UPDATE - 1/29@1:05PM: The news about the 2nd Red Rocks show still seems to be in the rumor stage at this point. However, it looks like the first show has sold out - so it could happen. I'll see what I can find out.
UPDATE - 1/27@8:14PM: I'm hearing reports that 103.5 The Fox (sponsor of this past Friday's Red Rocks pre-sale) out of Denver is saying that Rush will be adding a second Red Rocks show on June 4th with an official announcement tomorrow. Thanks to Vischum for the heads up. This would mean that they'd be playing an unprecedented 3 shows in 3 days (Boise on the 3rd, Red Rocks on the 4th,5th) - something they did not do on the first leg. I'll try to find out more and see if I can verify this.
It goes without saying that the 2008 tour news has dominated the Rush landscape in the past week. Ever since the official tour announcement last Friday the online Rush community has been engrossed in the search for where, when and how to buy the best tickets. I've been trying to help out the best I can; the tour section is up and running with all the various pre-sale and on-sale date information loaded in, and I've been adding updates to the various posts as I gather new information. I've also modified the news ticker at the top of the home page to display strictly tour information and nothing else. This will be in place for the next month or so. The information is updated every ten minutes and it all ties in with the data in the tour section. So whenever a date is coming up for pre-sale or on-sale, you'll see a call-out for it in the ticker along with links for more information or to buy tickets. For the next couple of weeks, Ticketmaster will be updating its Rush pages on a daily if not hourly basis - adding new pre-sales and on-sale dates, along with other tour-related information. So rather than continuously updating posts every time Ticketmaster sneezes, I'm just going to make all the updates straight into the tour section. If there's a significant tour-related news item (such as adding a new date or canceling one) I'll still post about it of course. But if a show just adds a pre-sale or something, I'll just put it into the tour section. Keep sending me any and all info you come across, you guys have all been a great help to me in trying to keep up with all the news.
The first round of pre-sales is coming to a close and tickets begin to go on regular sale tomorrow along with the second round of AMEX pre-sales. For all the details, check out the tour section or the TOUR ALERT Ticker at the top of the page. There will be Music Today fan pre-sales for all of the North American (unsure about Puerto Rico though) dates in the coming weeks. These will generally occur the Tuesday through Thursday the week prior to the tickets going on regular sale. When they are officially announced I will enter them into the tour section. So next week we should expect fan pre-sales for the dates in Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Albuquerque, Chicago, Mansfield, Milwaukee, Manchester, Holmdel and Wantagh.
Folks who participated in the Music Today fan pre-sales this past week also had the opportunity of pre-ordering the new Snakes & Arrows Live double CD along with their purchase. Unfortunately we know very few details about this release other than that it's coming sometime in April. From the Music Today promotional images we can extract what we can probably assume will be the album cover (see right), and we know it's a double live CD so we have an idea of the length - but that's about it. Hopefully more details will be forthcoming soon.
Before getting on with all the Rush tidbits we may have missed in the past week, I have a very sad bit of news to report. Longtime Rush friend and publicist Shelley Nott passed away last week. She had been battling cancer for quite some time. Neil Peart had sent out a MySpace bulletin regarding this last week, but there was a question about its authenticity so I never mentioned it. I wanted to be completely sure before reporting it. Reader camraey located the obituary online. Here it is:
2008-01-19 - Shelley Nott, of GTA
NOTT- Shelley. Peacefully passed away on January 19, 2008. Loving wife of Rich Vineyard. Beloved daughter of Marilyn, Robbie and Larry. Sadly missed by Alex Chen, Aunt Helen, Uncle John, Lori and Steve and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. Shelley will also be greatly missed by RUSH, Ray, Nancy, Sheila and all her friends and associates in the entertainment industry. Family and friends are invited to YORK VISITATION CHAPEL & RECEPTION CENTRE, 160 Beecroft Rd. (1blk north of Sheppard, 1blk west of Yonge) 416-221-3404 on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 for a visitation from 12:00pm- 1:00pm. A celebration on Shelley’s life will be held at 1:00pm. A reception will follow. In memory of Shelley, donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society. A private family burial will take place at a later date.
Let's all send our thoughts and prayers out to Shelley's family and friends. If you'd like to make a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society in Shelley's memory, you can do so online at this link.
The official Rush mySpace page (yes, they have one in case you didn't know) launched its new look earlier today. It looks really cool.
The Rush Backstage Club is running a sale on Snakes & Arrows 2007 t-shirts. Many of these styles will be discontinued in early April before the new tour begins so this'll be your last chance to get them.
A few weeks ago I let you know that the Trailer Park Boys movie would be making its US big-screen debut today. It'll be shown at various AMC Theatres across the US in the next few weeks. It opened tonight in New York, Burbank and Orange County. To check out all the theatres and showtimes go to the official US release website. Thanks to reader Tomas D for the heads up. In case you don't know, the popular Canadian TV series the Trailer Park Boys made its big screen debut in Canada back in October of 2006. The movie was a resounding success garnering the highest opening-weekend gross of any English-language homegrown film. Alex Lifeson was heavily involved in the making of the film's soundtrack (Geddy Lee also participated) and also got a cameo as a cop in the movie. The film is also riddled with Rush references including a movie marquee which lists several Rush song titles as movies.
American heavy metal band Iced Earth is accepting applications for a new bass player. For one of the requirements you must play ... a minimum of four songs of varying tempos from ICED EARTH or a combination of songs from ICED EARTH and legendary bands such as IRON MAIDEN, BLACK SABBATH or RUSH. Pick well-known songs with challenging bass lines. :)
Slowpoke is a weekly comic strip by Jen Sorensen that appears in alternative weeklies and other publications in the United States. This weeks politically-themed comic contains a Geddy Lee reference. Thanks to Tom M for the heads up.
And if you're in the market for a new boat, check out this pic sent in by Thomas P. If nothing else, the boat has a cool name. :)
That's all for now. Have a great weekend and I hope everyone manages to get great tickets for the tour.
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