Geddy Lee's long-awaited memoir My Effin' Life will be released next month via Harper Collins, and is currently available for pre-order via Amazon and other retailers. Geddy Lee will be conducting a spoken word In Conversation tour in support of the book starting next month, and tickets for a series of UK dates went on sale last week, with the North American dates on sale this past week. Pre-sales for the North American dates finished up yesterday, and the general on-sale begins/began TODAY at 10AM (local venue time). The North American leg will kick off Monday, November 13th at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, followed up by another 13 dates across the US and Canada throughout late November and early December. The North American leg ends on December 7th at Massey Hall in Toronto before crossing the pond for the UK tour in Wolverhampton on Sunday, December 10th. Here is the complete list of North American dates along with information for purchasing tickets, from the official announcement:
GEDDY LEE - MY EFFIN' LIFE IN CONVERSATION - NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:
Mon Nov 13 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
Wed Nov 15 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met Philadelphia
Fri Nov 17 - National Harbor, MD - The Theater at MGM National Harbor
Sat Nov 18 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens
Sun Nov 19 - Cleveland, OH - State Theatre at Playhouse Square
Tue Nov 21 - Montréal, QC - Théâtre Maisonneuve
Thu Nov 23 - Vancouver, BC - The Centre in Vancouver
Fri Nov 24 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
Sun Nov 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic
Tue Nov 28 - Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre
Thu Nov 30 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
Sun Dec 03 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre
Mon Dec 04 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore Detroit
Thu Dec 07 - Toronto, ON - Massey HallTICKET INFO:
General on sale beginning Friday, October 6th at 10am local time at Ticketmaster.com.
Every ticket purchased includes a first edition hard copy of Geddy Lee My Effin' Life which will be provided to ticket holder upon entry into the venue.
There is a 4 ticket limit per person. ... $1 per ticket is going to the Neil Peart Memorial At Lakeside Park fund. The project and its timelines are contingent on the task force raising the $1 million fundraising goal established for the project. Donations of any size can be made towards the memorial project online at www.stcatharines.ca/neilpeart. The sooner the task force can achieve its fundraising objectives through the generosity of Peart's fans, the sooner the community and his fans will be able to see the results.
The book is slated for release on November 14th, and will be available in hard cover, on kindle, and as an audiobook (CD version available). From the tour announcement:
... The evening promises to be an extraordinary experience, a once-in-a-life-time event. After the curtain rises, Geddy Lee will give his fans a peek into the very fabric of his life: from a deep reflection into his family and childhood, to a steep dive into the history of Rush; from the determined pursuit of music, to the personal memories of his life-long friends and band-mates Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart.
Joined on stage by a special guest interviewer, Geddy Lee will be reading key passages from his forthcoming book My Effin' Life; he will then share thoughts and stories taken from his experience. Fans will then have the chance to participate in a special Q&A, with Geddy Lee answering their questions directly.
"Writing this book has meant spending so much time living in the past. I've never lived my life looking anywhere but forward, which is why I resisted doing this kind of thing for so long. Being in a band all those years was reassuring because it was an ongoing thing. It felt like it was forever. There was always unfinished business: the next record, the next set design, the next tour. It's been the theme of my life. But you need a lot more determination to proceed in the world of music without the comfort of your bandmates, and I can only hope that finishing this book will release me to return to what I do and love best." - Geddy Lee ...
Geddy was a guest on Planet Rock Radio last week, and spoke briefly with Darren Redick about the book and upcoming tour. You can listen to the 8-minute interview below or online here.
Ged began hitting the interview circuit this week, so expect several more interviews with him popping up online over the next week or two. Geddy also posted a teaser for the upcoming tour to Instagram earlier this week which included some unknown music playing in the background that fans are speculating could be a new composition from Geddy. Hmm...
Goldmine magazine posted an article this past week titled Rush tunes that really emphasize Geddy Lee's brilliant bass playing, where they highlight some of Geddy's more impressive bass performances, including Cygnus X-1, Xanadu, and La Villa Strangiato to name a few.
Session drummer Simon Phillips was recently interviewed for Sonic Perspectives, and spoke a bit about his involvement with Neil Peart's Burning for Buddy tribute. You can listen to the interview at this location with the Neil Peart part coming in at around the 24-minute mark (thanks RushFanForever).
Starsinsider.com posted their list of The 30 greatest rock bands of all time this past week, and Rush made the cut at #29:
Hailing from Canada, Rush are celebrated for their progressive rock sound. The band, made up of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart, created music that became a staple of the genre.
UltimateClassicRock.com posted an article on 45 Surprising Opening Act and Headliner Combinations earlier this week, and Rush was included both as an opener (KISS) and headliner (Mr. Big):
Rush for Kiss, 1974
In 1974, Kiss didn't have a lot of touring experience under their belt but neither did Rush, whom they invited to be their opener. "I'd heard "Working Man" somewhere or other, and to me, Rush sounded like the Canadian Zeppelin," Gene Simmons told Classic Rock in 2022. Both bands got along great. "[We] got to see how hard they worked," Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson said in a 2010 interview. "I know Geddy [Lee] said quite often that there's not harder working band than Kiss. ... We learned a lot from those guys."
Mr. Big for Rush, 1990
In 1989, Mr. Big released a song called "Addicted to That Rush." Whether or not that had anything to do with them being booked the following year as an opener for the Canadian rock legends isn't clear, but it probably didn't hurt their cause. "I was blown away," guitarist Paul Gilbert recalled in 2016, remembering the moment Mr. Big got the call saying they secured the gig opening for their "huge heroes."
Former Alex Lifeson guitar tech Scott Appleton was recently interviewed for an episode of the Unstrung Heroes podcast on
the RJM Music Technology YouTube channel, and spoke at length about Rush and his time working with Alex. You can listen to the entire interview on YouTube here (thanks RushFanForever).
Classic Rock magazine posted an article this past week where they highlight The most played live songs by 25 iconic rock bands, one of which is Rush, whose 2112: Part II: The Temples Of Syrinx is the track they've played the most over the years:
Trust Rush to make it difficult. Not only is their most played 'song' actually a drum solo - because of course it would be if the late, great Neil Peart was your drummer - but the actual song they've played is part of a bigger, multi-part epic. But the statistics speak for themselves, and it's the second - and frankly most memorable - section of the title track of 1975's 2112 album that takes the honours.
Smashing Pumpkins discussed Rush's influence on their music during a recent studio interview with Alan Cross. A video snippet of Billy Corgan from the interview was posted to Instagram where Corgan says the following (thanks Thomas P):
... We took our cues from Rush ... If you're going to play, you've got to play to that level. And you can imagine trying to bring Rush's esthetic and musical approach into alternative music was somthing that 99% of the jerks in the hipster world did not understand. Now, they think it's cool ...
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend everybody!!
