UPDATE - 10/19@5:07PM: Here's an article from the Boston Herald previewing Rush's upcoming TD Garden show (thanks between2wheels).
UPDATE - 10/19@2:08PM: A recent episode of the CBC's comedy show 22 Minutes included a skit on Rush's recent Rock Hall nomination. They talk with "Geddy Lee" and a surprise guest shows up. You can watch it below or at this link:
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Rush's Clockwork Angels tour machine made its way to the hometown of Toronto this past week for two shows at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday and Tuesday, then headed north to Montreal yesterday for their final Canadian date of the 2012 tour. In addition to both Rush shows, RushCon 12 took place in Toronto over the weekend. The band will now head back to The States to finish off the second half of the 2012 tour with a series of shows in the Eastern US, another 10-day break, and then a stretch of dates out West. Fans who purchased VIP ticket packages are growing more and more frustrated with VIP Nation since nobody seems to have received their package of Rush swag yet. VIP Nation has not been very forthcoming with details on the cause of the delay. Neil Peart drum tech Lorne Wheaton will be relaunching his website at LorneWheaton.com sometime tomorrow so stay tuned for that. You can also follow Lorne on Twitter at @LorneWheaton. In celebration of the tour, the Rush Backstage Club now has a Rush Clockwork Angels "Trucker" hat for sale at this location. When Rush was in town for their Philly show earlier this week, they made the Philadelphia Inquirer's Out and About column (thanks PhillyMike):
Canadian rockers Rush ate dinner at Red Owl at the new Hotel Monaco Friday night. The band played at the Wells Fargo Center that night.
For complete tour information along with an interactive tour map be sure to check out the tour section.
As I'd mentioned above, the 12th annual RushCon Rush fan convention took place in Toronto over this past weekend. The guest speakers this year were none other than Rush pyrotechnician/tour photographer John Arrowsmith, and Clockwork Angels: The Novel author Kevin J. Anderson. Events included a bunch of fun Rush-themed games, a photographic tribute to the late Andrew MacNaughtan, Rush tribute band Lotus Land, a Rush charity auction to benefit CARE Canada and an appearance by Neil Peart's 1974 Chrome Slingerland drum kit (aka Chromey). Rush's Sunday night performance at the Air Canada Centre capped off the weekend's events. In the lead up to the weekend festivities Beverly RushGirl Wintjes appeared on PRI's The World to discuss the convention and Rush's recent Rock Hall nomination. You can listen to her interview online at this location. There was also this great article from The National Post covering the convention, including several interview snippets from convention attendees and organizers. And author Kevin J. Anderson posted a report of his experience to his blog earlier this week including a bunch of great photos. For more details just go to RushCon.org, and be sure to follow RushCon on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on all the post-convention RushCon news.
In the lead up to Rush's show at the Prudential Center in Newark tomorrow, both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were interviewed and had some comments regarding the band's recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. Here are Alex Lifeson's comments from his interview with The Record:
... "I'm really happy for the Rush fans who feel that it is really important, and I hope we're inducted for their sake," guitarist Alex Lifeson said by phone from a tour stop in Philadelphia. The band plays Saturday in Newark. "Personally it never really mattered to me, but at the same time it's nice to be nominated." Lifeson said induction into the Rock Hall in Cleveland would not compare to the band's having received one of the prestigious Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in March, the highest honor bestowed on artists by the Canadian government. "The acknowledgement we got from the Canadian government, and by extension Canadians, is very dear to us," Lifeson said. "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is more a popularity contest." ...
And here are Geddy's comments from his Star-Ledger interview:
... Rush finally earned a nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - prompting some zealots to suggest that the long-snubbed trio should tell the selection committee to take a hike. "That's not very Canadian," says Lee, laughing. "It's an honor, and any time somebody wants to honor you, you should be gracious. But it's never been something that's been super-important to us. Awards are outside of you. We're aware that it means so much to the fans, and since it does, it has to mean something to me. I almost feel like they're vindicated more than we are. "It's hard to put into words what it means to us that our fans have been so passionate. It makes us want to play all the better. They've invested so much - we try very hard to make the shows worth it for them." ...
These were the first interviews where the band has commented on the nomination. On a related note, Willowdale, Ontario MPP David Zimmer gave a shout out to Rush and their Rock Hall nomination at a legislative session in Queen's Park on Monday (thanks RushFanForever):
"For Rush fans all over the world, and especially my constituents in Willowdale and all members of this legislature, congratulations to Willowdale's greatest rock band," Zimmer said. He said Rush was formed 44 years ago in his riding and they played many of the high schools before rising to fame.
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson grew up in Willowdale and Queen's Park is featured on the cover of Rush's 1981 breakthrough album, Moving Pictures. For complete coverage on Rush's Rock Hall nomination check out this post.
The Clockwork Angels album dropped over 30 spots on the Billboard 200 album charts in its 18th week of release, down to #167 from its #135 showing last week. The latest single from the album - The Wreckers - continues to hold steady in the top 10 on the Mainstream Rock Chart where it currently sits at #7.
