Things are fairly quiet on the Rush-ian front lately. No doubt they will remain so until after the holidays when the official '08 tour announcment comes. A few minor news items were reported this week though. The upcoming Rush documentary is planning for a late '08 release and the filmmakers are looking for old and rare video footage from fans. Rush's Available Light will be included as one of the songs on a new jazz covers project. The new Rock Band video game will be released next week and VH1 Classic has been running a promo all week based around a fictional Rock Band Band. Each night this week they've been counting down the greatest drummers, guitarists and bassists. Neil Peart was named the #2 drummer and Geddy the #3 bassist; Alex didn't make the cut on the guitarist list. Rush friend and photographer Andrew MacNaughtan has made some new prints available on his website. There's also a feature on Rush in December's Classic Rock magazine.
So Neil Peart only came in 2nd in VH1 Classic's Greatest Drummers Countdown. Do you agree with this? Where would you place Neil on the list? Take the poll and let us know.
The results of the last poll where I asked you what you're most looking forward to from Rush in 2008 are in. The winner - not surprisingly - with over half the votes was the 2008 Rush tour. Next was the Rush Documentary with 28% and the Rush live DVD got 22%.
Speaking of the 2008 tour, the latest rumor I've heard (via the Rush Tour Forum) is that Rush will be playing the Colise de Puerto Rico on April 11 in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Good news for Puerto Rican Rush fans if true. Again, this is a rumor - nothing official has been announced.
Rush.com has added galleries from the European leg of the tour to the Rush on the Road feature in the Multimedia section.
In its 14th week of release The Larger Bowl continues to hang in the top 30 on rock radio. It's been bubbling around the #25 spot on both the Mediabase Mainstream Rock chart (currently #26) and the Radio and Records Rock chart (currently #27) for the last several weeks.
Bidding on Alex Lifeson's painting for the Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope project ended this past Monday and it sold for $5700!
The Permanent Waves Gold Ultradisc release date has been pushed yet again. It will now be released on December 4th rather than November 20th. You can preorder it here.
A couple of months ago it was announced that Rush would be interviewed on Bruce Dickinson's BBC6 Friday Rock Show on October 12th. The interview didn't happen and was then rescheduled for November 9th. It didn't happen then either - and that's the last I've heard of it. I have no idea what happened. If anyone else does, let me know.
The 2007 Rush TabCon will take place all this weekend at St. Francis High School in St. Francis, WI. It's the 10th anniversary of the event so it should be a good time. For more information be sure to visit the Rush TabCon website and to view videos of past performances, check out the Rush TabCon page on YouTube.
Rush playing cards - first mentioned back in June in this post - are now available at the Rush Backstage Club. I wonder when they'll start selling this 1000-piece 2112 puzzle? Thanks to nposter for the heads up.
The Foo Fighters - all big Rush fans - are featured in the November 2007 issue of Spin Magazine. The band was interviewed and drummer Taylor Hawkins said:
... When I joined the band, we sucked live," Hawkins recalls. "And we're still not Rush. We're sloppy, rough around the edges. And that's part of our charm. But we've gotten really good, and I think on our best nights, we can take anybody. ...
Thanks to Scott for the heads up.
Reader Pearles let me know that on the Boston based WBCN afternoon radio show (Toucher and Rich) this past Wednesday Rush took the #1 spot in their weekly segment The List. This week's topic was Band with the Nerdiest Lyrics. Despite this, the hosts made it clear that they are big Rush fans.
Reader jaytee578 alerted me to this Rolling Stone review of the new Coheed and Cambria album (which was produced by Snakes & Arrows producer Nick Raskulinecz). If you've never heard of Coheed and Cambria, they are a often compared to Rush. Indeed, it's hard to read an article or review about the band that doesn't mention Rush. From the review:
Like the Mars Volta, progressive-metal suite freaks Coheed and Cambria are almost too smart and ambitious for their own good --not enough, however, to cancel out the instrumental highs and car-radio-chorus charge of the best songs on their fourth album. No World for Tomorrow is reportedly the concluding episode in a tortuous, apocalyptic libretto by singer-guitarist Claudio Sanchez that connects all of the band's records. (Coheed and Cambria are named after the lead characters.) But there is more immediate, impressive resolution in the decisive pop arc of the mutating riffs and slippery time signatures Sanchez bundles into "The Hound (of Blood and Rank)" and "The Running Free." His classic-rock aspirations are all over the razor-guitar hum of "Feathers" (note the shards of Uriah Heep's 1972 hit single "Easy Livin' " rattling around inside) and the harmonized Thin Lizzy-style luster of the guitars and Sanchez's vocals, like a choir of Geddy Lees, in "Justice in Murder." Sanchez's rabbit-hole saga may be over --the album finishes with a five-part, twenty-five-minute exclamation point, "The End Complete" --but there is plenty here that is worthy of rewind.
I really like the choir of Geddy Lees line. :) Not to be outdone, Blender also reviews the album and can't help but diss Rush in the process:
... He [Sanchez] sings with the whine of a teenager — if that teenager were Alvin the Chipmunk. And, more than ever, his band indulges in grandiose, classic-rock, flaunting chops that could shame the showoffs in Rush. ...
Both mags give the album 3 and a half stars.
Reader Don B was recently in Toronto working on a commercial illustration project and managed to snap this great photo in Queens Park in front of the Ontario Legislative Building - where the cover of Moving Pictures was photographed. He just happened to catch the moment when a construction worker was walking a building window frame out to a van. It's a true case of life imitating art.
Have a great weekend!
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