Rush's Power Windows a window into record-store owner’s past - TheStar

Today the Toronto Star published "Rush's Power Windows a window into record-store owner’s past", an interview with Neil Cunningham who is pictured on the cover of Power Windows, was featured in the Big Money video. 

Originally, Cunningham became involved with the project by happenstance. His friend Marcus Pearson was working for photographer Dimo Safari, who was crafting the cover for Rush’s upcoming record — a transitional, pop-leaning album awash in chilled synths — and was seeking a “skinny blond” punk for the cover. Cunningham happened to be skinny and blond (“still am”) and leapt at the opportunity. “Dimo had been working with Madonna, so I was all excited at the idea I could be on a Madonna cover,” he recalled. “When he said Rush, I was like, ‘yeah, oh, all right. Not bad either.’” The shoot was conducted over two arduous nights in Cabbagetown, with the March wind snapping through the open window. Once captured, the photo was painted over by Hugh Syme.

Check out the full interview here.

"David Bowie was a monumental artist...immortal" - Rush

Upon learning of the passing of David Bowie this past Saturday, Rush have posted the following on their Facebook page:

"Woke up to the news of David Bowie leaving this world. Crushed is the right word. He was a monumental artist...immortal. We used to play Suffragette City in our bar days...RIP David Bowie"

Rush Lands at #26 North American and #42 Worldwide on Pollstars Lists

Rush's R40 Live Tour came in at #26 on Pollstar's Top 200 North American Tours list and #42 on the Top 100 Worldwide Tours list with $37.8 million gross.  For more details check the complete North American and Worldwide Tous Lists. - Thanks to Bman for the headsup!

Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire Vinyl Reissues Now Available

Continuing with the Rush vinyl reissues, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire are now available today, January 8, thus completing the Mercury era catalog.  The final two albums from the Atlantic era, Feedback and Snakes & Arrows are scheduled for release January 15th. 

Rush has been reissuing the complete Mercury and Atlantic era albums on 200-gram heavyweight vinyl in semi-chronological order throughout 2015 and into 2016, with the final release being Snakes & Arrows (the only albums not getting the vinyl treatment are the Atlantic era live albums). 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, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures (vinyl and vinyl/t-shirt bundle), Exit...Stage Left, Signals (vinyl and blu-ray pure audio in 5.1 surround sound), A Show of Hands, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts and Test for Echo.  These vinyl reissues include a 320kbps MP4 vinyl ripped Digital Audio album download, and can also be purchased separately as high resolution Digital Audio.  

Rush R40: Canadian Trio Looks Back on 40 Years of Epic Songs - International Musician

Rush is on the cover of the January issue of International Musician magazine. The cover feature is "Rush R40: Canadian Trio Looks Back on 40 Years of Epic Songs" and you can read it online here. or here. - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Geddy Lee video interview with uDiscover Music

uDiscover Music has posted an extensive 40 minute video with Geddy Lee which you can watch below.  "Geddy Lee from Rush talks to Kylie Olsson at Abbey Road Studios supporting the release of the band's 40-LIVE filmed at the band's Toronto shows on June 17th and 19th 2015 - released by Universal in Nov 2015.  Geddy talks about how their popularity has continued over their 40 year successful career & discusses the background of the stage sets & theatrics for their retrospective R40 tour. Includes a live clip of their classic song Jacob's Ladder taken from the new R40 release." - Thanks to Ed @ RushIsABand for the headsup!

Heavy Load: Geddy Lee - TeamRock.com

TeamRock.com posted a new interview with Geddy Lee on New Year's Eve titled "Heavy Load: Geddy Lee: Geddy Lee on childhood, his ‘unusual’ singing voice, drinking Panther Piss and owning 5,000 bottles of wine." You can check it out here. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Rush: Recording & Mixing R40 Live - Sound On Sound

Sound on Sound has published a new article regarding the mixing of R40 Live by David Botrill.  You can check out the article here. - Thanks to Joe Pesch for the headsup!

Rush At 40: Geddy Lee Talks the Past, Present and Future - Paste Magazine

Today Paste magazine published a new interview "Rush At 40: Geddy Lee Talks the Past, Present and Future".  Geddy confirms that while thoughts of future touring as slim, the door is still open to Rush recording another album in the future.  You can read the full interview here. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Pop Culture References Update (and more) - December 2015

It's time for the next update of Rush References in Pop Culture.  Since my last update two months ago, quite a few items have already come to light.

