UPDATE - 3/16@12:18PM: Sorry for the late report, but the Hour appearance ended up just being a repeat performance of the November, 2008 interview which you can watch here.

UPDATE - 3/14@8:47AM: Here's a video over at IMDB.com of a Rush-themed scene from the I Love You Man movie titled Prepare to be Rushified! (thanks TMMB). In it Paul Rudd's character plays Limelight for his girlfriend on air bass - very funny.

Rush continue their rounds on the PR circuit for Retrospective 3 tonight where they'll be guests on the CBC's The Hour. Retrospective 3 debuted at #47 on the Billboard Album Chart selling 10,806 units in its first week of release along with making #5 on both the Top Internet Albums chart and the Top Hard Rock Album Chart. This is the highest chart position ever for a Rush compilation album. John over at Cygnus-X1.net has scanned all of the Retrospective 3 artwork (what little there is of it) and made it available on his site here. Also, Eric at Power Windows has a Retrospective 3 theme featured and has made available both a Retrospective 3 desktop theme and desktop wallpaper for download. And if you haven't heard the Retrospective 3 radio special yet you can give it a listen in this post. The special has been airing on various radio stations over the past week including Q107 in Toronto last night.

Also making the PR rounds this week are Paul Rudd and Jason Segal. Their new film I Love You Man releases next Friday and is chock full of Rush references along with a cameo by the band. The 2 were on The Hour recently and spoke a little a about Rush's cameo towards the end of the interview which you can watch here. I reported earlier this week that the soundtrack for the movie contains the Rush songs Tom Sawyer and Limelight along with an amusing Rudd/Segal cover of Limelight. You can listen to the Limelight cover in this post and pre-order the CD at this link. This article from Eye Weekly titled Rush's Limelight conspiracy also discusses the cameo.

This past Wednesday evening Rush manager Ray Danniels was the recipient of the 3rd annual Music Managers Forum Canada (MMF Canada) Honour Roll Award. Music industry insider Bob Lefsetz was at the ceremony (as was Geddy Lee) and wrote the following report in his Lefsetz Letter blog:

... We eventually ended up at the Manager's Forum dinner honoring Ray Danniels, who guides the career of Rush. They say Rush gets no respect, that the mainstream press doesn't cover the threesome and it's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. IT DOESN'T MATTER! I get more e-mail about Rush than almost any other act. People telling me about their exploits, how Neil Peart is the best drummer in the world. It's all about fans, and Rush has them. And Geddy was there, about seven feet away. Do you still get a rush when you're in the vicinity of rock stars? I do. With his granny glasses, wisp of hair on his chin and that seen it all, but humorous expression, it was unmistakably the guy who knows today's Tom Sawyer. Cool!

And Ray financed the act's first album, which got picked up by WMMS in Cleveland. And then the band broke. Randy Lennox joked that the 5,000 copies sold independently was once again a significant figure. Got a laugh. But when it was lamented that the old system was broken, I laughed. Good riddance! To major labels and radio! A great band like Rush can break without them. But there are very few great bands, and the road is longer, a heavier slog than ever before.

Thanks to MVL for the heads up.

Neil Peart dropped a small bombshell on us earlier this week, posting an update to his website regarding his much-delayed Roadshow Illustrated Companion and saying that it's probably not going to happen. You can read his entire update which explains the delay and his reasons for not going forward with the book in this post.

Author, radio consultant, historian and - most importantly to us - Rush discoverer Donna Halper sent me this rare Rush photo (and also posted it to her Facebook page) and wanted me to share it with all of you. Here's the photo along with Donna's description:

It was taken in 1974, at WMMS in Cleveland, right after Rush were signed to Mercury Records. On the left is Matt the Cat, one of the DJ's at WMMS-FM, then the three very young members of Rush, then me with the original Rush album, my boss John Gorman, and the Mercury Records promotion man Don George. I didn't realize the photo still existed-- it was taken for the music industry trade publications (Billboard, Record World) and was recently located by my former Program Director, John Gorman. (And I still have the dress, and it actually still fits!)

Speaking of Facebook, in case you didn't know already - I'd set up a Rush Is A Band Facebook group a couple of months ago. You can check it out and join at this link. Rush also has an official Facebook page now at this link.

