UPDATE - 7/31@7:12AM: Setlist #2 - with the substitution (thanks rush247).
Date/Time: Monday, July 30th @ 7:30PM (local time)
Show Number: 24
Venue: Coors Amphitheatre
Place: Chula Vista, CA
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
I'm a day late I know. I'd meant to post this yesterday but was busy putting a new roof on my garage (not a recommended way to celebrate Geddy's birthday). So ... HAPPY 54th BIRTHDAY GEDDY!! What should we get Geddy for his birthday? Take the poll and let us know.
[The Long Haul: After 30 years, Rush still packing arenas with three-hour shows]
Alex Lifeson recently spoke with Jason Bracelin of the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the new album and tour. Lerxst talks about how the band prepares for the physical demands of touring and has something to say to those younger bands:
... "Yeah, what's up with that?" Lifeson chuckles at his band's marathon sets. "What's with all these young bands who play for an hour and 10 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes -- I don't think anybody plays for more than about an hour and 40 minutes. And they're all young and should be playing for three hours, not like us old farts." ...
He then goes on to discuss Snakes & Arrows. You can read the entire article at this link. Thanks to Ghost Writer for the heads up.
UPDATE - 7/30@10:01AM: Jason Bracelin of the Las Vegas Review-Journal gave this glowing review of the show (thanks PhillyMike).
UPDATE - 7/29@9:46AM: Setlist #1; no substitution (thanks Better Beer).
Date/Time: Saturday, July 28th @ 8:00PM (local time)
Show Number: 23
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena
Place: Las Vegas, NV
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
UPDATE - 7/28@7:46PM: Here's a great review from The Arizona Republic's Michael Senft (thanks bravohankins).
UPDATE - 7/28@9:51AM: From the reviews that have been posted, it looks like they went with the alternate setlist with the substitution for this show.
Date/Time: Friday, July 27th @ 8:00PM (local time)
Show Number: 22
Venue: Cricket Pavilion
Place: Phoenix, AZ
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
The tour rush's on. After hitting Phoenix and Las Vegas this weekend, Rush will roll through California, playing 4 dates there over the next week and then slowly work their way east. The tour continues to be a success; Alex Lifeson mentioned in a recent interview that ticket sales are up 40% over the last tour, and the band is getting some really great reviews. Readers are continually adding fantastic photos to the tour photo gallery, and I've been updating the bootleg videos page whenever I get a chance. A couple of notable bloggers posted about seeing Rush on their current tour recently. Stephen Mejias, the webmaster of Stereophile magazine, recounted his experience seeing Rush in Boston in this post (thanks snotcopter). And computer technology and business strategist Matt Rosoff wrote this great post about how seeing Rush live in Portland has rekindled his interest in the band after not being much of a fan since Hold Your Fire (thanks Keith F).
I opened up the Rush Pub ongoing chat thread earlier this week and it's getting a lot of use, averaging over 500 comments a day! It seems to have served it's purpose of helping to separate out all the random chit-chat from the main comment threads. I think I might need to hire another bartender though... :) Next on my list is a member list for registered users to help facilitate getting in contact with one another and a poll archive. Thanks to everybody who has contributed to the site. Any donation of 3$ or more and I'll send you a free RUSH IS A BAND bumper sticker.
For last week's poll I asked you how many Rush concert shirts you currently own. Over half of us own 5 or less while 20% own 6-10 and 20% own more than 10! A few poor souls (about 7%) don't own any. :( I currently own 3 ... the other 5 or so have slowly disintegrated over the years. :) To check out all the results, go here
This Sunday is Geddy Lee's 54th birthday so I thought that I'd ask a fun Geddy-themed question for this week's poll. What should we get Geddy for his birthday? Take the poll and let us know.
In addition to being Geddy's birthday this Sunday, it is also the 33rd anniversary of Neil Peart joining the band; Neil joined Rush on Geddy's birthday back in 1974... and the world has never been the same since. Let us all bow our heads in thanks to the Gods of Rock for bringing about this momentous occasion. Amen. ;)
Other Rush news items of note that occurred this past week are the release of The Larger Bowl single to radio, the announcement of a contest to win a trip to New York to see Rush at MSG and the featuring of YYZ on CBS's Guitar Hero II special this weekend.
Snakes & Arrows continues its precipitous fall off the Billboard album charts. Last week it came in at #154 - down from #131 the previous week. It has sold 223,975 copies to date. Here's a nice review of the album from the Seattle Times.
The Rush Bootleg Video Archive has made available a bunch of old Rush interviews on their website at this link.
Rolling Stone magazine disses Rush once again (thanks grand design). No surprise there.
Hardradio is reporting that rock lyricist extraordinaire and Rush friend Pye Dubois has gone missing?:
Canadian rock lyric legend PYE DUBOIS, writer of a handful of RUSH lyrics along with almost all the lyrics for MAX WEBSTER and much of the KIM MITCHELL catalogue has gone missing. "It's unusual for Pye not to call once in a while, and even more unusual for him not to return my calls, usually within a couple hours," notes a concerned Martin Popoff, Editor In Chief at BW&BK, and friend of Dubois, who lives only a couple blocks from Popoff. "And then recently I've tried to call, and his line has been disconnected." Dubois has been in ill health the last few years, which has added to the concern of his friends in both Rush and Max Webster. Of note, attempt was made to contact Pye for participation in the recent one-off Max Webster reunion show, but he was unresponsive. Dubois enthusiastically took part in the band's reunion shows earlier in the '00s, providing what some called the highlight of the show with his hippie-vibed spoken word skills.
Hopefully there's nothing wrong. Thanks to Roy O for the heads up.
Reader Farther From The Spleen tells me that there was more talk about Rush and the Rock Hall on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show earlier this week.
In a recent issue of Kerrang magazine Benji Madden of Good Charlotte recommends Rush as a good band to see in concert:
They're a great band, they've definitely influenced a lot of bands out there today - you can definitely hear their sound in Tool and Coheed and Cambria, and it's cool for people to be able to see where all that comes from.
Thanks to vladman at TNMS for the heads up.
And here's a cool Rush vs. Annie Lennox vs. Rolling Stones mashup track which uses The Spirit of Radio. The Rush part kicks in at about the 2 minute mark. You can listen to it here. Thanks to Robodan for the link.
Rhino Records is set to release a 4-disc, 70-song Heavy Metal box set compilation this fall. The set, to be released October 2nd, will include Rush's Working Man along with many other hard rock and heavy metal classics spanning the period from 1968 to 1991. The set will be packaged to resemble a Marshall amp and the liner notes will include extensive photos, track commentary and interviews with Ronnie James Dio and Lita Ford. Details and a complete tracklisting can be found at this link. Thanks to B-Man for the tip.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that Rush fan and computer animation aficionado Bobby Standridge, famous for his Neil Peart YYZ video Digital Man, had created a band-sanctioned video for Malignant Narcissism. The video was just recently posted to Bobby's website at this location. Thanks to echotester for the heads up.
UPDATE - 11/1@9:15PM: Here's a review (thanks shagg).
UPDATE - 7/27@9:25AM: Setlist #1, no substitution.
