Rush wraps up rehearsals for the 2011 leg of the Time Machine Tour this weekend in Toronto, while Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson get ready for the 2011 Juno Awards at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday where they will be presenters. Then it's on to Sunrise, Florida to get ready for the tour kick off on Wednesday of next week at the Bank Atlantic Center. The band will likely perform a full-scale rehearsal at the venue either Monday or Tuesday night - no other events are going on either day. Fans have been happily receiving their Music Today fan pre-sale tickets over the last couple of weeks, and VIP ticket packages should be going out soon. Reader Wendel inquired about the packages with FanFire a couple of weeks ago and was told that they do expect to begin shipping them out before the tour starts. They have less than one week, so let's hope so. I haven't heard from anyone who has actually received a package yet. If anyone does, please let us know. The news from across the pond is good too; tickets have begun shipping for the UK shows as well according to UK reader ByTorUK. Rush was also featured in yesterday's edition of the UK's Guardian Newspaper for a piece by Rob Fitzpatrick titled Rush: Our fans feel vindicated. The article talks about the resurgence in popularity of Rush in recent years and how it's no longer uncool to be a Rush fan. It contains interview snippets from Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from around the time of the November 8, 2010 London screening of the documentary where Geddy Lee made an appearance and answered questions from the audience.

The 2011 Juno Awards ceremony takes place this weekend at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee will attend the ceremony where they will be presenters and the Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage is nominated for Music DVD of the Year. On Tuesday the Ontario Media Development Corporation held their VIP Juno luncheon and Geddy Lee along with Rush documentary filmmakers Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn were in attendance. Here's a news story covering the Luncheon from CHCH News which includes some interview clips with Sam and Scot. Geddy did not appear in that clip but spoke a little about the state of the Canadian rock music industry as reported in this National Post article. Here's a CTV news story covering the history of the Junos which prominently features Rush. In one scene they show a rare Bruce Cole photograph of Geddy and Alex in the CHUM radio studios. They also talk about how Rush along with Bachman Turner Overdrive were instrumental in reshaping Canadian rock music in the 70s and show footage of Rush performing Closer To The Heart live in 1987. You can check out the video at this link. Larry Fedoruk of New Talk 610 CKTB probably is not rooting for the documentary to win. He wrote this scathing piece in his blog last week describing how much he hates Rush. At least he accepts the fact that he'll be getting a lot of email and angry comments from Rush fans because of his jerkitude.

On Monday Neil Peart was interviewed for a future appearance on the CBC's Strombo (formerly The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos). The interview should air in a week or two but no specific date has yet been given. Neil also was interviewed for the debut issue of the new interactive online drumming magazine iDrum where he is featured on the cover. Neil covers a wide range of subjects in this 5-part, 55-minute in-depth video interview. You can check out iDrum and Neil's complete interview at this link. There's also a 3-minute preview video that was posted to iDrum's YouTube channel. They are also running a contest for a cool Neil Peart package where all you need to do to enter is sign up for their FREE subscription.

Speaking of Neil, his 5th full-length book - Far and Away: A Prize Every Time - will release in May. I've received the official sell sheet for the book which you can check out at this link (PDF 180KB). Here are the technical details:

ISBN: 978-1-77041-058-9
8 x 10'', 260 pages, cloth
4-colour throughout, 150 photos
$32.95 CDN, $29.95 U.S.
May 2011
Memoir / Travel / Music

Earlier this week Musician's Friend launched an extensive mini-site highlighting the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess. It features their Alex Lifeson video interview from last week along with detailed specs, high-res photos, Alex's gear list, purchase information and they also just yesterday added details regarding a very cool sweepstakes where you could Win The Ultimate Concert Experience With Alex Lifeson; a trip for 2 to Las Vegas along with concert tickets, a meet-and-greet with Alex Lifeson and a signed Les Paul Axcess. You can enter the sweepstakes at this link.

The first review for Rush's Moving Pictures 5.1 surround sound remix came in a couple of days ago via a blog posting on Rush sound engineer Richard Chychi's website. Sound & Vision Magazine Editor-in-Chief Mike Mettler had the following to say:

... "First impressions: W-O-W. It's going to be really, really HARD to ever listen to this album "only" in stereo ever again! THIS is what surround was built for, so to speak ... Living inside it and loving it! ... Everyone needs to know how GREAT this 5.1 mix is!"

... "One of my favorite albums of all time is now better than ever. I look forward to listening to it again and again and getting more out of it each time I do ... Each song has its own individual sense of space ... It's such a rewarding listening experience." ...

Chycki also remarks that he is busily planning for the recording of the Cleveland show on April 15th. Both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the remix will release on April 5th, but the Blu-ray will only be sold exclusively through Best Buy for the first 30 days; other retailers will have the Blu-ray version on May 3rd. Rush.com sent out a newsletter on Wednesday confirming this and providing some more details regarding the release. Reader PhillyMike also let me know that in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (April 1, 2011), there is a pullout titled Stuff We're Looking Forward to in April and under the April 5th they list the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix. For my next poll I thought I'd ask everyone what Rush album that they think should be next to get the 5.1 Surround Sound treatment. Take the poll and let us know. On a related note, Amazon.com is running a deal where you can download the Moving Pictures album on mp3 for just $3.99 (thanks plunge).

Earlier this week Universal Music Group released iPad app versions of some of the Classic Albums series including Rush's 2112/Moving Pictures. The apps are billed as interactive, socially aware, and Internet connected and include video interviews, extensive liner notes and comment sections. The Rush app can be downloaded at this link for $6.99.

