UPDATE - 1/10@10:15AM: I've received dozens of emails regarding recent posts made to Rush's official Facebook page and just wanted to assure everyone that these are not legitimate posts and that the page has been hacked. The page admins are aware of the issue and are trying to track it down. So in the meantime just ignore any posts to the Rush Facebook page. If Rush has any official announcement to make they usually make it to Rush.com first, then Twitter, Facebook and other outlets.

2010 has been pretty quiet with regards to Rush news so far - the calm before the storm hopefully. I'm sure that news regarding the upcoming studio release and tour will start to slowly trickle in over the next few weeks, culminating in some kind of official announcement in February. So 2010 stands to be a very exciting year for Rush fans. What are you most looking forward to from Rush in 2010? Take the Poll and let us know. Nick Raskulinecz was the overwhelming winner of the last poll where I asked everyone who should produce the next Rush album. You can view the complete results here.

Yesterday I reported that the 2011 Rush wall calendar will have a Moving Pictures theme in celebration of the album's 30th anniversary. The item description for the calendar at the NMR Distribution website states that there will be a new LP due out in 2010 supported by a tour. Since this item is officially licensed by the band, we may have just seen our first semi-official confirmation of a new album and tour - an LP no less! Or it might just be an assumption on their part. Interesting nevertheless.

As I'd mentioned late last year, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Permanent Waves this year, the album will be the subject of an hour-long In The Studio with Redbeard rockumentary radio show running next week. The show will feature interview segments with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson presumably from past In The Studio interviews where they discuss the album. Here's a preview excerpt:

REDBEARD: I asked Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart how the breakthrough success of their January 1980 release Permanent Waves affected their approach to playing live.

Neil Peart: Each stage of our development has been a real struggle on our part where we have been holding tenaciously onto the last level, and when we graduated to headlining the small theaters, the 3000-4000 seat theaters, the vaudeville leftovers, we clung to that so tenaciously. We were starting to get so big that we were doing three or four nights in most place, five nights in some of those theaters, and it just wasn't practical because there were so many people who weren't getting to see us! (laughs) Because we were spending five days in one city! And it wasn't fair, really, when you came down to it, that people wanted to see Rush and couldn't. So we couldn't justify it anymore. We couldn't say it (playing arenas) was a compromise. It was a limitation that we faced, that too many people wanted to see us. It's not something that we're able to control. So we were pushed into the arenas basically by the laws of supply and demand.

The Rush Backstage Club is running a new contest where you could win a signed 16" x 22" R30 poster. The contest ends on January 19th and you can sign up to enter at this link.

As I'd mentioned earlier in the week, you can now register to receive email updates from NeilPeart.net. Just go to the front page of the website and look for the Register For Updates link.

We've known for a while now that Rush met in Los Angeles last November to discuss the band's plans for 2010. Either that meeting actually took place in early December or else Geddy Lee made an extra trip out after the meeting. Because according to this article about an Ontario girl's Australian Wish Foundation trip to Australia in the Orillia Packet and Times, Geddy was in Los Angeles sometime in early December:

... [Laura] flew out in early December with her mom on an adventure neither of them will never ever forget. ... The flight back was the worst, for me, anyway, because I had nothing to look forward to at the end of it. ... The stop in Los Angeles was a highlight though, because we found out that Geddy Lee -- the lead singer of the band Rush -- was on our plane and we got a picture with him while we were waiting in the terminal. ...

In yet another Geddy sighting, our favorite bass player was recently spotted at Caplansky's Deli in Toronto according to the National Post:

On the same night, but occupying separate smoked-meat quarters, at Toronto's buzziest deli by far, Caplansky's, on College lately? Both heavy director David Cronenberg and gastro-rocker Geddy Lee!

