Tom Morello performed a show at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall last Thursday evening, and Rush's Alex Lifeson made a surprise appearance, joining the band for their cover of Rush's Limelight. Despite some significant technical issues (looks like Alex lost the E string during the solo), it was a great performance as seen below or on YouTube. Morello is a huge Rush fan, and has collaborated with Alex in the past, including his 2024 track I Have Seen the Way, which featured Alex and Metallica's Kirk Hammett. You can watch the performance below or on YouTube. 15-year-old Japanese YouTube drumming sensation YOYOKA was part of Morello's band and played drums on Limelight. Afterwards she geeked out about it all over her social media as seen in her Instagram feed. Alex posted a photo of himself with Morello following the show with the following message:

What a fun night playing with Tom at the Danforth Music Hall last Thursday. His band and crew are wonderful people, gracious and generous. Meeting Roman Morello and watching him play was such a delight. He is a terrific kid and a scary talent. Many thanks to Cheryl and Niki for their kindness and consideration to my family and me.
~ Lerxst

Speaking of Tom Morello, Black Sabbath frontman and heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne passed away earlier this week at the age of 76, just 2 weeks after Black Sabbath's historic Back to the Beginning all-star charity and tribute concert at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, England, very near where the band was formed in 1968. Tom Morello was that event's music director, and - in addition to Black Sabbath - some of the acts that performed were Metallica, Tool, Pantera and many more. Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were originally asked to participate, and agreed to do so, but had to back out as Alex explains here:

... "I don't know if I was really a fan of Black Sabbath, but I did get a couple of records back then and I enjoyed listening to them. I respected Tony [Iommi's] guitar playing ...There was an interesting parallel for their beginnings and our beginnings." As Lifeson shared this, he quickly pivoted to discussing Back to the Beginning, the concert that will capture Ozzy Osbourne's final show as a solo artist and the final show of the original Black Sabbath lineup. "We were asked to be part of it and we'd agreed to do it, but other things came up and sadly, we had to back out of it," Lifeson said. "It would have been a lot of fun. We enjoy playing with other people and it gets Geddy [Lee] and me together to do stuff." ...

Rush put out the following statement via social media after hearing the news of Ozzy's death:

Ozzy Osbourne:
Fearless.
One of a kind.
Played by no one's rules.

"I remember listening to the first Sabbath album when it came out and thinking how 'effin' heavy' Tony Iommi's guitar sounded," said Geddy Lee. "Ozzy and his bandmates were at the forefront of that genre, that brand of Metal, and Ozzy was an intensely loved, one of a kind performer.

We never got to play on the same bill with Black Sabbath, and in fact we only ever did one gig with Ozzy, at the Texas Jam at the Cotton Bowl in June of 1984 (poster attached).

Rush recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales at the same time in the late 70's and I recall Ozzy poking his head in the control room to ask if he could "borrow" some Hashish from Neil! For years afterwards, Neil relished telling the story of how "Ozzy owes me some hash" ;)

Total respect to a legend and a band whose music profoundly influenced thousands of musicians and left behind a legacy for us all to "rock out" to forever.

RIP Ozzy

Back in late 2023, Geddy Lee wrote a book of baseball stories titled 72 Stories from the Collection of Geddy Lee that he included as part of a package given to the winning bidders in a baseball auction that included much of Ged's extensive collection. He then announced via Instagram back in October of last year that he would be releasing the book for wide distribution sometime in 2025. A special, limited-edition version of the book was briefly made available around Christmas at the Rush Backstage Club. That edition is autographed, and comes encased in a red cloth-bound slipcase which includes an exclusive, custom-made Geddy Lee baseball, created specifically for this project. The standard version of the book will be available in the fall, with a slated release date of September 30th (just in time for the MLB playoffs) and pre-orders are available here. And if you missed out on the special edition last year, it's been made available again, and you can order one at this location. John at Cygnus-X1.net has posted an excerpt from the book's Introduction and made it available online here.

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. Unfortunately, the fundraising campaign has lost some steam since first launching and thus far they are falling far short of their $1 million goal, as reported in today's St. Catharines Standard:

... A memorial honouring legendary Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart at Lakeside Park has only reached a fraction of its fundraising goal, prompting Mayor Mat Siscoe to ask what's going on. The city launched a $1-million fundraiser last September for an art installation to honour Peart, who grew up in St. Catharines, and the volunteer task force behind the project had hoped to have funds secured by now. But Phil Cristi, director of community, recreation and culture services and staff liaison on the task force, told council that hasn't happened. "The memorial that was supposed to be at Lakeside Park has hit a bit of a standstill, unfortunately," Cristi said. "We've raised about just over $120,000 towards the $1-million project budget but, unfortunately, we've not been able to secure any more funds after that and it's proved to be quite difficult to get meetings arranged." ... David DeRocco was chair of the task force since its inception, but informed the city in January he was resigning as its head. He said he thought it would be a good idea to get a new person at the helm with financial and fundraising connections to move the project forward since they hadn't reached their benchmarks.
He said he expected the city to replace him quickly and call a task force meeting, but the next one isn't planned until September. The last time the task force met was as a subcommittee last November. ... DeRocco said Rush fans, if they know about it, will give money to the memorial. He's been spreading the word as much as possible, speaking with fans, the media and on Rush podcasts. He's now working with 97 Rock in Buffalo, N.Y., where the station's morning show hosts Shredd and Ragan are holding "The Great North American Rush Off." Bands are submitting cover tunes of Rush songs that will be part of a compilation to be sold, with proceeds going to the memorial in St. Catharines. But there's no equivalent on the Canadian side. DeRocco said there's never been a sustained awareness campaign and there's no active fundraising other than the presence on the city website. ...

