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A Timeless Wavelength: An Interview With Alex Lifeson of Rush - Spin
Paul Semel vintage interviews with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from 1996
"The following interview...took place in July of 1996, at the offices of his manager when the band were gearing up to release their album Test For Echo. Parts of this interview were used in a piece I did on him for the music magazine Huh."You can read the interview with Geddy Lee here, and the interview with Alex Lifeson is here. - Thanks Paul for sharing!
Qello Concerts: R40 on the Road: Webisode 4 - Geddy's Basses #2
Moving Pictures Vinyl Reissue and Tshirt Bundle Now Available
Eventually the vinyl reissues will include all studio and live albums through A Show of Hands. Previous vinyl reissues include Rush reDISCovered, Fly By Night (vinyl and blu-ray pure audio in 5.1 surround sound), Caress of Steel, the 2112 hologram edition, A Farewell To Kings (vinyl and blu-ray pure audio in 5.1 surround sound), Hemispheres and Permanent Waves. These vinyl reissues also include a 320kbps MP4 vinyl ripped Digital Audio album download, and can also be purchased separately as high resolution Digital Audio.
The Eddie Trunk Podcast Interview with Alex Lifeson
"Go backstage with Eddie Trunk and Alex Lifeson during Rush's R40 tour on this episode of The Eddie Trunk Podcast. The legendary prog guitarist talks 40+ years of Rush, the band's history, picking the set list, his arthritis, performing with Andy Curran, and more!"
PLSN July 2015 Production Profile: "The Deconstruction of Rush"
Before every Rush tour, the artistic team, including creative director Dale Heslip, producer Allan Weinrib, lead singer/bassist Geddy Lee (Allan’s older brother) and Howard Ungerleider start by getting together for some new ideas. Prior to their latest brainstorming session, Dale came up with an idea of going backwards in time. His idea was to stage a show that started where they left off in 2013, with the Clockwork Angels tour and all its high tech visuals, and take the audience back in time all the way to when Rush played their first gigs with a few PARs on sticks and a mirror ball. Dale pitched the idea to Geddy, who immediately called a meeting to discuss the concept further. There, everyone looked to Howard to come up with ways to make the concept come to fruition.The time periods represented in the show include:
- Current Big Technology Era (2007-present)
- Large Arena Looks (1990s-2000s)
- Small Arena Looks (1980s)
- Theater Looks (late 1970s)
- Gymnasium Period (early 1970s)
Rush auctioning signed drum, cymbal for cancer charity - ends July 28th
TORONTO — Canadian rock band Rush is auctioning an autographed snare drum and cymbal to raise funds for cancer care and research.
The exact replica of Neil Peart’s #R40 drumset is a limited edition snare made of 1,500-year-old Romanian River Oak salvaged from the Olt River. It is inlaid with laser-cut exotic woods and complimented with gold-plated hardware.
Only 250 of the drums were ever produced.
Fans can also bid on a 17-inch Paragon crash symbol from Sabain autographed by Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
All proceeds from the eBay.ca auction, which runs from July 18 to 27, will go to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
For more info visit GlobalNews.ca
Qello Concerts: R40 on the Road: Webisode 3 - Geddy's Basses #1
PRS Guitars Alex Lifeson Interview Series
Yesterday PRS Guitars shared three video interviews with Alex Lifeson, including "History with PRS Guitars & the R40 Tour", where he talks not just about PRS, but also the R40 setlist and stage show. Also available is Alex Lifeson on his "Signature SE Acoustic Guitar", and "Alex Lifeson on his Private Stock Signature Model Acoustic". - Thanks to Rosmakloma for the headsup!
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Rush Fan Bets $2112 and Wins ‘Jeopardy!’
Tonight on Jeopardy! (July 16), Alex Trebek asked contestant Jennifer Morrow to share something about herself. She told of her love of Rush, and proceeded to pull out her good luck charm, a pair of Neil's drumsticks she was given at a recent R40 show:
“I was always inspired by tales of knights in shining armor who would ride into battle with a token of favor from somebody they admired,” she said. “So I thought I would do that here. I’m a huge fan of the Canadian prog-rock trio Rush. And so I went to one of their concerts a while back and from the front row I held up a banner that said, ‘May be on Jeopardy! Request token of favor to carry in thy honor’ And well apparently Neil Peart, the greatest drummer in the world, is a fan of the greatest show in the world.”Later, during the Daily Double, Morrow wagered $2112 and won! She'll be back on tomorrow night! - Thanks to Richard Benak for the headsup!
