UPDATE - 10/2@7:54PM: Oops! Several folks pointed out that I was missing Bravado from the poll. If you already voted and want to change your vote just shoot me an email.

This past week we learned several more details regarding Rush's upcoming CD/DVD compilation Working Men including the tracklist and cover art. For all the details check out this post. The compilation will be available on both CD and DVD this coming November 17th, and the CD is already available for pre-order at this link. It will include 11 cuts from their 3 most recent concert DVDs (Rush in Rio, R30, Snakes & Arrows Live) and the previously unreleased version of One Little Victory from R30, which will also appear on the upcoming R30 full concert re-release.

Speaking of the R30 full concert re-release, Power Windows recently reported that the release has been delayed until sometime in December although Amazon.com still has the release date listed as November 17th. Both the Blu-ray and DVD versions are now available for pre-order. So which of the 8 missing tracks are you most excited to see on the R30 re-release? Take the Poll and let us know (thanks to thedigitalman for the poll idea). Here are the results of the last poll where I asked everyone what their favorite September-released Rush album was. Signals was the clear winner with 35% of the vote and coming in a respectable 2nd was A Farewell to Kings with 21%.

With the upcoming release of yet another compilation album less than 1 year since the release of Retrospective 3, several fans have been wondering how this affects the band's obligations to their current record company Atlantic Records. Since the release of 2007's Snakes & Arrows I'd been consistently hearing that Rush owed Atlantic one more album but began to doubt this information with each subsequent release under Atlantic. Power Windows decided to go right to source and ask the band's management this question, and received the clarification that Rush owes Atlantic one more studio album. So neither compilation album nor Snakes & Arrows Live counts towards fulfilling this obligation, and it therefore looks like we can be guaranteed at least one more Rush studio album with Atlantic.

A couple of weeks ago Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson launched an auction of rock memorabilia on eBay as part of their Grapes Under Pressure initiative in support of Grapes for Humanity, an organization that helps to raise funds to benefit humanitarian causes around the world with the assistance of the international wine community. Geddy Lee is a member of the board of directors for the organization. The online auction ended this past Sunday and was a huge success. The actual Grapes Under Pressure fundraising event took place this past Saturday at the Tawse Winery in Vineland as described in this Sun Media article:

... Around 50 wine-lovers from Toronto descended on the Tawse winery in Vineland, each paying a minimum of $750 a ticket to pick grapes and enjoy some local wine at the Grapes for Humanity event.

"This is a way to celebrate Ontario wines and help people at the same time," said Geddy Lee, the lead singer of Rush and a director with Grapes for Humanity. "People feel really good when they do this, knowing they have helped someone on the other side of the world they have never met." ...

...Geddy said there are many people within the wine community with the capacity to make in a difference in the lives of less fortunate people around the world. ...

... "These are not light-weights. These are the kinds of people who really know their wines. They are lovers of European wine," Lee said. "The reactions that we're getting is that yes, this is fantastic wine and it's being made in their own backyard."

Lee hopes the Grapes Under Pressure event will become an annual or bi-annual fundraiser, but said it is too early to tell.

"It's going to depend on my work schedule and Tony's work schedule, but this has been really successful so I want to see it continue," he said.

Thanks to lilvictory for the heads up.

The Rush Backstage Club is running a new contest where you could win a Snakes & Arrows MVI (not signed). The contest ends on October 13th and you can sign up to enter at this link. Thanks to thomas for the heads up.

Last week we learned that Rush was once again left off the list of nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll of Fame. After the nominees were announced, RollingStone.com asked their readers what other acts they thought had been overlooked by the Rock Hall. The results were recently posted and the surprise winner of the poll was none other than Weird Al Yankovic! But coming in a close second was a favorite Canadian trio. You can check out the complete list at this link. On this same subject, Time magazine recently compiled a list of the Top 10 Rock Hall of Fame Snubs and Rush comes in at number 8. Here's what they had to say:

Rolling Stone has called Rush fans the "Trekkies" of rock - they defend their Canadian rock heroes vehemently. The band certainly has carved out a place in rock history. With 24 consecutive gold or platinum albums, they trail only The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. But commercial success belies a career that took the occasional wrong turn. Critics cite the band's over-fascination with synthesizers in the 1980s, but fans say the period is simply proof that Rush doesn't care about convention. That independent streak might keep Rush from the Hall, but it doesn't seem to bother them in the slightest - guitarist Alex Lifeson called the Hall selection process a "joke."

Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.

Speaking of John at Cygnus-X1.net, he recently posted the third installment of his Rush: A Brief History of Time series where he compiles scans of old Rush articles. You can check this latest batch out at this link. He has also combined all the items from the 3 installments and presented them on one page here. There are some real gems in this collection so a highly suggest that you check it out.

Last week Alex Lifeson's GarageBand Learn To Play Artist Lessons for Tom Sawyer and Limelight were made available for purchase at the Lesson Store for Apple's GarageBand software. A short preview video of Alex's Tom Sawyer lesson has been posted at the Apple GarageBand site. You can also watch it at this link. In the latest episode of the MacBreak Weekly podcast they discuss GarageBand, Alex's artist lesson and Rush in general from about the 22-30 minute mark. You can listen to and download the podcast at this link.

While on the subject of Lerxst, I'd posted last week about Alex Lifeson's cameo in the latest Trailer Park Boys movie - Countdown to Liquor Day - which opened for theatrical release in Canada last Friday. Alex plays a cross-dressing cop in the film as he described in a recent Prog interview. Trailer Park Boys creator/director Mike Clattenburg was recently interviewed by suite101.com and this to say regarding Alex Lifeson's involvement with the series and the films:

S101: I have to ask: how did you get Alex Lifeson in a dress?