Speaking of Neil Peart tributes, for the past 5 years, on Neil's birthday, RUSHfest Scotland has sponsored the release of an album of Rush songs dedicated to the iconic drummer titled TRIBUTES - SONGS FOR NEIL, played by Rush tribute bands and musicians from around the world, with proceeds from the sales going to support Cancer charities. They are continuing the tradition this year with SONGS FOR NEIL VOL. 6, which will release this coming September 12th in celebration of what would have been Neil's 73rd birthday. Like all the previous volumes, this sixth volume will feature artwork from Hugh Syme, and they are now taking pre-orders. Volume 6 will be available double-CD, vinyl, and/or digital download, and you can pre-order now by emailing steve@broon.net - details in this Facebook post.

The inaugural RUSHfest Canada event will be taking place next weekend on August 1-2 in Toronto in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of Rush's final show. The Friday night showcase event takes place at Massey Hall, the legendary venue where Rush recorded their first live album All The World's A Stage in 1975. Special guests include former Rush producer Terry Brown and album artist Hugh Syme, along with Jonathan Dinklage, Jacob Moon, Nina DiGregorio & Brody Dolynuik (from Femmes of Rock, endorsed by Alex Lifeson himself), Chris Herin (Tiles), David Barrett, Adi Berk, Moving Pictures (UK tribute band), and author Kevin J. Anderson. The Saturday event takes place at TD Music Hall and will include performances from Rush tribute bands 2112 and Permanent Waves, along with The RUSHfest Canada Allstars Band (international lineup of handpicked musicians), Jacob Moon, David Barrett, and DiGregorio & Dolynuik. You can all the details in this article.

Candlebox frontman Kevin Martin was recently interviewed for Turned Out A Punk and he spent a portion of the interview reflecting on the experience of opening for Rush on their Counterparts tour back in 1994 (thanks Will C):

... "They were really kind to us. I remember, we started in Pensacola, the first show, and we met Alex and Geddy. ... And then we got to Austin, Texas, and after our show, Neil Peart came into our dressing room. We were sitting and [there was] a knock on the door. 'Guys, you mind if I come in?' [This was] after we played. And we're, like, sitting there? 'No, no.' And he's, like, 'Hey, so I've been watching you guys past three nights and I think I've got a really good setlist for you.' And we're, like, 'What? Okay.' And he's, like, 'I want you to start with this song.' "Cause he was such a mathematician and a genius when it came to putting songs and lyrics and stuff together, 'cause I think he was really the foundation of most of what RUSH was creating when he joined the band, from that moment on. And we stuck to that setlist for the entire three months. And he was right. It was the perfect opener, it was the perfect middle, a perfect end. They were genuinely the kindest musicians that we've ever, ever toured with. And we've toured with some really brilliant ones and a bunch of fucking assholes. But those guys were, and still are... I mean, we were able to go down and see Geddy and Alex shortly after Neil's wife had passed and his daughter. And so we didn't get to say hi to him, but we went down to see them [in Southern California] - it was an outdoor amphitheater - we went down to hang out with them, and we chatted for almost two hours before they went on stage and just caught up. And the fact that they still remembered us from so many years prior and we were able to just kind of catch up, it's something I'll never forget. And they were spectacular every single night. At the end of the tour, we gave them gifts. That's something that used to happen back in the '90s. It doesn't happen so much anymore. But you give the headliner gifts and thank yous for letting us play with you and tour with the guys. And Neil, we got him a right-handed catcher's mitt, because he would throw his drumsticks every night. Sometimes he would catch 'em, sometimes he wouldn't. But he was so good at grabbing one outta the stick bag that it looked like he caught it. And so we got him a right-handed catcher's mitt. He knew exactly what that was, and he laughed his ass off. And the fact that we were able to kind of build that kind of a friendship was pretty special to me." ...

Three years ago today, on July 25, 2022, the Canadian horror film The Breach, featuring Alex Lifeson, was released in Canada. Alex Lifeson plays the role of a conspiracy theorist appropriately named Alex. Below is a video of the 2 scenes he appears in. For more videos of Rush pop culture references, old interviews, live clips and more, check out the official RIAB YouTube page at youtube.com/@rushisaband:

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!!