UPDATE - 7/26@10:33PM: Here's a great review from the Orange County Register (thanks jw).
Date/Time: Wednesday, July 25th @ 7:30PM (local time)
Show Number: 21
Venue: Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Place: Irvine, CA
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
[BUCKETHEAD, RUSH Featured on CBS' Guitar Hero II Show; Trailer Available - July 25, 2007]
From Blabbermouth.net:
This Sunday, July 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT, CBS will show some of the best Guitar Hero II players in North America as they compete for a piece of the $90,000 prize pot at the WSVG Louisville circuit stop. At the WSVG, the top prizes aren't awarded to the players with only the highest scores but rather to the most accurate, stylish and energetic performances as determined by a panel of celebrity judges including "MTV Style" VJ Coltrane Curtis, legendary video game composer Tommy Tallarico, and Becky "Aktrez" Young, leading lady of the Girl Gaming Network. The event attracted players such as David "WuLFe" Briers, the number one player on the Xbox leaderboards, Nikolai "Kov" Shish and Kelly "Tipper Queen" Law-Yone. Catch a glimpse of Kov playing an amazing rendition of REVEREND HORTON HEAT's "Psychobilly Freakout" here, as he tries to one-up WuLFe's stellar performance of RUSH's "YYZ" in the finals. Kov and WuLFe end up battling it out in a hair-raising performance of BUCKETHEAD's "Jordan", the hardest song in Guitar Hero II. The show will also feature footage from the circuit's other games, World of Warcraft and EA Sports Fight Night Round 3. A teaser video of the show has been posted on YouTube.
You can check out the teaser video at this link. In case you aren't familiar with it, Guitar Hero 2 is a video game released last fall which allows players to play bass or guitar in a virtual band, playing along with hit songs from a number of artists. One of the songs included in the game is Rush's YYZ. The makers of the game recently announced a sequel to the game to be released this Christmas called Rock Band which adds drums and vocals to the mix. The new game will feature a cover of Rush's Tom Sawyer.
A couple of months ago I reported that the next 2 singles from Snakes & Arrows would be Spindrift and The Larger Bowl. Spindrift was released on June 1st and unfortunately failed to gain much of a foothold in any radio markets. The Larger Bowl was to be released later in the summer to the following formats: Heritage Rock, Adult Contemporary, and Country. Well, that time has come; one of my radio station program director contacts just received their copy of The Larger Bowl so it's officially out there now. Hopefully it'll do better than Spindrift did. The first single, Far Cry, continues to do well, remaining in the top 10 on both the Mediabase Mainstream Rock Chart and the Radio and Records Rock Chart after 18 weeks on the charts.
[Rush rolls out new songs on tour]
There's a short interview with Alex Lifeson in yesterday's Arizona Republic. It's nothing we haven't heard before. He talks briefly about the success of the tour, mentioning how sales are up 40% over the last tour and also discusses the making of Snakes & Arrows. You can read the entire article at this link. Thanks to B-Man for the heads up.
[SESAC Big Apple Fly Away: Win a trip to NYC and see Rush in concert at Madison Square Garden]
Reader redandblacker 4001 alerted me that Rush.com just posted a notice to their news page alerting fans of a new contest. The contest is being sponsored by US performing rights organization SESAC (who represents Rush) and is for a trip to see Rush in New York City at Madison Square Garden on September 17th. The prize package includes 2 roundtrip airline tickets to New York City, hotel accommodations courtesy of the Kimberly Hotel, two tickets to the Rush concert at Madison Square Garden, and two Meet & Greet Passes. Details at this link. Good luck!
St. Petersburg Times online editor Steve Spears has a blog at tampabay.com called Stuck in the '80s. Steve and Times pop music critic Sean Daly attended the Tampa Bay show back on June 16th and did a live review of the show via the blog. I linked the review and apparently they received a lot of emails/feedback from members of this site. All this feedback prompted them to do a podcast on the subject of Rush fans where they ask the question Rush fans: Hard-to-please ... or just surly?:
It's been about a month since Rush dazzled 15,000 fans at Tampa's Ford Amphitheatre at the start of their "Snakes and Arrows" tour, and the hate mail is still trinkling in here at Stuck in the 80s.
Here are some examples of fan reaction to reviews by myself and Times pop critic Sean Daly:
* "Lame review. Dumb jokes, bad observations. The new songs totally kill live."
* "It is strange this guy seems to not want to hear all of the songs I do. What DOES he like from them?"
* "I thought you got out easy for saying that Dreamline was the best song in the show ... No way dude, I mean I like Dreamline and I even sang along -- which most people were embarrassed to do -- but you can not compare that to Witch Hunt, Natural Science, or even any of the new songs, come on!"Even when we went overboard with our compliments, we still caught a lot of guff: "I've got a bone to pick with you," one fan wrote. "Sorry to say Neil Peart, while a very accomplished drummer, is not the 'most revered drummer of all time.' Shake the cob webs! Can you say -- John Bonham or how about Keith Moon of The Who? Think a little harder and those folks their due!"
So are Rush fans the most loyal fans around? The most hard-to-please fans? Or are they just downright surly? Listen to our newest Stuck in the 80s podcast -- our post-concert Rush review -- and decide.
You can listen to the podcast at this link. It's a fun little conversation; very interesting to listen to - especially since they mention rushisaband.com a couple times! :) Thanks to reader Steve S for the heads up.
UPDATE - 7/25@3:08PM: Yet another great review - this one from none other than MTV; here's the link (thanks Greg G).
UPDATE - 7/25@10:06AM: Here's a review from LiveDaily and another from Variety (thanks RushableKingdom). The latter review mentions that Adam Jones of Tool and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters were in attendance.
UPDATE - 7/24@9:18AM: Setlist #2 with the substitution; slightly different song order. Details below the fold.
Date/Time: Monday, July 23rd @ 7:30PM (local time)
Show Number: 20
Venue: Hollywood Bowl
Place: Los Angeles, CA
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
A couple of weeks ago reader Nettie put forth the following challenge to Rush is a Band readers:
I want to make a dare/challenge to all those on the site:
If someone can get a photo of Neil smiling while at his drum kit during a concert, I'll donate 20 dollars to S-CAP (rushtofightaids) and 20 dollars to Second Harvest for the first photo posted on the site.
I challenge everyone to pledge money to these charities (or others) and donate it when the picture appears. If you like, they can contact me with the pledge and I'll keep track of who pledged what.
Nettie tells that as of this morning, she had 60 dollars pledged for each charity and one unspecified pledge for Rush to Fight AIDs. It's time to pay up ... I think. Reader skischool uploaded this image from Saturday's show and it looks pretty clear to me that Neil is ... smiling - not a huge grin, but definitely a smile. So there you have it. Don't let this stop you from continuing to pledge to the charities though. Donations to both S-CAP and Second Harvest can be made securely online via www.s-cap.org and www.secondharvest.org.
