UPDATE - 7/11@10:22AM: Reader Gabe sent me a link to this Flickr photo gallery which contains a bunch of motorcycle pics including a few of Neil Peart, Dave the bus driver and Michael Mosbach visiting the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. Just check out the last couple rows of pics on the first page and the first row on the second page. I included thumbnails of some of the more notable ones. The photos were taken on July 1st so they must have stopped there on their way to the Pittsburgh show.
Since today is an off-day for the tour I thought I'd once again post my updates and other random Rush stuff a day early this week. Rush played the hometown yesterday and will hit New Hampshire and New Jersey over the weekend. Then there's only 6 dates left after that! They'll hit Jones Beach, Hershey, Bristow, Charlotte, Alpharetta and then close things out with the rescheduled show in Indianapolis on July 24th. Then we'll just have to wait until the Rotterdam Live DVD comes out this fall. Speaking of which, the latest rumor I'm hearing is that the DVD will be released on Blu-ray!
There's been a lot of news lately in regards to Rush and the video game Rock Band. In addition to the game including Tom Sawyer as a featured track, they've also made versions of Limelight and Working Man available for download for the game. And we also recently learned that Moving Pictures would be the next album available for download while master track versions of Working Man and Closer to the Heart were released for the game earlier this week. And just a few days ago we heard that The Trees is rumored to be one of the featured tracks included with Rock Band 2, due out in September. There's also the first part of an interview with Alex and Geddy up on the Rock Band website (at Rush.com also). Geddy and Alex are interviewed by Rock Band representative Brett Milano about the game, the upcoming release of the alternate-master track version of Working Man (with an alternate solo) for the game, the early days of Rush, and the making of the first album. The interview runs about 5 and a half minutes. I've teamed up with Atlantic Records to help promote a Rush + Rock Band online sweepstakes that they are running where you could win a prize pack including a Rock Band Special Edition game, a signed Rush lithograph, a Rush t-shirt, Snakes & Arrows and Snakes & Arrows Live! The contest runs through July 21st and you can visit this page to enter. Rush and Rock Band are also teaming up with ClearChannel.com to offer a similar contest which you can enter at this link.
With all this talk of Rock Band, for my next poll I thought I'd ask you all what you thought about Rush's involvement with the game. So, what's your opinion? Take the poll and let us know.
In my last poll I asked everyone what they thought about the recent Rolling Stone feature story on Rush. The vast majority (about 3/4) of you thought it was either really cool or sorta cool. A good chunk (13.5%) still thought it was stupid and the rest of you were either indifferent or couldn't care less. Speaking of the Rolling Stone story, RollingStone.com has posted an excerpt from the article online here. They also posted some additional Rush-related content including their complete album by album guide to Rush and this very interesting Rush vs. Rolling Stone Qualitative Analysis where the magazine tries to counter (not too successfully) the argument that Rolling Stone hates Rush.
Be sure to check out the video at Rush.com in the Multimedia: Rush Video section where Howard Ungerleider discusses his famous Mint Julep. And also check out this post to see some pictures of the bike and drum kit that Neil Peart recently donated to the MotoStars: Celebrities and Motorcycles exhibit at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio.
Eric over at Power Windows gave me the heads up that the current issue of the UK's Classic Rock magazine includes a Buyers Guide To Rush where author Neil Jeffries breaks down Rush's album catalog into 4 categories. According to him the Essential: Classics are Moving Pictures & 2112; the Superior albums are Permanent Waves, A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres and Signals; albums that are Good: Worth Exploring are Power Windows, Roll The Bones, and Snakes & Arrows; and Feedback is the one album to Avoid.
Donna Halper was recently interviewed by the Patriot Ledger for an article which ran in yesterday's edition titled Quincy woman still promoting Rush 34 years after discovering band. Donna is the woman credited for discovering Rush while working at WMMS in Cleveland back in 1974. In the interview she talks about how she discovered the band and her ongoing friendship with them. Also mentioned are her successful efforts to get Rush a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Thanks to Donna Halper herself for the heads up on the article. And if you missed it, be sure to check out Donna's essay at Opednews.com from a couple weeks back.
Andy Olson has made a bunch of updates to his Neil Peart fansite and rather than list them all here, just go check them out for yourself. Andy has arguably the best Neil Peart fansite out there.
I received a few emails about a minor Rush sighting on ESPN's Sports Center the other night. Neil Everett was introducing an arena football highlight and said ... Grand Rapids and Rush, not Geddy, Alex and Neil but the Chicago Rush... Thanks to mong821 for the info.
Reader Laura H asked me to let everyone know about a new Wiki site for Rush at Fanhistory.com. She's asking for fans to help contribute to the article and document the history of the band's fandom. Help out if you can.
Reader eddievanlerxst2112 wanted me to let everyone know about a fantasy football league specifically for Rush fans. He's inviting everyone to join. Just go to this link and use the ID 117827 with password limelight1.
Reader closertotheheart alerted me to this list of the top 15 rock instrumentals at The Rock Czar. Rush's La Villa Strangiato is #1 with YYZ coming in at #9.
And last but not least, Rush is up against Iron Maiden in the finals for Best Live Band at the Greatest of All Time Blog. So ... go vote for Rush!
Have a great weekend everybody!
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