Geddy Lee's hugely successful My Effin' Life spoken word book tour spanned 19 shows across the US, Canada, and UK this past November and December, and is the subject of a cover feature in the latest edition of Pollstar magazine (thanks RushFanForever). The feature includes interview snippets with Geddy Lee, Gerry Barad (VP of booking at Live Nation Global Touring), IAG's Adam Kornfeld (agent representing Geddy), UTA's Neil Warnock (agent representing Geddy in the UK), and Meg Symsyk of Rush's management. Here's an excerpt where Geddy talks about how the tour came together:
... "I was really amazed how well it all came together," Lee said, explaining the concept for a conversational environment "still in keeping with my attitude towards production, you know. I had to have some bells and whistles for fun." A component of that was a special (and secret) guest host each night, which meant super fans like Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Les Claypool, Matt Stone, Melissa Auf der Maur and still others making for a unique experience each night. Adding to the surprise, Rush co-founder/guitarist Alex Lifeson was the special guest host on the final date in both North America and the UK, much to the delight of fans. "Most importantly, the second half of the show would be an interchange between myself and fans," said, Lee, 70, explaining that while he did a more traditional meet-and-greet signing setup to coincide with the release of "Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass" coffee table book in 2019, that environment didn't offer the best experience for fans or himself in a post-COVID, socially distanced world. He credits "invaluable" manager Meg Symsyk with helping put together the tour, along with his brother Allan Weinrib who has been part of previous Rush projects. ...
The article also addresses the possibility of more music from Geddy, and this year's Rush 50th anniversary:
... the occasion of "R50" - 50 years since Neil Peart joined Rush, in time for the band's second album, Fly By Night - does not go unnoticed. "When the band is ready to share what they would like to do to celebrate R50, they will let everyone know," Symsyk says. Lee himself says he is eager to work on new music, although what that means appears to still be taking shape. "Right now, I'm sort of trying to figure out what the next steps for me are. I'm not sure that I want to do more of these things," he says, referring to the speaking engagements. "They were fascinating and I enjoyed every minute of it, but talking about my life as a career? I'm not so sure I want to do that. I have some big decisions to make and I'm pondering," he adds. "I would like to get back to writing music and see where that takes me. I would like to do some things in music before I shut the door on that option. So I just need some time now. I spent almost three years working on this book and the last two months were fairly intense traveling every day and being in all these different cities and talking so much. I just need a period where I'm not talking so much, and doing more thinking than talking."