If you prefer to send checks, make them out separately to S-CAP (be sure to put the Rush to fight AIDS in the memo line) and Second Harvest, and then send them directly to the organizations:
Southern Colorado AIDS Project
1301 S. 8th Street
Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network
Philanthropic Programs
35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60601
A couple of weeks ago I threatened to create a separate daily chat area on the site for anything-goes random conversations. I had been getting several comments from users requesting such an area so that idle chit-chat can be kept separate from comments regarding a specific post. Well, if you look to your right - right above the poll you'll see a new heading for the Rush Pub. Just click on the button and a generic comment thread will open up... and chat away. Now that this is in place, I politely ask folks to try and keep comments in the site posts to the subject at hand ... or at least Rush-related - as a courtesy to other users. This is just a request, not a demand... and my definition of Rush-related is very loose. I'm also not going to really police this too much because I haven't the time nor the energy. It's also always been my policy not to dictate what people discuss in the comments as long as they keep it civil. But at least now folks will have an option available outside of the regular comments. The chat thread will refresh itself every night at midnight EST. An archive of older chat threads will be available too (eventually- still working on it). So have at it, and if you notice any weird errors, let me know.
UPDATE - 8/30@11:54AM: Here are the sales figures (thanks Scott_PA).
Sales: $581,898
Attendance: 10,986
Capacity: 13,188
UPDATE - 7/26@9:57AM: Here's a great review from The Columbian.
UPDATE - 7/22@9:53AM: Setlist #1; no substitution (thanks Justin).
Date/Time: Saturday, July 21st @ 7:30PM (local time)
Show Number: 19
Venue: Clark County Amphitheater
Place: Ridgefield, WA
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
Jim at the Digital Rush Experience let me know that the first full video bootleg from the Snakes & Arrows tour is out. It's called Tastes Like Chicken (DVD) and is from opening night at the HiFi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta, Georgia on June 13th. All the technical details from the DRE database are at this location. and it is currently seeded on Dime (slowly) at this link. If you have any questions about how you can obtain a copy of this boot, or any boot for that matter, please read this post at the DRE Blog. Jim also wanted me to give you an update regarding the DRE Logo Store charity effort. To date, the DRE Logo Store has cleared $163 in profit. With match, that means they will be donating over $300 to the Epilepsy Foundation. Sales of items will continue for as long as people want to buy them. Jim would like to thank everyone for their help.
UPDATE - 8/30@11:53AM: Here are the sales figures (thanks Scott_PA).
Sales: $638,462
Attendance: 13,689
Capacity: 15,552
UPDATE - 7/22@9:09PM: Here's a review from the Seattle Post-Inteligencer. The reviewer liked the show but thought they should have played less from the new album and more of the old favorites. Thanks to Rocinante for the link.
UPDATE - 7/21@8:57AM: Justin tells me that the band opted for setlist #2 for this show; with the substitution. Details below the fold (SPOILERS).
Date/Time: Friday, July 20th @ 8:00PM (local time)
Show Number: 18
Venue: White River Amphitheatre
Place: Auburn, WA
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
Rush played the first show on the western leg of the Snakes &Arrows tour 2 nights ago, returning to their homeland to play the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary. Tonight they'll play the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, WA and then work their way down the US West Coast. The first leg of the tour sold very well. 4 shows made the top 35 concert gross revenue list in the 7/21 issue of Billboard magazine. Here they are courtesy Scott_PA:
21. $860,671 Rush - Nikon Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY, July 2, attendance 12,300, capacity 13,851
24. $689,995 Rush - Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA, June 27, attendance 12,358, capacity 14,245
25. $662,267 Rush - Tweeter Center Waterfront, Camden, NJ, July 6, attendance 12,180, capacity 24,956
27. $628,792 Rush - PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ, July 8, attendance 12,014, capacity 16,996
The Bristow show also made the previous issue's list coming it at #27. Music industry guru Bob Lefsetz had something to say about how well Rush's tour is doing in comparison to their album sales; Snakes & Arrows finally fell out of the top 100 Billboard album list this week, coming in at #131 (from #58 last week). Here's what Lefsetz said in his Lefsetz Letter blog:
They've only sold 213,620 copies of their new album, "Snakes & Arrows", but their fans still want to see them live.
If they didn't have a record deal, I'd tell them to go all Prince on us [ed note: this is in reference to Prince simply giving away his latest work with the purchase of a concert ticket - essentially sticking it to the label]. Rather than report anemic SoundScan figures, why not just give the album away to the diehard fans, who are paying to see them, who want to see them, oftentimes at high prices.
Otherwise, they'll never be able to play the new material in concert, everybody will go to the bathroom. They'll just be able to play the hits.
It's about getting your music HEARD! It's not about how many CDs you sell. By focusing on selling product, acts are actually hurting themselves. Don't tell their record labels, but the performers have got to know this. Every act that the big label built...unless the big label can provide incredible visibility, should put out its album itself. It'll make all the money. And, as we move to Web distribution, people can find the tracks on iTunes from indies as easily as those from majors. And most of these acts ARE NOT GOING TO GET ON THE RADIO ANYWAY!
Personally I think the new songs have been going over pretty well with fans, but he does make a good point. He may be onto something. Thanks to Albert and KevinBe for the tip. The results of last week's poll/survey are in. I'd asked folks what shows they attended on the first leg of the tour. You can check out the results here. For this week's poll I'm asking you how many Rush concert shirts you currently own - even if they don't fit anymore ;). Let us know here.
Reader Gerrit Gillespie sent me some vintage photographs he'd taken of Rush banners from a 1980 show in Chicago.
Surprise, surprise - but Rush is mentioned in a recent interview with Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy conducted by Michael Senft of The Arizona Republic. It's difficult to find a Dream Theater interview where Rush isn't mentioned. Here's the exchange:
... Q: Prog-metal fans are getting an extra special treat the week you are in town. You play on Wednesday, and Rush is in town on Friday.
A: Wow. (Rush's drummer) Neil (Peart) is the drummer who introduced me to progressive drumming. Before Neil it was Keith Moon, John Bonham and Ringo Starr - they got me interested in music, but once I discovered Rush in 1981, Neil became the number one influence. I was a young teenager and I'd never heard a drummer do odd time signatures, have a massive kit, playing extended drum solos.
Since then Dream Theater's path has followed Rush's development. We're kind of the torch bearers for that kind of music to a new generation. The appeal Rush had to me as a kid seems to be the same appeal that my music has to our fans.
The tradition continues - there will always be an audience for that kind of intense musicianship and I'm proud to be carrying it on.
John over at Cygnus-X1.net has completed scanning all the Snakes & Arrows tourbook images. You can check them out at this link. Thanks John!
The RushCon organizers wanted me to remind you that the convention is just 2 months away! It will occur in Toronto over the weekend that Rush is in town so it should be a blast. You can pre-register at this link. And here's this important announcement/request regarding the RushCon Charity Auction:
Call for Charity Auction Donations
If you have some extra RUSHy memorabilia laying around (don't we all?), how about donating it to the RushCon Charity Auction! We have raised nearly $40,000 over the past six years for the Daily Bread Food Bank of Toronto and UNICEF for Tsunami Relief. Let's show true RUSH Fan spirit by raising even more money for those in need!
We really want to promote the auction items online this year, and generate some real excitement, so don't wait! Send your info today!
