Rush kicked off the summer leg of the Clockwork Angels tour last Friday at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. From there they played shows in Jones Beach and Saratoga Springs, and will be hitting the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre outside Chicago tonight for show number 23 of the 2013 tour. They'll then bring the tour to Grand Rapids, Cincinnati and Milwaukee next week before beginning a series of Canadian dates next weekend. According to a press release from earlier this week, Rush will be donating $1 of every ticket sold from 5 of these upcoming Canadian shows to the Unison Benevolent Fund. The first of the Canadian dates on the 2013 leg will take place just south of the band's hometown of Toronto in Hamilton. This show will be the centerpiece of the annual RushCon Rush fan convention which takes place next weekend in Toronto. The convention will consist of 3 days of Rush-filled events, including a Friday night opening mixer with a private tour of Massey Hall, a Saturday day trip to Lakeside Park, the Rush show in Hamilton Saturday night, an Anthem Records tour on Sunday, a full day of convention events at the Hard Rock Cafe on Sunday including an appearance by Rush: The Illustrated History author Martin Popoff, and a private party at the Orbit Room Sunday night! You can register now online at this location. For all the details just go to RushCon.org, and be sure to follow RushCon on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest RushCon news. Speaking of Rush fan conventions, last weekend the Rush RatCon Rush fan convention/gathering took place at Club Xanadu outside Baltimore. You can see photos and videos of the event on their Facebook page here.
Rush is featured in the latest issue (issue #58) of Melodic Rock's Fireworks magazine. The cover tagline reads Fame at Last and the feature is a new interview with Alex Lifeson from just before the band's European tour kicked off. John over at Cygnus-X1.net transcribed the entire article and made it available online here. When asked how the band would celebrate their 40th anniversary next year Alex seems to confirm that they'll do an R40 tour of some kind:
We'll do a special tour and we'll look closely at some of the songs we haven't played for a long, long time. As for a new record we haven't really thought that far ahead yet.
In interviews up until this point Rush has been dancing around the question of how they'll celebrate the 40th anniversary - not committing to anything and consistently saying that they'll be taking at least a year off after the tour. As we've learned from past interviews, anything Alex says has to be taken with a grain of salt, but hopefully this will turn out to be true.
Earlier this week Neil Peart once again updated the news page on his website with a story titled Shunpikers in the Shadowlands. Neil describes his motorcycle travels across Europe, shunpiking with his friend Brutus on the European leg of the Clockwork Angels tour. You can read the entire story on Neil's website at this location.
In the lead up to tonight's Rush concert in Chicago, Geddy Lee spoke with Jeff Elbel of the Chicago Sun-Times for a new interview. Geddy discusses the Clockwork Angels album and tour, the band's recent Rock Hall induction and more. Here's Geddy on Alex's infamous blah speech:
... "I wish he would've warned us," says Lee, laughing. "We could have thought it was planned, as opposed to feeling like maybe he was losing his marbles." ...
You can read the complete interview here. And in the lead up to Rush's upcoming show in Hamilton next month, the Hamilton Spectator spoke with Alex Lifeson for an interview where he reminisces about past Rush shows in Hamilton.
... "[Hamilton]'s a blue collar town and rock has always been popular there," Lifeson says. "We've always had great concerts there - Copps, Ivor Wynne. We played Hamilton Place in 1975 when it was new. I had the flu and I had to run off stage, throw up into a bucket, run back on and keep playing. A rough night." ...
Alex also discusses the band's current album and tour, Rush's longevity, and more. You can read the entire article/interview at this location.
Rush is the cover feature for the latest issue (Volume 6, Issue 3) of the touring industry publication Mobile Production Monthly. The issue contains an 8-page feature on Rush's current Clockwork Angels tour including a 4-page article titled Rush's Clockwork Angels Completes the Steampunk Journey, where they go over the band's current stage show with a few of the Rush road crew members. The article also contains a painstakingly detailed breakdown of Rush's equipment and stage crew. There's also a 2-page interview with Rush front-of-house engineer Brad Madix, and a short article on Rush's sound company - Clair. The entire magazine is available online as a pdf at this location.
There were a couple of recent Rush pop culture TV references to report. Last Monday night's (June 24th) episode of Cartoon Network's Regular Show (The Last LaserDisc Player) contains a Rush 2112 reference where there is a laserdisc for a film about the year 2112 titled 21-12 Time Attack. And the April 27th episode (season 16, episode 4) of MSNBC's prison documentary series Lockup - Cleveland: Extended Stay was titled Rush. One of the featured inmates in the show was an old rocker that used to play in a few bands who was so convinced he would get out soon that he bought tickets to see Rush on tour. Thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the info.
The new album Heart of the Piano from pianist Geoffrey Keezer releases next week on July 9th and the first track on the album is a cover of Rush's Limelight. You can check out all the details and watch a video of Keezer playing the track on his website here (thanks Colby).
The debut thriller novel Valberg from author Desmond J. Doherty was released last week. There's a fictional Q&A with the book's hero Jon Valberg on the book's website and apparently he's a Rush fan:
... 7. Favourite Band; Rush.
8. Favourite Musician; King Lerxst.
9. Favourite Rush Song; So many but at the moment the song all Rush fans were waiting on-'The Garden' from Clockwork Angels. When first heard it a tear fell-sorry. I'll get back to you about my favourite Rush song. Blodigit Helvete. Who makes these questions up? ...
The novel is available for Kindle at this location for just $0.99.
Ultimate Classic Rock has recently been posting yearbook photos of famous rockers and asking readers to identify them. One of the featured photos is of our favorite drummer Neil Peart. You can check it out at this location (thanks ou812112).
This coming Monday, July 1st is Canada Day and to celebrate canoe.ca posted their ultimate Canadian playlist (thanks ou812112). One of the tracks featured is 1981's Take Off from Bob & Doug McKenzie and featuring Geddy Lee:
It may be a novelty tune, but this little comedic gem from the duo's 1981 "Great White North" album is sure to get at least a few Elsinores flowing. No doubt some of you will be saying, "I remember this one, eh?!"
Debra Ross of KidsOutAndAbout.com made an appearance on WNYT with her daughter this past week before the show at the SPAC. They were there to discuss taking your kids to concerts, and both were sporting their Rush t-shirts. Most of the conversation focused on Rush and you can check it out below or at this location.
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!
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