Inspiration for "Red Barchetta" finally meets Peart!

Richard Foster, the author of the short story "A Nice Morning Drive" which inspired the song "Red Barchetta", has recently posted an VERY interesting story on a Metro Washington BMW messageboard. In it he tells of first learning of the Rush connection in 1996, becoming a fan, finally contacting Peart in 2006, and finally meeting him while riding with him during the east coast leg of the S&A tour! Check it out here, amazing pictures included of the ride, as well as images of the original story as it appeared in Road & Track.

Rush on G4TV's "Code Monkeys"

Rush fans are everywhere! Yesterday saw the debut of G4TV's "Code Monkeys", a new animated show done in the blocky style of old 8-bit computer games. As seen during the opening credits, a Rush poster can be seen hanging on the wall in Dave and Jerry's office (click here to see the original poster). Code Monkeys airs Wednesdays at 9PM ET on GVTV.

Canadian "Crossing Made Easy" Video

A humorous video found on a new website promoting the ease of crossing the Canadian border has a car full of guys picking their favorite Canadian song. "Tom Sawyer" is of course one of the songs chosen, but the humor is found when another chooses Celine Dion. - CrossingMadeEasy.com

Geddy Lee on CBC's "The Hour"

Geddy Lee appeared on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos last night (Thursday), and the interview is now available on their website.

Fan Produced Video for "Sweet Miracle"

Check out this fan made music video for "Sweet Miracle", from Vapor Trails. Kimberly, the star of the video, is a big Rush fan, and created the video based on the scene described by Neil Peart on pages 338-339 of Ghost Rider. Visit myspace.com/kimberlys_nyc to read Kimberly's blog and to see pics including the original treatment.

Bob And Doug McKenzie's 24 Anniversary

Last Sunday night, the CBC aired "Bob And Doug McKenzie's 24 Anniversary" prime time special, celebrating the 24th anniversary of the film Strange Brew. Geddy Lee made a guest appearance which can be seen here. Geddy Lee and Rick Moranis (Doug McKenzie) grew up together, and Geddy sang on their top 40 hit, "Take Off" from their 1981 comedy album, The Great White North.

Jazz Covers of "Tom Sawyer"

Two jazz covers of "Tom Sawyer" have been recently released.  Last Day In Paradise by the Alex Skolnick Trio, was released March 18th. Known for its inventive jazz take on hard rock and heavy metal standards, the album contains seven originals and three covers, including "Tom Sawyer", which can be heard on the band's MySpace page. This is not Alex Skolnick's first released Rush cover; the guitarist for the band "Testament", he also is credited with the guitar solo on the Subdivisions tribute album.

The second jazz cover of "Tom Sawyer" is included on the new album titled Prog by jazz band "The Bad Plus" released May 8th.

"...their florid take on Rush's 'Tom Sawyer,' may be likely to get the most attention of anything on the album. But they rely too much on irony, on people's previous perceptions of the music, and do not seem quite as enamored of the original. They're jokes that are funny the first time but not so much the second or third."

Geddy Lee ESPN Commercial

On April 12th, Geddy Lee appeared on ESPN's "Cold Pizza" and discussed the commercial, the comentator/musicians, and of course, baseball. The commercial is a music-video advertising fantasy baseball on ESPN, featuring the ESPN crew including John Kruk, Peter Gammons and others. The band, "Iron Diamond", has a MySpace page which offers some great photos as well as the full commercial. The full band complement is: John Kruk: lead vocals, ESPN Baseball Tonight Cohost; Peter Gammons: vocals, (home-plate shaped) guitar, ESPN Baseball Tonight Cohost, writer; Bronson Arroyo: vocals, guitar, 2006 MLB All-Star Pitcher; Geddy Lee: vocals, bass, Rush frontman, fantasy baseball genius; Gary Sheffield: drums, MLB slugger with 455 career HR's and counting; Joe Borowski: keytar, closer, 2006 Comeback Player of the Year Finalist; Jennie Finch: vocals, ESPN Fantasy Analyst, Olympic Gold Medalist; Matthew Berry: vocals, Senior Director of Fantasy for ESPN.com; Eric Karabell: vocals, ESPN Fantasy Analyst, ESPN Radio Host; Buster Olney: vocals, ESPN the Magazine Senior Writer, NY Times.

