Rush News

"Limelight" featured in all new "Guitar Hero Live"

Guitar Hero Live was released on Tuesday, and includes "Limelight" as one of the songs available in the game's TV mode (the games online mode which plays music videos while you play the guitar controller). The game is available for all game platforms here. For more game details including videos click here. - Thanks to Andrew Weiss for the headsup!

Caustic Casanova's "Show Some Shame" Video

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that is definitely demonstrated by Caustic Casanova's new video for "Show Some Shame", from their new album Breaks released September 25th. Posted today to their YouTube channel, the video 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." - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Pop Culture References Update - October 2015

It has been some time since I've posted a Rush References in Pop Culture update, and here they are for your review.
- That's a wrap!  If you have anything to add, please feel free to email any suggestions. Thanks to Lucas Riot, David Wholihan, David Cameron, Cindy Lynde, Betty Jo Story, Ken Bratz, Joshua Batten, Paul Wimberley, Matt Chadra, Alexander Abrahamsson, Mark Lavigne, Tod O’Donnell, Greg Silva, Philip Herl, Andrew Weiss and Mark Stench for their help putting this all together.

Clockwork Lives by Kevin J Anderson & Neil Peart - A Review

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In 2012, Kevin J Anderson and Neil Peart released Clockwork Angels: The Novel, a story about young Owen Hardy, who yearns to escape his quiet life and explore the world.  Three years later, Anderson & Peart have returned to the Clockwork universe and released a companion novel in Clockwork Lives, about Marinda Peake, a young woman who prefers a quiet life with no desire to see the world before events conspire against her. 

That's not the only obvious difference between the two novels, however.  Known for his sprawling epics, Kevin J. Anderson seemed constrained with Clockwork Angels, having to limit the content to appropriately follow the narrative set forth by the Rush album.  With Clockwork Lives, there are no such constraints, and we are treated with a sprawling tale which takes us across the world of the Watchmaker, where Marinda finds herself crossing paths with the Anarchist, the Wreckers, the Carnies, and many other familiar figures from the first novel, including Owen Hardy.   Clockwork Lives is not a sequel to Clockwork Angels, however.  Rather, it's a companion novel in the same universe which actually takes place at the same time and crosses paths with the events in the first novel, and can be enjoyed by itself if you passed on Clockwork Angels.

Clockwork Lives is also an extra special feast for Rush fans.  Like its predecessor, it is loaded with Rush references and lyrics, but to this reader, they were less obvious, more subtle, and therefore more apt to bring a smile when recognized. In addition, Geddy, Alex and Neil are even represented, but I don't want to spoil it…  

A review of this novel would be remiss if I didn't mention the physical nature of the book itself.  The cover is faux oxblood red leather and embossed with gold leaf, and the pages appear to be printed on smooth parchment.   Each new adventure is begun with an all new illustration drawn by Nick Robles, who provided the art for the Clockwork Angels: The Graphic Novel.  It truly is a work of art and is a must-have for anyone Rush fan's library.  Make sure to pick this up before the first edition sells out.  It's fantastic!

Rush's Moving Pictures short listed for inaugural Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize

Rush's Moving Pictures was one of 21 albums from the last fourty years which have been short listed for Canada's inaugural Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize.  The votes are in, and Moving Pictures was not among the winners.   According to Billboard.com, "albums by Joni Mitchell, Cowboy Junkies, Sloan and Peaches have been chosen by the public as the inaugural winners of Canada’s Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize.  A five-titled short list per time period was initially selected by a jury of 25 people from the music media and industry before the lists were released to the public for them to vote online.  They chose: Blue by Joni Mitchell ('60s & '70s), The Trinity Session by Cowboy Junkies ('80s), Twice Removed by Sloan (90s) and The Teaches of Peaches by Peaches ('00s, 2000-2005)." - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Rush on the cover of Professional Lighting and Production Fall 2015 issue

Rush graces the cover of the Fall issue of Professsional Lighting and Production magazine, which includes a four page feature interview with lighting director Howard Ungerleider titled "Travelling Back Through Time With Rush". The complete issue is available for your viewing here. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Signals Vinyl Reissue Now Available

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As announced last fall, Rush is reissuing the complete Mercury era albums on 200-gram heavyweight vinyl in chronological order throughout 2015. The next release to hit store shelves is Signals, which hits store shelves today, October 9th.

