Hudson Music has posted a new video "Neil Peart talks about 'Taking Center Stage'"; check it out here.Filmed in various locations over the course of a year, Neil Peart takes you on a behind-the-scenes look at Rush's 2010-11 Time Machine tour. This includes rare and exclusive footage of Neil's personal pre-tour rehearsals and backstage events at a Rush concert (including a visit to the soundcheck, and an unprecedented backstage interview as Neil warms up for the show). Neil also presents a detailed look at every single song in the tour's set list. Each song features analysis and demonstrations by Neil, which are coupled with a detailed PDF eBook containing transcription of his parts. At the end of each song discussion, the viewer is transported onstage to a Rush concert to see the actual live performance of the song from the perspective of the drum cameras only. 6 hours, 40 minutes."
"The theme for our next collaboration seemed obvious: live performance, preparing for it and surviving it. In early 2010 we began collecting material...In April, 2010, the Hudson Music crew joined me at Drum Channel in Oxnard, California, and filmed several days of my rehearsals for the Time Machine tour. In July they filmed an entire Rush show, in Saratoga Springs, New York, with supplementary 'drum-cams' on me. They also captured the soundcheck and pre-show warmup, when I did a bit of talking to the camera, as I had during the Drum Channel filming in April. However, we would need to shoot some more 'talkie bits' to go before each of the songs from the live show, explaining about special problems or challenges in a particular song, and technical highlights. So, I thought, why not go somewhere really nice to shoot those?...I suggested Death Valley. Being the driest place in North America, averaging less than two inches of rain a year-and sometimes none-the chances of clear weather were good." - Neil Peart, NeilPeart.net, February 4, 2011
RollingStone.com has posted a new interview, "Rush's Geddy Lee Says New Album Will Be Ready By Early 2012". Geddy talks about the Time Machine tour, choosing a setlist to satisfy 'mainstream fans' versus 'core fans', the possibility of performing another album all the way through on tour, mainstream awareness and more. He also answers one question many fans have asked, regarding changing the setlist from night to night:"...it's a three-hour show, and it's really hard to remember as it is. There were a couple of tours where we did multiple days and we would switch off. I think we had three or four songs we were switching from night to night. And it kind of wreaks havoc from show to show, because so much of the lighting rig and choreography and films and everything are computer programmed. It definitely keeps everyone on their toes to switch up from night to night. For us, the amount of work that goes into one of our shows is kind of challenging enough without making it even harder on us."Regarding the status of Clockwork Angels, he said:
"We're almost finished writing. We wound the machine back up about three weeks ago. After a sluggish start, we've had a very fruitful couple of weeks in terms of writing. I'm very pleased with the direction that the material has taken. And I think we have one or two more songs that we'd like to write, and then we'll start recording in earnest. Hopefully we'll have all of the recording done before Christmas. Then we'll mix it some time in the next year, and then get it out...I hope it'll be out by the spring anyway."
Tracklist: The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, Closer To The Heart, Freewill, Limelight, Working Man, Fly By Night, The Trees, Red Barchetta, Subdivisions, YYZFor other Rush cover albums, check here.
"Think back to 1981 when MTV was in its infantile stages and seemed to be starved for content to broadcast. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure almost every song from Rush's 'Exit Stage Left' concert video were extracted and a different song was played every hour. Being 9-years-old at the time and seeing three guys play the likes of 'Red Barchetta (one of my favorite songs of all time), 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Limelight' on my television hourly instantly catapulted them to the status of "Godlike" in my eyes. This is possibly the most perfect album in my collection. Sonically, lyrically and thematically 'Moving Pictures' had it all for a 9 year old kid seeking guidance in the world and now at age 39 it remains, in my opinion, one of the best albums ever released." - Matthew Rudzinski, Noiscreep.com, October 28, 2011 Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
"Geddy Lee, lead singer of Rush, has optioned the film and TV rights to Dave Bidini's Baseballissimo. Published in 2005 by McClelland & Stewart, Baseballissimo is the writer's story of his travels to the small town of Nettuno, the baseball capital of Italy since 1944." - Quill & Quire, June 24, 2010 - Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!
Graham has recently completed his latest masterpiece based on Rush's "Red Barchetta", featuring the Ferrari 166MM Barchetta in its final resting place, available in a limited edition of 200 prints. For more information, visit Macrographs.com.Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!"I wanted to paint the car not during the chase but after, in it's quiet, rural setting. This painting is about the heady smell of old oil and dust and leather and the memory of the chase in the droning lazy scent of a late country afternoon, a brief snapshot of a calm place between the lyrics. I can hear muted water running in the kitchen somewhere off to the left and the comforting chime of unintelligible words as somebody washes up for dinner, full of excitement and spent adrenaline and tales to be told." - Graham Whieldon, Macrographs
On 8 November, Rush will release Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland, a 2-CD set with an accompanying video on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as Moving Pictures: Live 2011, on vinyl and digital formats. We've seen and heard them all, and can tell you they're amazing in every possible way. With such kick-ass holiday packages looming, we decided it was the perfect time to speak with guitarist Alex Lifeson about Rush's first recorded work...some 38 years ago. Back in 1973, way before they were full-time, totally awesome stadium and arena-fillers, Rush, then comprised of Lifeson, Geddy Lee and the band's original drummer, John Rutsey (Neil Peart joined in 1974), issued a single on their own Moon Records label. The A side was a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away and the B side was a Lee/Rutsey original called You Can't Fight It. As you might expect, the 45 was raw, loose, rocking and bursting with youthful charm. Alex Lifeson picks up the story...
