Geddy Lee wrapped up the North American leg of his My Effin' Life spoken word book tour last night back home in Toronto at Massey Hall, where he recruited his BFF and band-mate Alex Lifeson as guest interviewer. Alex had been rumored as the interviewer for several weeks, and fans in attendance were given a hint when the doors opened and a Barbie doll was spotted sitting on the shelf between the 2 chairs on stage. Alex was known for having Barbie dolls on his side of the stage during Rush's last several tours as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the perceived lack of female Rush fans. Fans were also greeted by signs around the venue saying that the show would be filmed, and there were indeed several cameras set up around the venue. This would indicate that they plan to release this in some way at a future date. When Alex came out and signed in as the guest interviewer, he wrote My Effin' Lifeson on the board, along with a string of randomly scattered blahs, as seen in this video. Al then interviewed Ged for the first half. George Stroumboulopoulos (aka Strombo) was introduced for the fan Q&A portion of the show, and he also had Alex come out for a spell to answer some questions. You can get full coverage of the evening's festivities in this post. Geddy began the book tour back on November 13th in New York City with Paul Rudd as guest interviewer. He then headed to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston, Cleveland, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and Detroit before last night's show, in addition to a virtual event Tuesday night. Geddy will now head across the pond for the UK portion of the tour, which will consist of 5 shows starting this coming Sunday in Wolverhampton. You can get all the details and learn how to get tickets at Rush.com.
All the North American shows have followed essentially the same format, so UK fans can expect something similar. Those in attendance all receive a hardback edition of My Effin' Life along with a 16-page program. There is also a merch table set up where fans can purchase souvenirs t-shirts, posters and more. Rush has set up an online form where attendees can submit questions for Geddy prior to the show at this link. Each show thus far has featured a wide variety of surprise guest interviewers, ranging from famous actors and musicians, to not-so-famous music writers, to radio DJs, and more. Some of the bigger names included Paul Rudd in NYC, actor Eric McCormack at both the Washington D.C. and Boston appearances, actor Jay Baruchel in Montreal, Krist Novoselic in Seattle, drummer Matt Cameron in San Franciso, Matt Stone in Denver, Jack Black in LA, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil in Chicago, and drummer Chad Smith in Detroit. Other interviewers included showrunner/producer Brian Koppelman (Philly), DJ Pierre Robert (Philly), singer/songwriter Jann Arden, journalist Geoff Edgers (Boston), journalist Rob Tannenbaum (Cleveland), Donna Halper (Cleveland), Jann Arden (Vancouver), and Strombo (Toronto). The show begins with a 15-minute slideshow before the secret guest interviewer is revealed. Ged is then interviewed for about 40-5 minutes, before closing out the 1st part by reading a book excerpt. The trailer for Geddy's docu-series on Paramount Plus Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? is then shown before the intermission. Ged returns after intermission and reads another book excerpt before the fan Q&A. Several of the shows thus far have featured another, different guest running the Q&A session. Otherwise, the original interviewer also runs this portion. After the Q&A, Ged has been taking audience selfies that are then made available for download after the show at Rush.com. The entire program lasts about 2 hours. Also of note, the 2 new, unreleased tracks from the My Favorite Headache sessions that Geddy released with the audiobook and for streaming earlier this week (Gone and I Am ... You Are) were played during the intermission and at the end of the show. John at Cygnus-X1.net has transcribed the lyrics for both songs and made them available here.
A few My Effin' Life book reviews and new interviews with Geddy surfaced over the past week, including this review from the NY Times, and another from the UK's Express. On the interview front, there was this short print interview with the Oakland Press, this Readers Digest interview from prior to the book release, and this podcast interview with NPR's World Cafe Words and Music Podcast (thanks RushFanForever). The highlight of the week as far as interviews go, was Geddy's guest appearance on CBS Sunday Morning this past weekend with Jim Axelrod. The main interview in the story was just with Geddy, but they did also have a few snippets of Axelrod chatting with both Lee and Lifeson at Henderson Brewing. The full story is now available to stream here or on YouTube at this location.
Just prior to the release of My Effin' Life last month, Geddy Lee announced that he'd be including 2 new, unreleased songs from the My Favorite Headache sessions as part of the audio book release, with a streaming release to follow. As promised, earlier this week the tracks were released on all major streaming platforms as The Lost Demos, and you can listen to the tracks on YouTube or other streaming services. The two tracks are titled Gone and I Am ... You Are, and here's what he told Rolling Stone about how discovering the tracks gave him the itch to start writing music again:
... "It's really whet my appetite to get back to doing something musically," ... "So now I've got the charge in me again." What that means is still a little uncertain, he admits. He's been talking to his former Rush bandmate Alex Lifeson about potentially collaborating and he's already planning to begin work on a solo project next year. As for the older tracks, each one plays a role in his memoir. "Gone" is a downtempo song he wrote after the death of Selena Taylor. The 19-year-old daughter of late Rush drummer Neil Peart died in a car crash in 1997. Peart's wife died less than a year later of cancer. In his memoir, Lee describes the song as too emotionally raw to release at the time, though he now says it feels like an appropriate reflection on loss. "It's kind of connected to the theme of my book, so I feel very good about that coming to light," he said in an interview. "You'll see that it's not just about that specific loss. It's about loss in general and that horrible feeling you have when somebody is suddenly out of your life and your brain is scrambling to make sense of it. "I Am.. You Are" is closer to what fans will expect, Lee supposes. It digs into the heart of a conflict between two longtime romantic partners. In his memoir, Lee credits his wife Nancy Young for standing by him during his decades on the road. ...