The Signals 5.1 surround sound "blu-ray-audio remaster" is already available, and was released August 14th.  This surround sound release was previously only available as part of the Sectors 3 boxed set.

The vinyl reissues will continue into next year with the final release being Snakes & Arrows.  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) and Exit...Stage Left.  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.  

Geddy Lee joins MLB Central

Yesterday Geddy Lee called in to MLB Network's "MLB Central" to talk about the Blue Jay's World Series run (they are currently five games on top of the NY Yankees in the AL East).  Geddy talks not only baseball but when asked about Rush, confirms that there are currently "no plans" on further touring at this time. He also says that his favorite Rush albums are 2112, Moving Pictures, Power Windows and Clockwork Angels.  You can see the 10 minute video below. - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Rush on UK TV Show Mastermind

Yesterday on the UK quiz show Mastermind, one of the contestants, Tom Mead, chose “Rush" as his subject to be quizzed on and scored a 12. The program aired last night on BBC2, and UK Viewers can view the episode on the BBC website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06dslsd; everyone else can view it at the link below. - Thanks to Gavin Crockett and Bob Holt for the headsup!

Exit Stage Left Vinyl Reissue Now Available, Signals Coming In Two Weeks

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As announced last fall, Rush is reissuing the complete Mercury era albums on 200-gram heavyweight vinyl in chronological order throughout 2015. The next release to hit store shelves is Exit...Stage Left, which hits store shelves today, September 25th.

buy pure audio
Blu-Ray
, vinyl
The next reissue is the Signals vinyl reissue, which is set for release on October 9th, just two weeks from today.  The Signals 5.1 surround sound "blu-ray-audio remaster" is already available, and was released August 14th.  This surround sound release was previously only available as part of the Sectors 3 boxed set.

The vinyl reissues will continue into next year with the final release being Snakes & Arrows.  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).  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

Neil Peart's "News Weather and Sports" - September 2015

Neil Peart has updated his website with the September 2015 issue of "News, Weather and Sports." Titled BubbaGram™#1, Neil lets us know that he is currently writing his next book, which will chronicle his experiences on the R40 tour. He states that rather than have his blog go dark in the meantime, he is going to update his website with occasional "BubbaGrams" with the explanation "At semi-regular intervals I will post a photograph or two and an anecdote, to represent the work in progress." This BubbaGram is about the tshirts he creates for himself and his riding partners for each tour, and includes photographs of each. You can check it out here.

Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart's "Clockwork Lives" and "Clockwork Angels Graphic Novel" Now Available

Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart's eagerly awaited followup to the Clockwork Angels novelization, titled Clockwork Lives, finally arrives in bookstores today (September 15th).
"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." - Kevin J. Anderson
Also available today is the Clockwork Angels Graphic Novel, which collects the complete six issue comic book arc published in 2014, into one gorgeous volume.  The graphic novel script was written by Kevin J. Anderson with artwork by Nick Robles.

Also be sure to check out:

"Neil Peart: Cultural Repercussions" by Brad Birzer Now Available

Also released today (September 15) from WordFire Press is a new book about Neil Peart titled Cultural Repercussions. Written by professor of history Brad Birzer and published by Kevin J. Anderson, the book focuses on Neil Peart's literary works and influences.  It is available in paperback and ebook formats.
"Though Neil Peart is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest living drummers, few studies have been devoted to his writings. Yet, Peart is very much a man of his words. He writes lyrics, travelogues, short stories, essays, and books of cultural criticism. In terms of his cultural impact, he is also one of North America's greatest living men of letters. The themes he offers in his writings are timeless;: philosophy, journeys, growth, exploration, excellence, art, satisfaction, happiness, religion, politics, individualism, expression, natural history, cultural criticism, life, love, loss, redemption, and beauty.

