Tom Sawyer Sampled In "The Peacemaker: L.A. Gang Wars"

On December 16 "The Peacemaker: L.A. Gang Wars" premiered on the A&E network. A five-part series chronicling times of tense street gang mediation in South Central, Los Angeles, the series is executive produced by rapper/actor Ice-T, who also recorded the series' theme song which includes a sample of Rush's "Tom Sawyer". For more info click here and here. - Thanks to B-man for the headsup!

Neil Peart Master Class: Free Lesson Online

DrumChannel.com has made available a free video drum lesson from the Neil Peart Master Class; this is the 9th of 10 total classes with Neil,which range from Beginner to Advanced over 10 lessons. - Thanks to Frank Ray for the headsup!

"Watch Neil as he performs his warm-up routine in Lesson 9 from his Drum Channel Master Class, Frontiers of Composition and Articulation." - DrumChannel.com

Documentary about Niagara's Music Scene "The Big Story of Small Potatoes" Now On Youtube/Free Download

Last year you might recall a documentary about Niagara's music scene was released titled The Big Story of Small Potatoes which "explores the roots of the lost music scene of Niagara, circa 1964-1974." The documentary includes Neil Peart along with one of his early bands JR Flood performing the song "Giant Killer".

The director, Paul Miil, has graciously posted the full documentary on Youtube and as a free download for your Blackberry or Smartphone. - Thanks to Paul Miil, Andrew Olson and RushFanForever for the headsup!

Alex Lifeson on His and Geddy Lee's Wine 'Internships'

Alex Lifeson is one of the many celebrity wine lovers to be profiled in Mark Oldman’s book, Oldman's Brave New World Of Wine, released back on September 9th.

Oldman has posted another short video feature to his website:

"In an exclusive interview inside his home wine cellar, RUSH's legendary axeman Alex Lifeson tells Mark Oldman about the week-long winemaker internships he and bandmate Geddy Lee did at Joseph Phelps Winery and at Turley Wine Cellars. He fondly recalls how during crush he and Geddy were so covered in grape juice that they were mistaken for Napa locals at a nearby eatery" - MarkOldman.com, December 17, 2010 - Thanks to Laura Romain for the headsup!

This is Oldman's second video feature with Alex Lifeson; previously Oldman shared the following:

"Mark takes off to the Great White North to visit with Rush’s Alex Lifeson, the legendary rock guitarist and one of the wine-passionate 'Bravehearts' featured in Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine. We learn how Alex’s wife accidentally swipes one of his cherished bottles and how the musician devises a solution to prevent future incursions — an ingenious idea Mark dubs a 'Lifeson Ledge'. This is cautionary tale for all drinkers interested in discouraging the unauthorized removal of their favorite vino. Click here to watch the video." - Mark Oldman, November 3, 2010

Alex is one of the many wine lovers featured in the Mark's book, Oldman's Brave New World Of Wine, where he discusses his favorite wines, wine-based experiences, and a few tricks he’s picked up over the years:

"Bandmate Geddy Lee and I went to California’s Turley Wine Cellars in late September of 1998 to spend a few days working the harvest. We pulled all of the leaves and spiders and all that stuff out of the bins, and so we were covered head-to-toe in grape juice. Later, Ged and I stopped at this restaurant for lunch. Our shirts and fingers were all purple—we were so proud! People were like, 'Yeah, you guys are locals, aren’t you? We’ll get you some service right away, sir.'" - Alex Lifeson

Alex's comments join those from dozens of other notable wine lovers, including actors Hilary Swank and Matthew McConaughey, novelist Jay McInerney, designer Zac Posen, and even Bill Nye, the “Science Guy.” Oldman's Brave New World Of Wine was released September 6th. For more information, view the book’s official trailer (www.markoldman.com/videos/brave_trailer) or visit MarkOldman.com.

Selina Martin Covers "The Spirit Of Radio"

As previously announced, Selina Martin's Disaster Fantasies was released June 29th, including a "thoughtful cover" of "The Spirit Of Radio (click here for a sample).

"Toronto singer-songwriter Selina Martin, whose upcoming album Disaster Fantasies will include a thoughtful cover of the 1980 Rush hit Spirit of Radio talks about the gender disparity among the band’s fans." - Globe & Mail, June 5, 2010

Martin teamed up with the BidiniBand (fronted by Rush fan and ex-Rheostatic Dave Bidini) to perform the song two weeks ago at a Juno anniversary show at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern to celebrate Juno-winning music from the 1970s (click here to view the performance). When discussing the song, Martin said:

