Sabian's Chris Stankee Travels With Neil Peart On The RUSH Tour

"Who would think that traveling the world by tour bus with a legendary rock band could be boring? That would depend on how you travel. If you're Neil Peart, who has been on the road since 1974, and you have the option of riding your motorcycle from show to show or be cooped up on a bus there's only one thing to do. Take the scenic route, stop and smell the roses, or literally, the lilacs and turn the trip into an adventure. Now that sounds like a plan! Earlier this year Neil asked me if I would ride with him in Iowa where I grew up..." - Chris Stankee, Sabian.com, June 9, 2008

Rockers Rush Donate $100,000 To Human Rights Museum

"Iconic Canadian rock band Rush is donating $100,000 from a Winnipeg concert last weekend to the campaign to build the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in the city. The band is also selling shirts at its Canadian concert locations. The shirts read: 'My pals Rush and I support the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.' Money raised from the sale of the shirts will also go to the museum's fundraising campaign..." - CBC.ca, May 28, 2008

Neil Peart's "News Weather and Sports" - May 2008 "South By Southwest"

Neil Peart has updated his website with his latest installment of "News, Weather & Sports": "South By Southwest". In it he shares with us his experiences over the first 17 shows of the tour and over 7,000 miles of cycling. The journey begins in Puerto Rico, then north through Florida, across the South and Southwest. New to this report are a variety of added "Fun Facts", and Neil shows his sense of humor!

John Rutsey, Dead At 55

Rush's founding drummer John Rutsey passed away on May 11, 2008. John passed away peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack due to complications from his lifelong affliction with diabetes.

"RUTSEY, John Howard - It is with deep sadness that John's family announces his untimely passing due to complications from his lifelong affliction with diabetes, at age 55. Donations may be made in John's memory to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 7100 Woodbine Avenue, Suite 311, Markham, ON, L3R 5J2 (online: www.jdrf.ca, by phone: 905-944-4631). Online Condolences: newbiggingfh@rogers.com. Published in the National Post on 5/15/2008."

"Our memories of the early years of Rush when John was in the band are very fond to us. Those years spent in our teens dreaming of one day doing what we continue to do decades later are special. Although our paths diverged many years ago, we smile today, thinking back on those exciting times and remembering John's wonderful sense of humour and impeccable timing. He will be deeply missed by all he touched." - Alex & Geddy, Rush.com, May 16, 2008

Geddy Lee On Barnaked Ladies' "Snacktime"

The new Barenaked Ladies' children's album, Snacktime, was released May 6th and is now available. Snacktime is composed of 24 tracks; the title track includes guest appearances from multiple celebrities including Geddy Lee, Lyle Lovett, Jason Priestley, Sarah McLachlan, Gordon Lightfoot and more. Geddy is heard saying "I'm Geddy, and my favorite snack is Barbecue Potato Chips".   In addition, the final track, "Here Come The Geese", subtly quotes "Subdivisions"; when listing all the places one can find migratory geese, it includes "in the high school halls, in the shopping malls..."

Rush Winners of Readers Polls

The members of Rush have been quietly gathering up wins in various music magazine readers polls:

• Neil Peart has won best Rock Drummer and best Recorded Performance in the 2008 Modern Drummer Readers Poll.
• Alex Lifeson won Guitar Player Magazine's Readers Choice Awards for 1) "Most Ferociously Brillian Guitar Album", 2) Best Rock Guitarist, and "Best Article" for "Different Strings" (September issue).
• Geddy Lee won Bass Player Magazine's Readers Choice Awards for 1) "Best Album for Bass", 2) "Coolest Bass Line In A Song" ("Malignant Narcissism"), and 3) "Best 2007 Cover Feature" for "Northern Warrior" (August issue).

Neil Peart Drum Kit Sample Collection From Sonic Reality

"According to the KVR audio forum, a company called Sonic Reality recently completed a Neil Peart drum sampling session, engineered by Nick Raskulinecz. It appears the session started on March 18 in Los Angeles, and the final product is scheduled to be released by the end of 2008. The end result of this project will be a 'Neil Peart Studio Profile,' most likely a complete sample of Neil's Snakes & Arrows DW kit and his V-drum sounds -- and possibly Neil Peart loops. Sonic Reality has produced other Studio Profiles on such drummers as Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos and Yes/Earthworks/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford. If you're curious about what this all means, you can basically buy professionally-recorded sampled sounds of drummers that you can use with music software on a computer -- or plug these samples into keyboards or electronic drums. Studio Profiles cost around $79.00..." - AndrewOlson.com

"Alex Lifeson's Gift" - Hughes-and-Kettner.com

Visit Hughes-and-Kettner.com to see a short video of how Zach Tabore became Hughes & Kettner's newest youngest endorsee.....thanks to Alex Lifeson!

Rush at Foo Fighters Show

"How to best sum up the Foo Fighters show on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre? What a Rush! Literally. Rush singer-bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson surprised the crowd by showing up about an hour into the Foos’ two-hour-and-10-minute performance to play with drummer Taylor Hawkins during his drum solo and the three musicians then played the Rush instrumental YYZ. Let's just say the appearance by the Toronto prog-rockers injected some much needed energy and excitement into the proceedings and Hawkins even had a hug for Lee afterwards. 'Rush! Rush!' screamed Foos leader Dave Grohl in amazement as the two musicians walked off stage...'You've got nuts the size of grapefruits,' said Grohl to Hawkins after he played with Lee and Lifeson..." - Jam! Showbiz, March 23, 2008

New Rush Cover by the Michael Schenker Group

Last month the Michael Schenker Group released a covers album titled Doctor, Doctor: The Kulick Sessions. Included on the album is a cover of "Finding My Way", the opening track off Rush's debut album. Performing vocals on this and more of the album's tracks is ex-Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach; this is Bach's fourth Rush cover on record - he has performed Rush covers both as a member of Skid Row as well as on the Working Man and Subdivisions tribute albums.

Permanent Waves Ultradisc II™ 24 KT Gold CD

The Permanent Waves Ultradisc II™ 24 KT Gold CD by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs was released January 8, 2008.  This CD comes in heavy stock cardboard gatefold which replicates the original vinyl album packaging, and is gold stamped with a number making it a true limited edition. The CD itself is in a soft cloth sleeve which slips into the gatefold along with the CD booklet and a MOFI technical data informational card. The artwork is faithful to the original album, and even includes the incorrect lyrics of "Freewill" which were eventually corrected in the original Mercury remaster.

Unfortunately, this is the to be the last MFSL reissue:

"After literally months of examination and discussions with the artists, due to the age and fragility of most of original first-generation analog masters to classic Rush titles, we?ve had to cancel plans to release the titles we had planned. They have deemed that the original masters should not be used for any future re-mastering, and we have to respect that decision. We apparently lucked out big-time with Permanent Waves as it was in pristine condition. Sorry for the bad news but we?re not feeling so hot about it ourselves. I believe another indie label is now looking into releasing some Rush titles in the future but mastered from copy tapes." - Best regards, Michael Grantham, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, March 2008

Mobile Fidelity's Limited Edition 24k Gold Audiophile CDs are some of the most valuable collector's items within the Audiophile market, pressed directly from the original studio master session tapes and engineered to produce the finest CD sound quality available. This is the fourth Rush album to be released in the Ultradisc II™ line; previous releases include 2112 (1993), Moving Pictures (1992), and Signals (1994), all of which are now out of print; the Permanent Waves Ultradisc II™ is sure to be highly coveted by Rush Audiophiles.