Speaking of apps, Reader Alec P let me know that
BlackBerry App World has hit version 2.1.1.2. :)

In that same newsletter from Wednesday I mentioned above, Rush.com provided confirmation and some more details regarding the 7-inch limited edition vinyl release of Rush's Caravan/BU2B for Record Store Day which I'd reported earlier in the week:

Record Store Day - April 16 BU2B/Caravan will be released as a limited edition 7" vinyl for Record Store Day in the US & Canada. The 7" will be on colour vinyl - with either red or white along with a lyric insert.

To find a list of participating stores in the US check out this link and in Canada go to this link. To learn more about Record Store Day check out their website at RecordStoreDay.com.

Drumming legend and former Genesis frontman Phil Collins is featured in the April, 2011 issue of UK drum magazine Rhythm and they ask Neil Peart along with Mike Portnoy and Brann Dailor their opinions on why they hold Collins in such high esteem. The Rhythm Magazine website is also currently featuring an up close look at Neil's Time Machine Tour kit complete with some great photos and detailed captions. You can check it out here and get more details about the April, 2011 issue of Rhythm at this link.

Alex Lifeson was featured at the Terry Fox Foundation website last Friday where he asked the Terry Fox Video Trivia question of the day: In 1980 we presented Terry with an album. Which album was that? He then gives the possible 3 answers as 2112, Permanent Waves or Power Windows. You can watch the video at this link (the answer by the way is Permanent Waves).

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 last week for just $0.99 and the other 2 tracks should also soon be available as well. Hollowbody is a rocking, 2½-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 this coming 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. David will also be In The Studio with Bob and Blair this Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 10PM where they'll be playing the 3 new tunes for the first time on radio.

Back in June I'd mentioned that Canadian environmentalist organization the David Suzuki Foundation would be celebrating their 20th anniversary by launching a project that would bring together Rush and several other Canadian songwriters and performers for a compilation album called Playlist for the Planet. They also ran a songwriting contest over the past several months for environmentally-themed songs to include on the compilation. The compilation features Rush's Second Nature from the Hold Your Fire album. It was just released in Canada this past Tuesday and will release in the US next week. All proceeds from the sales of the compilation go to the David Suzuki Foundation.

Bass player extraordinaire Billy Sheehan was recently interviewed for MusicRadar.com to talk about the new Mr. Big album What If along with other subjects. When asked about how hard it is to both sing and play bass at the same time, Geddy Lee's name comes up:

... "It's pretty tricky. I work at it a lot. I can strum the guitar and sing all day long. But to play bass and sing at the same time, especially with some of the things I do with my right hand, it's hard. It doesn't come naturally, but it can be done. You just have to sit down and work out your parts. ... "I remember when we had the great honor of touring the Rush at one point, and I'd sit and talk to Geddy Lee about it. He's one of the sweetest guys around, by the way. But he told me that he has to work at it big-time. I don't know anybody who does it better than him. Sting, he drifts through his bass playing by dropping time while still keeping time. It's quite an art." ...

You can read the entire interview at this link. Sheehan also spoke about touring with Rush in a recent Examiner.com article which you can check out at this link.

Speaking of Geddy, he came in at #12 on XM radio's The Boneyard Top 19 Best Voices of Rock Countdown. The top 3 were Axl Rose, Bon Scott and Ronnie James Dio at #1. Thanks to Sniglets at Counterparts for the heads up.

In a recent interview with the Montreal Gazette (thanks Power Windows) Pixies drummer David Lovering describes Neil Peart as one of his biggest influences:

... A bigger surprise comes when the subject of their influences is raised. Lovering acknowledged reverence for John Bonham, "any drummer who played for Steely Dan" and especially Rush's Neil Peart. "When I first started playing for the Pixies, I was doing a lot of fills, believe me, just like Neil would do. It took a long time and a lot of concentration to keep it toned down," he said. ...

Here's a photo of Lovering behind his kit at a Santiago, Chile show this past summer sporting a Rush Fly By Night t-shirt.

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has also cited Peart as a huge influence in many interviews along with appearing in the Rush documentary to sing the praises of Rush. The new Foo Fighters single Rope has been garnering many comparisons to Rush since even before its release back on March 1st. In a recent Foo Fighters interview with MTV debuting the video for Rope Hawkins joked about the drum pattern in the chorus of the song saying he had thrown a Neil Peart lick in and then went on to say:

I owe Neil Peart a lot of money for the chorus of Rope. I'm splitting my royalties on that song with Neil Peart.

You can watch the video from this portion of the interview at this link.

Another rocker who cites Rush's influence in his playing is Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine. In a recent feature with Guitar World (thanks RushFanForever) Valentine discusses his current playlist which includes Rush's YYZ:

"My older brother played me this when I was 10, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I knew then that I wanted to play the guitar."

Valentine had also been spotted on an episode of MTV Cribs back in 2004 sporting a Power Windows t-shirt.

Last week Eric over at Power Windows posted this interesting bit about how some foreign pressings of Rush albums are censored in different ways. For instance, the iconic red star was censored from the cover of the original Korean pressing of 2112 because the red star is the on the iconic flag of North Korea.

There was a Rush reference on this past week's episode of the NBC action/comedy Chuck (Season 4, Episode 19: Chuck Versus the Muuurder). The character Morgan Grimes is interviewing potential new agents and after asking a series of serious questions to a group of candidates, he asks one of them Quick! What is Rush's best album?! to which the candidate replies Caress of Steel. Morgan then makes a buzzer noise, looks at the candidate with disappointment and says nope... next!. This is the second major Rush reference on Chuck. The first occurred in Episode 5 of Season 2: Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer back on October 27, 2008. You can watch Chuck Versus the Muuurder below or at this link. The Rush reference occurs at about the 5:40 mark.

What a crazy week it's been for Rush news! Have a great weekend. Only 5 more days until the Time Machine returns!

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