Ole Acquires Rush Catalog

L-R: Robert Ott (Chairman & CEO of Ole),
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (Rush), Ray Danniels
(Rush manager, SRO/ANTHEM and owner of Core)

Today Ole, one of the world's 10 largest music publishing companies, announced the acquisition of the Rush music publishing catalog.   While the Ole press release doesn't disclose the terms of the sale, according to Billboard.com, it is rumored that "sources estimate that the Rush catalog, which includes the band's entire output, had net publisher's share, or gross profit, of about $1.5 million-$2 million and fetched about $25 million."

The Rush catalog was administered by Core Music, a division of Anthem Entertainment Group. Core has been the exclusive publisher and administrator for the band's entire career.

“With the changing times in the music business, the responsibilities of a publisher have become much more complex," said SRO/Anthem president Ray Daniels, who has been Rush's manager since the band's beginning back in the early-to-mid 1970's, said in a statement. "This deal will allow me to devote my time and energy to managing the live touring and recording aspects of Rush’s ongoing career."

As part of the ole-Core deal, Pegi Cecconi, who has overseen the administration of Core Music since inception, will continue to work at SRO/ANTHEM, but will also take on a consulting role to ole for the Rush catalogue.

Keram's "Come To Life" Featuring Alex Lifeson Now Available

As previously announced back in February, Alex Lifeson has been working with Toronto's Keram on his album Come to Life.  The album was released on May 28th and can be ordered here.

Toronto artist Keram — who has an impressing acting resume — has been working on his new album for a whopping seven years, and now it's finally ready. Come to Life will be released on May 28 through Constant Change Music.

The collection was recorded in Toronto and Los Angeles, with Rush's Alex Lifeson serving as executive producer and playing guitar on three songs. Around 30 musicians played on the record in total, with some being involved in projects such as Coheed & Cambria, Zappa Plays Zappa, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

A press release describes the result as a "sprawling, otherworldly roots-rock adventure" that draws on a wide range of genres. There's apparently an emphasis on improvisation, something that's exemplified by the title cut, which is said to be a "20-minute improvisational ambient-jazz journey inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

This isn't the album's only lengthy tune, since an 11-minute track called "The Devil Knows Me Well" can be heard below. It begins as a bluesy rocker before giving way to extended periods of jamming and wailing guitar solos. The arrangement rises and falls a few times, with the last couple of minutes featuring atmospheric keyboard noodles and distant harmonica honking. This is one of the tracks that features Lifeson." - Exclaim.ca, May 9, 2014

For more info, including the full track "The Devil Knows Me Well" click here. 

Videos of Clockwork Angels Tour and Time Machine Tour certified Gold, Platinum by the RIAA

Earlier this month, on May 14th Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video was certified Gold, Platinum and 2-X Platinum, while Clockwork Angels Tour received a Gold and Platinum certification.

According to the RIAA, a GOLD certification equates to 50,000 video unit sales while a PLATINUM certification equates to 100,000 video unit sales (both within the United States).  The last Rush video to be recognized by the RIAA was when Beyond The Lighted Stage was certified Gold and Platinum in September of 2010.

- Thanks to Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

Geddy Lee's 3,000 Hit Club Baseball Waiting for Jeter's Signature

One of Geddy Lee's prized baseballs is waiting for Jeter's signature:

"A baseball that might be unlike any other in the world is visiting Busch Stadium this week in hopes to add to more signatures to the elite group already on its hide. The owner of the ball has asked Cardinals equipment manager Rip Rowan to get the signatures of Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki* -- two more members of the 3,000-hit club. That's the prerequisite for getting on the ball...The ball is owned by Rush's lead singer and bassist Geddy Lee. A renowned collected of memorabilia and a huge baseball fan, Lee is also a Cardinals fan. He has come around the ballpark and spent time with the club before, and he has had long friendships with a few around the club. Lee purchased the ball to add to his collection, and has added signatures to it so that it may be the only baseball held by both Cobb and Clemente and ... if all goes well this week ... Jeter." For more visit StlToday.com. - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

Pop Culture References Update - May 2014

It's time for the latest roundup of Rush References in Pop Culture.  This is long overdue, and thanks to everyone who has contributed! For this update, I have NOT included other recent references previously mentioned as an individual News item. If you have a reference in mind and believe I have missed it, please let me know!