E-mail your auction item(s) description and photos (640 x 480 pixel size, 72 dpi resolution) to Holly at auction@rushcon.org . Be sure to let her know if you are bringing the item with you to RushCon or will be shipping it to one of our organizers before the convention. We are here to help!
I went to RushCon last year and will also be attending this year. It really is a great time and should be especially fun this year since Rush will be in town.
UPDATE - 7/19@4:12PM: Thanks to phall2112 we now have a scan of the cover. For a larger version go here.
Readers Philip H and William W let me know that Geddy Lee is on the cover of the August 2007 issue of Bass Player magazine. I don't have a cover scan or the print interview yet (if anyone does, let me know), but Bass Player has a few interview clips with Geddy posted on their Bass Player TV site. The first clip is a 3-and-a-half minute sit-down interview with Geddy. In another 5-minute-plus clip, Geddy shows off all the bass guitars he's brought with him on tour; this clip is particularly cool. And the last clip is a 3-minute interview with Geddy's tech Russ Ryan where Russ shows us all of Geddy's gear.
It's been a while since I've given any updates on the many Rush-related charities that I've mentioned on this site over the last few month. So I thought it was about time I did since so much has happened. Back in April I introduced you to the Rush to Fight AIDs project; an effort to collect toiletries and personal hygiene products for AIDs patients from Rush fans out on the Snakes & Arrows tour. For all the details check out the Rush to Fight AIDS mySpace page. The project was the brainchild of Rush fan Jessica; a volunteer at the Southern Colorado AIDS Project (S-CAP). The project has really taken off and fans have generously been sending all sorts of donations Jessica's way. Here's an excerpt from one of Jessica's recent mySpace blog posts:
... The other day, I started putting together some hygiene kits from all the wonderful things you guys have sent me so far...
I have 75 COMPLETE kits (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc), and that's probably about half of it. WOW!!
That is not even counting the two moving boxes I have that are full of full-size things like deodorant, toothpaste, razors, shaving gel, etc. What an amazing turnout so far. I seriously cannot believe it. ...
Several fans from this site have been helping Jessica out including Jeanette (aka Nettie). Last Friday she put forth a challenge to everyone to try and obtain a picture of Neil Peart smiling (a rare occasion) while at his kit out on the tour. Rather than describe her challenge here and tell how it relates to the Rush to Fight AIDS project I'll just echo this blog post that Jessica made over at the project's mySpace site a couple of days ago:
... Here's the challenge--
We are trying to catch Neil Peart in a smiling moment somewhere on the Snakes and Arrows tour. We know it happens, but we know it's rare. Jeanette has pledged herself for $20 to each S-CAP and Second Harvest (the national hunger-fighting organization) when a photo of a smiling Neil behind the drumset appears on www.rushisaband.com.
She is inviting everyone to join in--pledge a dollar--pledge five, ten, twenty... whatever suits you. See if you can be the one to capture this rare event! Jeanette is taking pledges via her myspace page (www.myspace.com/jwalcheske). Just let her know how much you'll donate to each charity when that photo appears.
Donations to both S-CAP and Second Harvest can be made securely online via www.s-cap.org and www.secondharvest.org.
If you prefer to send checks, make them out separately to S-CAP (be sure to put "the Rush to fight AIDS" in the memo line) and Second Harvest, and then send them directly to the organizations:
Southern Colorado AIDS Project
1301 S. 8th Street
Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80906America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network
Philanthropic Programs
35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60601As always, contact me (or Jeanette) with questions... And stay tuned into rushisaband.com to look for that photo!
Thanks for your help, see you in Vegas and/or Red Rocks. Keep those toiletries coming!
So if anyone can get a pic of Neil with a big shit-eating grin (while playing on his kit), send it my way or just post it in the tour section and let me know. And let Jeanette (Nettie) know of any pledges you'd like to make. You can get a hold of her via her personal contact form.
Another Rush-related charity event that I'd first mentioned back at the beginning of May was the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life of Westminster. As part of their fundraising efforts, they had set up a raffle for a Paul Reed Smith guitar signed by Rush. They had originally planned on conducting the drawing after the June 23 show at the Nissan Pavilion but decided to extend it. Entry closes on August 20th and the winner will be announced on August 25th. Details at this link.
And let us not forget about our troops overseas. I'd mentioned Tunes 4 the Troops in a post a few months ago. They're an organization that collects CDs, DVDs, etc. and sends them to the troops on the frontlines. Several of you probably have an extra copy or two of Snakes & Arrows lying around - or some old Rush CDs that you've replaced with the remasters. Why not send them to a soldier overseas? It's a great way to support the troops and Rush at the same time! For details on how you can help, visit the website here.
If you know of any other Rush-related charities that you'd like me to mention on the site be sure to let me know.
UPDATE - 7/19@9:20AM: Here's a great review from the Calgary Sun (thanks Fiat).
UPDATE - 7/19@6:44AM: xanadu2112 saw the show and said it was amazing. They also played the original (opening night) setlist without the substitution.
Date/Time: Wednesday, July 18th @ 7:30PM (local time)
Show Number: 17
Venue: Pengrowth Saddledome
Place: Calgary, AB
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
A couple of weeks ago I let you know that Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell will contribute a cover of Rush's What You're Doing to an upcoming Rush tribute album due out this September on MainMan Records. You can listen to it at this location. John over at Cygnus-X1.net has more details regarding the tribute album:
... The tribute album will be called Lush and will focus on the debut album Rush, the band's first single You Can't Fight It and the John Rutsey period of Rush's career. Confirmed performers include Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet, Jon Nardochone of Murder One and The Cursed as well as Frankenstein 3000.
The album is scheduled to be released in mid September, most of which will be radio giveaways on The Legendary Electric Ballroom Radio Show which aires on 95.9FM The Wrat (out of Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey). There will also be 100 copies available for sale to the public directly from Main Man Record's website with pre-ordering beginning on or about August 15th.
Breaktime is almost over! Rush will begin the western leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour tomorrow in Calgary - their first Canadian stop. They'll play 16 dates out West and then take another 9 day respite before hitting the Middle West. The first leg of the tour was a huge success and ticket sales continue to do well. The Mansfield show was a sellout and according to the July 14th issue of Billboard, Rush's June 23rd date at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow was number 27 in terms of gross ticket sales for that week; attendance was 12,203 out of 22,661 seats and the gross ticket sales were $708,378 (thanks Julia C for the numbers).
Now to get some random Rush stuff out of the way before the tour gears up again.
Several folks emailed me to let me know that there was a Rush sighting on VH1's game show the World Series of Pop Culture last week. Contestants were read a section of the lyrics to a song and had to name the song title. One of the songs was Rush's Tom Sawyer and the contestant thankfully got it right.
