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 last year 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 this coming Tuesday, 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. There are also several reports that purchasers of the special edition received emails over the last few weeks indicating that they'll be sent a copy of the standard edition as well, with the reasoning being that "they know some of us like to keep collectables in the original wrap". Geddy recently sat down with his co-writer Daniel Richler to discuss the book in this Instagram video:
Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, etc.) brought his solo tour to Toronto's Danforth Music Hall for a pair of shows this past Monday and Tuesday evening, and Rush's Alex Lifeson was in attendance. Keyboardist Adam Holzman posted a photo of Alex hanging out with the band backstage to Facebook as seen here, and guitarist Randy McStine also posted a photo with Lerxst. Alex is a big fan of Wilson's work, and even made a guest appearance on Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet, playing a blistering solo on the epic track Anesthetize.
Seattle grunge rockers Soundgarden are one of several artists slated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025. The Rock Hall asked 2013 inductee (and Soundgarden fan) Geddy Lee to name a Soundgarden must listen album, and posted a video of Geddy's response to social media:
If you're gonna listen to any album from these 2025 inductees, I would say Badmotorfinger, because it was a record that Soundgarden solidified all the great things we knew were coming in that band. And they all came together on that record, and it just stands the test of time exceedingly well.
Soundgarden will be inducted into the Rock Hall in a ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 8th alongside fellow inductees OutKast, The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker and more.
Alex Lifeson's Envy of None project with Andy Curran, guitarist Alfio Annibalini and vocalist Maiah Wynne released their second album Stygian Wavz back in March via Kscope Records. Last week Kscope announced that the project is back with The Thrill - a 3-track single including an alternative version of Stygian Wavz's 4th track Thrill of the Chase, a demo version, and the album track itself. In addition to a digital release, they will also be releasing The Thrill as a 12" colored vinyl version with all proceeds donated to UNHCR's response to the Ukraine emergency - available exclusively from the band's merch store here. There's also this new lyric video for the song. From the video description:
... Bassist Andy Curran states "Thrill of the Chase was one of the last songs we worked on before handing in the completed record. It started with Alf's funky demo and Maiah loved it and was very vocal about completing it. She and I were wanting to add something up tempo to the record and this one, despite being a little left of center style wise seemed to fit nicely. It has a cool funky positive vibe that we enjoyed exploring, especially the outro dance party section!"
Alfio Annibalini adds "At first glance, this track seems like an odd choice to include on the album, but once Maiah added her vocals, the track instantly sounded as if EON had walked through a new yet familiar door. And as a special bonus, the remix even features a cowbell!" ...
The Thrill is currently available for listening on all the major streaming platforms, and the vinyl version will start shipping around November 1st, with pre-orders available here.
NFL on CBS ran a promotional video this past week where they go "back in time" to 1981, to reminisce about the state of the NFL that year, depicting all the teams as famous album covers. Although no Rush albums were used, the video's backing track is Rush's Tom Sawyer as seen here:
29 years ago this past Tuesday, on September 23, 1996, Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson appeared on Rockline to discuss the Test for Echo album. The entire interview can be heard here:
That's all for this week. Enjoy your weekend everyone!!