• First and most recently, just over a week ago on the American television series Supernatural, there has been yet another Rush sighting (this is the 5th time Rush has been referenced on the show); during the episode "Bloodlines" (season 9 episode 20, aired April 29, 2014), Sam and Dean identify themselves as FBI agents “Bonham and Peart”.
• On Cartoon Network's Regular Show, during the episode "Video 101" ((season 5, episode 25, aired May 5, 2014),  Eileen adds up the time it will take to shot a music video and the total is shown on a calculator as 2112.
• Swedish hardcore group Grace Will Fall released their latest album No Rush on April 1st; tied into the album title, the album cover is a tribute to Rush's 1974 debut.
• In the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth released March 4th, after unlocking access to the "O Canada" level, a Rush poster can be seen on the wall of one of the houses.
• On Cartoon Network's Adventure Time, during the episode "Bad Timing" (season 5 episode 49, aired March 3, 2014), Princess Bubblegum unveils her new time machine, and explains how it is controlled by a pair of special gloves. The gloves display the time and it reads 21:12.
• In Marvel Comics' Deadpool issue #22, published January 9, 2014, Agent Gorman is on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier trying to guess the password for the person who has posters for Spider-Man and RUSH on his wall. He succeeds after guessing "SPIDEYLOVER2112".
• Author Joe Schreiber states in the acknowledgements to his Star Wars novel Maul: Lockdown published January 28, 2014: "Vigilant readers will also find the influence of Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson among these pages, three gentlemen whose music animates much of the action as I initially conceived it in my mind."
• On the Finish television series, Mun Ainoot 30 Minsaa (My Only 30 Minutes), during the episode "Korjaus" (episode 12, aired December 19, 2013), two characters wear 2112 t-shirts.
• On the American reality television show Flipping Vegas, the main character Scott Yancey has worn a Fly By Night tshirt on more than one episode, including "Frat House" (season 3 episode 2 aired November 9, 2013) and "Hoarder House" (season 3 episode 4 aired November 23, 2013).
• In the Vodafone Netherlands "workout" television commercial from September 2013, one of the framed photographs on the wall is of Rush taken at the Ahoy in Rotterdam in 1981.
• On the American realty television show Pawn Stars, during the episode "Colt To The Touch" (Season 7, Episode 15, aired August 1, 2013), a customer brings a collection of "Chu-bops" (small bubble gum record albums which came in miniature replica album covers circa 1980 [yours truly has both Permanent Waves and an unopened/sealed Moving Pictures]), and one of the albums was Permanent Waves; Rick asks Corey "do you know any songs by Rush? Tom Sawyer?" and Corey replies "that's funny, I almost said 'Huckleberry Finn'." Check out a video clip here.
• The plot of the horror-comedy film Knights of Badassdom which premiered at the ICon Festival on September 24, 2013, is about live action roll players whose final goal is to reach the Temple of Syrinx.
• Wayne Coyne, frontman for The Flaming Lips, released a comic book in July of last year titled The Sun is Sick which is complete with a fake ad page in the front mimicing real comic books. Nested into one of the ads to purchase the LP "Beetles at Shea" is the text "Rush rules!".
• Gods Of Night, Book 1 of the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy by David Mack was published September 30th, 2008, and is full of Rush references including: the conn officer of the Starship Enterprise is Lieutenant Gary Weinrib, an alien is named Lerxst, and when the Captain of the starship Columbia (possible "Countdown" reference) is speaking with members of an alien race, one of them states "while changes are never permanent, change is". Note, David Mack has included Rush references in previous works as well, including Wolverine: Road Of Bones published October 31, 2006, which includes a character named Alex Zivojinovich and a cab driver named Gary Lee. There likely are Rush references in more of his novels which we have yet encountered. Check out his homepage.
• In his new book I Wear The Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined), Chuck Klosterman quotes from "Limelight" and "Tom Sawyer". He writes about Laker great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "Kareem (being Kareem) loves jazz music - but even if he loved rock, he'd never relate to Pearl Jam (except for maybe 'Corduroy'). He would prefer mid-period Rush: 'I can't pretend a stranger is a long awaited friend.'" Additionally there's a chapter titled "What Do You Say About His Company Is What Do You Say About Society".  Chuck Klosterman is another author who has refered to Rush frequently in past books: The Visible Man - the main character spies on a closet Rush fan as he air guitars passionately to 2112; in Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas, he says critics accurately described Triumph to Rush, only not as cool; and in Fargo Rock City he discusses interpretation in lyrics, and how one might mistake Rush for a Christian rock band.

- Thanks to Vesa Saarenpää, Paul Knox-Roberts, Alex van Loon, Jeff Lucas, Joe Pesch, Doug Hendrex, Mark Stench, Chris Rambo, Chad Kilhefner, David Wholihan, Bryan Benner, Jamie Nakai, Steven J Hall, David Kessler, Greg Nosek, Rand Stringer, RushIsABand.com, Cygnus-X1.net, Richard Leonard and anyone else I forgot to include!