Last month I'd mentioned the upcoming movie Fanboys (trailer here) and how several publicity photos of the cast from the film that were floating around the net showed the character Hutch (played by Dan Fogler) wearing a Rush t-shirt. The film, due out in January in the US, follows a group of Star Wars-loving geeks in 1998 who travel cross country so that their dying friend's dream of watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace at Skywalker Ranch before its release can come true. Reader Alex from Glasgow was lucky enough to see the first showing of the film at Star Wars Celebration Europe. Apparently the film is chock full of Rush references. Several Rush songs are on the soundtrack including Working Man, Spirit of Radio and Tom Sawyer. One of the main characters (the aforementioned Hutch) spends most of the film in a Rush t-shirt and there is a superb scene where his buddies pile into his van, open the box of tapes to find something to listen to only to find that every tape is of Rush. In fact, he says words to the effect of only three rules in my van: rule number one - only Rush can be played. After the screening someone asked the director whether he had any problems getting permission to use the songs and he stated how easy it had been and how keen the Rush guys were to let their music be in the film.
Sully Erna - frontman for the metal band Godsmack - was involved in the 2007 World Series of Poker and was captured on film wearing a Rush t-shirt. Thanks to nposter for the heads up. Sully is a big Rush fan.
In a post at USA Today's Pop Candy blog last week, blogger Whitney Matheson posted photos of readers wearing their favorite concert t-shirts. Among the bunch was this priceless photo of one such reader wearing a very snug vintage Signals shirt. Her comment:
Michael M. cracked me up with this photo of his snug Rush T-shirt from their 1982-83 Signals New World Tour. "Amazingly, 25 years later -- and 60 pounds later -- it still fits like a glove!" he said.
Thanks to robertkincaid96 at Counterparts for the heads up.
In a recent issue of The Observer Music Monthly, British TV and radio presenter Adrian Chiles had his iPod collection doctored. The article states:
... Chuckling, Chiles searches for a Spektor track to play. 'God' he says grimacing at his computer screen ' look at all that crap I've amassed by fecking Rush. ...
Thanks to Ben at TNMS for the heads up.
In the August 2007 issue of RHYTHM Magazine, Megadeth drummer Shawn Dover describes Six Drummers You Should Hear Before You Die. It's no surprise that Neil Peart is on the top of this list. Here's what he said:
Neil would be my Number One choice just because of the influence he had on me. When I started playing, he was my guy. Rush was my band and he was my drummer. This was back in 1976 when All The World's A Stage first came out. I'm Canadian and everybody knows that if you listen to rock music, Rush is one of the bands you listen to. When I was younger I was trying to play along to him but I couldn't pull all of it off because I didn't have a 98-piece drumset!
Thanks to pdw 1 at TNMS for the tip.
And I'll close with this pic of the official 2112 garbage truck, courtesy mfratt from The Rush Forum.
UPDATE - 7/19@9:52AM: Some more info on these from doug12volt:
... the Alex Orbit Room tour vids are old. (Early 90's) They are included on the CD "The Dexters Live At The Orbit Room" which includes Al playing live on a few of the songs. There are I think 10 or so vids going from my memory. I can pull the disc out and check for sure. When it came out there were issues with compatability because the CD "extra" discs were new on the market and had some compatability issues. ...
----- snip -----
A while back a video surfaced online of Alex Lifeson giving a tour of the office at his Toronto restaurant The Orbit Room. It's a hilarious video seeing as the office is actually a bathroom. The video was originally posted at the website of The Dexters; the house band at The Orbit Room. The video is still up there and reader Victor S noticed that there have been a few more of these comical videos posted recently. There's The Smoke Eater, The Fabulous DexterMobile and The Chick Watching Window. You'll definitely want to check them out for a good laugh; Lerxst is in full-on goofball mode.
[NEWS, WEATHER, and SPORTS: July 13, 2007 - That's the Way We Roll]
Neil Peart has updated his online news page at NeilPeart.net. In addition to describing his various motorcycle travels on the eastern leg of the tour, he talks about meeting and riding with Richard S. Foster (author of A Nice Morning Drive - the story that inspired Red Barchetta) as was discussed in this post from yesterday. Neil seems to be having a blast on the tour so far and has been pleased with his performances. Thanks to metal tim for the heads up.
To all my fellow Rush fan; I wish you all a safe and happy Bastille Day. :) So break out your ceremonial guillotines and shoot off some fireworks ... and - more importantly - dust off that old copy of Caress of Steel and crank up Bastille Day!! There's no bread! Let them eat cake!!
There's no bread, let them eat cake
There's no end to what they'll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth
But they're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel, and let his kingdom riseBloodstained velvet, dirty lace
Naked fear on every face
See them bow their heads to die
As we would bow as they rode byAnd we're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Sing, o choirs of cacophony
The king has kneeled, to let his kingdom rise.Lessons taught but never learned
All around us anger burns
Guide the future by the past
Long ago the mould was castFor they marched up to Bastille Day
La guillotine - claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
Power isn't all that money buys
[The Drummer, the Private Eye, and Me (Rush Fans Take Note)]
Most Rush fans are aware that the epitome of driving songs - Rush's Red Barchetta - was inspired by a short story titled A Nice Morning Drive - it's right there in the liner notes on Moving Pictures. Originally published in the November 1973 issue of Road and Track magazine, the story was written by Richard S. Foster in 1972 and tells a futuristic tale which involved Modern Safety Vehicles (MSV's) that could damage older, pre-safety-bumper cars without incurring any harm themselves. Foster also happens to be, like Neil Peart, a BMW motorcycle buff. He recently posted a long article to the BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington Message Board where he talks about how he finally got to meet Neil Peart a couple weeks ago after all these years. He went for a bike ride with him and Rush's head of security (and Neil's riding partner) Michael Mosbach between the Bristow and Pittsburgh shows. He also recounts the entire tale of how A Nice Morning Drive came to be, how it inspired Neil Peart and how he finally got around to meeting him. The article is a very interesting read and chock full of great photographs. You will definitely want to check it out for yourself at this link. Many thanks to apoorvag for the heads up.
UPDATE - 7/13@4:13PM: I just determined that the 2112th confirmed registered user at Rush is a Band was ... (Neil Peart drum roll) .... jersey-skeeter! Please come forth and claim your free RIAB bumper sticker (I'll email you too). :)
It's break time for Rush. It seems that they wanted to take Bastille Day (tomorrow) off and Geddy wanted to catch the MLB All-star Game Tuesday. :) Their last show was Monday at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, and their next show isn't until next Wednesday. They'll be heading out west to play their first Canadian date in Calgary and then hitting the US West Coast. Be sure to check out all the great photos, bootleg videos and fan reviews from the first 16 East Coast dates in the tour section. If you have photos of your own from any of the shows so far, please upload them here.
I'm proud to announce that sometime earlier this week the 2112th registered user at Rush is a Band signed up! As it stands right now we're almost at 2200. Thanks for everyone who has contributed their comments, photos, clicks and dollars to the site. It is very much appreciated. To get your very own RUSH IS A BAND bumper sticker just donate at least $3 to the site and I'll send one off to you.
My next site enhancement will likely be the creation of a Daily Chat area; a daily comment thread where users can go and chat about whatever they want. I've been getting several comments from users requesting such an area so that idle chat can be kept separate from comments regarding a specific post. As it stands right now, many users are utilizing the post comments to chat among themselves - which I'm fine with since that's the only outlet currently available to them. But this irks some folks who'd rather keep comments to the subject at hand - also understandable. I think this is a good compromise. Once this is in place I'll politely ask folks to try and keep idle chit-chat to the Daily Chat Area but I won't really police this. It's not my policy to dictate what people discuss in the comments as long as they keep it civil. But at least now folks will have an option available outside of the regular comments. Now all we need is a name... I was thinking the Rush Pub (open 24 hours a day) since that's the de facto name already. :) Also on my to-do list is a member list to help facilitate users getting in touch with one another.
