As I'd mentioned yesterday, Rush began band rehearsals for the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour this past Wednesday in Toronto. They'll be rehearsing through next week before heading down to Florida for the tour kickoff on March 30th. We know that Alex and Geddy at least will remain in Toronto through next weekend since they are presenters at the 2011 Juno Awards ceremony at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday, March 27th. I've received several reports from fans saying that they have received their tickets that were ordered via the Music Today pre-sales. Music Today tickets typically mail out at least 2 weeks prior to the show date and that seems to be the way things are playing out so far. However, there are no reports of anyone having yet received their VIP ticket package. Those should start going out in the next few weeks but judging by the last tour it's really anybody's guess. If anyone receives any information regarding the VIP packages, please let us know. For anyone in the market for some discounted Time Machine Tour apparel, the Rush Backstage Club is having a closeout sale on a number of t-shirts along with a windbreaker for just $9.99. This probably means that we can expect some updated merchandise options on the 2011 leg of the tour. And while there's been no official word, from what I've been hearing there should be an updated version of the Time Machine Tourbook available on the upcoming 2011 leg.
Some more details regarding the CD+Blu-ray release of the Moving Pictures 5.1 surround sound remix came out earlier this week. Last week Amazon.com began listing just the Blu-ray version with a release date of May 3rd rather than April 5th. It was initially assumed that this was due to some delay related to the format. But on Wednesday we learned that it will still be released on April 5th but that Best Buy will be the exclusive retailer for the first 30 days. So you won't be able to purchase the Blu-ray version anywhere else until May 3rd.
Speaking of the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix, Tuesday night on his KLOS radio show DJ Jim Ladd announced that he had interviewed Neil Peart earlier in the day for close to 2 hours to discuss the release. The interview will air in 2 or 3 weeks on Ladd's KLOS radio show which airs Sunday through Thursday. More information as we learn it.
Alex Lifeson is featured on the cover of the April, 2011 issue of the Musician's Friend catalog to promote his new Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess. Earlier this week Musician's Friend posted a 5-minute video interview to their website where Alex talks about the guitar. You can check out the interview at this link. Gibson Guitars unveiled their new Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess at the 2011 Winter NAMM show back in January and last month launched a detailed website highlighting the guitar complete with detailed specs, a bunch of closeup photos, and purchase information. You can check out the website at this link. Alex also spoke a little about the Axcess in his Gibson interview from a few weeks ago.
While on the subject of Alex Lifeson, back in January I'd mentioned that Lerxst had lent his studio and production expertise to the Toronto-based David Barrett Trio. Late last year after the Time Machine tour the Trio went into Alex's home studio and recorded three tunes: Hollowbody, Sonar, and Disappearance with Alex producing and Rich Chycki handling the engineering duties. Hollowbody was made available as an MP3 download via Amazon.com and iTunes earlier this week for just $0.99 and the other 2 tracks should also soon be available as well. Hollowbody is a rocking, 2˝-minute instrumental track with a bunch of crazy guitar riffs that any Rush fan should really appreciate. You can listen to a short preview of the track at this link and here's a promotional video of the band playing a live version of the song in studio. There will be a concert and cd release party on Thursday, March 31st at 8PM (doors open at 7PM), at the Gibson Guitar Artist Showroom (1205 King West, Toronto, ON). They'll have a special EP available for sale which will have the three aforementioned tunes on it. They'll also be recording some more tunes after the 2011 leg of the Time Machine tour. David talks about the songs and his collaboration with Lifeson came about in this January post on his blog.
Speaking of Alex and his collaborations with other artists, back in 1985 Alex played guitar on Platinum Blonde's track Crying Over You from their album Alien Shores. Reader tignish located this hilarious old video interview with the band which includes a guest appearance from Alex being his goofy self. You can check it out at this link.
Eddie Trunk's debut book Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal releases in 2 weeks on Friday, April 1st. The book discusses Trunk's most essential hard rock and heavy metal artists and includes an entire chapter devoted to Rush. Eddie Trunk has been a radio and TV personality in the world of hard rock and heavy metal for more than twenty-five years. He is currently the host of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show and also has two weekly radio shows; Eddie Trunk Live on Sirius/XM radio's Boneyard channel, and the FM-syndicated Eddie Trunk Rocks. Trunk is a huge Rush fan and has been one of the loudest proponents for getting them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He interviewed Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson for VH1 Hangin' With back in 2005 and Neil Peart for the same program back in 2006. Geddy and Alex were also guests on the first season of That Metal Show back in 2009. You can pre-order a copy of the book at this link and check out a video preview here.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place earlier this week in New York City. As it usually does, the latest batch of inductees stirred up a bit of controversy, causing writers and bloggers across the web to create their own lists of artists that are not in the Rock Hall but should be. Included in most of these lists and often at the top is our favorite Canadian power trio, Rush. Rush gets a mention in this article from the Daily Aztec and in this Cleveland Plain Dealer article. Chesapeake, Virginia radio station 106.9 The Fox is running a contest to determine which artists most deserve to be inducted into the Rock Hall. Rush is in the running and you can vote for them at this link (thanks Rebecca B). And John Basso penned this article at Technorati.com earlier in the week discussing how both Rush and KISS are repeatedly snubbed by the Rock Hall.
