Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Updates and other random Rush stuff

Fri, May 8, 2009@11:00AM | comments removed/disabled

It was another relatively quiet week for Rush news, but a fairly busy week for Neil Peart news. On May 18th his big DRUM! Magazine cover feature hits newsstands (it's already been sent out to some subscribers), later this month the 2008 Buddy Rich Memorial Concert DVD will be released, and on June 18th he will be participating in a live video chat on the Drum Channel.

In the DRUM! Magazine feature Neil answers questions from 12 lucky fans including THREE RIAB members; Spindrifter, barboy2112 and DrummerDad2112. How cool is that!? You can check out the complete list of participants along with their questions in this post.

The 2008 Buddy Rich Memorial Concert DVD is a 3-DVD set that will retail for $39.95 and include over two hours of concert footage plus nearly two hours of rehearsal and backstage footage. According to a mailing sent out by the Drum Channel it will released by the end of the month although Neil Peart's website is advertising it as coming out May 15th. Neil's site also has his rendition of Love For Sale from the concert available for listening (thanks mr soul).

On Thursday June 18th at 3PM EST Neil Peart along with special guests Doane Perry (Jethro Tull) and Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa) will be appearing on the Drum Channel to answer questions and talk about progressive rock drumming. You'll be able to ask your questions live in the Drum Channel chat room, or email them in advance to info@drumchannel.com. Stay tuned to the Drum Channel website for details.

While on the subject of the Drum Channel, reader RushFanForever pointed me to episode 6 of the Chad Smith Show that ran on the channel back in January. In this episode Chad Smith, Taylor Hawkins, Terry Bozzio, Stephen Perkins, and Gary Novak watch clips of drumming greats while discussing their lasting influence on the world of drumming. The program runs about 17 minutes and from the 10:30 point on the discussion focuses on Neil Peart. You can watch it at this link.

Speaking of Neil Peart, here are some scans of an old Modern Drummer interview with Neil from January of 1986 courtesy reader Kevin B. You can check out the scans by clicking on the thumbnails above.

Andrew Olson has posted three new drum kits to his Replicas and drum kits inspired by Neil Peart page at his Neil Peart fan site. Included are Graham Clarke's Yamaha kit for the tribute band 2112, Christopher Stewart's Mapex kit and Russ Hoffmaster's Slingerland and DW kits.

Reader Lamb Saag recently dug up an old postcard he'd received from Neil Peart back in 1985. He thought he'd lost it but luckily for us he found it. You can check it out by clicking on the thumbnails.

Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee will be guests on CBC Radio's Q with Jian Ghomeshi on Wednesday, May 20th. The exact date had been a bit fuzzy but apparently Jian announced this today.

Eric Peterson of thrash metal band Testament recently was interviewed for Vancouver's straight.com and had this to say when asked about his influences:

... I still go back and revisit a lot of that stuff,” he explains of his fondness for ’70s rock. “The Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush records, the early Rush stuff like Hemispheres—Alex Lifeson’s amazing on that. ...

Original Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and bassist Greg Christian rejoined the band to record last year's The Formation of Damnation - their first release in over a decade. You may recall that Alex Skolnick's side project the Alex Skolnick Trio recorded a jazzed up version of Tom Sawyer a couple of years ago.

LanceTheShred sent me this picture of an apartment building in Washington DC with a very cool address.

There's a Rush-related charity auction going on at eBay for one of the signed Retrospective 3 lithographs. The auction is to benefit the BikeforMike charity campaign, which aims to raise $50,000 for the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. To check out the item and make your bid go to this link. Thanks to Skip Daly for the info.

The long-anticipated Kyle Newman film Fanboys finally released last month and will be available on DVD May 19th. The film follows a group of Star Wars-loving geeks in 1998 who travel cross country so that their dying friend's dream of watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace at Skywalker Ranch before its release can come true (trailer here). One of the main characters - Hutch - is a huge Rush fan and spends most of the film in a Rush t-shirt as depicted in this photo. He also only allows Rush music to be played in his van. Tom Sawyer and Limelight are included in the film's soundtrack. Thanks to Brett M for the heads up.

Reader DigitalMan745 let me know that Alex Lifeson is pictured alongside Rik Emmett in the latest issue of Guitar World magazine in an article titled Schools of Rock. The article mentions Alex's involvement with Guitar Workshop Plus in Toronto.

Reader RushFanForever alerted me to this piece in Canada's National Post which mentions that Geddy Lee was spotted recently at Nota Bene restaurant on Queen Street in Toronto.

RatCon 2009 is only 5 weeks away! There's still time to register if you haven't already; the deadline is May 22nd. The organizers have posted a new introductory video from LanceTheShred on the RatCon website.

Rush gets a mention in this Entertainment Weekly article titled Embarrassing albums: What are your most shameful musical secrets?. Thanks to Kelly D for the link.

Singer/songwriter Juliana Hatfield recently posted an old setlist from her highschool cover band The Squids to her MySpace page. Included on the setlist are Rush's Spirit of Radio (#12) and Broon's Bane (#40). You can check it out by clicking on the thumbnails. Thanks to Echoes at The Rush Forum for the heads up.

I'll leave you this week with this YouTube audio of Audioslave performing a cover of Rush's Working Man from a few years back (thanks to jess for the link). It's from the bootleg album Covers & Rare.

Have a great weekend everybody!

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