Snakes & Arrows

Snakes & Arrows was released on CD May 1st 2007, as a double album on June 19th, as well as the new MVI (Music Video Interactive) format on June 26th. In the UK, a "Special UK Tour Edition" was released September 3rd, essentially as a 2 disk counterpart to the MVI; both include 96kHz/24 bit hi-resolution stereo as well as 5.1 surround sound; "Rush: The Game of Snakes and Arrows" 45-minute documentary on the making of the album; digital extras including wallpapers, buddy icons, screensavers, and more. Click here for complete Snakes & Arrows news archive.

Run For Cover: A Tribute To Rush

Another release hitting the shelves on May 1st is a new Rush tribute album, Run For Cover, A Tribute To Rush. This is the fourth Rush tribute album released in the past decade or so (discounting the classical tributes), but what makes this one stand out is the fact that the members of the band "Run For Cover" are key members of three different premier Rush Tribute bands: Archives, Hemispheres and Limelight. Accordingly, the songs are very well performed, nearly note perfect, as you would expect from musicians who have literally performed them countless times. In addition, they are also performed using the same instrumentation as the originals, down to the Minimoog, Rickenbacker 4003 bass, Gibson ES335 and Gibson Les Paul guitars; the end result is a that unlike most of the performances on the previous tribute albums, they are very faithful to the originals. One downside to this tribute album, like all of its predecessors, is the lack of anything from the Rush catalog newer than 1984. One wonders if venturing into the 90's and beyond is not safe territory for Rush tribute bands, or are those songs simply not as marketable for a tribute album?

Single DVD Video Reissues

Coinciding with the release of Snakes & Arrows, Mercury/UME is following through with their plan of releasing the individual DVD's of Exit…Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure and A Show Of Hands, which were first released together in the Replay X 3 box. Each DVD features 5.1 surround sound and stereo mixes created for the DVD releases by Alex Lifeson and Mike Fraser from the original concert multi-tracks as well as digitally transferred and remastered visuals. These individual DVD versions are identical to those previously included in the in the Replay X 3 boxed set, which also includes the Grace Under Pressure CD soundtrack.

Alex Lifeson Joins Garrison Guitars Players Roster

Alex Lifeson has officially joined Garrison's growing list of artists. According to Alex, Garrison Guitars and or Octave Manolins are on 85% of the Snakes & Arrows album and will be joining him on their international summer tour. Alex comments, "It's been a year since I began using my Garrisons and I absolutely love these guitars. Beautiful workmanship, tight low end and smooth, silky top end, very clear tonality, dynamic response and comfortable to play, these instruments are at the forefront of my acoustic work both on record and stage." For more information, visit http://www.garrisonguitars.com/

Porcupine Tree "Fear Of A Blank Planet", With Guest Alex Lifeson

Porcupine Tree's Fear Of A Blank Planet, which includes a guest performance by Alex Lifeson, was released worldwide April 24th.

"I really didn't know [Alex Lifeson] knew anything about Porcupine Tree until I read an interview with him in a British magazine. He mentioned really liking Porcupine Tree, and I fell of my chair when I read that because I grew up listening to Rush and I've always thought Alex was one of the most underrated guitarists in rock. So, I got in touch with him through the journalist, who had also done an interview with me around the same time, coincidentally. And we were right in the middle of writing at that time, so it was kind of an obvious thing to invite him to play on the record. It's like it's come full circle for me now, as the people I grew up listening to are now playing on Porcupine Tree records. So you can imagine the buzz, its incredible!" - Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, ProgArchives, April 22, 2007

Rob Zombie's "Halloween" Includes "Tom Sawyer"

Rob Zombie's latest film, an adaptation of the 1978 horror classic "Halloween", features a scene with "Tom Sawyer" as the background music. Click here to order the film's soundtrack release, which includes a host of 70's and 80's hits, including Rush's "Tom Sawyer".

"Halloween is a trick-or-treat goodie bag of audio clips from the film and ‘70s arena rock that turns sinister when heard in the film..." - Soundtrack.net

The Classical Tribute To Rush: Through The Prism

If you were interested yet passed on previous Rush classical tribute albums Exit Stage Right - The String Quartet Tribute to Rush, Chamber Made: Baroque Tribute to Rush, The String Quartet Tribute To Rush's 2112 and The Piano Tribute To Rush, the record label has a new compilation album just for you. The Classical Tribute To Rush: Through The Prism was released April 3rd containing "14 of the best tracks from these tributes"

