Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video was released to theaters in the US and Chile (3 theaters in Santiago) this past Wednesday night. If you missed it the first time around, several theaters in the US will have encore screenings in the coming days/weeks. The UK premiere will occur this coming Tuesday, November 1st. According to Canadian movie magazine Tribute, there will be NO Canadian theatrical screenings at all unfortunately (thanks Rayzer2112). For a complete list of theaters and showtimes go to www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com.
The Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland DVD/Blu-ray will release on November 8th along with the CD companion and a vinyl-only package containing just the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011. On Wednesday Rolling Stone magazine posted the entire Tom Sawyer clip from the DVD including the Real History of Rush intro to their website at this link. They also included a short interview with Geddy Lee where he talks about why the band picked Cleveland for the filming, and his feelings on the added pressure of performing in front of the cameras:
Rush played their 1980 album Moving Pictures every night on their 2010-2011 Time Machine tour, so it was a little tough to pick one show to film for a DVD release. "We realized that we've recorded almost all of our DVDs abroad," Rush frontman Geddy Lee tells Rolling Stone. "And we had never done one in America, and we noticed we were doing Cleveland on the last leg of the tour. We though it was an appropriate choice seeing as Cleveland's such an important town in our history. It was the first city that was ever warm to us. We thought it would be kind of apropos to come full circle and do that particular show there."
Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland is in stores now. Lee admits that he feels a little extra pressure at shows when the cameras are rolling. "You always get a little bit of a tight ass when you're doing a recording," he says. "Even though we’ve done I don’t know how many of these things by now, you want it to be perfect. And of course it rarely is perfect, but you just hope for a good show and we certainly felt we did a good show that night. The crowd really inspired us to want to work as hard as we could. But you can say you’re a veteran, but when the red light comes on, you do tighten up a little bit." ...
Although there still hasn't been any official announcement, it looks like the blu-ray version of the video will be getting an exclusive November 8th release at Best Buy in the US, with it not becoming available at other US retailers until 6 weeks later on December 20th. It's still not completely clear whether the exclusive offer applies to the Rush Backstage Club, but as of right now they are still claiming that they will release the Blu-ray on November 8th. The Best Buy offer will also include an XL RASH t-shirt with any purchase of the blu-ray. A few weeks back Roadrunner Records released 7 live cuts from the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland CD to radio. The 7 tracks were The Spirit of Radio, Workin' Them Angels, Faithless, Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Caravan and Working Man. The edited, 2-hour VH1 Classic TV version of the film will be shown on Palladia starting on Saturday, November 5th. You can watch the official trailer at this link. Reviews of the DVD are starting to come out including this one from the Buffalo News, and this one from RIAB reader Todd Garbarini (RushSignals1982). Todd also wrote one of the early reviews of the Rush documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage last year which you can check out here, along with an interview with the filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen at this link.
The November issue of Rhythm magazine hit newsstands this past week and contains a short, 2-page feature on Neil Peart and his recently-released Taking Center Stage instructional DVD. You can check out the scans by clicking on the thumbnails. The print version is a shorter, edited version of an online piece that was posted at MusicRadar.com earlier this week where they speak with Neil about the inspiration behind the DVD:
... "It was early 2010, just as the band was planning our Time Machine tour for that summer. I suggested to the Hudson boys that we could film my rehearsals, and discuss my preparations, then later film an entire show, with dedicated drum cameras. That could be a vehicle for a lot of worthwhile information things I had learned after 36 years of touring with Rush but it would also be a good way to look at the past. ...
You can read more of their conversation with Neil at this link. They have also been reprinting parts of the four-part series of articles on the making of the DVD from lead editor and co-producer Joe Bergamini that were originally posted at TakingCenterStage.net. Rhythm is also running a contest where they are giving away a signed 14" Remo Time Machine drum head and three signed copies of Taking Center Stage. For all the details and to enter just check out this link. Guitar Center is running a contest which runs through the end of the month where they are giving away 20 copies of the DVD along with one Ultimate Neil Peart Prize Package. John at Cygnus-X1.net has scanned all the images from the DVD and also transcribed the liner notes. There are also several preview videos and other content available at TakingCenterStage.net. Neil Peart will be the feature of a cover story in the December issue of Modern Drummer magazine. The issue will hit newsstands on November 1st and contain an interview with Neil focusing on the Taking Center Stage DVD. You can read the Modern Drummer review of Taking Center Stage at this link.
Neil Peart along with his riding partner and good friend Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from Neil's latest book - Far and Away: A Prize Every Time - for a 2012 wall calendar. The calendar released last week and can now be purchased at Bubbawares.com. On a related note, Brazilian motorcycle magazine Duas Rodas (Two Wheels) contains a 9-page article on Peart's travels in South America last year, based on The Power of Magical Thinking - the last chapter of Far and Away. For the details along with a teaser visit this link.
MusicRadar.com posted a brief article this past Monday where they spoke with Alex Lifeson about Rush's very first studio release - the 1973 Moon Records Not Fade Away / Can't Fight It single. You can read Alex's take on both tracks in this post and read the MusicRadar.com article here. You can listen to Not Fade Away on YouTube at this link and You Can't Fight It at this link.