Rush gets a mention in this article at Congress Matters discussing the best music of 2009. The author uses Rush as an example when describing different categories of music fans:

Fanboys/Fangirls: Like everything an artist has done; old, new, popular, unpopular, you name it. I'm a Rush fanboy. I've listened to all their studio albums from their first one through Power Windows at least a hundred times. I know their appearances in popular culture are usually in the service of ironic hipster slagging, but I think Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures and Signals is as fine a three album sequence as any group not named The Beatles has produced. Geddy Lee's voice is at best an acquired taste, but I don't care. They are brilliant and I won't hear a word against them.

Rush's The Spirit of Radio made this recent A.V. Club list of 21 songs about hating the radio. Here's what they had to say about it:

Rush’s salute to the Toronto progressive-rock station CFNY begins with a string of happy thoughts, as Geddy Lee sings about how “the magic music makes your morning mood” and offers evocative images of invisible airwaves crackling with life, and bright antennas bristling with energy. But the vision darkens by the end, as Lee starts raging against the machine-tooled music and “endless compromises” that are ruining radio (at least circa 1980). The song ends with a pithy Rush rewrite of Simon And Garfunkel’s “The Sounds Of Silence,” as Lee sings, “For the words of the prophets are written on the studio wall / And concert halls / Echo with the sounds… of salesmen.” Ooooh, salesmen!

Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

Chris (aka MitA) of the MusicInTheAbstract.org site recently shared this isolated recording of Geddy's vocals on Limelight from Exit ... Stage Left. It's a particularly melodic vocal performance from Geddy and you can download it or give it a listen at this link.

In a sad bit of news, drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan of California hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold died late last month. Neil Peart once said of Sullivan that he was one of the best working drummers today. Thanks to Sean for the news.

Reader jdkramme let me know about a Rush reference at the Fox News website earlier this week. One of the headlines read Top Dems Rush to Exit, Stage Left. There must be a Rush fan on staff there. :)

This recent Toronto Star article discussing now defunct Toronto concert venues mentions Rush in their write-up about former Yonge St. rock club Gasworks. Thanks to louisg for the link.

Reader rosmakloma noted a nice little Rush reference on the 4th photo down in this blog post at woot.com.

In this pre-Christmas Movie Entertainment article some famous musicians including Alex Lifeson are asked to recommend essential items for any music library. Alex picked Led Zeppelin's debut album:

Certainly, that first Led Zeppelin album (1969) was pretty spectacular, and the more I hear that album lately the more I appreciate it. We don’t have records like that anymore, where a record comes out and everybody just goes crazy over it, and it seems to change things and creates a whole new direction.

Maybe it was because I was15 years old and that’s the kind of music that I always wanted to hear. It just really left a huge mark on me. For me personally, Electric Ladyland (1968) was a real turnaround record. (Jimi) Hendrix was incredible, but that record just had a feel to it and a character that can’t be missed.

Thanks to louisg for the heads up.

Reader Brian C noticed that Rush is featured in the latest Bands I Useta Like comic strip at Mike the Pod.

On Thursday, January 7th, photographer John Kane will be holding an exhibit of his work from 7-12 PM at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA. Rush will be among the artists featured. You may recall that John organized a Rush-themed art/photography exhibit back in November of 2008 which featured guest speaker Donna Halper.

There is apparently a 2112 sighting in the recently-released movie It's Complicated. Meryl Streep's character stays in a hotel with room number 2112. Thanks to Ethan E and axe for the heads up.

One of the best TV Rush references of all time occurred on an episode of Futurama ("Anthology of Interest II") which aired on Jan. 26, 2002. In the episode Fry asks the What If machine what would happen if the world was like a video game. His wish comes true and he is later forced to use his video game skills to save the world from the evil Space Invaders. He says All right! It's Saturday night, I have no date, a two liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix tape, let's rock!. Tom Sawyer then plays in the background as he destroys the alien ships. Reader dadof4 let me know that there is a free download of a Space Invaders-like game based on this episode at this link. You can check out a preview of the game at this link. Here's the clip from Anthology of Interest II:

That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!

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