearthed in the future. Check out both the poster and review of the BCI concert here.

Used Bin Radio is a weekly internet radio talk show geared towards Classic, Modern and Progressive Rock. Hosts Joe and Brad are lifelong Rush fans as well as RIAB fans; their shows are chock full of Rush bumper music and references. The show airs live on Tuesday nights from 8-10PM PST (11-1 EST) on purerockradio.net and is also syndicated on progrock.com and redeyeradionetwork.com. Past shows can be listened to via podcast at this link. I'll be a guest on this coming Tuesday's show if everything goes according to plan, so listen in if you get a chance.

There's an article on influential Cream drummer Ginger Baker in the latest Rolling Stone magazine. The article includes the following quote from Neil Peart:

"His playing was revolutionary - extrovert, primal, and inventive," says Rush drummer Neil Peart. "He set the bar for what rock drumming could be. I certainly emulated Ginger's approach to rhythm - his hard, flat, percussive sound was very innovative. Everyone who came after built on that foundation. Every rock drummer since has been influenced in some way by Ginger - even if they don't know it."

Thanks to PuppetKing2112 at The Rush Forum for the quote and RushFanForever for the heads up.

Kurt sent me this link to a cool jazz version of Tom Sawyer by Gary Novak's jazz band Sundogs.

Rush's A Passage to Bangkok was the Travel Song of the Day a couple of weeks ago at Worldhum.com, the travel blog of the Travel Channel. Thanks to Power Windows for the link.

Rush gets a brief mention towards the beginning of this review of a recent Steely Dan show. Thanks to Will C for the heads up.

There's a new Rush Forum to let you all know about. It's called The Rush On and you can check it out at this link.

Reader Rob F noticed a Rush reference in this recent LifeHacker.com article which talks about Project Playlist. Just check out the graphic they use - they have good taste in music. :)

The Guardian's music blog put up a post last week where readers recommended songs about failure. The idea was to propose songs that recognize when things have gone wrong. Rush's Red Barchetta made the cut:

I would put a Rush track on every single week if I was allowed. This one is from their wedge-cut and leather tie years and it concerns an over-watched young chap whose only weekend desire is to, "elude the Eyes and hop the turbine freight, to far outside the wire where my white-haired uncle waits". It's a metaphor for sexuality and freedom, you see.

Thanks to Tom A for the heads up.

Reader Graham GB38457 alerts us that the UK's Planet Rock online radio station is taking votes to determine the Greatest Albums of All Time. You know what to do; vote for Rush!

Reader Drodham let me know that rocker Tom Morello (Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine) gave Neil Peart a mention in a recent Twitter post:

Keith moon, phil rudd (ac/dc), neil peart, charlie watts, mitch mitchell, maybe a couple more, and meg white. Great stylists, unique artists

Morello had also given a birthday shout-out to Geddy Lee on his Twitter page last week.

Ever wonder what Rush album artist Hugh Syme looks like? Reader RushFanForever found this online bio of Hugh which includes a photo.

Our own air guitar/drum master LanceTheShred (host of RatCon 2009) will be competing in the US Air Guitar finals tonight in Washington DC. Lance was featured in an NBC news story about the event which you can watch below. Lance assures me that Rush will be well-represented in his performance this evening.

Good luck Lance! Have a great weekend everybody!

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