Geddy Lee along with bandmate Alex Lifeson are helping out hospitality workers whose jobs have been affected by COVID-19 with both having donated signed guitars to the Save Hospitality online fine wine auction sponsored by 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). The auction kicked off via Waddington's Auctioneers & Appraiser this past Monday and will run through this coming Wednesday October 7th. Geddy Lee recently spoke with John Ivison of the National Post for a new interview to help promote the event and spoke a bit about the charity, Rush's legacy and his future plans:
... "Time goes by way to fast. A lot has happened in my life and I've been incredibly fortunate. But one can't keep looking back. You still have to get on with your life and do new things as my friend MJo (Canadian artist and singer writer Mendelson Joe) used to say, 'It's time to make new mistakes'." ... "It's interesting, I recently re-released my album (his 2000 solo album My Favourite Headache) on vinyl and that forced me to listen to it again. I'm very proud of it - it's a very intricate record, a deep record, and a lot of love and passion went into it. It did get me thinking that one day I'd like to take that on the road, so you never know. But I have no firm plans to do anything right now. It's not a time when one can plan much, so only time will tell if that comes to fruition," he said. ... "I go downstairs and play to keep my fingers juiced but that's about as far as I'm going right now with it."...
He was also asked about whether there was any old Rush material in the vaults and the possibility those could see the light of day at some point:
... "There's actually not much in the vaults. We were a band that used what we wrote and if we didn't like what we were writing, we stopped writing it. So there are really no unreleased Rush songs that were worth a damn. Recording our songs was so difficult and ambitious that we didn't do extra stuff and pick the best." ...
You can read the entire interview online at this location. The Save Hospitality auction features over 300 lots of exceptional wines and winery tours along with the signed guitars. The first guitar is a Geddy Lee Fender Signature Jazz Bass which can be seen in this listing, and the second guitar is an Alex Lifeson Gibson Les Paul Gold Top which can be seen in this listing. Both items are estimated to bring in between $15,000 and $18,000 CAD. They are also auctioning off a dinner for 8 guests hosted by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson which is expected to pull in $26K; you can view that listing here. Proceeds from the auction will directly benefit Ontario Hospitality front-line workers through the Toronto Restaurant Workers Relief Fund; the Bartender's Benevolent Fund; and independent Ontario restaurants through savehospitality.ca.