In last week's poll I asked concert-goers which songs should have been included in the setlist that were left out. The results are in (SPOILERS) and the winner comes as no surprise. Since the first leg of the tour is complete, I thought that this week I'd conduct a survey of readers to see which show(s) they attended. You can let us know here.
This week I have several random Rush references to report. This first one comes via Power Windows. A couple of nights ago a new show on cable TV channel G4TV premiered called Code Monkeys. The show features a pixelated animation style and is set in the 1980s at the beginning of the video game era. During the opening credits of the show, a Rush poster can be seen hanging on the wall in Dave and Jerry's office. It's a pixelated version of an actual Rush poster the original of which can be seen here.
Continuing with the theme of 80s video games, this next Rush reference was sent to me by reader Andrew S. In 1985 Nintendo released a futuristic driving game called Mach Rider where you race a machine-gun equipped motorcycle across a desolate Earth. Guess what year the game takes place? 2112 of course! Here's a screenshot with the 2112 sighting. The game was re-released for download this past Monday for the Nintendo Wii.
Chris sent me this tiny Rush reference from the Within the Cranium blog.
There was a Rush sighting on Canadian Idol according to snowdogged over at The Rush Forum. One of the female contestants on the show - Tara Oram - said that even though she was a big country music fan, she would really love to see Rush in concert because they represent great Canadian musicianship.
Rush is mentioned in this recent article from the Hartford Courant which discusses Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Thanks to Ron S for the heads up.
The World Series of Video Games held its second event on its Guitar Hero II competitive circuit this past weekend in Dallas, Texas. Winning the competition was Freddie Wong with his amazing performance of Rush's YYZ. For details check out this article at Blabbermouth.net and for video of the performance go here. Earlier this week it was announced that Rush's Tom Sawyer would be included as one of the songs in Rock Band, the upcoming sequel to Guitar Hero 2.
bruins over at Counterparts reported that prog-metal band Tool opened a show at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ON with a riff from A Passage to Bangkok. Tool have often cited Rush as a major influence.
Readers TSOR and Metal Tim pointed me to this article about the new MVI format in which Rush is mentioned.
LASERS!!! Reader Laurie M let me know that Vancouver's Rock 101 FM will be sponsoring a Laser Rush show which opens tonight. Here are the details from the website:
LASER RUSH
Classic Rock 101 Presents LASER RUSH!!!
Laser Rush - Vancouver's first Rush laser show features the best songs from the new chart topping cd SNAKES AND ARROWS, plus many of their great songs from the past 30 yearsTickets to the July 13th opening night are only $1.01 !
Look for the Rock 101 crew on location that night!Location: HR Macmillan Space Centre.
Here's an impressive video of reader rootwitch performing Alex Lifeson's Hope.
And here is a challenge to everyone from reader Nettie:
I want to make a dare/challenge to all those on the site:
If someone can get a photo of Neil smiling while at his drum kit during a concert, I'll donate 20 dollars to S-CAP (rushtofightaids) and 20 dollars to Second Harvest for the first photo posted on the site.I challenge everyone to pledge money to these charities (or others) and donate it when the picture appears. If you like, they can contact me with the pledge and I'll keep track of who pledged what.
I'll take pledges from today until the end of the July tour break (July 17th). People would be responsible for sending the money in themselves, I won't keep track of that.
You can contact Nettie using her personal contact form.
That's all for now. Have a great weekend and a pleasant Bastille Day tomorrow! :)
UPDATE - 7/12@4:06PM: Since some of you have inquired, here are the Soundscan sales numbers (courtesy The Pass at Counterparts) for Snakes & Arrows in the US:
Week 1: #3 - 93,438
Week 2: #20 - 26,780
Week 3: #35 - 17,294
Week 4: #51 - 12,639
Week 5: #61 - 9,619
Week 6: #77 - 8,831
Week 7: #78 - 10,677
Week 8: #93 - 8,086
Week 9: #55 - 13,419
Week 10: #58 - 12,642Total to date: 213,620
----- snip -----
In its 10th week of release Snakes & Arrows is still in the top 100 on the Billboard album charts in the US at #58. 2 weeks ago it nearly fell out of the top 100 at #93. But due to sales of the MVI version (and, to a lesser extent, the tour) it rebounded back up to #55 last week ... and only dropped 3 spots this week! The MVI release also rocketed Snakes & Arrows back into the top 10 on the Internet Album Sales Chart too; last week it was #10 and this week ... #1!
[Needs More Cowbell: Rock Band Tracks Announced]
Last November Harmonix Music Systems released the sequel to their popular music video game Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero 2 allowed players to play bass or guitar in a virtual band, playing along with hit songs from a number of artists. One of the songs included was Rush's YYZ. For this upcoming holiday season Harmonix Music Systems is developing another music video game called Rock Band. The game will be similar to its Guitar Hero predecessors but with the addition of drums and vocals. A partial list of the songs to be included with the game was recently released and Rush's Tom Sawyer is on it. Unfortunately the version included will be a cover rather than a master track. Here's the list courtesy Kotaku.com:
The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Mountain "Mississippi Queen" *
David Bowie "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid" *
Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
The Ramones "Rockaway Beach"
Rush "Tom Sawyer" *
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
Nirvana "In Bloom"
Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"
Weezer "Say It Ain't So"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
The Hives "Main Offender"
The Strokes "Reptilia"
Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow* cover (not a master track)
Thanks to John on a Boat for the heads up.
Back in the summer of 2005 Rush fan and computer animator Bobby Standridge put together a computer-animated video for YYZ featuring a virtual Neil Peart. The video, titled A Digital Man, was extremely well-done and quickly wormed its way around the internet, drawing the attention of Rush fans everywhere and Neil Peart himself. Neil liked it so much that he posted it to his official website. According to the RushTrader.com blog, Standridge has also recently created a band-sanctioned video for Malignant Narcissism that may be released in the near future. It sounds like it would just be an internet viral-marketing sort of release - not a video you'd see on TV anywhere - but very cool nonetheless. Here are the details from Ant at the RushTrader.com blog:
Today I was given a look at what could become the official video for Rush's manic instrumental, "Malignant Narcissism". Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it tied in directly with the religious themes of the new album, "Snakes & Arrows".
The video itself is completely CGI and centers around religious "family trees". These trees grow like "snakes" and are woven before your eyes, finding Ancient, Eastern and Western religions along the way. I will keep the ending a secret, as promised to the producer.
While the ending and video iteself are under wraps for now, the producer is someone who's work you may be familiar with. You may recall the work of Bobby Standridge (BobbysBrane.com), an insanely talented computer animator, who produced another popular Rush related video, "The Digital Man". That video showcased a computer generated Neil Peart drumming away at the instrumental, "YYZ". Upon seeing Bobby's fan tribute, Neil loved it and soon added it to his own website, neilpeart.net.