"I was never a huge Rush fan, but when I was a preteen growing up in Kanata [a suburb of Ottawa], I remember having some kind of epiphany while they were playing that song at the roller disco, with the lights flashing and the music really loud. And later, I’d be in these campfire sing-along situations, and someone would say, 'Selina, why don’t you sing something?' I just hated that, and it was always uncomfortable, so the way to kill the campfire sing-along was to do 'The Spirit of Radio', because nobody could play along!" - Selina Martin, The Globe And Mail, November 30, 2010 -Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Alex Lifeson To Join Andy Kim's Xmas Concert Tonight

Just a quick reminder, tonight Alex Lifeson will be one of the featured artists to perform at Andy Kim's Christmas Show at the Mod Club in Toronto:

"Once again, legendary singer-songwriter Andy Kim has rounded up an impressive line-up of talent to join him at his annual charity concert in Toronto. This year’s Andy Kim Christmas Show, at the Mod Club Dec. 15, will also feature Rush’s Alex Lifeson, Ron Sexsmith and Platinum Blonde. More guests are still to be announced. The evening is being presented by Sentry Investments, Long & McQuade and CP24. Tickets are on sale now for $25 at all Ticketmaster outlets, Rotate This, Soundscapes or call 416-870-8000 to charge by phone. Doors open at 7 p.m. The Mod Club is located at 722 College St." - SamaritanMag.com, November 23, 2010 - Thanks to SquintyT4E for the headsup!

Neil Peart App Free Download From Promark

"The Neil Peart application and mobile website has been available to anyone who purchases a pair of his limited edition Time Machine Tour PW747W, but we’re in the Christmas spirit, and want EVERYONE to join in on the fun!...Use your smart phone to scan this QR code and get access to the app! The Neil Peart App Home Page is your portal to everything Neil on the Time Machine Tour!" Click here for more details from Promark.com - December 13, 2011 - Thanks to AndyO and RushIsABand for the headsup!

Alex Lifeson Signs Carparelli Guitars For Charity

Back in 2009, Toronto's Carparelli guitars donated a guitar signed by Alex Lifeson to raise funds for an auction supporting Autism Speaks Canada at the Richmond Hill Gold Club on September 16, 2009.

Last month, Alex signed a Carparelli S3 guitar which was donated to Autism Speaks Canada for a future auction. In addition, Alex has signed the Jim Warren Freedom Guitar for Carparelli; the guitar has been signed by various artists including the Beach Boys and Kris Kristofferson and will receive additional artist's signatures before being auctioned off for charity in February of next year. Details for both auctions are still unannounced, stay tuned for more info.

Geddy Lee Featured On December's "Classic Rock" Magazine

Geddy Lee is on the cover of the December issue of Britain's Classic Rock magazine. The bulk of the feature includes Geddy's memories of the making of Moving Pictures, but he also briefly discusses the current Time Machine tour and playing Moving Pictures live in its entirety. For this long time fan of "The Camera Eye", I was pleased to see Geddy discuss the track at length:

"'The Camera Eye' was the last really epic song we wrote. It's 11 minutes long. At the time, we really didn't appreciate it. Back then we though it was too long and repetitive. We didn't understand the mood it generated...it was a song we never thought worked. But the way we revamped it made this come alive. One thing the tour did for us was to make us aware of how good 'The Camera Eye' always was. I'm so glad we've become friends with it again."

The full interview is available here. - Thanks to Reed Lover and RushFanForever for the headsup!

"10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Alex Lifeson" - Guitar Player January 2011

Alex Lifeson is featured in the January issue of Guitar Player magazine. The ten page feature story is titled "10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Alex Lifeson". - Thanks to Frank Panacci for the headsup!

Second life: Newsmaker Combacks

Canada's Maclean's magazine today posted the feature story "Second life: Newsmaker Combacks" which includes:

"RUSH: The rock group has been performing since 1968, but the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (in which Gene Simmons calls them 'crazy Canadians' for their clean-living style) introduced them to a broader audience. The film was a success on the festival circuit, inspiring the band’s Time Machine Tour, where they mostly played hits from their long career." - Macleans.ca, December 9, 2010 - Thanks to John @ Cygnus-x1.net for the headsup!

Rush On Glee

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Glee music supervisor PJ Bloom dreams of who he would like to feature in a future episode of the hit musical television show:

"I’d also love to see the ’80s hair-band episode, the punk-rock episode and, of course, the Rush episode—but then who wouldn’t want to see the New Directions sing 'Tom Sawyer'?!" - PJ Bloom, VanityFair.com, December 7, 2010 - Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

Toronto Newscaster Mark Dailey Succumbs to Kidney Cancer

Toronto Newscaster Mark Dailey passed away Monday after a battle with kidney cancer. He was 57. Long believed by some Rush fans to be the 'spoken voice' in "Subdivisions", Dailey himself stated in 2009 that this is an "urban myth":

"That's been an urban myth for years. It's not my voice on 'Subdivisions' by Rush but I continue to get credit. I've tried to dispel it but won't go away." - Mark Dailey, Citytv.com, March 23, 2009

The voice was later confirmed to be that of Neil Peart, when he discussed Jacob Moon's cover of "Subdivisions" at Rush's induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier this year:

"We all shared Jacob Moon's performance of Subdivisions quite a long time ago and sent it to each other, 'Hey have you seen this?' because it's such a beautiful cover. The imaginative way that he uses the little cassette player to get my voice in there. It's superb." - Neil Peart, Jam!Showbiz, March 26, 2010

For more on Mark Dailey, click here.