Back in September of 1970 Rush performed for a mere $250 at Stayner Collegiate Institute in central Ontario. In this Simcoe.com article from yesterday, then student council president Jeff Parton recounts his experience of hiring the band and his memories of that show and another Rush show at the college in April, 1971:
... "Well I was voted in as student council president in May 1970. And we had a meeting, I believe in June, and my social convener was a Daiva Kryzanauskas. She was the pin to how it all happened. She'd moved up here a few years before. And at the meeting she mentioned she had a connection to Rush," Parton said. He can't remember exactly what the connection was. Possibly she knew the manager. At any rate, Parton said she was able to get the band to come to Stayner. "Nobody else in the area got them at that time," he said. "They rarely came north of the city. But we had the connection. So we paid $250 for them in September. We paid $600 for them in April because they were just getting more popular." Parton said that at the time Rush was well known but the group hadn't put out any albums. It was still an up and coming band. "But we all knew about them. They didn't have a lot of their own material but they had some. Their clone songs though were unbelievable," he said. That September afternoon when the band arrived in town, Parton said they had only a small number of "roadies" - mostly friends he suspects - and very little equipment. In the evening, when they walked out on the stage in the gymnasium, they were met by 350 screaming teenagers. "There was a lot of yelling. The place just went wild," he said, laughing at the memory. "They did predominantly covers. The Rolling Stones, some heavier stuff. I think they did some Grand Funk Railroad. I can't remember exactly what tunes because I was doing a bunch of running around, making sure the night was running smoothly." The band - Geddy Lee on lead vocals and bass, Alex Lifeson on guitar and John Rutsey on drums - played for about two hours. "I'm pretty sure it wrapped up around 10:30 or so," Parton said. "People just loved it." Asked if people knew back then the band was going places, Parton gives a mixed answer. "I think some people thought that," he said. "I don't know if I did - not knowing my music as well as some people. But you could definitely tell they had talent." Parton noted that when he met the band back stage they were all "extremely" nice. "The neat thing was I thought - because of the long hair - they were much older but they were my age," he said. Lee, Lifeson and Rutsey were all 17 at the time. ...
There's also a great rare promotional photo of the band included with the article. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.
Eric Wedum has a website called F*ck Yeah Headlines where each weekday he finds a headline on a major news site and illustrates it without reading a word of the story. Yesterday's headline was taken from the Wall Street Journal and read Rush to Fix Quake-Damaged Undersea Cables. You can check out his very funny Rush-related illustration at this link (thanks Craig).
Reader Professordrums let me know that Sammy Hagar was a guest on Howard Stern's radio show this past week to discuss his new book Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. They got on the subject of Michael Anthony and Sammy went on to say that Michael Anthony may be the best rock bassist/vocalist ever, second only to Geddy Lee. In chapter 11 (titled Father's Day) of Sammy's book he talks a bit about Rush and manager Ray Danniels. Ray was once married to Alex Van Halen's sister-in-law and Sammy partially blames Ray for Van Halen's breakup as outlined in this Guitars 101 forum post (thanks RushFanForever).
Rush and the Rush documentary get a mention in this recent Globe and Mail article on rare California red wines:
A woman wrote me recently to say that she and her husband had just watched the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage, which is about the Canadian rock trio Rush. In one scene on the DVD, lead singer Geddy Lee orders a wine called Jonata. The woman, a big Rush fan, couldn’t find the wine here and wanted to know if it was worth buying direct from California and privately shipping it here. “It’s quite pricey,” she said. Yes, it is. How about $50 (U.S.) for the least expensive in the lineup – if you’re lucky enough to score a bottle or two from the tiny quantities produced. Some of the wines cost $125. ...
Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach recently entered the studio with his new three-piece band and posted the following to his Facebook Page earlier in the week:
Today we begin recording the bass guitar on the record! This record will be the first I have ever done as a three-piece [Bach on vocals, Nick Sterling on guitar and bass, and Bobby Jarzombek on drums]. Nick Sterling is a monster bass player and if anyone else played on the record, I would just say 'play it like Nick did,' so hey, why not let the man himself handle the low end?! Maybe the back cover will feature us three in kimonos ala RUSH '2112'. I can see it now, hahaha! Everything is sounding killer!
Enter Music Publishing are publishers of drum and percussion magazines worldwide including DRUM! Magazine Their annual Drummies readers poll has been gaining in popularity year after year and in 2010 had over 6500 ballots cast. Voting for this year's Drummies is now open and you can place your vote until May 1st at this link. Neil Peart has won Drummer of the Year multiple times including the last four years running along with many other awards. This year Enter Music Publishing will have its 20th anniversary and in celebration launched a Drummies Hall Of Fame where Neil Peart along with 10 other famous drummers who have won 5 or more total Drummie awards were inducted. Hall of Fame members are no longer eligible to win in the category for which they were inducted, so Neil Peart can no longer win in the Drummer of the Year category. He can still win in any of the other categories though, so go vote for Neil!
Reader The Clansman 2112 wanted me to let you all know that there is 1 spot open in his 4th annual rushisaband Fantasy Baseball League. It's free to join but only serious managers need apply! To join up go to this link and use the League ID 66957 with Password atmsite.
Here's the video of the David Barrett Trio performing their Lifeson-produced track Hollowbody:
That's it for this week. Have a great weekend! Only 12 days until the tour!!
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