"It goes way back to when we first started. The show came out and no one really liked it, everyone thought 'What is this cheap garbage?' Trailer Park Boys was a slow-burn: the audience had to get used to the characters and it's shot on a Handycam. It looks really cheap and people didn't realize that was by design. But once they got past that and tuned into the humour, they got it. But we didn't realize it: we thought, 'Oh my God, no one's getting our stuff.'

"Then I heard from a friend who said, 'There's a very prominent rock star who's a big fan of Trailer Park Boys. Can I give him your email?'

"So Alex sent me the sweetest email, saying 'I love the characters; I find the show very, very funny. Great work, congratulations. Alex Lifeson.'

"We sent emails back and forth, and I found that Alex is an actor in his own right: he's really good at sketching characters and I think that's why he appreciated the show. I find musicians tuned into our show long before most other people did. Musicians have an unusual sense of humour.

"I asked Lifeson to appear on an episode - called 'Closer to the Heart' - wrote the script and sent it to him. He came to town and the very first scene we did with Alex was in a car and we started improvising. Wells hit him with, 'Why don't you play your big, fancy f*****g guitar or whatever it is the fk you do!' and Lifeson loved it.

"Because you could go one of two ways: one is a Rush love-in, or you can flip it. And Ricky doesn't get it; he thinks Alex is from April Wine.

"So I asked Alex if he wanted to play a cop in the first film, and he said, 'Sure.' And we wanted to bring him back for the 2nd film and I thought, 'How do we put a twist on that? Maybe he's in disguise.' We shot that scene in one night and he was wonderful."

S101: How did you get past the fanboy thing?

"I never did. One time I was at his house at 3 am banging on pots and pans in his kitchen and I think we woke his wife up. But I admire Rush so much and, in particular, Alex. He doesn't make you feel that way; he makes you feel comfortable, but he's such a shining artist that I had to look at my feet sometimes."

Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

In last Friday's Updates Post I'd mentioned how Porcupine Tree has been touring the US in support of their new album The Incident and that Neil Peart was in attendance at the band's September 19th show at the Nokia in Los Angeles and also attended the after party. According to reader Jason Y not only was Neil at the LA show, but he attended all 4 of the west coast shows in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He rode his bike from show to show with Porcupine Tree guitarist John Wesley. The band played at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto on Wednesday and - just as we'd anticipated - Alex Lifeson was spotted although he did not make an onstage guest appearance (thanks RUSHGIRL).

Warning: this next item is for mature audiences only ... seriously. Reader Lamb Saag noticed that Rush's 2010 Wall Calendar - which has the girl from the Permanent Waves cover on the front - has made this Amazon.com list of the skankiest upskirt on Amazon!. I had no idea Amazon sold that kind of stuff!

unktehila located this Boston Globe article about how celestial bodies such as asteroids and comets are named. The article mentions how each member of Rush has a minor planet named after them (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart). More notable than that tidbit is the fact that they use this really cool photoshopped picture of Rush as planets in the article.

The band Phish will be holding their annual 3-day festival in Indio, CA - Festival 8 - this coming Halloween. The band has a Halloween tradition called a musical costume where they use the second of their 3 sets to cover another band's album in its entirety. On the band's website they are currently showing an animation depicting the album covers of the 99 possible albums that they might cover this Halloween. The website is slowly eliminating the albums with knives, arrows, axes, etc. all in Halloween fun. One of the albums in the running is Rush's Moving Pictures. Thanks to azwildcat for the news.

Mike Nieland from Guitar Center wanted me to let everyone know that Neil Peart's DW Snakes & Arrows Tour Kit will be the centerpiece of their booth at this year's Percussion Arts Society (PASIC) show in Indianapolis, IN. The show runs from November 11-14 and details can be found online at www.pasic.org. You can check out the flyer by clicking on the thumbnail to your right.

Back on September 15, 1990 Rush (minus Neil Peart) played at a charity tennis event at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, California called the Music & Tennis Festival. Also on the the bill were prog-rockers Kansas. At one point in their set Alex Lifeson made a guest appearance on guitar for their classic hit Carry On Wayward Son. RushFanForever located this bootleg audio of the performance that was posted to YouTube.

RushFanForever also located these old Rush concert photos from a 1977 show with Ted Nugent. Included is one photo of the boys backstage chatting with the Motor City Madman.

Fox News Channel's The Live Desk used Rush's The Big Money as the lead-in music for a story last Friday. Thanks to amoderndaywarrior2112 for the heads up.

Reader ladlenitz wanted me to let everyone know about his fantasy hocky league at Yahoo Sports. Serious Rush/hockey fans only. The league ID is 238970, and the password is gedalneil. Slots are available for the first nine comers. You can sign up at this link.

You may remember how I reported a few months ago that Alex Lifeson was in attendance at the sold out Chickenfoot show at The Mod Club Theatre in Toronto back in late May. Chickenfoot is the recently-formed supergroup consisting of vocalist Sammy Hagar (Van Halen), bassist Michael Anthony (Van Halen), guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). The band just wrapped up their tour earlier this week at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, CA and during soundcheck jammed out to Rush's The Spirit of Radio as seen in this video that was posted to YouTube (thanks C Sanders). The Rush part starts at around the 5:30 mark.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!

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