"Rush - The Rise Of Kings" Documentary Coming May 6th - Now Available

The unauthorized documentary film Rush - The Rise of Kings, was released May 6th from Sexy Intellectual studios.  Apparently covering the years from the band's beginnings in 1968 through the release of Moving Pictures in 1981, you can get your copy here.

"The most successful band to emerge from the Canadian rock explosion of the early 1970s, Rush would go on to become one of that nation's biggest entertainment exports. A trio of musical polymaths who cut a fiercely independent, sometimes controversial path through various musical styles to forge a distinctive, evolving sound that was incomparable to that of any of their contemporaries, this hugely influential group have flourished across a forty-plus year career. This film traces the history of Rush from the bar rooms of Toronto in the late 1960s to the world's largest arenas in the late 70s and early 1980s, by which time they were amongst the biggest bands on the planet. Through a stunning combination of rare and classic footage, the testimony of friends, colleagues and those who worked with the group across the years, plus exclusive and archive interviews and a host of other features, this programme makes the very unique history of Rush come alive in a manner previously undocumented."

- Thanks to Ed Stenger for the headsup!

Rush On Jeopardy - May 5, 2014

During yesterday's episode of Jeopardy, the $400 question was "This trio sang 'Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you, & the space he invades, he gets by on you".  Click here for a video. - Thanks to Jamey Reynolds and Elden Driver for the headsup!

“Clockwork Angels” Comic Book #2 of 6 now available

The second part of the six part Clockwork Angels comic book series was released on Wednesday.  The standard comic store cover series can be ordered directly from Boom! Studios at this link. In addition, the exclusive limited cover set features key lyrics from Rush songs that are tied to the comic, as pictured in the cover attached to this post. These overs also feature character design concept art by artist Nick Robles, and can be ordered from Boom! Studios at this alternate link.

Geddy Lee one of Wine Enthusiasts' "Six Celebrity Wine Makers"

The June, 2014 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine contains the article "Six Celebrity Wine Makers", which includes Geddy Lee.   Geddy discusses about the connection between music and wine-making, how he and Alex Lifeson became interested in wine, and names his desert island bottle.

"During the late ’70s and early ’80s, while on tour, we would receive gifts from concert promoters of fine wine. Mostly Bordeaux, as our guitarist Alex Lifeson had a keen interest in wine and had a modest collection. I kept my share of the bottles in a wine fridge for years and then in the late ’80s I decided to do an inventory. I was amazed at what I was tasting and it quickly turned into an obsession."

- Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Neil Peart's "News Weather and Sports" - April 2014

Today Neil Peart updated his website with the latest edition of News, Weather & Sports titled "Telescope Peak Revisited".  Neil recounts returning to Death Valley and climbing Telescope Peak for the first time since the Ghost Rider trip 15 years ago.

Rush On The Colbert Report - Again

Last night on The Colbert Report, Stephen opened the show with a report on how the Canadian middle class has exceeded the Americans as the richest middle class in the world.  Stephen goes on to state that "no longer will people around the world aspire to the American dream of 2.5 kids...now it's the Canadian dream of a beaver dam, a maple syrup moat and 2.5 members of Rush; I don't know about you but I don't want to teach Geddy Lee to catch" and a photo of the band, showing 2.5 members is shown. Check out last night's episode here. - Thanks to BP for the headsup!

Dearly Beloved's Rob Higgins Talks New Album and Uncle Geddy Lee

Rush fans may remember Rob Higgins, Geddy's nephew and member of the now defunct group Rocketscience; Geddy produced and sang on their track "Space Suit" from their now out of print album Foolscap (hear it on Youtube).

Higgins is currently bass player and front man of the group Dearly Beloved, and in a new interview with MusicRadar.com, Higgins talks about his relationship with his uncle, touring with Rush and being present for recording sessions.

"My mom is Geddy's older sister, so he would get stuck babysitting me. So for me, I was lucky! I was sitting in the corner of rehearsals. He'd have to look after me for the afternoon, so if he was going to rehearsal I was going to rehearsal. I would sit in the corner and watch the band for six hours without saying a word. I was always a quiet observer. They maybe thought I was tuned out, but I was absorbing every interaction, evert attempt at a song, every beat, every note. I was so enthralled with all of it.

"Growing up, he was my cool uncle. My mom would take me over there and we would have family visits. He was the uncle who always had the instruments in a sound proof room in the basement. My mom would visit with the family and I would spend the whole afternoon just bashing around on drums and guitars and basses. I can't ever really remember a time not playing music. I think since I was born I've had proximity to it. I guess I've got Geddy to thank for that. I don't think I would have had it otherwise."