"Since Exit Stage Right: The String Quartet Tribute to Rush, Vitamin Records has raised the stakes for paying tribute to Canada’s favorite sons. The first album was a smash amongst fans and was soon followed by the ambitious tribute to Rush’s magnum opus, 2112. More hit tributes were to come and with each record Vitamin surprised the fans with their dedication to the craftsmanship of the godfathers of modern, progressive music. With this collection, Vitamin has highlighted 14 of the best tracks from these tributes. It is an essential collection for any Rush fan and any fan of Vitamin Records’ captivating tributes." - VitaminRecords.com

Neil Peart's News, Weather & Sports - "The Count of Words"

Neil Peart has updated his website with the latest "News, Weather and Sports", subtitled "The Count of Words". In it, he discusses the essay written for the new album, mentioning that at 3,300 words it is nearly half again as long as the essay written for Vapor Trails. Due to this fact the essay will not be included with the cd, but will be posted on Rush.com. He also discusses the purpose of his MySpace page, upcoming articles regarding the making of Snakes & Arrows for Modern Drummer and another article about his favorite motorcycle destinations on the R30 tour which will appear in the May issue of Motorcyclist. He concludes with notes on the dreaded upcoming tour, as well as a tease about his new touring kit, stating:

"As for the finish and hardware, that’s going to be a surprise. I’ll only say, 'Black is the new gold,' and 'Red is the new black.'" - Neil Peart, NeilPeart.net, Mar. 20, 2007

Alex Lifeson in "Wine Spectator"

Alex Lifeson is interviewed in the April 30th, 2007, issue of Wine Spectator. Subscribers can access the article online.

Drumhead Magazine Interviews Matt Scanell

This month's Drumhead Magazine includes an interview with Vertical Horizon singer, Matt Scanell. The article goes into detail of how Vertical Horizon was influenced by Rush, and Scanell also shares the story of his friendship with Neil Peart. Apparently Neil was in Texas selling his BMW car to a lady at a BMW dealership; her husband was Matt Scanell, who was also present and recognized Peart. They hit it off and became good friends.

Peart and Scanell's friendship has been documented by Neil in his recent books, Traveling Music and Roadshow. In June of last year, Neil Peart posted to his website that he will be appearing on the forthcoming Vertical Horizon album (release date unannounced):

"Late in 2005, Matt [Scannell] and I started working on a song together, with lyrics I wrote especially for Matt’s voice — literal and metaphorical. Matt suggested I might like to play drums on that song, and when I agreed to that, he started sending me demos of other songs he thought I might like to play on. (Trickster!). So while I was in Toronto working on Rush songs, I was also 'moonlighting' on three of Matt’s songs, playing to his demos and working out drum parts for them...Through the miracle of modern technology, I was able to e-mail those recorded sketches to Matt, and collect his comments as I went along. Thus it came to pass...on June 14, 2006, at Capitol Records Studio B in Hollywood (Hollywood and Vine, in fact), I recorded three songs for Matt’s upcoming Vertical Horizon album...The following day I told Matt that session had been one of the greatest challenges, experiences, and — now — rewards of my life. That’s the way I have always felt about making Rush albums, and I have every faith the same will be true when Alex, Geddy, and I reconvene in September." - Neil Peart, NeilPeart.net, June 17, 2006

The Updated Rush News Page

For some time now I've wanted to bring some interactive functionality back to Power Windows, ever since dropping my "guest book" back before the turn of the century (literally), which was followed by the death of my newsletter two years ago. With that in mind, I've converted my News page over to a Newsblog (my RSS news feed has been automatically replaced as well). I've tried to keep the format as close as possible to my original News page, and the frequency and number of my entries will essentially remain the same as in the past. Now, however, you have the ability to comment on each entry as well. The forthcoming release of the new album should make for some interesting talk in the next few weeks, so please speak up!

Geddy And Daughter on Gilmore Girls

Geddy Lee and daughter Kyla made a non-acting appearance in the final scene of a recent episode of "Gilmore Girls". The episode is titled "Will You Be My Lorelai, Gilmore?" (season 7 episode 16). In a recent MySpace blog entry, singer Sebastian Bach, who also starred in the episode, writes:

"Sure enough, when I get to the production office to rehearse the song we perform in the episode, there in the flesh is Mr. Geddy Lee & his beautiful daughter Kyla! Turns out Kyla has impeccable taste & never misses an episode of her favorite show, 'The Gilmore girls', right beside Dad who watches every one with her! Geddy told us that he was in LA listening to mixes of the new Rush CD, & set up a tour of the WB lot with Kyla, who had a great time meeting the cast & watching us work. I said to Geddy 'Well, hey ..... why don't you guys BE IN THE SHOW???'" - Sebastian Bach, MySpace blog (click here for more), Mar. 8, 2007