Darkstar Is Finally Here!

Darkstar, the long anticipated interactive videogame from J. Allen Williams, is finally here. The game is available for purchase for your Mac or PC from most online retailers, as well as Darkstarstore.com. and strategyfirst.com. Future platform releases are expected to follow next year.

When we first learned of the development of Darkstar back in 2004, the game's cinematics were to feature over an hour of the music of Rush.

"We are now negotiating with Universal and Atlantic to include the following songs to be featured in the feature length scifi film that serves as back-story to the project: Anthem, Bastille Day, The Twilight Zone, Cygnus X-1, Cygnus X-1 Book II, Tom Sawyer, YYZ, The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt, Vital Signs, Subdivisions, Red Sector A, The Enemy Within, Red Lenses, Mystic Rhythms, Manhattan Project, Time Stand Still, Test for Echo, Time and Motion, Limbo, One Little Victory and Nocturne. The band and their management has approved the use of all of these songs, but final negotiations must be completed with Universal and Atlantic before we can announce the final songlist. We're hoping we can include this entire list." - J. Allen Williams/Parallax Studio L.L.C., December, 2009

Unfortunately, negotiations broke down with Universal Music who control the use of most of the songs, and last summer the producers were forced to remove all Rush from the soundtrack and replace it with original music.

"'The band gave us a green light years ago, but tough negotiations with Universal more recently have gone nowhere - and at the end of the day, they own the RUSH masters. They simply want too much money, more than was ever talked about during this process.' commented Studio owner J. Allen Williams. 'At this point we've made the difficult decision to pull the music and produce an original score for Darkstar so we can release, and that is now in process. We wish it could have gone better for both RUSH and our project, but that's Hollywood for you. Clearance rights were our last worry as we were told repeatedly over the years that the band was behind us. Anthem encouraged us to talk about it in interviews, which we did.' said Williams. 'We are disappointed, of course, as I'm sure there will be fans who have been writing us for so long waiting to see their favorite band in Darkstar. I have a true love for RUSH and a vision that could have glorified them to a new generation of listeners. It sucks, it's sad, but that's the final word.' Darkstar began production in mid-2000, featuring the original cast of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Clive Robertson (Sunset Beach), and was veteran actor Peter Graves final performance. Darkstar is back on schedule for release now that these issues are resolved." - Darkstar Press Release, July 1, 2010

As a Rush fan, the first question that came to mind was, "who replaced Rush?" Well, the old adage "if you want something done right, do it yourself" came into play as J. Allen Williams, who not only wrote, produced, directed and animated the game, also stepped up to the plate to co-write the soundtrack with musical partners Bill Bruce (guitars) and Jimmy Pitts (keyboards). As it turns out, in another lifetime the multi-talented Williams also played bass in the 80's band "Wilder". The band regrouped, and along with additional members, formed "Progressive Sound and Metal Worx" to record 38 original songs for Darkstar. The final product is a progressive metal soundscape that will satisfy any progressive rock fan. The 2CD original soundtrack is also available for purchase at Darkstarstore.com; here is the opening track of the soundtrack album, "Surfing The Velvet Abyss".

The game features the entire original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as well as Clive Robertson as the captain. I have had the opportunity to take "The Westwick" (the starship featured in the game) for a test drive, and the anticipation was well deserved. The game opens with an elaborate opening film comprised of live action and CGI elements, which concludes with your character, Captain John O'Neil, waking up from hibernation after 312 years. As it happens, your character coincidentally has amnesia, so as you begin the game your first task is to learn as much about yourself and your surroundings as possible. Described as an interactive movie, the game play at first glance is similar to that of Myst, but much more cinematic in nature.

For more information, visit Darkstar.gs.

The Lost Fingers' Cover "Tom Sawyer"

The Lost Fingers is a Canadian gypsy jazz music group from Quebec City. The group was nominated for two Juno Awards in the categories of Fan Choice Award and Album of the Year based on the success of their debut release, Lost In The 80's.

