UPDATE - 4/6@9:18AM: Looks like I was mistaken about the band already being in Puerto Rico last week; that El Nuevo Dia article doesn't really confirm anything now that I've gotten a good translation - plus Geddy was at the Jays game in Toronto the other night. I'm now hearing that the band and crew is heading down there over the next couple of days (today and tomorrow) instead.
UPDATE - 4/5@9:27AM: Several fans spotted Geddy at the Blue Jays home opener last night, so either he hadn't gone down to Puerto Rico yet or he snuck off for the day. Alex is at least definitely down there though - Neil as well presumably.
Sorry for the late update today - I'm a tad behind this week. There's only one week left until the kickoff of the 2008 leg of Rush's Snakes & Arrows tour in Puerto Rico. Just as was rumored, the band arrived in Puerto Rico a couple of weeks early and are currently there rehearsing and getting to know the island according to this article (in Spanish) from El Nuevo Día (thanks rush_head for the link). El Nuevo Día will also be sponsoring a Rush Pre-party at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico for select subscribers. In addition, reader betorush let me know that San Juan's local rock station Alfa Rock will be running a special program this coming Monday, April 7th at 8PM where they'll be airing Rush hits and interviewing Alex Lifeson. Alex will also be introducing all the songs. Unfortunately the Puerto Rico show (and the tour in general) is still not selling well. Reader Enrique let me know that the promoters closed part of the back sections of the Coliseo de Puerto Rico and lowered the ticket price. Maybe things will pick up if there are any significant setlist surprises. Speaking of which, the big news of the past week was the release of some snippets of an Alex Lifeson interview with Billboard.com where Alex states that the setlist will contain some surprises. He even mentions The Camera Eye and Jacob's Ladder as 2 songs that often are requested by fans; perhaps he's giving us a clue? ... or just teasing us. He also states that the band will likely start working on new material with Snakes & Arrows producer Nick Raskulinecz sometime next year. If this is true then my guess is that we'd see a new studio album by early 2010.
Rush's upcoming double live album Snakes & Arrows Live is now available for pre-order as an mp3 download from iTunes. Also, Amazon.com recently posted 30-second preview clips from all of the songs on the album which you can listen to at this link. The album will be released on April 15th and in the week prior to the release, FMQB Productions will be releasing a one-hour radio special featuring an interview with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson titled Inside Rush: Snakes & Arrows Live. The show will air on select stations from April 11-15th.
Rush and its members recently received accolades from various musician's magazine annual readers' polls; Alex Lifeson in Guitar Player, Geddy Lee in Bass Player, and Neil Peart in Modern Drummer.
In case you missed it, I'd posted earlier this week about a neat story regarding Alex Lifeson giving away one of his Hughes & Kettner signature TriAmps to a young fan. And just yesterday we learned that Sonic Reality will be releasing a Neil Peart Studio Profile of drum samples from his Snakes & Arrows kit later this year. Check out this post for details.
Tickets for the upcoming Buddy Rich Memorial Concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on October 18th are now on sale via TicketMaster. The concert will feature Neil Peart among several other drumming greats. Thanks to reader Nick for the heads up.
Back in February, Neil Peart penned an article for DW Drums and also appeared in a video where he discusses his X shell and hybrid kit. Since then DW Drums has posted several more videos with Neil Peart; he talks about his Snakes & Arrows kit, his VLT snare drum, and his 23" bass drum (just a video narration of the article he wrote). Just go to this link and navigate through the videos using the dropdown. Thanks to hermy for the heads up.
Darren Gladstone of PC World magazine recently located a very bizarre Rush-themed video game on the net and blogged about it late yesterday. The game is called Neil Peart-Mission: The Camera Eye and is available as a 2.66M free download from this location. Here's the game's premise from the website:
New Year's Eve, 2111. The members of RUSH have defied natural science and willed themselves to live upwards of 160 years old, in anticipation of the year that their stellar '2112' album was named for. Everyone expects them to play 2112 in its entirety for Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve, but virtuoso drummer Neil Peart has a different plan.
Hours before the show, Neil announces to bandmates Geddy and Alex that he wants to finally play their lost epic 'The Camera Eye,' as a show of thanks for the almost 200 years of support from their fans. Horrified, Geddy and Alex attempt to lock Neil backstage and teleport his giant drum set into the icy caves of Xanadu. Nevermore shall they return! Little do they know the evil plans of the Portnoybot 1000 will turn everything they all know upside down!
Can Neil Peart escape his prison and travel to the icy caves of Xanadu to assemble his drum set again? Will he be able to do it in time for Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve show? Can he thwart the Portnoybot 1000 and save Geddy and Alex from his mad overplaying? Will 'The Camera Eye' ever be played live?
I downloaded the game and played it a little bit - it's a real hoot. Thanks to TMMB for the heads up.
Reader David E relayed to me this really interesting story regarding Yes drummer Alan White. Alan White has a new side project called Circa: where he collaborated with former Yes members Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood. They released an album in 2007 and performed at the Baja Prog Festival last weekend in Mexicali B.C. Mexico where David was lucky enough to meet Alan White. David was wearing his Rush Grace Under Pressure shirt and asked Alan if he would sign his autograph book. He instead grabbed the marker and started writing on David's shirt. This is what he wrote:
Alan White
I love you Neil
You Stole a Lot
Of My Licks
But I Stole a Lot of
Yours
You can see some pics up above. What a great story.
Glide Magazine's Hidden Tracks blog has a regular feature called The B List and this week's topic was Underrated Classic Rock albums. At the very top of the list was Rush's Moving Pictures. Here's what they said about it:
Most people have a "love it or hate it" relationship with Rush largely because of Geddy Lee’s high-pitched voice. But this album is pure rock and roll. The album opens with the thick drumming of Tom Sawyer, probably Rush's best known song. The most underrated song about a car ever follows and provides a nice lead-in to the instrumental assault, and Neil Peart concert explosion, known as YYZ (named after the airport code in Toronto). Limelight, with Alex Lifeson's springy guitar lick, and the dark and down Witch Hunt are also great classic rock songs.
Well said. Thanks to chilangoenelgabo at The Rush Forum for the heads up.
There was a Rush reference in today's video offering from the Politico's James Kotecki. It's about 2 minutes in. Thanks to Jon for the heads up.
Reader Just_A_Guy let me know the sad bit of news that Allaire Studios where Snakes & Arrows was recorded appears to going under according to this article from ProSound News
Several folks let me know that Rush won The Loop's March Bandness competition. Bill A reports that Geddy Lee won best bassist and Neil Peart best drummer in 96 Rock's March Bandness competition. Also, Meatball2112 told me that Rush is currently going up against Motley Crue for the championship in Rock 105's Tournament of Rock and currently winning. Go help out Rush by voting at this link. And George alerts me that Rush is in the finals at Mancow.com's Most Deserving Band Not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame competition. Rush is up against Alice Cooper and currently winning. Go help them out and vote.
That's all for this week. I'll probably skip the Updates next Friday and focus on opening night. One week to go! Have a great weekend everybody.
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