"I got the (MalNar) gig by 'pleasant persistence' with their management", Bobby says, "and I've been slaving away for the last five weeks to complete it."
In addition to the challenges of creating CGI, the video project also required some fairly extensive research on the origins of world religions. "Research on Wikipedia took a bunch of time" Bobby told me. Then gathering all that information into a logical arrangement, while keeping it on a timeline and synched to the animation was very time consuming. Not to mention all the time wasted in the "second guessing" department.
Right now Bobby is awaiting feedback from the band and their management. If all goes well, Bobby's video for "MalNar" could be going viral on a website near you.
Stay tuned!
Ant
There was a great article on Neil Peart posted just before the 4th of July holiday in the Sabian.com forum. The article summarizes all the various projects that Neil has been involved in over the past year or so and includes several great new pics. It's titled Rollin' with Rush and has pictures of Neil in the studio (including one of him recording his Aqua Teen Hunger Force cameo), in rehearsals and opening night in Atlanta. Thanks to bscsmkr at Counterparts for the heads up.
UPDATE - 10/27@11:00AM: SOLD OUT!
Attendance: 7,793
Capacity: 7,793
Gross: $452,900
----- snip -----
UPDATE - 7/11@7:03AM: Here is a less than flattering review of the show from Stephen Busemeyer of The Hartford Courant; he seems to have a really low opinion of Rush fans. Thanks to Ron S for the link.
UPDATE - 7/10@6:49AM: Justin let me know that the band went with setlist #2 (with the substitution) last night. That makes 2 shows in a row and 3 of their last 4. For details check below the fold.
This will be Rush's last show on this first Eastern swing of the tour. They will then take a break for 9 days before heading out West to play their first Canadian date at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary on July 18th. Here's a little preview article from the Hartford Courant (thanks Ron S).
Date/Time: Monday, July 9th @ 8:00PM
Show Number: 16
Venue: Mohegan Sun Arena
Place: Uncasville, CT
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
There was a short but humorous little interview with Alex Lifeson in the past week's edition of the Philadelphia Metro conducted by Ed Condran. You can check out the interview at this link (or click on the thumbnail). Thanks to PhillyMike for the link.
Earlier today I updated the Camden open thread (SPOILERS) with the comment that Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater had been spotted heading backstage the afternoon of the Camden show. He definitely was there; he posted his thoughts about the show earlier this morning at MikePortnoy.com (Setlist SPOILERS). To check out what he said, read below the fold (Setlist SPOILER alert).
In the run-up to tonight's show at the Mohegan Sun, Phil Roura of the New York Daily News recently spoke with Geddy Lee about the tour and the new album - particularly the lyrical content. The interview was published in yesterday's edition and can be read at this link. From the article:
... in the final analysis, it is what the audience comes away with that is important to the group.
"I want them to smile and enjoy [the music]," he says, when asked what he hopes his Mohegan Sun gathering realizes from the concert. "We want them to get as much of a visual sensation as an aural sensation out of it, and we will also try to make them laugh. They should leave feeling they had a great musical experience."
After a pause, Geddy Lee adds, "Look, I have two children, aged 27 and 13. I want them to be proud that I was a musician and made some decent music. That is what I hope my legacy will be."
Thanks to Metal Tim for the heads up.
UPDATE - 7/10@12:30PM: Here's a blogcritics.org review of the show.
UPDATE - 7/9@6:54AM: Reader anim8me (and others) let me know that they played setlist #2 (with the substitution) last night. Details below the fold.
Date/Time: Sunday, July 8th @ 7:30PM
Show Number: 15
Venue: PNC Bank Arts Center
Place: Holmdel, NJ
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
UPDATE - 7/9@9:33AM: Reader AnthemOwl was at the show and hung out at the gate where the band would be coming in. Neil arrived on his motorcycle around 2:45 PM. They then saw Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy get clearence to go through the gate there. Geddy and Alex came in at 5:15 PM in two separate black cars. They were rushed through the gates but were seen getting out to grab some things out of the trunk.
spotted being let in through the gate where the band had come in.
----- snip -----
UPDATE - 7/6@11:18PM: PhillyMike tells me that for tonight's show Rush stuck with the original setlist and did not make the substitution that was made for the Darien Lake show. For details read below the fold (SPOILER).
Date/Time: Friday, July 6th @ 7:30PM
Show Number: 14
Venue: Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
Place: Camden, NJ
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
It's time to get some updates out of the way as Rush wraps up their first East Coast swing on the Snakes & Arrows tour. Rush will play their last 3 East Coast dates over the next few days before taking a 9-day break and heading out West.
Last week's poll was a no-brainer for the most part. Over 75% of you said that the making-of documentary was the best reason to purchase the Snakes & Arrows MVI - I tend to agree. Another 10% said that the enhanced recording was the best reason while 7% said you should just buy it to support Rush. 5% said to not buy it at all.
For this week's poll I give you a list of notable songs that were excluded from the setlist on this tour and ask you to choose which ones that you think should have been included. You can vote for as many as you like too. Take the poll and let us know what you think (SPOILER).
Speaking of the setlist, it's no secret that Rush plays a lot of songs from Snakes & Arrows on the current tour. Reader Netboy notes that this tour sets the record for the most material played live from a single Rush album; it features about 43 minutes of material from Snakes & Arrows. The previous record was held by Moving Pictures, which has been played in its entirety (albeit on different tours) totalling 40 minutes. Unlike Moving Pictures, the next albums on the list had all their material (or all but one song) performed during their respective tours: Power Windows (all but Emotion Detector, a little over 39 minutes), Grace Under Pressure (entirety, 39 minutes), Signals (all but Losing It, 38 minutes) and Hemispheres (entirety, 36 minutes). These times are the running times of the songs on the albums themselves, not how long the songs last when performed live.
While in Boston for the Rush show at the Tweeter Center last Wednesday, Geddy Lee stopped in the Bin 26 Enoteca; a Beacon Hill bistro which boasts one of the city's best wine lists. From Boston.com: We don't know what Lee drank, but owner Babak Bina says he sure knows his stuff..
Back in May I called your attention to the fact that Alex Lifeson was a nominee for the Chop Shop Radio Guitar Hall of Fame. Thanks to your efforts (and other Rush fan sites) he made it in. Thanks to Kerry for the heads up.
Here's a short article/interview on Rush from Billboard's Gary Graff titled Three decades on, band still loves to rock. The article came out in the week of the MVI release and doesn't contain anything we haven't already heard, but it's a good read nonetheless.
Way back in 1974, shortly after Neil Peart joined the band Rush performed on the popular US music variety show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. I believe it was Rush's first television performance and took place on September 10, 1974. They played Best I Can (as yet unreleased at the time), In the Mood and Finding My Way. Low-quality versions of the songs were included as some of the extras on the R30 DVD. There have also been many copies floating around YouTube for the last couple of years. Just recently a very good quality version of the entire show was uploaded to YouTube. You can check it out here. Thanks to Steve for the heads up.
