This week there wasn't much in the way of new Rush news, but there were several updates to some recent news items. On Monday we learned that the release of the new Vertical Horizon album Burning The Days, which features Neil Peart on 3 songs, has been delayed until September 22nd. On Wednesday we got official confirmation that Guitar Hero 5 will feature Rush's The Spirit of Radio (Live, 2008). Also on Wednesday Knucklebonz made available for purchase their special 500-run limited edition Hollywood Walk of Fame version of their Rush Starman statue at the Rush Backstage Club.

Earlier this week we learned that ESPN's ESPY Awards ceremony took place on Wednesday, July 15th at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and aired on ESPN this past Sunday. During the presentation of the Best Male Athlete award they aired a highlights clip featuring the nominees and the background music was Rush's Tom Sawyer. The winner was Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Michael Phelps and you can check out the video at this link.

RushCon 9 kicks off this evening in Toronto and lasts throughout the weekend. In addition to all the usual RushCon events, this year there will be 2 exciting guest speakers; Michael Mosbach and Martin Popoff. Michael (aka Praetorian) has been Rush's head of security for 11 years and is the close friend and riding partner of Neil Peart. Martin is a rock journalist, critic and author who has written numerous books documenting various heavy metal and hard rock bands including the Rush biography Contents Under Pressure. He is also the co-founder of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine. The theme of this year's convention is Elevate From The Norm and the tribute band will be RushCon veterans Limelight. If you are going, be sure to keep us all updated via the comments. I'll have a special RushCon open thread posted later today for that purpose.

This coming Wednesday, July 29th marks a very important day in Rush history. Not only is it Geddy Lee's 56th birthday, but it's also the 35th anniversary of Neil Peart joining Rush! Of course, if you had a Rush Wall Calendar you would have already known this. Speaking of which, as of last week the 2010 Rush Wall Calendar is now being shipped from Amazon and other online vendors. You can purchase your copy of the Rush Calendar along with a bunch of other cool Rush swag at RushSwag.com.

My buddy Nate W recently took a trip to Niagara Falls and visited the Rock Legends Wax Museum where he spotted this wax sculpture of Geddy Lee.

Last summer Geddy Lee generously donated 200 baseballs from his personal collection to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I'd posted about this last year, but blogger James Brown just recently became aware of it and put together a great blog post about it up at The Phoenix Pub titled The Incredible Tale of Geddy Lee and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the link.

Rand Paul (son of Congressman Ron Paul) is running for Senate in Kentucky and recently quoted the lyrics to The Spirit of Radio in a campaign speech at the Fayette County Republican Party Picnic this past July 18th. The specific quote was The glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity; you can see the video here. Candidate Paul has also used Rush music in his campaign videos. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.

Here's an almost 2112 sighting courtesy barboy2112. In Wednesday's Fort Worth Weekly there was an article profiling a newly-opened vinyl record store called Doc's Records & Vintage which happens to have an address of 2111 Montgomery Street. The author remarks that wouldn't it have been killer if the address were 2112?! I'd have to say yes.

Apparently rockers No Doubt have been inserting subtle Rush references in their live shows this summer. Reader Doug B noticed while watching one of their recent shows on DirectTV that before they perform their song Rock Steady they take a breather and run a video on a rear screen which features band members running around being goofy. In the video one of the members is wearing a white Rush Starman t-shirt. And reader Unit 3 just saw a No Doubt show at the White River Amphitheatre earlier this week and at the end of the encore they played a riff from The Spirit of Radio. Here's a bootleg video of the snippet and you can see the Rush lick at about the 4:55 mark. The sound quality on the clip is terrible, but it's clear enough to make out.

Reader Doug B found some hidden Rush references on the web site of a high end car stereo store in New Jersy. If you click on installs you can then click on a car manufacturer and see examples of installs on a particular make of car that they performed. When you click on Porsche you'll see that the first car has a video head unit with Rush in Rio playing. You'll also see a photo of a screen with the Rush In Rio splash screen on it when you click on the Chrysler page.

I have another old Rush article from the archives for you courtesy Buttmanos at Counterparts. This 3-page 1989 article is taken from issue #132 of Music Express magazine. You can check it out by clicking on the thumbnails. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

There's also this old review of a June 2nd, 1977 Rush show at Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England courtesy of Eric at the Power Windows site. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

Reader John found this online quiz at the CBC website which tests your knowledge of Canadian bands. One of the questions is of course regarding Rush and Geddy Lee is pictured. You can check it out at this link.

Rob of Rush tribute band Exit Stage Right wanted me to give everyone in the Twin Cities area a heads up that they'll be playing at the Lowry Theater in St. Paul, MN this evening at 9PM. They're the only band on the bill and will be playing a 2-hour set. And if you miss this show they'll also be playing in 2 weeks at Station 4 on August 8th.

A few Rush songs are listed on space hobbyist website HobbySpace.com's list of space songs on this page; Cygnus-X1, Countdown and Alien Shore. What about 2112?! :) Thanks to RushFanForever for the link.

I've mentioned in previous posts that the makers of Rock Band were teaming up with Pepsi and MTV for a promotion involving Rock Band giveaways along with a contest for the best fan-made Rock Band video. Reader ExplodingStick pointed me to one of the videos in the running which uses Rush's Limelight and is encouraging people to vote it. It's actually quite well-done for an amateur video. You can check it out and vote on it at this link.

Erik was flipping through engadget.com earlier this week when he came across an article reviewing the new Insignia NS-HD01 portable HD radio. In one of the featured photos of the radio YYZ is playing.

Speaking of YYZ, reader DigitalMan745 found this really cool video of the Folsom High School Marching Band performing their version of the song.

Have a great weekend everyone! A special shout-out to those attending RushCon; have a blast and make sure to give us regular reports and let us know what a good time we're all missing.

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