Geddy Lee's new docuseries Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? premiered this past Tuesday on Paramount Plus and all episodes are currently available to stream for subscribers, with the first episode provided for free. The four-part series features in-depth conversations between Geddy Lee and Nirvana's Krist Novoselic, Metallica's Rob Trujillo, Primus' Les Claypool, and Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, as seen in the show's trailer and this video clip with Les Claypool. Banger Films produced the show, and hosted a premiere screening event in Toronto Wednesday evening as described in this Toronto Sun article which also includes some new interview snippets with Geddy. He spoke mostly about the show, but also threw in some tidbits about the potential of he and Alex recording music again:
... "Of course, Rush, that band as it existed, is no more," said Lee, 70, at a screening of his new four-episode TV show on Wednesday night in Toronto. So, yes, we do have a legacy that I respect and (guitarist) Alex (Lifeson) and I will be celebrating 50 years doing that. What we'll do about it, I just don't know yet." The last time Lee and Lifeson jammed together was in October 2022 at Lee's home studio. "It was fun," said Lee. "It felt great. It felt very natural. We recorded a bunch of stuff. It was just a jam session. It wasn't a song. And we looked at each other and said, 'Yeah, I think if we want to do this again, I think we could do it again.'" ...
You can check out some photos from the event here and here. There is also some video coverage here and here. As mentioned above, the first episode featuring Primus' Les Claypool is FREE for all to stream online here, with the other 3 episodes available for Paramount Plus subscribers.
Alex Lifeson was just as busy as his bandmate this past week. In addition to hosting Geddy's Toronto appearance last night, Lerxst made a guest appearance at the annual Andy Kim Christmas show at Massey Hall Wednesday night. Other guests included Broken Social Scene, Metric, The Sadies, Molly Johnson, Ron Sexsmith, Dan Hill, Scott Helman, High Flyer and more. Alex performed the Andy Kim classic Sugar Sugar with Kim as seen here. He also sat in on the all-star jam of the FREE classic All Right Now as seen here. You can check out an audience-shot video of the entire program on YouTube here. Alex also posted a photo of himself from last night's show to his IG, along with this message:
Had a fun time last night playing with so many great artists at the Andy Kim Christmas Special. Debut gig for my new LERXST CHI amp and the By-Tor pedal. Both performed perfectly! See you next year, Andy! ~ Lerxst
Speaking of the By-Tor pedal that Alex mentioned, last week Lifeson and Mojotone announced the launch of LERXST Amplifiers - a new family of amplifiers inspired by the Rush guitarist's five decades of musical exploration on the guitar. The initial launch included an OMEGA amplifier head, CHI amplifier head and combo, and an accompanying range of matching guitar cabinets. On Wednesday they announced the addition of a new drive pedal dubbed the Lerxst By-Tor to the LERXST Amps line. From the announcement:
... The Lexrst By-Tor is a compact, pedalboard-friendly version of the OMEGA that promises to replicate the head's same intensity and growl that the tube amp is known for. The By-Tor is capable of jumping from light and crunchy drive sounds to tube-like overdriven chaos with the touch of a few controls. Its drive section features typical controls: drive (for setting the amount of desired distortion), tone (for adjusting top-end sparkle and treble), and level (for adjusting output).
You can learn more about the LERXST By-Tor at reverb.com, and see a demonstration of the pedal in action on YouTube.
Earlier this month, global restaurateur HMSHost in partnership with Rush beer producers Henderson Brewing opened up the Henderson Brewery at YYZ at Toronto Pearson Airport. The 28 seat bar/restaurant is now open in the arrivals area of Terminal 1, easily accessible to both domestic and international passengers, as well as visitors to the airport. The bar has been outfitted with original artifacts from Rush's touring and recording career, and features exclusive merchandise and takeaway beer only available at Henderson YYZ. They've also revealed a new beer in celebration of the opening - Fly By Night Pale Ale!
A Fender Precision Bass Guitar signed by both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson is up for auction to raise money for Make Music Matter, a non-profit helping heal trauma in Indigenous Canadian communities. Bidding is currently up over $3K, and you can place a bid of your own here. The auction will run through December 13th at 4:30PM EST. Learn more at charitybuzz.com.
FANTOONS has released their officially-licensed Rush 2024 desk calendar celebrating 50 years of Rush. Although Rush has released official wall calendars annually going back several years, they've never done a desk calendar before, so this is new. The calendar features cool retro cassette-inspired artwork of twelve Rush albums, chock full of geeky nods to some of your favorite Rush songs. This 4.37" x 7.52" calendar is neatly compact and perfect for desks, offices or on the shelf along side your other Rush memorabilia. To get all the details and purchase one of these unique items, visit the FANTOONS website here.
April Wine's Myles Goodwyn passed away this past week at the age of 75, and Rush's Alex Lifeson posted a tribute message to his Instagram account:
I was in Halifax last summer shooting yet another @trailerparkboysofficial episode and Myles had dropped by to say hi. I had no idea he was ill. I recall the summer of 1971 when I worked at a gas station and April Wine's hit single, "Fast Train", played frequently on the crappy AM radio in our tiny booth. Years later they opened for @rush on one of our US tours. My condolences to his family.
~ Lerxst
This week's episode of the Something for Nothing podcast featured hosts Steve and Gerry doing a deep dive on Geddy's My Effin' Life, and their thoughts about it. You can listen in here or wherever you get your podcasts.
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#209) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their Test For Echo album discussion with the track Driven.
The popular YouTube reaction channel The Charismatic Voice with professional opera singer and vocal coach Elizabeth Zharoff featured an analysis of Rush's Xanadu this past week. This was the 4th Rush song that Zharoff has tackled on the channel - she featured The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer and 2112 last year. In addition to her really enjoying the song, she provides a lot of interesting commentary on the music and Geddy's voice in particular. You can check it out below or on YouTube here.
Whew! That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!
