[NEWS, WEATHER, and SPORTS: March, 2008 - The Best February Ever]

Neil Peart has updated his website with yet another news update. In this installment he describes his February vacation in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec - his self-described soulscape - where he did a lot of cross country skiing and played host to his wife Carrie Nuttall and friends Matt Scannell and the infamous Brutus. In addition to his usual descriptive prose he discusses the tour a little bit and rediscovers an old friend:

... Early in March I will have to start preparing for another series of concerts, a "continuation" of the Snakes and Arrows tour. (The Snakes and Arrows "surge," I call it.)

We had planned to end the tour in Europe last fall, but apparently more people want to see us, or see us again, so we were asked to do more shows. Some of them will be in places we haven't got to for a while, like New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Winnipeg, and that is nice, plus we plan to make a few changes to the setlist and presentation to freshen it up a little. Although the world knows by now that I'm not crazy about touring, I sure don't discount the good fortune that we can still do it, personally and professionally - that we can play better than ever, and that people will come and see us. That's not something I have ever taken for granted. As I have said to friends who might be having their own work difficulties, "At least if I have to work, I'’m glad I can." And not just any old job, of course — pretty much the best job there is - but none-the-less a hard one.

Another semi-professional (literally) activity this season has been getting back to playing the marimba. My old beginner's instrument had been disassembled and stored for a few years, but I was moved to set it up again in my front hallway, which is like a small chapel (a chapel to nature, with big windows open to the view of white forest and lake). The marimba had a warm resonance in that setting, as I riffed on my older exercises, "Pieces of Eight" and "Momo’s Dance Party," and improvised more-or-less aimlessly on some new ideas. Just for fun.

As usual, there's not much in the way of news in Neil's news update, but it's still an interesting read as always. He does however indirectly verify that the band is now in rehearsals - as I'd mentioned on Friday. Thanks to billsrhythm for the heads up.

NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.