• During the Nike commercial "Short A Guy" which premiered back in July (and I'm sure you've seen a dozen times), a kid is first asked to join a game of pickup basketball, before being asked to join various other sports activities with associated athlete celebrities. When he joins the marathon he is given bib number 2112.
• Adam Sandler first performed version 4 of his "Chanukah Song" live in concert in San Diego on November 18th, and this updated version includes Geddy Lee among notable Jewish celebrities. You can watch the performance here.
• Rush has been referenced on the animated series Family Guy twice in the past, and for their 248th episode (titled "Fighting Irish") which aired May 3, 2015,  Peter tries to lure Liam Neeson into a fight by selling black jeans from a vendor cart. Among other taunts he yells "Don't be the only one at the Rush concert without a pair of black jeans!"
• During episode 3 of the new Marvel Netflix series, Jessica Jones ("AKA It's Called Whiskey") which aired November 20, 2015, the numbers for an address that are spoken aloud are "2112".
• In 2011, Ernest Cline published his first novel, Ready Player One and it was a sensation among Rush fans (including this one). His followup novel, Armada, was published back in July, and like its predecessor, also includes a few Rush references.  Taken from the story itself, the book even includes artwork for an 80's cassette "Raid The Arcade Mix" tape which features "Vital Signs", and a character who plays to a continuous loop of Moving Pictures:
  

  "...He was bobbing his head in time to his favorite Terra Forma battle soundtrack song, 'Vital Signs' by Rush. Ray claimed that its unique time signature matched up perfectly with the alien Spider Fighter drones' erratic swarming patterns, making it easier for him to anticipate their movements and rate of attack. He also claimed that each of the other songs on Rush's Moving Pictures album was perfect for battling a different Sobrukai drone. Personally, I'd always assumed this was just an excuse he'd concocted for playing that same album on a continuous loop, day after day.

• The video game Guitar Hero Live was released October 20, 2015, and "Limelight" is one of the songs available in the game's TV mode.   For more game details including videos click here. 
• During the October 30th episode of Dr. Ken (season 1, episode 5), after being dosed with a pain-killer lollipop, Pat (Dave Foley) is listening to headphones, and yells to people in the office  "Do you like RUSH?!  This drum solo is sick!"  You can view the episode here.
• Caustic Casanova's new video for "Show Some Shame", from their new album Breaks released September 25th, is a near complete recreation of Rush's "Time Stand Still" video, including the same spins, camera girl, industrial pillar, etc. The video begins with a Rush Chronicles style placard, and ends with the tribute "We thank Geddy, Alex and Neil for over 40 years of timeless music. Freeze this moment a little bit longer.
• X-Men: Apocalypse is set for release on May 27, 2016, and as seen in the official trailer (at the 1:50 mark), Quicksilver (Evan Peters) wears a 'Moving Pictures' t-shirt.
• Since my last update, there has been another Rush sighting on The Goldbergs. During the episode “Boy Barry” (season 3, episode 5, aired October 21st),  the high school sax player is seen two more times throughout the episode (apparently on two different days) wearing the same Moving Pictures t-shirt (does he ever wash that thing?).
• As covered previously, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson guest starred on NBC's Chicago Fire in an episode titled "2112" which aired Tuesday, November 17th. The storyline involves Rush performing a concert in Chicago and a few lucky Firehouse 51 fans snag free tickets to the show.  You can view the episode here.
• ESPN's pregame show on December 13th featured Cincinnati Bengals fan Jeff Wagner, who hand makes banners for every home game.  Interviewed while wearing an R40 Live tour shirt, Jeff says he starts off creating his banners by "turning on Rush, greatest rock band in the history of the world." Check out his story here.
• In John McEnroe's biography Serious, published June 10, 2002, he talks of being a fan of Rush, and of getting a guitar lesson by Alex Lifeson.
• We've recently added a couple of songs to the Rush covers page:
  
  • "The Spirit of Radio", performed by Rekha on Milky Ocean (iTunes), was released October 15, 2005.  You can hear it Youtube.
  • "Witch Hunt", performed by MolchMon on Expose, was released November 19th. The track is available on their bandcamp page.
• And finally, here are two fairly recent documentaries that have been released which feature Rush:
  
  • Rush are interviewed in the Rob Cohen documentary Being Canadian, released April 26, 2015.  In the documentary, famous Canadians (and some non Canadians) are interviewed in an effort to explain Canada to the world. Check out the trailer here; Rush are at 1:36.
    
  • Geddy Lee is one of the many musicians interviewed in Jaco: A Documentary Film, which premiered November 22, 2014.  The film tells the story of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius (a short snippet of Geddy discussing fusion music from the documentary can be seen here).

- If you have anything to add, please feel free to email any suggestions.  Thanks to Eric Nemchock, Syrinx Starr, Colin from Scotland, Javier Reyes, Mark Stench, Doug Kucinski, Andrew Weis, Dave Prine, Tod O’Donnell and MolchMon for their help with this update.

The 10 best stand-up comedians, by Geddy Lee - TeamRock.com

TeamRock.com has posted "The 10 best stand-up comedians, by Geddy Lee."   As the title suggests, Geddy lists his top 10 comedians; check out the story here.

My Planet Rocks: Geddy Lee - Tomorrow Night Dec 20

My Planet Rocks has previously seen some of the world's greatest rock stars take to the airwaves. Since the series first began, the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy from Motorhead, The Who's Pete Townshend, Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, blues legend Gary Moore and the late, great Ronnie James Dio have all taken control of the radio station for an hour and given the world a glimpse into their lives. 
Listen to My Planet Rocks every Sunday at 7pm.
This week (20th December) - Rush frontman, Geddy Lee! - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Geddy Lee talks R40 Live and future prospects: "Our touring life might be over" - MusicRadar

On Monday MusicRadar.com posted a new interview with Geddy Lee where he talks about the R40 Live release, how Peter Dinklage became involved, the inspiration behind the video for The Wreckers, the perfect night of recording in Toronto, and more.

