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Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

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New Neil Peart news update at NeilPeart.net

Sat, Apr 30, 2011@8:53AM | comments removed/disabled

[NEWS, WEATHER, and SPORTS: May, 2011 - Eastern Resurrection]

As he often does while the band is on a tour break, Neil Peart has updated the News page on his website with a story titled Eastern Resurrection. In this latest installment Neil discusses his motorcycle travels throughout the Eastern US on the first leg of the 2011 Time Machine Tour and how tricky the weather was for traveling by bike in April.

... When it comes to discussing our working schedules, these days each of us bargains with Ray separately, which helps to avoid any unnecessary disagreements before Ray can "broker" a consensus among us. For my part, I wanted to be home this summer with my family, but offered to tour in May and June.

Ray countered by saying that the other guys were keen to bring this show to Europe, and I was not against that idea (the motorcycling!), so we'd really need another month to accomplish that. Ray proposed working in April as well as May and June. I knew the motorcycling weather in April could well be dicey, but Ray promised to keep that month's itinerary to the Southern states.

Well . . . we did start in Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, but then all of a sudden we were in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and even Ontario and Quebec. (Though admittedly, southern Ontario and Quebec . . .) ...

... However, back in January, when I noticed how Ray had tricked me with the itinerary, I told Michael we had better look into some heated riding gear. For many years, in cooler weather I had used an electric vest-made with an electric-blanket type of technology, it is wired into the bike's electrics, and helps to warm your inner core. Our bikes have heated grips, too, so our gloved hands stay fairly warm-but I had always found that in chilly weather, no matter how well my feet were socked and booted, they got cold. If your feet are cold, you're never going to be happy. I wanted electric socks! ...

There's also this adorable description of Neil describing his job to his baby daughter Olivia:

... Hoping to help Olivia understand why Daddy had "abandoned" her, I made her a little picture book called Where's Daddy? I explained how people have jobs (a difficult enough concept to simplify for a toddler, but I came up with what I think is a good definition: "It's how we all help each other"), and showed pictures of doctors, farmers, restaurant workers, tailors, and so on. Then I showed a photo of me playing onstage with the band, and wrote, "Daddy's job is different-Daddy plays the drums for people."

I introduced her to Uncle Alex and Uncle Geddy, with photos of them waving to her, and then pictures of how Daddy travels-an airplane, a bus and trailer, and a motorcycle. Then I assured her that Daddy would be home soon, and showed pictures of all the things we would do together, ending with "Because Daddy LOVES to be with Olivia," then a photo of me alone on a dock in Minnesota with the satellite phone (from the story "Cruel Summer"), with the caption, "And Daddy HATES to be away from Olivia."

The first time I read the book to Olivia, as we have read so many other picture books together, nestled close on the sofa with my arm around her, I really could feel her taking it in.

Turning the page, we then looked at a photo of a newborn Olivia, clutching my finger in her tiny fist (from "The Ballad of Larry and Suzy"), with the caption, "But right from the first day Olivia was born, she could see that life was going to be complicated." ...

It's another great bit of prose from Neil. I suggest reading the whole thing at this link.

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