Photo Gallery: Rush At The Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado, July 11, 2015
Qello Concerts: R40 on the Road: Webisode 2 - Jonathan Dinklage
SPOILER: They have just posted a short video interview with violist Johnathon Dinklage filmed backstage at the Newark show last week. - Thanks to Ed Stenger for the headsup!
Kevin J. Anderson Rush night at Denver Hard Rock
Rush Included in "Lust For Life"'s "50 Most Important Albums of All Time"
Indaba Music's Rush Cover Contest Winner Announced
Indaba Music have chosen the winner of the Rush cover contest announced back in May:
"Congratulations to Matthieu Romarin of Montpelier, France, who took the Grand Prize Winner for his moody, electronic take on Rush’s “Limelight.” Among other things, Matthieu will receive a $5,000 prize, two tickets and two meet-and-greet passes to Rush’s final R40 concert in Los Angeles on August 1."For a complete list of winners visit Indabamusic.com.
"Rush Art Director Hugh Syme on the Stories Behind the Band's Iconic Album Covers and His New Book 'Art of Rush'" - Billboard
The Art of Rush, a 272 page coffee table book that delves into the 40 year relationship with Rush and their longtime artist and illustrator Hugh Syme, was released on May 22. Yesterday Billboard.com published Rush Art Director Hugh Syme on the Stories Behind the Band's Iconic Album Covers and His New Book 'Art of Rush' a new interview with Hugh were he discusses not only the book, but other topics regarding his relationship with Rush.“I was pretty lucky. I was playing keyboards in another band on the same label and I was called down the hall, like the headmaster might do with a student, and I was asked if I might like to do an album cover for them. I was like, "Sure, I'll do a cover -- [aside] LIke these guys are gonna last." (laughs). That led to playing with them on a few albums and just developing a kind of mutual respect on a lot of levels, and we just kind of continued.”- Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
22 Things You Learn Hanging Out With Rush - RollingStone
Included are some interesting points, including the fact that Rush considered doing a second Feedback album of cover tunes before the R40 tour but obviously decided against it, that Geddy (not Neil) was against playing Jacob's Ladder live on the R40 tour, how Alex tried to resurrect Fly By Night on the R40 tour, that Neil would like to turn Clockwork Angels into a movie, Alex's disappointment in current college radio playlists, and more.
Chris Squire 1948-2015 - Geddy Lee comments
“Although we never met, I’m so sorry to hear about Chris Squire from Yes passing. As a bass player and innovator on the instrument he was a huge inspiration to me. Simply put, he was one of the greatest rock bassists of all time. My most sincere condolences to his family and friends.” — Geddy Lee
Introducing “Rush On Demand” powered by Qello Concerts
...“Rush On Demand,” providing full-length Rush concerts and documentaries streamed on demand to any device.
On the Qello Concerts Rush channel, fans get exclusive behind-the-scenes webisodes from the R40 Live tour. A new webisode airs each week through the end of the tour. Plus, Rush fans get access to Rush’s entire concert film catalog in one streaming destination—including Clockwork Angels, Rush in Rio, R30, Time Machine: Live in Cleveland, and more.
And with Qello Concerts, music lovers get the world’s largest collection of full-length concerts and documentaries spanning every genre. Watch on any connected device including: Apple TV, Roku, Playstation, Xbox, Samsung and Sony Smart TVs, all iOS, Google and Amazon devices, and on the web.
Rush on Demand with Qello will launch this Friday with the first backstage R40 webisode!
Kevin J. Anderson talks "Clockwork Lives", "2113", Rush and more
In addition, Kevin J Anderson's Clockwork Angels: The Graphic Novel, from a story and lyrics by Neil Peart with artwork by Nick Robles, is set for release on July 21st, and earlier this year Kevin announced the upcoming publication of the anthology 2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush.
Last week I spoke to Kevin about Clockwork Lives, 2113 and more.
Q: Is Clockwork Lives a sequel to Clockwork Angels, or is it more of a companion book in the same universe? Do characters from Clockwork Angels appear in Clockwork Lives?