RUSH Deliver Fully Loaded 1985 Model Complete With Power Windows - Now Available

North American syndicated Rock radio show and website InTheStudio: The Stories Behind History’s Greatest Rock Bands pushes the button on the thirtieth anniversary of Power Windows, the mid-Eighties million selling album from Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Rush that fully adopted an evolving sound complete with synthesizers and string arrangements.

1981’s Moving Pictures had catapulted Rush to international stardom while capping off what was the classic ‘70s era Rush. 1982‘s Signals would signal the end of their longtime relationship with producer Terry Brown, and by 1985 Rush would take a new approach to the studio, with producer Peter Collins pushing the band to rethink everything, with spectacular results.

Rush lyricist/ drummer Neil Peart saw an uncanny number of socio-political issues to write about with songs like  “The Big Money”, “Manhattan Project”, and “Marathon”  while  guitarist Alex Lifeson would breath new life into his guitar parts, stretching and creating news sounds for every new composition.

As bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee expresses to InTheStudio host Redbeard, Power Windows initially sounded like a silly name for an album, but it soon stuck.

“The album is about power ,the power of big business, of money.  The power of government. The power of love in “Emotion Detector”.  The power of dreams. So we wanted to have that in the title somehow, but all of the titles sounded so corny... At one point we were going to call the album Windows, but it sounded too jazz -like. Nobody thought of Power Windows because it sounded so silly at first. It sounded like a joke. And the more we thought of it, the more we liked it. “  - Geddy Lee

RUSH Power Windows @ 30/ InTheStudio interview is now available to stream here.

Power Windows 30th Anniversary "In The Studio With Redbeard" coming December 14th

Geddy and Alex will be appearing on "In The Studio With Redbeard" tonight, December 14th.  Based on this description, this will be a new interview appearance, and they will look back 30 years to discuss the release of Power Windows.  

Rush is marking the 30th anniversary of 1985’s Power Windows with “The Big Money”,”Manhattan Project”,”Marathon”,  “Mystic Rhythms”; and we will add 1993’s terrific hard-rocking Counterparts sporting “Animate”,”Stick It Out”, and the emotionally powerful “Nobody’s Hero“. Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson host this thoughtful conversation In the Studio the week of December 14. -Redbeard

- Thanks to Lance Buckhammer for the headsup!

ESPN Features Rush Fan Jeff Wagner

Today's ESPN pregame show featured Cincinnati Bengals fan Jeff Wagner, who hand makes banners for every home game. Oh, and he starts off by "turning on Rush, greatest rock band in the history of the world." Check out his story here. - Thanks to Dave DeSantis and Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Neil Peart interviewed in December issue of Drumhead Magazine

There is a new interview with Neil Peart in the December issue of Drumhead magazine: "Neil Peart reflects on 50 years of hitting things with sticks".  In the interview, Neil has seemingly announced his retirement with his comments: 

"Lately Olivia has been introducing me to new friends at school as "My dad--He's a retired drummer." True to say--funny to hear. "  He goes on to reflect "and it does not pain me to realize that, like all athletes, there comes a time to... take yourself out of the game. I would rather set it aside then face the predicament described in our song "losing it" ("Sadder still to watch it die, than never to have known it")"

The complete article is now available here.  It also includes "Notes for Neil", a sidebar piece where many of today's drummers congratulate Neil on his (touring) retirement. - Thanks to Joe Pesch for the headsup, and to John Patuto for the transcript!

"Rush Committed To At Least One More Studio Project" - MusicExpress

Today Canada's MusicExpress chimed in on the question of Neil Peart's retirement with a new interview with ole general manager, Andy Curran, who replied “It’s just a rumour as far as I know”, but the article went on to say that the band is committed to at least one more studio project.  Check it out here. - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Geddy Lee 'optimistic' over band's future - BBC

Geddy is in the UK doing press interviews this week to promote R40 Live, and in a new interview with the BBC again says "I'm one of three members and everybody has a kind of different idea about what they'd like to do with the rest of their lives.  So I'm not really sure at this point whether there will be more tours or not. But I remain optimistic." You can read the full interview here. - Thanks to Ed at RushisaBand for the headsup!

Geddy Lee clarifies Peart retirement rumours - Prog

In a response to yesterday's fan panic after news surfaced that Neil was "retired" following his story which appears in the new issue of Drumhead, Geddy Lee has stepped up to clarify Neil's statement:

Lee tells Prog: “There’s really nothing to say. I think Neil is just explaining his reasons for not wanting to tour, with the toll that it’s taking on his body. That’s all I would care to comment on it. We’ll get together eventually and chat about things. But in my view, there is certainly nothing surprising in what he said. Neil just feels that he has to explain with all the thousands of people asking, ‘Why no more tours?’ He needs to explain his side of it."

Asked whether he feels Peart's quote was taken out of context, Lee adds: “I think that’s absolutely right. That’s their job. Talking about something when there’s nothing to talk about.”