Rush is a Band

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

Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Updates and other random Rush stuff

Sun, Apr 27, 2008@11:29AM | comments removed/disabled

The tour is well underway now. Rush played their 9th show last night at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Anecdotal evidence points to the attendance levels at the last few shows being much better than the first few. Thanks to reader Mark S we have our first official Billboard attendance numbers; for opening night in Puerto Rico the attendance was 6,855 out of a capacity of 9,598 and the concert grossed $740,155 in ticket sales. Since I'm bound to get questions about it, I believe the capacity number just means that there were 9,598 tickets available for sale and 6,855 of those were purchased. It has nothing to do with the actual maximum capacity of the venue; the Coliseo can hold a lot more than 9500. I've also been informed that 600 tickets were released last week for the first show at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles which had been sold out; and that Live Nation is slashing ticket prices and offering special ticket packages at many of the outdoor venues. Check the specific venue(s) for details.

Geddy and Alex continue to give several interviews across the nation to promote the tour and the album. Earlier last week a very interesting interview with Alex Lifeson was published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. In it Alex admits to considering a B-track Rush tour or possible performing 2112 with an orchestra! Friday another interview with Alex Lifeson was published in The Oklahoman titled Mountain haven inspires Rush to reach new peak. I also recently added the Paul and Young Ron interview with Alex Lifeson from April 7th that was aired on BIG 105.9 and 98.7 The Gater to the radio interview thread. Also, as I'd mentioned last month Rush (just Geddy and Alex I assume) will be the featured guest on the nationally syndicated radio show Rockline with host Bob Coburn this coming Wednesday, April 30th at 11:30PM EST. Fans are encouraged to call in to speak with the guys toll free at 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). For a station near you and for information regarding how to listen online go to the Rockline website.

Snakes & Arrows Live debuted at #18 in its first week of release in the US; it debuted at #8 in Canada. Not bad at all. With a new release come the inevitable reviews both good and bad; so far it's been mostly good. Here's a gushing review from The Bolton News, a generally positive review from Blogcritics, and a negative review from the Niagara Falls Review. That last review really makes Neil mad. :)

Alex Lifeson finally got a bit of good news in his ongoing case against the Ritz-Carlton involving his and his son Justin's New Year's 2004 run-in with Florida police. A federal appeals court ruled that a lower court judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss a negligence claim by Lifeson's son against the hotel and the security manager on duty at the time of the altercation. In other Alex Lifeson news, his house in the affluent Toronto suburb of Rosedale is up for sale.

Many of you older farts (like me) might remember that from 1982 to 1993, Neil Peart answered Modern Drummer magazine readers' questions in a column called Ask a Pro. Andrew Olson has posted scans of these fan Q&As over on his Neil Peart site site. These are really cool - I suggest you check them out when you get a chance. Thanks Andy!

One of my favorite Rush fan sites is Cygnus-X1.net. John has been providing great content for the online Rush community for about 4 years. He has the best and most comprehensive library of Rush album art out there. About 2 weeks ago, John's site was the victim of a MalWare virus attack. As a result of the attack several visitors to his site were also infected and his site blacklisted at Google. He shut down his site, fixed the files, found the cause and corrected the problem. It was quite an ordeal - you can read all the details here. John came close to just packing it in and shutting down his site. So if you get a chance stop by his site and send him a few words of encouragement.

Several readers emailed me about a Rush sighting at an NHL playoff game last week in Detroit. The Red Wings hosted the Predators at Joe Louis Arena and there was a huge billboard at center ice advertising the June 10th Rush show (which I'll be attending by the way). Reader PhillyMike sent the screenshot.

Reader Bravest Face hosts a radio show on HAY98 on Friday nights from 9PM-2AM. He wanted me to let everyone know that this coming Friday night, May 2nd at 10PM he'll be playing the entire Snakes & Arrows Live disc completely from start to finish with no interruptions. To listen online just go to www.hay98.com and click on the listen live link.

If you aren't already aware of it, Between Sun & Moon is an online handcrafted jewelry store with Rush-inspired merchandise owned and operated by Rush fan and Rush Is A Band reader Katy. Mother's Day is right around the corner (just 2 weeks away!) and - as she has done several times in the past - Katy is offering an exclusive coupon for Rush is a Band readers. Even if the mother in your life isn't a Rush fan she will be a fan of Rush inspired jewelry by Between Sun & Moon. I've given my wife (definitely not a Rush fan!) a couple of Katy's pieces and she absolutely loves them. Custom order Mother's Jewelry for your wife, mother or grandmother with her children's birthstones and names. It's a completely unique gift she will love for a lifetime. Mother's Day is Sunday May 11th, order your custom creations by tomorrow, April 28th and all other designs by May 5th to ensure timely delivery. Use discount code RUSHISABAND for Free Priority Mail shipping. Thanks Katy!

In October of 2006 the popular Candian TV show the Trailer Park Boys made its big screen debut in Canada. The movie was a resounding success garnering the highest opening-weekend gross of any English-language homegrown film. Alex Lifeson was heavily involved in the making of the film's soundtrack (Geddy Lee also participated) and also got a cameo as a cop in the movie. The film is also riddled with Rush references including a movie marquee which lists several Rush song titles as movies. Last February the movie was released on DVD in Canada and earlier this year the film was finally released to select theaters in the United States. This past Tuesday the movie was released on DVD in the US. You can order a copy at Amazon using this link. Thanks to RushTabConVideo for the heads up.

The Great Zo over at the Counterparts message board is running a Name That Rush Tune charity drive for the 3rd year in a row. The contest has been cranking along for several months and it's now down to the semi-finals. As of right now, the Name That Rush Tune charity fund is sitting at $1430.00. If you want to contribute to the cause, please visit the charity donation page at this link. To see how the game has gone so far, visit the homepage at this location.

Earlier this year I'd put up a post about an independent film which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year called Adventures of Power. The film is chock full of Rush references and most notably includes a cameo from Neil Peart; his first speaking role in a live-action film. The movie just won the Audience Award at the Vail Film Festival earlier this month and the filmmakers are pursuing getting it distributed to theaters. For details on Adventures of Power and to sign up for the mailing list you can visit its newly-revamped website at this location.

Kaki King is an American virtuoso guitar player and singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. She was recently quoted in Spinner magazine as saying the following:

"Somehow, Rush can still sell out arenas. If I was sitting in row one, I would take my chair, unbolt it from the ground and run away."
--Kaki King

I'm not sure exactly what this means but I think it's a slam of some kind? Whatever. Thanks to Dave R for the heads up.

Reader Terry H is a professional welder who fashions artistic creations using rebar (cool, huh) and made a very neat Rush starman logo which you can check out here. Its made out of 1/4 inch round steel, and the man figure is 3/16 inch round steel.

The Deadliest Catch is a reality show on Discovery Channel which documents the events aboard fishing boats in the Bering Sea. Rhapsody.com recently featured a playlist from the Captains of Deadliest Catch and one of the featured songs is Xanadu. Thanks to Jake for the link.

One last thing. Many of you have noticed that there's been a delay of 15 seconds or so when posting comments. At this time I'm not sure exactly why this is happening but I'm aware of the issue and am working on a fix. Thanks to everybody who alerted me to this.

Have a great week everyone!

NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.

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