This past Sunday the six Rush fans from across the globe who dubbed themselves The Edge Walk Angels met in Toronto to do the CN Tower Edge Walk all in the name of charity. The 6 fans are Mike Sword, Pamela Amos and David McLeod from Scotland, Ray Subject from Canada, Jennifer Ayers from the USA and Tracey Thomson from Australia. They all went through with it and ended up surpassing their fundraising goal. You can watch a video of their walk on YouTube at this location. For more information on the The Edge Walk Angels and how you can donate to their efforts, please visit their website here or on Facebook.
Last month Hudson Music announced the release of a full-color retrospective/transcription book companion to Neil Peart's third instructional DVD Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live Performance. The book is written by Hudson Music Senior Drum Editor Joe Bergamini with a foreword by Neil Peart. The book officially released this past Monday, October 15th and is now available for purchase via Amazon and other retailers. The book contains musical transcriptions, historical writing, instructional text, and a beautiful collection of photographs. You can check out a pdf sampler of the book here and a high-res version of the cover here. In celebration of the book's release both Eric at Power Windows and John at Cygnus-X1.net teamed up with Hudson Music to run separate contests to win a variety of items autographed by Neil Peart including a Bubba's coffe mug, a copy of Far & Away, a Taking Center Stage dvd and an Anatomy of a Drum Solo poster. On Tuesday both sites announced the winners of their respective contests. You can check out the Cygnus-X1.net winners here and the Power Windows winners here. If you didn't win that's ok because Drummer's Database is also running a contest to promote the new book. Their contest is open until November 3rd and you can enter at this location.
Peter Brocklehurst is a roadie, driver, small-time criminal, and - among other things - a friend of Neil Peart. They first met in London back in the early 70s. This time of Neil's life is chronicled in his book Traveling Music and Peter is mentioned (although not by name). They remained friends and Peter ended up being Neil's driver and personal assistant during the European leg of the Hold Your Fire tour. Back in 2006, Mr. Brocklehurst put together a diary of his times with Neil Peart over at The National Midday Sun messageboard. The site has since gone through a few overhauls and the posts are no longer available there, so Peter decided to create a new home for the stories at The Legends of Brocklehurst blog. You can check out the first installment at this link with further installments to be added in the near future.
Alex Lifeson made Ultimate Classic Rock's gallery of Funniest Guitar Faces this past week (thanks Keith C). And Gibson.com posted their list of the Top 10 Riffs of the '80s with Rush's Limelight coming in at #10 (thanks Jeremy):
You've got to love Alex Lifeson. Blessed (or cursed) with sharing trio space with one of the best bass players on the planet and probably the best drummer on Earth, Lifeson still manages to stand out with imaginative solos and, in the case of this Moving Pictures tour de force, major league riffage - his best since "Passage to Bangkok."
Reader byteme let me know that Rush's 2112 topped Tech Republic's list of the Top 10 best sci-fi inspired rock albums. Here's what they had to say:
1. Rush - 2112
John says: 2112 is the science-fiction rock album. From the ominous synth chords that introduce the piece to the spoken message of "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation" of The Grand Finale, it doesn't get any more rockin' or science fiction-in than 2112.
Jay says: Was there ever any doubt who would top this list?
Daniel Brockman at The Phoenix keeps the Rush-Ayn Rand connection discussion going (it never seems to end) with his article from earlier this week titled How Atlas Shrugged links Canadian prog-rock and our terrifying veep hopeful:
... In an interview this June with Rolling Stone promoting Clockwork Angels, Rush's latest, Peart responded to the Rand question by stating that he considers himself "a bleeding-heart libertarian," and expressed his disappointment in the way his initial concept of libertarianism got "twisted by the flaws of humanity." It was a washing of the hands, although it is interesting to consider his remarks in the context of his lyrics on Clockwork Angels, a solid platter from the band that nonetheless sees them continuing with themes of an all-controlling collective that squashes the opportunities of the gifted few. If Peart has slowly forsaken the overt worship at the temple of Rand, he still believes with a fiery passion in his rock-and-roll mission to ignite a righteous flame of individual indignation in the heart of his listeners...
In the run up to Rush's upcoming Newark and Brooklyn shows, The Village Voice wrote a piece on Neil Peart's monstrous drum kit titled Neil Peart's Rush to Excellence. They ask 2 drum experts whether every piece of Neil's kit is absolutely necessary:
... "It's clearly not just for show, I can assure you that," ... "A lot of those '80s guys that came out with these ridiculous sets with four bass drums and two gongs, that's all for show. There's really only three drummers that can truly justify a set that's the size of a fucking warehouse: Terry Bozzio, Mike Portnoy, and Neil."...
A few members of the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble were guests on Kim Mitchell's show on Toronto's Q107 this past Monday and a short, 2-minute video from the appearance was posted to YouTube. You can watch the video below or at this link (*SPOILERS*):
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!
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