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

Fri, Nov 4, 2011@1:40PM | comments removed/disabled

The Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland DVD/Blu-ray will release this coming Tuesday, November 8th in the US 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. Folks in Europe will be getting their Time Machine swag a little earlier; it releases on Monday, November 7th in the UK and has already released in parts of Europe. Reader Ben from The Netherlands already received his copy of the Time Machine CD and has taken some images for us which you can check out at this link. Roadrunner Records posted another preview video from the DVD yesterday. Unfortunately viewing seems to be geographically restricted to the UK. So if you are in the UK you can check out Limelight from Time Machine at this link. MusicRadar.com had posted a preview video of Working Man earlier this week at this link. Last week 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. Rolling Stone 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 which you can check out here.

Time Machine was released to theaters in the US and Chile (3 theaters in Santiago) last Wednesday night and in the UK this past Tuesday. Although there still hasn't been any official announcement, it appears that 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. 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 tomorrow evening. You can watch the official trailer at this link. Reviews of the DVD have been rolling in, including this one from the Buffalo News, and this one from RIAB reader Todd Garbarini (RushSignals1982). Ahead of next week's release, Roadrunner Records spoke with Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor of Mastodon along with Rob Flynn of Machine Head about why they love Rush. Here's the interview with Troy and Brann and here's the interview with Rob Flynn.

Rolling Stone magazine posted an interview with Geddy Lee earlier this week where Geddy talks about the recent Time Machine Tour, the Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage and the status of their upcoming Clockwork Angels album:

... We're almost finished writing [the album]. We wound the machine back up about three weeks ago. After a sluggish start, we've had a very fruitful couple of weeks in terms of writing. I'm very pleased with the direction that the material has taken. And I think we have one or two more songs that we'd like to write, and then we'll start recording in earnest. Hopefully we'll have all of the recording done before Christmas. Then we'll mix it some time in the next year, and then get it out. ... I hope it'll be out by the spring anyway. ... I think [the sound is] a little different than Snakes and Arrows. It's not finished so it's hard to say exactly what it will sound like in totality, but I think that the direction of "Caravan" and "BU2B" sort of points in the direction that we're going....

Geddy also remarks on touring in support of the album:

... there will be a tour. I can't tell you exactly when. Maybe the summer or maybe the fall. We need some time to organize all that, but we have started to do that at the same time. But yes, there will be a follow-up tour to support the record. ...

2012 definitely stands to be another great year for Rush and their fans.

Hudson Music posted a short video interview with Neil Peart earlier this week where Neil discusses his recently-released instructional DVD Taking Center Stage. You can check out the interview at this link. Neil was also the feature of a cover story in the December, 2011 issue of Modern Drummer magazine which hit newsstands earlier this week. Neil touches on a number of subjects including how he prepares for a tour, how he deals with the rigors of touring, his approach to composing drum parts and the inspiration behind his recently-released Taking Center Stage instructional video. You can read excerpts from the interview at this link and check out the Modern Drummer review of Taking Center Stage here. Neil recently discussed the inspiration behind the DVD in the November issue of Rhythm magazine. The magazine piece was an edited version of a longer, online version posted at MusicRadar.com. 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. 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. Here's a Guitar International review of the DVD from Skip Daly, and there was also a piece on Neil Peart in the Driving section of today's Vancouver Sun titled The sound when music and motorcycles collide which curiously makes no mention of Taking Center Stage.

Longtime Toronto-based radio morning drive time duo Humble and Fred recently launched a highly successful podcast and had Alex Lifeson on as a guest this morning. You can listen to the interview at HumbleAndFredRadio.com at this link or download the podcast here. Alex's interview starts around the 35-minute mark and lasts for about 30 minutes. Alex talks about golf, touring, the band's recent resurgence in popularity, the Rush documentary, and discusses how recording the new album is progressing. As of right now Alex says they are a week or so ahead of schedule.

Speaking of Alex, The Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope charity auction ended last weekend and Alex Lifeson's 8" X 16", acrylic on stretched canvas Sun Dance painting ended up being sold for an astonishing $7,000. The Brush of Hope charity auction raised a total of $24,000 this year. Congratulations to Alex and all of the other participating artists.

No Regrets is the new autobiography from original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley. The book just released this past Tuesday and there's a Rush mention on pages 188-9 in Chapter 13 - Fast Cars, Celebs, and Betty White:

I have so many road stories, but one that always comes to mind is the tour we did in the summer of 1975 with Rush opening for us. I always liked Rush (and still do). After a few weeks on tour I started to get to know the guys in the band, and their very funny tour manager, Howie. One thing led to another and before long Peter and I were getting visits from the Rush boys. It usually turned into late evenings filled with beer and grass and whatever else was around. Alex Lifeson, the band's guitarist, used to do this hysterical routine with a large paper laundry bag. He'd draw a ridiculous giant face on the bag with a black marker and put it over his head with a couple of holes poked in it so he could see and breathe. Everyone in the room at this point was either drunk or stoned, but usually a little of both. Anyway, Alex would go into this routine with the bag over his head and while smoking a joint out of his eye he put everyone into total hysterics. He really milked the routine until everyone was gasping for air!

There's also a photo of Alex with The Bag on page 8 of the photo section of the book. You can check out a scan of the photo here. Ace has mentioned this story in the past, specifically in this 2006 radio interview with Eddie Trunk.

Reader RushFanForever located this Alex Lifeson quote at the Coalition for Music Education's Music Makes Us website:

If it wasn't for the supportive and inspiring music teachers I had in junior high school, I'm not sure I would have become the musician I am, spanning a career in music of over forty years and counting. Music has been my life and I am forever grateful for the opportunities available to me from a young age.

Well said Alex.

Timed to coincide with the upcoming November 21st release of Rush's Sector box sets, UltimateClassicRock.com is giving away a Moving Pictures lithograph signed by all three band members. For all the details and to enter go to this link (thanks Power Windows).

NMR Distribution recently released a Rush playing card gift tin set with the classic Rush explosion logo in red on it, and containing a set of the Rush playing cards that they had released earlier this year. You can purchase the tin set at this link. Thanks to plunge for the heads up.

Earlier this week rapper/producer EL-P released a remix of his song Drones Over BKLYN called Rush Over BKLYN which is based on a sample of Tom Sawyer. He is selling the track with all proceeds going to a fund for Mr. Dibbs, the veteran DJ who is presently battling both liver disease and high medical bills. You can listen to the track on SoundCloud at this link and purchase it here.

The theme of the Yahoo! music blog's List of the Day last Friday was 20 Crazy Cover albums (thanks Mike H) and Rush's Feedback made the cut at #6:

When Feedback was released in 2004 it made pretty much everyone do a double take. Two Buffalo Springfield covers? Two Yardbirds covers? "Crossroads"? Most of us were under the impression that Rush were a new chapter in rock and didn't look back and if they did it would be to Wagner not Eddie Cochran. I just worry that Lou Reed will hook up with them next.

The Parnelli Awards, celebrating achievement in the live event industry, was held this past Saturday in Orlando, FL and Rush front-of-house (FOH) engineer Brad Madix won the FOH Mixer award. Congratulations Brad! Thanks to Robert for the heads up.

Geddy Lee gets a mention in the Tenors section in this Fender.com article titled Musical Ranges and How They Relate to Guitars (thanks Kelly M).

Rush is a Band recently surpassed a few milestones on the social media front. There are now over 5000 people following @RushIsABand on Twitter, over 3500 Rush is a Band Facebook followers and over 9000 registered site users. Thanks everybody!

Here's Neil Peart's video interview with Hudson Music:

Have a great weekend!

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