This past Tuesday The Lost Fingers released their latest album, Gypsy Kameloneon, which includes their take on "Tom Sawyer". Like all clever covers, upon close scrutiny one will find that all of the intricate parts are meticulously reproduced, albeit in a "gypsy jazz" vein. - Thanks to Patric Lafortun for the headsup!

V-DRUMS ON STAGE!...exit stage left.

Roland.com has added a new article featuring Neil Peart and his V-Drums. An advertisement featuring Neil and his drums appears on page 3 of the Nov/Dec issue of Canadian Musician.

"I first introduced Roland V-Drums into my setup in 2001, during the writing and recording of our Vapor Trails album. On the subsequent tour, they became a fixture in my drum solos, as well as to trigger samples throughout our live show. I also played the V-Drums on our 30th Anniversary tour in 2004, on the Snakes and Arrows album and tours in 2006, '07, and '08 (thus they appear on the Rush in Rio, R30, and Snakes and Arrows Live DVDs and CDs), and now on our 2010 Time Machine tour. Over the years, the V-Drums have continued to improve in touch sensitivity, and in sound quality and variety, and I still find them not only fun to play, but a great creative addition to my percussion world." – Neil Peart, Roland.com, November, 2010

Website Updates: Multi-screen Smartphone Wallpapers and Firefox Personas

I've updated two features of the Downloads section of Power Windows:

Smartphone Wallpaper Update: Recently I upgraded my cel phone to a Droid which has multi-screen panning wallpaper functionality. First order of business was to update the graphically intensive Smartphone Wallpaper page to include a set of wallpapers specifically created for this wallpaper size. These images have also been tested on the HTC Sense desktop. Ideally I would like to create a Droid App with a core set of Rush wallpapers, but that's currently above my level of expertise...

Firefox Personas: Personas are free "skins" for the Firefox browser. I did some investigating and found a shortage of Rush Personas, so I took the time to create a few; the current collection contains ten album Personas (there were 11, but Firefox dropped my Hemispheres Persona due to "nudity"!). You can find my collection here.

As always, additional Smartphone wallpapers or Firefox Personas can be added upon request. These downloads are of course free of charge, but Tips Are Welcome!

Rush Featured In AT&T High-Speed Internet Television Commercial

In a new television commercial for AT&T High-Speed Internet which has the tagline "now everyone can explore the world from home", a man wearing a Rush tshirt featuring the logo from the debut album is shown visiting various retail stores on a giant computer mouse. The mouse represents that he is shopping online, and he eventually stops at a music store to purchase a matching Rush "onesie" for his newborn baby girl. You can see the video here.

Both the tshirt and onesie featured in the commercial are available at the Rush Backstage Club. Proceeds from the sale of this product and revenues received by Rush for the use of this product in the AT&T spots will be donated to War Child Canada in Haiti.

Bubba's Book Club - December 2010 Issue

Neil Peart has updated the "Bubba's Book Club" section of his website, where he gives his literary recommendations for your consideration. In this issue, Neil reviews The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon, and The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver. About The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Peart writes:

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001, and I know of no reason not to start by saying, 'I love this book'...The story brings together Sammy Klayman, growing up in Brooklyn, and his cousin Josef Kavalier, a refugee from the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia, in the late 1930s. Together they invent a superhero, 'The Escapist,' whose origins are richly woven into the pair’s youthful experiences and scars. The newly-Americanized Sammy Clay and Joe Kavalier become part of the 'golden age' of comics, in the 1940s and ’50s, and wrestle with exploitative bosses, government paranoia, confused sexuality, longing and loss, and the whirl of history in those turbulent times. The Depression, fascism, the Holocaust, World War II, the bizarre outbreaks of fear and witch hunts of the late ’40s and early ’50s, all are brought dramatically to life through the lenses of Kavalier and Clay."

This is a rare occasion in that I have actually read one of the books Neil has reviewed (not the first time, but it's not typical by any means!). I happened to read Kavalier & Clay a couple of years ago, and also give it a veritable two thumbs up. It was a novel that took me by surprise, as it was much bigger in scope than I first anticipated. I might also add that a film adaptation was in the works reportedly starring Tobey Maguire, Jamie Bell and Natalie Portman, but according to the author in 2007 the project "just completely went south for studio-politics kinds of reasons...".

The Orbit Room 16th Anniversary Party

The Orbit Room held its 16th Anniversary Celebration Party on Friday night, and as usual Alex Lifeson was in attendance (as was Terry Brown). Alex joined in with The Dave Murphy Band and The Dexter's to perform "For What It's Worth" and "White Rabbit", two songs they previously released on Second Anniversary At The Orbit Room back in 1996, as well as Kashmir, Won't Get Fooled Again, Peter Gunn, Tom Sawyer, In The Mood, and Limelight. Videos for all songs are available here. - Thanks to RushGirl for the headsup!