It’s not really a sequel at all, but it does take some explaining. Clockwork Lives is a novel in its own right, a story wrapped around a steampunk Canterbury Tales, and some of those tales are of familiar characters from Clockwork Angels (Golson the Strongman, The Fortune Teller, Guerrero the pickpocket, for example) and there are also many cross connections and cameos. You can read it on its own, but if you have read Clockwork Angels, you will get a bigger smile on your face.Q: Many fans felt that the novel Clockwork Angels was too short, especially when compared to your typical epics. Was this a conscious decision to keep it short? Did you feel a need to cater to those that perhaps were not avid readers, or was it just a case of sticking closely to the lyrical material without overly expanding on it?
Well, that’s better than readers thinking it was too long! Clockwork Angels was consciously an homage to Voltaire’s novel Candide, which is a very short novel, and I also wanted to follow the specific cycle of the story as told in the lyrics. I wrote it without really paying attention to the length; the book turned out exactly as long as it did. (For comparison, though, Clockwork Lives is significantly longer, and people will still complain because we didn’t include this story, or that story.)Q: Is there a chance that we might see yet another return to the steampunk world of The Watchmaker in the years to come?
Come on, now, we haven’t even published this one yet! If you read the Afterword in "The Bookseller’s Tale" (the teaser excerpt that we released a month ago), you’ll see how the whole story came about and why and how it was written. I adore this universe and I find it absolutely exhilarating, and Neil was an excellent collaborator. But as for other stories in the future, we’ll have to see how the readers enjoy this one.Q: Earlier this year you announced that you have written a new novella titled "2113" for the upcoming anthology 2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush. Is there a tentative release date for this anthology at this time?
It has been completed and delivered, and ECW has a tentative release date of next April (2016).Q: Although it might be stating the obvious, I assume that "2113" is a direct sequel to the song "2112", after the elder race has returned and assumed control?
You might be safe in assuming that—but it’s more than just a direct sequel, and I guarantee there will be some very cool surprises.
Resurrection, Inc was inspired by much more than The Body Electric, but the whole Grace Under Pressure album. “Someone to talk to and someone to sweep the floor”—that’s the Servants. The Enemy Within is all about the main character, “are we the last ones left alive” is all about the Wakers. In the recent ECW reissue of Resurrection, Inc, I wrote an extensive foreword about how the book was influenced by Rush. I noted that in the acknowledgments of the original publication, and that’s how Neil and I got in touch more than 25 years ago.Q: Although it was itself inspired by a short story, it seems to me that the world described in "Red Barchetta" would be ripe for the pen. Besides those works mentioned above, have you considered writing a novelization of any other Rush songs?
As an aside, we are reprinting that original story, "A Nice Morning Drive”, in the 2113 anthology. Rush songs have inspired many of my stories and novels (some directly and some tangentially), but I haven’t looked at doing any others in particular. (I have plenty of my own books under development, and I don’t want to spend all my time with Rush!)Q: Besides the short story "Drumbeats" (co-written with Neil Peart in 1994, republished as an "Expanded Edition" ebook in 2010), did you and Neil ever make a serious attempt to collaborate before finally working together on Clockwork Angels?
We were thinking about it for a long time, and when I was writing my novel Hopscotch (2002), we did talk about doing a novel/CD crossover, but that never happened (in part because of the many things happening in his life at the time), but the published novel is dedicated in part to Neil.Q: As an avid reader, I'm interested in learning who are some of your favorite authors, both past and present? What is your all time favorite novel?
Frank Herbert and Ray Bradbury in the Sci-Fi field, and more recently Dan Simmons, but in mainstream fiction I love Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove is my favorite book ever), and The Godfather, Shōgun…good, ambitious stories.Q: Getting back to Rush, what are your top five favorite Rush albums, in no particular order?
Top five? Clockwork Angels, Grace Under Pressure (both for obvious reasons), Hold Your Fire and Roll the Bones really inspired me, and then probably 2112 because it was what turned me on to them in the first place when I was in high school. You might be surprised that I didn’t put Moving Pictures there, but it’s primarily because I have listened to it SOOOOOO much that I’ve had to retire it for now and let it rest.Q: Besides Rush, what are some of your favorite bands/albums?
The golden age of Kansas (Leftoverture, Point of Know Return), Styx (The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight), and Alan Parsons (I, Robot; Pyramid) shaped me entirely. More currently, Dream Theater, Tool, Kamelot…and I am unabashedly, completely in love with the spectacle and lovely voice of Within Temptation.Thank you Kevin!
Thanks Eric!
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