Reader nick alerted me to a contest at Jabra Music online where you must vote for the Best Band In the World. We all know who the winner should be... but right now our favorite Canadian power trio is only ranked at #258. So go vote for Rush. It requires that you register for the site and you can vote once a day. Voting closes on July 20th.
Here is some Lerxst-related news for you. Garrison Guitars, a manufacturer of high-end acoustic instruments who counts Alex Lifeson among their customers, has been purchased by Gibson Guitars.
In the August 2007 issue of WWE magazine there is a section on page 12 outlining the top ten things that the staff likes. Numero uno on the list was ... Rush! Here's what they say:
These Canadian rockers are undeniably staff favorites. "Red Barchetta", "By-tor & the Snowdog" and their face-melting new record, Snakes & Arrows are on constant rotation. Thanks to the slavish fandom of senior editor Jeremy Brown, we've all become converts to the cult of Geddy, Alex, and Neil.
Also included is a pic of the band with the caption Power Trio. Thanks to Shootist over at Rush Tour for the heads up.
Both Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci of Dream Theater discuss how Rush has influenced their music in a recent interview at heavymetalmusic.biz. You can read the entire interview here.
UltimoGuitarist over at YouTube has put together an 8-minute medley of himself performing songs from Snakes & Arrows on guitar. He does a really good job. You can check it out here.
In celebration of Canada Day (July 1st) Underground Online paid tribute to the Top 11 Canadians. In at #5 was Neil Peart. Here's what they said about him:
Back when video games were still just for geeks the beating heart inside every gamer was the rhythm of Neil Peart's 900-piece (give or take) drum set. The syncopated Morse code call of "YYZ" in a 10/8 time signature was like a tribal call for hardcore nerds to congregate, discuss the latest cheats for Zork, episodes of V: The Visitors, or to show off how many Python lines they'd memorized. Peart (the drummer from Rush, for those who aren't catching all this) not only kept the beat but wrote the lyrics, too. And to you, Neil Peart, we say, "The battle's over and the dust is clearing/Disciples of the Snow Dog sound the knell/Rejoicing echoes as the dawn is nearing/By-Tor in defeat retreats to Hell!"
Adam alerted me to this extremely rare interview with ... *gulp* ... a girl at a Rush concert conducted by ReadJunk's Adam Coozer. :) It's really very funny and is definitely worth checking out. You can read the entire interview here.
This past Sunday's Worcester Telegram & Gazette had an article about a very odd annulment case. From the article:
Michael P. is seeking to annul his Las Vegas marriage to his bride [Crystal] of five months. In his complaint, the Westboro man claims that his wife induced him into marriage "through a series of elaborately constructed gross misrepresentations and outright lies about her background, financial status, employment history, marital history, criminal background, family background and her very strong connections to the entertainment community in California." ...
One day over lunch, after Mr. P. revealed that his favorite band was "Rush," Crystal confided that the lead guitarist had been her best friend for 30 years.
"Michael was initially skeptical of her claim but, as with most of the lies Crystal told, the conviction, emotion and the detail with which she expressed them made Michael believe her," according to the complaint filed by Mr. P.'s lawyer, Jonathan E. Fields of Wellesley.
She also told him that she was once engaged to the son of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who was also friendly with Alex Lifeson, lead singer of Rush, and that the three had been inseparable until a tragic bungee jumping accident in California killed her fiance. ...
Alex Lifeson, lead singer of Rush?? :) Thanks to sweetmiracle for finding this for us.
That's all for now. On to New Jersey!
Rob Zombie, founder and frontman of metal band White Zombie as well as a writer and director, recently completed a remake of the 1978 horror classic Halloween which is due out August 31st. The complete track listing for the soundtrack to the film has been revealed and will include Rush's Tom Sawyer. The soundtrack is due out on August 21st. The entire track listing is as follows:
1. BLUE ÖYSTER CULT - "Don't Fear The Reaper"
2. NAZARETH - "Love Hurts"
3. PETER FRAMPTON - "Baby, I Love Your Way"
4. RUSH - "Tom Sawyer"
5. BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE - "Let It Ride"
6. KISS - "God Of Thunder"
7. THE SWEET - "Love Is Like Oxygen"
8. ALICE COOPER - "Only Women Bleed"
9. MISFITS - "Halloween 2"
10. TYLER BATES - "Halloween Theme"
11. TYLER BATES - "Michael stalks Laurie"
12. MR. SANDMAN - "Nan Vernon"
The soundtrack will also feature cool clips from the movie inbetween the music. Thanks to Blabbermouth and reader B-Man for the heads up.
In its 9th week of release Snakes & Arrows has rebounded a bit on the Billboard album charts in the US. After nearly falling out of the top 100 last week at #93, this week it moves back up nearly 40 spots to come in at #55. This substantial jump is mostly due to last week's release of the MVI version of Snakes & Arrows. It also jumped 30 spots back into the top 50 from #75 to #45 on the Canadian charts.
In case you missed it in yesterday's Darien Lake post (SPOILER), Rush made one setlist substitution in last night's show. It'll be interesting to watch whether they continue playing this song or switch back and forth. The song in question was one which they had been playing in their sound checks throughout the tour so far. To find out what the song was and for a completely updated setlist check below the fold.
UPDATE - 10/27@10:58AM: Attendance: 7,624
Capacity: 21,800
Gross: $429,109
UPDATE - 7/5@10:06AM: Here's a great review from Buffalo News music critic (and major Rush fan) Jeff Miers (thanks timintey).
UPDATE - 7/4@11:25PM: BREAKING NEWS! There was one substitution in the setlist at tonight's show. For details check below the fold. Thanks to Matthew V for the heads up.
Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans. I hope you have a safe and happy holiday - I know that those folks going to see Rush at Darien Lake tonight will. :)
Date/Time: Wednesday, July 4th @ 7:30PM
Show Number: 13
Venue: Darien Lake PAC
Place: Darien Center, NY
gallery: [view] [upload] [bootleg videos]
reviews: [reviews]
Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell will contribute a cover of Rush's What You're Doing to an upcoming Rush tribute album due out this September on MainMan Records. The recording features Ed Mundell on guitars and bass, Rick Ferrante on drums, and Colby Veil on vocals. You can listen to it at this location or use the player below. Thanks to readers steve and B-Man for the heads up.
UPDATE - 7/16@12:41PM: Here's a late-in-coming review of the show from PopMatters.
UPDATE - 7/9@9:24AM: The photos from this show seem to be lacking. But there are several pro shots up at LFI.
UPDATE - 7/5@10:01AM: Here's a review from Newsday.com (thanks PhillyMike.
Date/Time: Monday, July 2nd @ 8:00PM
Show Number: 12
Venue: Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
Place: Wantagh, NY
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Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will be appearing on HDNet's Sound Off with Matt Pinfield this coming Sunday at 8:30PM EST (with rebroadcasts at 12:30AM and 4:30AM EST). Thanks to KevinDallas at The Rush Forum for the heads up.
About a month ago I mentioned that the July 2007 issue of the UK's Classic Rock Magazine contained a 4-page interview feature on Rush. Thanks to RedSectorA over at Counterparts we now have a scan of the interview. No new ground covered here really, but a good article nevertheless.