Check out "Drag the Dream Into Existence: Reassessing Rush’s Masterpiece" written by Sean Murphy for PopMatters.com:"Every band, if they are lucky, is able to create a definitive work—a document that embodies their unique qualities. Most great bands, at some point in their career, successfully produce an enduring statement. Some artists, like The Beatles or Pink Floyd, are able to capture—or create—the Zeitgeist on more than one occasion On the other hand; there are plenty of worthwhile and beloved bands who have never quite been capable of distilling the necessary ingredients of a classic recording. Finally, there are those almost unfathomable works that only a handful of bands can claim credit for. These exceptional albums are wholly original yet fully accessible and remain influential and imitated long after their release." Click here for more.
SO MANY SMILES AT KOSA by Neil Peart
Almost 20 years ago, I met Aldo Mazza backstage at a Rush concert in Montreal. We kept in touch, and in the early '90s, Aldo invited me to a Toronto performance by his masterly percussion quartet, Répercussion. I was amazed and delighted by their virtuosity, and Aldo and I discussed working together sometime on a percussion project. We never managed to make that happen, but Aldo also extended an open invitation to attend the percussion camp he organized every summer in Vermont. Finally, in July 2011, the stars aligned, and I was able to accept that invitation. And I’m glad I did—my experience at KoSA 16 in Castleton, Vermont, left me with the overall glow, “What a happy place!”
Everyone I met backstage seemed friendly and enthusiastic, happy to be there, and when Aldo and I spoke in front of about 100 attendees, the mood was positive, bright, and infectious. I noticed a lot of smiling faces in the crowd. Of course, it was because we all shared the same passion—the brotherhood of the drum—and we were all equally inspired and elevated by that relationship. Over our headset microphones, Aldo and I discussed a few topics from our own experience, and took some good questions from the audience. Then I nudged Aldo and said, “Can we play the drums now?” He laughed and said, “Yes—but first there’s something we must do.” He called out his wife, Jolan, and together they presented me with a Lifetime Achievement plaque, engraved with words that touched me deeply—kind of choked me up, really.
Then I stepped back to a little drumset, and joined a “faculty drum ensemble,” with Aldo playing djembe (he is annoyingly expert on all percussion instruments), Memo Acevedo playing bell, Marcus Santos on Dun Dun and bell, and Michael Wimberly on djembe. After an enjoyable interchange, I moved out front to join in on djembe—at which I am inexpert, but enthusiastic. (At the earlier soundcheck, Aldo had warned me not to hit so hard—I would hurt my hands. That’s never stopped me before, on hand drums or with sticks and pedals—when I’m whacking the snare and bass drum as hard as I can.)
At the end of that spirited convocation on our various instruments, Aldo played the agreed-upon figure for the conclusion, and we all came down together on the final flam. At that, we all burst out laughing—with the pure pleasure of sharing that conversation together, and ending so tightly. My smile lasted all the way home, and warms me yet.
Thank you, Aldo, Jolan, and everybody at KoSA 16! - kosamusic, Thanks to Mark Rosenthal and RushFanForever for the headsup!
Neil Peart's Far And Away: A Prize Every Time, hit stores last April, and now, a new 2012 calendar is available for preorder at Neil's store, bubbawares.com:"Bubba and his sidekick Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from the book FAR AND AWAY: A Prize Every Time, by their friend and best customer, Neil Peart. (Among regulars, that book is affectionately known as “F ’n’ A.”) From Yellowstone National Park to the winter woods of Quebec to the highways of North America, South America, and Europe, each month offers a scenic escape and some words to ponder. Order now, in time for the Pagan Midwinter Festival!" bubbawares.comNeil Peart's first book in over four years, is now shipping. Although it was originally slated for a May 1st release, it appears that April 1st was more appropriate. The 260 page book is a polished compilation of Neil's "News, Weather & Sports" blog entries from the last four years.
"Following in the tradition of Ghost Rider and Traveling Music, Rush drummer Neil Peart relates nearly four years of band tours, road trips, and personal discoveries in this introspective travelogue. From the ups and downs of a professional artist to the birth of a child, this revealing narrative recounts 22 adventures from rock's foremost drummer, biker enthusiast, husband and father. Both playful and insightful, Peart's love of drumming and the open road weaves throughout the stories as Neil explores horizons that are both physical and spiritual, sharing his observations about nature, society, and the self. Full-color photos round-out this tour of the open road that will resonate with Rush fans and motorcycle enthusiasts alike." - ECW Press
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