When I was a teenager I was able to go to London with them, and I was living with them in a house while they were recording an album in England. I was fortunate enough to go on tour with them, live on a tour bus with them and spend time like that. I've always studied how they operate as a band, and it's certainly influenced the bands I've been involved with. They're all about work ethic but maintaining an incredible sense of humour."

In terms of the music it's always pushed me to push myself. I was afforded some opportunities to see them pushing themselves in the studio. There was one opportunity when I was 12, where I went and stayed with them in Quebec up in the mountains, this little studio called Le Studio just outside of Montreal. It was fascinating to just be in the studio for hours and have nothing to do, just to see their work ethic. Whether laying down a part on a song or figuring out an overdub or working with a producer to get the most out of a piece of music, it was fascinating to be a fly on the wall"

- Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

"'You Can't Have Freedom for Free:' On Rush, Ayn Rand, and Not Compromising" - Reason.com

Today Reason.com published "'You Can't Have Freedom for Free:' On Rush, Ayn Rand, and Not Compromising", an essay on 2112, Rand's Anthem, the band's struggle to succeed on their own terms, and the lessons learned. - Thanks to Paul Wimberley for the headsup!

Alex Lifeson visits Ishibashi Music in Tokyo

Ishibashi Music in Tokyo has posted a new video featuring an impromptu visit by Alex Lifeson. Alex signs his both his signature Gibson and new acoustic PRS guitars. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headasup!

Consequence Of Sound Asks "Who’s the Greatest Drummer of All Time? You Suggest!"

Consequence Of Sound has asked "Who’s the Greatest Drummer of All Time? You Suggest!"   Click here to enter your three favorite drummers of all time. - Thanks B-man for the headsup!

Record Store Day 2014 - 7" Single with Rush's Cover of "7 & 7 Is"

Saturday, April 19th, is Record Store Day 2014, and we have just learned that there will be a Rush release. Yesterday a photo was tweeted by Encore Records showing a 7" vinyl single of "7 And 7 Is" by Rush, their cover released of Feedback of Love's classic from their album Da Capo which is found on the flip side.  To find a participating store in your area click here. - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

Paul Northfield talks Le Studio and Rush in new interview

As a follow up to part one of the documentary "Le Studio: Temple of Sound", yesterday the Le Studio Channel posted a "Bonus Feature" featuring a 45 minute interview with Paul Northfield, who served as engineer on the albums Permanent Waves through Grace Under Pressure, recorded at Le Studio.  Paul has many great stories, and discusses his friendship with Neil Peart and his role in the recording of Vapor Trails. - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

Neil Peart writes foreword for Gavin Harrison & Terry Branam's "Rhythmic Composition" - Now Available

Gavin Harrison, best known as the drummer of Porcupine Tree, has announced the upcoming publication of his latest book Rhythmic Composition: Featuring The Music of Porcupine Tree.  Co-written with Terry Branham, the book includes a 20 note-for-note transcriptions of Porcupine Tree songs, and it will also feature a foreword by Neil Peart.

Although advertised with a May 2nd publication date, copies are now shipping.  Order yours here.

"Coming soon....'Rhythmic Composition' (on Hudson Limited) - myself and Terry Branam have been hard at work transcribing and writing stories about 20 Porcupine Tree songs. More than 40 great photos too. Release date to be announced here. There will be a limited amount of signed copies for sale at burningshed.com in the near future." - Gavin Harrison, Facebook, February 20, 2014

Le Studio - Temple Of Sound - Episode One

LeStudio was a world class recording studio in the Laurentian Mountains of Canada. It was the private retreat of Rush for the writing and recording of eight of their albums, as well as hundreds of other artists over the years. It closed in 2003 and now sits stripped of all it's furnishings & equipment, abandoned in the forest.

Check out episode one of "Le Studio - Temple of Sound", a new Youtube documentary which covers the LeStudio backstory from inception to current state. This episode gives viewers a strong foundation for future episodes to come later. - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Rush Sighting In "The Both"'s New Video "Milwaukee"

Check out the new video for "Milwaukee" launched Wednesday by "The Both", a new collaboration by Aimee Mann and Ted Leo.  Their self tiled album will be released on Tuesday and can be preordered on iTunes.

In the video, they hire a drummer (Ted's uncle, also played by Leo) who has Rush and the star on his jean jacket, and the 4:32 mark it shows "Ed's" list of top drummers including you know who...  

Aimee Mann of course would agree; she appeared as a guest vocalist on Hold Your Fire. - Thanks J'Po for the headsup!