Rush's Alex Lifeson and his Envy of None bandmates are a few of the many artists included on an upcoming star-studded tribute to Canadian rockers Triumph. Magic Power: All Star Tribute to Triumph is due out next Friday, June 6th with pre-orders available here. In addition to Alex Lifeson, some other artists performing on the album are Heart's Nancy Wilson, Slash, Sebastian Bach, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, Anthrax's Joey Belladonna, Mickey Thomas of Starship, Styx keyboardist/singer Lawrence Gowan, Journey drummer/vocalist Deen Castronovo, Tesla's Jeff Keith, former Chicago bassist/singer Jason Scheff, Night Ranger's Jack Blades, and Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X. Alex Lifeson along with Envy of None's Andy Curran and Maiah Wynne contribute a rendition of Triumph's Blinding Light Show off Triumph's self-titled 1976 debut album. The album will be available Friday, June 6th on CD, Double vinyl and on digital streaming.

A couple of weeks ago, a listing appeared on British music seller Juno Record's website (and others) indicating that Rush will be following up their November release of The Albums: 1989-1996 vinyl box set, with a similar release covering the band's 2002-2012 period. Rush: The Albums 2002 To 2012 is currently being listed as a 7-CD set slated for release next Friday, June 6th. While the release date seems reasonable (although it'll probably be pushed out), it's likely a 7-LP set rather than 7-CD, like the 1989-1996 vinyl set. Rush released 3 albums (Vapor Trails, Snakes & Arrows, Clockwork Angels) and 1 EP (Feedback) in the period between 2002 and 2012, so 7 LPs would make sense - with the 1989-1996 set, both Presto and Roll the Bones came on 1 LP each, while Counterparts and Test for Echo were on 2 LPs each - making a total of 6 LPs. While Feedback could be on one LP, each of the other 3 albums need to be on 2 LPs, making a total of 7. This is all speculation as of today, as there are very few details and no official announcement. At this point, I'd assume that the release date will be pushed out seeing as we have not yet received any official confirmation yet. More information as we learn it.

The Drumeo YouTube channel has a regular feature called First Time where they have drummers listen to a song they've never heard before (without drums), and create a drum part for it. They recently challenged Genesis drummer Nic Collins (son of Phil Collins) for a recent edition of this series, where Collins created a drum part for Opeth's Ghost Of Perdition. In their latest video, they brought back Collins for a new challenge with a twist - instead of having him create a new drum part, they have him try to learn a complex drum part for an existing song on the spot; the song they chose was Rush's 2112. Collins did a great job with it, and took around 2 and a half hours to learn the song. You can watch the entire process unfold below or in this video.

Rush's Rush 50 career-spanning compilation anthology in celebration of the band's 50th anniversary released back on March 21st. Rush 50 is available in five distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition ($374.98), (2) Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition, (3) 7-LP Deluxe Edition ($249.98), (4) 4-CD Deluxe Edition ($99.98), and (5) Digital Edition ($26.49). The Rush Backstage Store exclusive edition includes an additional four bonus lithos showcasing Rush through time, newly illustrated by FANTOONS from the characters created for the graphic novel depicting the band in the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s. John at Cygnus-X1.net has transcribed and scanned all the artwork from the box set and made it available online here, along with the liner notes. You can secure your copy of Rush 50 via Amazon and other retailers, and get all the details regarding the different configurations and what they include, along with the full tracklist at Rush.com. Stereophile posted their review of the box set this past week, saying the following:

... Rush 50 is a fitting aural epitaph for a band that always found vital new ways to hit that mean, mean stride.

The late Neil Peart grew up in the St. Catharines, Ontario community of Port Dalhousie, the lakefront home of Lakeside Park which inspired the lyrics to the 1975 Rush song of the same name. Back in 2020 the St. Catharines City Council, with the full support of the community, voted to name the newly rebuilt pavilion at Lakeside Park the Neil Peart Pavilion at Lakeside Park in honor of the hometown icon who passed away over 5 years ago in January of 2020. The Council also established the Neil Peart Commemorative Task Force, with the objective to commission a public work of art commemorating Peart's life and legacy. Back in January of 2021 the Task Force officially began welcoming artists to submit requests for pre-qualification via the city's website, and revealed the finalists in September of 2021 along with the launch of a fundraising campaign for the Memorial. In November of 2022 the Task Force finally revealed that the artist who will have the honor of creating the memorial is Morgan MacDonald of The Newfoundland Bronze Foundry. The installation itself will depict two bronze statues of Peart - one as a young artist and the other in his later years. A pathway will connect the two statues with interpretive panels about Peart's personal and professional legacy. A video depicting what the Neil Peart memorial will look like in Lakeside Park can be seen on YouTube. The project and its timelines are contingent on the Task Force raising the $1 million required for completion, and an official fundraising campaign launched last year on Neil Peart's 72nd birthday. You can get all the info on the different ways to donate to the fundraising campaigh at this location. The fundraising campaign has lost some steam since first launching and they are in need of more donations. To that end, earlier this week Buffalo's 97 Rock's Shredd & Ragan announced an initiative to help fund the Neil Peart Memorial that they are calling The Great North American Rush Off. From the release:

... "Rush means so much to music fans in the Buffalo area, so we wanted to find a way to help fans give back," remarked Shredd & Ragan. "When we tell them about the Neil Peart Memorial, they can't wait to help." Shredd & Ragan are calling on bands-both local and national-to submit their Rush cover songs. These tracks will be featured in a curated digital and physical compilation, with all proceeds benefiting The Neil Peart Memorial. ... "When we started digging into the idea of raising money for the park, it became apparent that our mission is to help raise awareness that this park exists and needs to be funded," explains MX2 Media's Michael Parrish. "If our efforts spread the word to the legion of Rush fans around the world, I have no doubt they will rise up and help turn this park from a concept to reality." The Great North American Rush Off is just getting started and will expand as word spreads. A charity concert is also being planned in Buffalo featuring some of the bands that submitted songs, along with a charity auction of high-value items donated to help raise funds. ...

A member of the Cygnus-X1.net FB group posted a really neat find to the group yesterday. It's an old Toronto Hudson Music record store rental contract receipt for a guitar from Jan, 1976 which Geddy and Alex rented right around the time of the 2112 recording sessions. You can check it out on Facebook or in this screenshot.

On this past week's episode of Rush Roundtable on the Rushfans YouTube channel (episode #276), the panel continues their Snakes & Arrows discussion with Malignant Narcissism.

Rush is a Band now has an official YouTube channel and I encourage everyone to check it out and subscribe when you have a chance. It's primarily being used to post videos of Rush references in pop culture, old interviews (Rockline in particular), live clips, etc., but we may be doing more with it in the future. On that note, 9 years ago yesterday in 2016, there was a Rush reference on HBO's "Veep" (Season 5, Episode 6 - C**tgate), as seen here:

That's all for this week. Enjoy your weekend everybody!