Prolific session bassist Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers passed away earlier this month at the age of 86. Flowers contributed to recordings by Elton John, Camel, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roy Harper, David Essex, Al Kooper, Bryan Ferry, Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Rush's Geddy Lee posted an Instagram tribute to the beloved bassist earlier this week:
Recently, we lost one of rock and roll's truly great bass players. Herbie Flowers recorded and performed with the likes of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Paul McCartney, Bryan Ferry and Elton John. Even though his name may not have been known to every rock fan, to his peers and fellow bass folk he was a bright and shining star.
RIP Herbie Flowers
The late Neil Peart grew up in the St. Catharines, Ontario community of Port Dalhousie, the lakefront home of Lakeside Park which inspired the lyrics to the 1975 Rush song of the same name. Back in 2020 the St. Catharines City Council, with the full support of the community, voted to name the newly rebuilt pavilion at Lakeside Park the Neil Peart Pavilion at Lakeside Park in honor of the hometown icon who passed away over 4 years ago in January of 2020. The Council also established the Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force, with the objective to commission a public work of art commemorating Peart's life and legacy. Back in January of 2021 the Task Force officially began welcoming artists to submit requests for pre-qualification via the city's website, and revealed the finalists in September of 2021 along with the launch of a fundraising campaign for the Memorial. In November of 2022 the Task Force finally revealed that the artist who will have the honor of creating the memorial is Morgan MacDonald of The Newfoundland Bronze Foundry. The installation itself will depict two bronze statues of Peart - one as a young artist and the other in his later years. A pathway will connect the two statues with interpretive panels about Peart's personal and professional legacy. A video depicting what the Neil Peart memorial will look like in Lakeside Park can be seen on YouTube. The project and its timelines are contingent on the Task Force raising the $1 million required for completion, and an official fundraising campaign kicked off last week on Neil Peart's 72nd birthday:
... [Task Force member] DeRocco said the fundraising campaign was designed to include sponsorship levels that would be accessible to most Rush fans, adding they "can actually buy a piece of real estate on this and be part of it forever." On panels that will be part of the art installation, fans can incorporate messages or images for certain contributions. "For a price of a pair of concert tickets, you can be part of this forever," DeRocco said. But any contribution is needed and welcomed, he said. ... The memorial, noted DeRocco, isn't supported by local tax dollars. Considering the number of Rush fans all over the world, DeRocco is confident the task force will be able to raise the full $1 million ...
You can get all the info on the different sponsorship levels, and make a donation of any size online at stcatharines.ca/neilpeart.
Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante recently spoke with Consequence of Sound and revealed what he thinks are the 10 Songs Every Drummer Should Hear, one of which is Rush's Natural Science:
It's really hard for me to pick one song from Neil Peart because his influence on me comes from different records. The thing I always loved about Neil besides his playing was the way each record would come out and he would top himself from the last record. I think he did this purposely because he was an innovator and he was growing as a drummer. So, when it came time that they did Permanent Waves, that to me was a watershed moment in the RUSH discography.
The length of the songs got way longer, more in depth, and I think they took you on a journey. Whereas "2112" is definitely a long song and it definitely takes you on a journey, but now you had songs like "Jacob's Ladder" and "Free Will" and, of course, "Natural Science." And I picked "Natural Science" because there's so many sections of this song that I remember when I was younger, putting the needle [on the record player] back, and telling myself, "What is he doing there? I can't figure that out. What's the timing?"
And it became like homework. I would come home from school and I would play my drums and play it note for note, the way Neil did. And he completely helped me as a drummer, especially my sticking. It was just one of those things where I was just listening and learning from him. And that song in particular has some great drum parts in it. There's this one fill that he does, and the section just comes to an abrupt stop. He left a bit of space after the fill. I was hearing things that I had never heard before, and it was educating me, too.
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#245) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their Vapor Trails discussion with Nocturne:
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!!