Jay sent me this little article on Bobby Standridge titled Local Animator Lands on RUSH DVD. Bobby is the creator of the animated Neil Peart YYZ video as well as the video for Malignant Narcissism which appears on the Retrospective 3 DVD.

Registration for both RushCon 9 and Rush RatCon 2009 is now open. RatCon 2009 will take place in Baltimore the weekend of June 12th and feature Donna Halper as a guest speaker along with a bevy of other activities. For all the details and to register online go to the RatCon website at this link. RushCon 9 will take place in Toronto the weekend of July 24th and feature Michael Mosbach and Martin Popoff as guest speakers alongside a mess of of other nifty activities. For details and registration visit the RushCon website.

Several weeks back I mentioned how you could submit questions for Geddy Lee that were supposed to appear in a future issue of Blender. It looks like the April issue contains a 4-page spread on Rush including an interview with Geddy Lee where he answers some of these questions. Thanks to Scott_PA for the heads up.

Reader The Clansman 2112 wanted me to let you all know about his 2nd annual rushisaband Fantasy Baseball League. It's free to join and he's offering up prizes again for the top 3 spots with stripped down catagories to make it simpler from the one last year and to reward the people who actually play throughout the year. Only serious managers need apply! To join up go to this link and use the League ID 150315 with Password atmsite.

robh777 let me know that Rush got a mention on the Howard Stern show recently. One of the hosts of That Metal Show on VH1 Classic Jim Florentine was a guest on the show and the two discussed who had the better fans: Rush or Kiss.

Speaking of That Metal Show, reader sndtatro let me know that on the season 2 premier episode of the show during the Stump The Trunk portion, one of the audience members asked the question who sang "I Think I'm Going Bald" and what album did it come off of? Being the huge Rush fan that he is, host Eddie Trunk was able to easily answer both questions. The video is available at this link.

Speaking of I Think I'm Going Bald, readers Jim and Kyle McPhillips are once again cutting their hair for charity. Jim and his son Kyle would appreciate your help in raising money for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Last year their goal was $1,000 and they ended up raising close to $3,000 in less than a week! Because of the tough economy, this year their goal is just $500. To help them out and find out more about the charity visit this link.

RushFanForever located this DRUM! magazine article from a couple years back that was posted on the Max Webster website that talks about Rush's collaboration with the band on the track Battle Scar (you can listen to it in this post) off the band's 1980 album Universal Juveniles.

Reader Matthew W has been running a Rush discussion on Yahoo since 2004 called Rush Song of the Week. They spent 3 years discussing all of Rush's songs and now are taking a step back and discussing an album a month. They are currently up to A Show of Hands. It is not too late if anyone wants to join the discussion. You can check out the group at this link.

In the latest issue of the British music magazine Word there's an interview with Emily Procter, the blonde actress from CSI: Miami and The West Wing. Procter talks about her own band and says at one point, I'm a huge Rush fan -- the more complicated and difficult the better.... Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up.

Reader Jay let us know that The Acoustic Storm syndicated radio show will be playing some Rush on their Sunday, March 22nd broadcast. For a list of stations that carry the show check out this link.

Here's a tragic story from Guitar World magazine regarding a Rush-autographed guitar. Apparently one of the Guitar World staff asked Alex and Geddy to autograph his guitar and he left it next to his desk. Some office idiot, not knowing the guitar's owner, gave it away! The recipient, a non-Rush fan, managed to erase the autograph with nail varnish remover! Oh the humanity!! :) Thanks to Mark M for the heads up.

I received a bunch of emails about this next item but reader TMMB was the first. On a recent edition of Red Eye on Fox News, the guest was Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R) and he was asked by host Greg Gutfeld if the Democrats ever attack him for listening to Rush (Limbaugh). He relayed a story of how he was asked by a different cable show this same question and his reply was who doesn't love Canadian power rock trios?. He then said I did not know that digging 2112 or Moving Pictures was somehow imputing my motives as a Republican politician. Gutfeld replied I am not a fan of prog rock so I would say it does. Thaddeus came back with Well, I could have brought up Triumph but the reporter would have been completely confused. Thaddeus is a very witty guy. :) You can check out the video on YouTube at this link:

Have a great weekend everybody!

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