The The Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope charity auction kicked off last week and will run through the weekend. Alex Lifeson is once again one of the many Canadian celebrities donating paintings to the auction this year and you can check out and/or bid on Alex's painting at this link. The painting is 8" X 16", acrylic on stretched canvas and named Sun Dance. As of this post, bidding on Alex's painting is up to $4,305. To view all the paintings up for auction just go to eBay.ca.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star is a website which creates and sells lullaby versions of songs by various pop and rock artists including Rush. All are available on both Amazon and iTunes. The Rush songs given the lullaby treatment are The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, Closer to the Heart, Freewill, Limelight, Working Man, Fly By Night, The Trees, Red Barchetta, Subdivisions and YYZ. You can purchase each track for $0.99 or the entire mp3 album for $7.99 on Amazon or on iTunes.
We learned earlier this year of Alex Lifeson's involvement with the film score for a new spy thriller starring Topher Grace and Richard Gere titled The Double. The film was co-written by Derek Haas and director Michael Brandt and features original music by film composer John Debney with a little help from Alex Lifeson. Alex plays guitar on the score throughout the movie and also wrote the outro track which is titled Don't Look Back according to movie co-writer Derek Haas, who posted the information to The Rush Forum back in August. Also performing on the track are Scarlet Sins vocalist Sylvya NuVynska and Skinny Puppy founding member cEvin Key, and Rush sound engineer Richard Chycki handled the mixing duties. You can listen to a 2-minute audio clip of Don't Look Back on YouTube at this link. The film releases today and you can watch the trailer at this link. Unfortunately the movie is not getting very good reviews. At least the soundtrack will rock! :)
It's been nearly 2 years now since UK-based digital artist Graham Whieldon launched his website of Rush-inspired fine art digital paintings at macrographs.com. When he first launched the site he had only one completed painting for sale; a print inspired by Rush's epic song The Fountain of Lamneth from their Caress of Steel album. He also had a Red Barchetta-inspired print in the works that was only recently completed and is now also available for sale.
... I wanted to paint the car not during the chase but after, in it's quiet, rural setting. This painting is about the heady smell of old oil and dust and leather and the memory of the chase in the droning lazy scent of a late country afternoon, a brief snapshot of a calm place between the lyrics. I can hear muted water running in the kitchen somewhere off to the left and the comforting chime of unintelligible words as somebody washes up for dinner, full of excitement and spent adrenaline and tales to be told. ...
You can see previews of his work and purchase the prints by visiting the Macrographs website. You can also follow Macrographs on Facebook. Red Barchetta is limited to a run of just 200 prints, so get one while the engine's still hot!
Sean Murphy of PopMatters.com posted an article earlier this week profiling Rush's seminal masterpiece Moving Pictures. It's part of their All Things Reconsidered series and is titled Drag the Dream Into Existence: Reassessing Rush’s Masterpiece. You can read the entire article at this link.
Matthew Rudzinski of American deathcore band Killwhitneydead penned an article for NoiseCreep.com earlier this week (thanks RushFanForever) where he names five albums that changed his life, one of which is Rush's Moving Pictures:
Think back to 1981 when MTV was in its infantile stages and seemed to be starved for content to broadcast. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure almost every song from Rush's 'Exit Stage Left' concert video were extracted and a different song was played every hour. Being 9-years-old at the time and seeing three guys play the likes of 'Red Barchetta (one of my favorite songs of all time), 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Limelight' on my television hourly instantly catapulted them to the status of "Godlike" in my eyes. This is possibly the most perfect album in my collection. Sonically, lyrically and thematically 'Moving Pictures' had it all for a 9 year old kid seeking guidance in the world and now at age 39 it remains, in my opinion, one of the best albums ever released.
Speaking of Moving Pictures, voting for MusicRadar.com's poll to determine the greatest bassline of all time is now closed and Geddy Lee's bassline from Rush's YYZ made the number 2 spot.
For the second time in the last few weeks, Rush made That Metal Show's TMS Top 5 list. This past Saturday's list was Top Instrumentals and Rush's La Villa Strangiato topped the list at #1. The full episode can be viewed online at this link at about the 5-minute mark.
The Rush ABC 1974 CD of Rush's live WMMS radio broadcast of their August 26th, 1974 show at the Cleveland Agora released in the UK this past week. This broadcast has been available as a bootleg for many years, but this seems to be the first legal release - legal in the UK at least. It is now available in the UK and as an import in the US.
Speaking of Rush live releases, tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the release of Rush's 2nd live album Exit ... Stage Left. The album was recorded on June 10-11, 1980 at The Apollo in Glasgow, Scotland; and March 27, 1981 at The Forum in Montreal on the Moving Pictures tour. A companion video - Rush's first concert video - was released the following year on VHS and Laserdisc. How fitting that we should be discussing Rush's first concert video - filmed on their Moving Pictures tour - just days before the release of their latest concert video, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of that same album. Also released on October 29th were Hemispheres in 1978 and Power Windows in 1985. All three albums will be available as part of the Sector Box Sets due to release on November 21st.
Here's the entire Tom Sawyer clip from the DVD including the Real History of Rush intro that was posted at RollingStone.com earlier this week:
I hope everyone is enjoying my annual RIAB Halloween theme. I have to thank the talented Eric from the Power Windows site for providing the Rush Starman pumpkin image. Several other readers provided the Halloween-themed Rush pics in the image rotator including Kurt K, hermy and lamb saag. That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!
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