Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Updates and other random Rush stuff

Fri, May 2, 2008@5:16PM | comments removed/disabled

The tour rolls on; Rush will play Reno and Concord over the weekend, then 2 LA dates, Vegas and Irvine next week before taking a 9-day break. Here's a little preview article for the LA shows from The Press-Enterprise which includes a few snippets from an Alex Lifeson interview.

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the release of Rush's 19th (18th if you don't count Feedback) studio album - Snakes & Arrows. Last year right around this time I asked everybody what their favorite song off the album was. The winner was The Main Monkey Business with Armor and Sword a close second. I thought it would be interesting to ask this same question now that we've had a year to let the songs sink in. So what's your favorite song off of Snakes & Arrows? Take the poll and let us know.

Snakes & Arrows Live has fallen to #110 on the Billboard album charts - down from #18 in its debut week. It also fell from #8 to #59 on the Canadian charts. I have one more review to report. Reader madjock from Scotland let me know that the UK's Kerrang! Magazine recently reviewed the album and gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee were the featured guests on Rockline this past Wednesday night. If you didn't get a chance to listen to it, the interview is now posted up on the Rockline website at this location. One spoiler warning though - the new additions to the setlist are revealed.

The long-awaited Rush road crew documentary series Backstage Secrets finally aired its first episode last night on the appropriately-named RUSH HD in Canada. I don't know of anyone who actually saw it though. If you did, please let us know what you thought. Hopefully the series will be available for purchase on DVD at some point.

Last week's episode of Land and Sea on the CBC in Canada contained a 15-minute segment on New Brunswick-based Sabian Cymbals. The show chronicles the history of Sabian and Neil Peart is prominently featured. You can watch the show online at this location but you will need Real Player. Thanks to bigleaf at Counterparts for the heads up.

Reader rushfan_132 let me know that Canadian syndicated radio program The Legends of Classic Rock hosted by Jeff Woods is running a contest to determine the 40 greatest classic rock drummers of all time. During the month of May over 4 consecutive weeks on the Legends of Classic Rock weekly hour-long show, Jeff Woods will count down the 40 Greatest Rock Drummers of All Time, as chosen by Legends listeners. So go vote for Neil Peart at this link!

Reader sandman let me know that Rock 100.7 DJ Jeff Burrows (formerly of The Tea Party and The Big Dirty Band) will be hosting a 24-hour drum-a-thon for a great cause called Transition to Betterness this weekend at the Rock Head Resto Pub in Windsor. Those who donate will have the chance to win 2 backstage passes to see Rush.

Most Rush fans already know all about Bob and Doug McKenzie and their relation to Rush. But just in case you don't know, Bob and Doug were a pair of walking Canadian sterotypes who were originally introduced on SCTV in Canada back in 1980 by actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. The pair hosted a recurring sketch panel show called The Great White North. The sketch became so popular that in 1983 a movie featuring the duo titled Strange Brew was released that has since become a cult classic. The duo's first album Great White North featured an appearance by Geddy Lee on the main track Take Off. About a year ago the CBC aired a prime time special celebrating the 24th anniversary of the release of Strange Brew and Geddy Lee made a surprise appearance. The duo's latest project is an animated series which will premier next year in Canada and hopefully in the US too. There's a trailer for the show available online which you can watch at this link. The trailer features Freewill as some of the background music. Thanks to Will C for the heads up.

I recently came across some more Rush-inspired artwork. Artist Mark Blanchette is a fine art photographer who specializes in darkroom created photomontages. Much of his work is Rush-inspired and he donates a piece of his artwork every year to the charity auction at RushCon. You can check out his creations at www.Grymwish.com.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

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