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Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Neil Peart sighting at Dalai Lama appearance

Sat, Sep 16, 2006@10:51AM | comments removed/disabled

This past week, the Dalai Lama made a visit to Pasadena, California and, according to a fan who emailed me, Neil Peart was there. I have no reason to doubt this fan (on the contrary - his story makes complete sense to me, and I believe it), but I'll have to file this as "rumor" until I can find any cooborating evidence. This fan's son, a buddhist, attended the event and reported seeing both Neil Peart and his wife, Carrie Nuttall there. Here's his report:

... my son said that Neil had "filled in" his receding hair line
slightly, had a braided pony tail (about 6 inches), and stands tall,
well over 6 feet. My son approached him while in the club lounge after
Neil's wife left to scout the hall, and said: "excuse me sir, are you
"the professor?" To which, Neil replied: " I am, most certainly not
the professor anymore. And Neil winked at him, to avoid further
conversation as if to say, yes I am but I don't know you, so please
excuse me. And my son left him alone. ...

I don't see any reason why this fan would make something like this up, so I certainly believe it. For one thing, it completely "fits" with what Neil has been saying in interviews regarding how "religious themes" have served as lyrical inspiration for him on the next album. Indeed, in this article Neil states:

... "I looked for the good side of faith," Peart says. "To me it ought to be your armor, something to protect you and something to console you in dark times. But it's more often being turned into a sword, and that's one big theme I'm messing with." ...

I find the description of Neil as "filling in" his receding hairline and having a braided ponytail again (harkening back to the Power Windows days) very interesting. It's certainly possible - I haven't seen any recent pics of Neil, so I have no idea what he looks like these days. However, as I just reported, on October 1st, we'll get to see Neil's first TV interview in nearly 10 years on VH1 Classic. If he has a ponytail, then that makes this fan's story that much more believable. :)

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