Peart wants every person to persevere through individual trials, and find his or her unique gifts and abilities and, ultimately, true happiness. Most tellingly, Peart does not just profess such things, he has lived them and continues to live them.

Never satisfied with second best or any form of defeat, Peart challenges himself time and time again to live up to his own philosophy. And he has succeeded through great personal adversity and, at times, irrational professional jealousy of and hatred toward him, and he has always succeeded through grace.

This book carefully examines the influence his life, his witness, and his words have had on others. Neil Peart has lived life to the fullest, and he has made us each better for it."
- Thanks to Brad and Kevin for the headsup!

Neil Peart: Marching To The Beat Of A Different Drum - Classic Rock

As a followup to the Rush feature published in the October issue of Classic Rock magazine, today Classic Rock posted a new article written by Neil Peart titled "Neil Peart: Marching To The Beat Of A Different Drum".   Neil writes about the drum solo he performed on the R40 tour, and tells how the solo was developed beginning in rehearsals, and how it came to represent 50 years of drumming.
"My vague design for that solo was deceptively simple. I would approach it as if I was just sitting down at the drums to start playing -- to exercise the improvisational skills I have been working on for, oh, about ten years now. Technically, I was determined to exemplify everything I thought I knew about drumming, and everything I love about the drums -- almost 50 years of experience and passion had to go in there somehow."
Check out the full article here.  - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Apple Uses Rush to Demonstrate The 3D Touch

Not for the first time, Rush appeared in another Apple product demonstration.  "The Analog Kid" made an appearance during today's Apple 3D touch announcement; you can see it here at the 2:40 mark:


For the past presentations, check out the Rush Sighting at Apple's WWDC 2014 Keynote Presentation and when Rush was used to demonstrate iOS 7. - Thanks to Rosmakloma for the headsup!

Rush feature in Classic Rock magazine, October 2015 issue

The new October issue of Classic Rock magazine includes a six page Rush feature titled "Exit Stage Left?" which you can now read online here.  Interviewer Philip Wilding speaks to the guys and takes in the final show in L.A. on August 1st.  The magazine will be on newsstands soon, and will be available to purchase from Teamrock.com.

New guitar show with Alex Lifeson coming to TableRock Media

According to an article published yesterday, TableRock Media, a new direct-to-consumer video company from Canada, plans on launching a new guitar show next year starring Alex Lifeson:
Out of Canada, TableRock was created by former GlassBox TV founders Jeffrey Elliot and Joseph Arcuri, the latter of whom is also a former president of AOL Canada. Former Discovery Channel Canada president and HDTV founder Ken Murphy heads the new company's board, and with the team in place TableRock is now planning super-niche OTT channels.

"We saw that there is an opportunity in delivering niche content over OTT," Elliot says. "At the start of pay TV people said it was absurd to have a one-genre channel, but they worked, and in 2015 people are willing to pay for well-produced, curated, niche content delivered on-demand."

TableRock's first offerings, launching early next year, will focus on specific interest areas including aviation, guitars and motorcycles. "Each of these are multi-billion dollar industries and cover subjects that go under the radar in terms of conventional TV. They are too niche in the old way of doing TV, but work in OTT."

The company plans to make about 80% of its content, with a guitar show with Rush's Alex Lifeson...
- Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

"The Spirit of Radio" covered on Kobra and the Lotus' Words of the Prophets EP Now Available

"The Spirit of Radio" is one of the tracks included on Kobra and the Lotus' Words of the Prophets EP released today (August 28).  The EP is available here; and you can check it out the track below.
“There’s no prouder moment than to take on the challenge of covering one of the greatest bands of all time,” she says. “Few bands have accomplished what Rush has accomplished, and there will never be another band like them. They opened the door and shaped the way for all musicians to be more creative and brave with their music – and they did it with unrelenting confidence and skill. It is with great honor and respect that we reinforce the message of these virtuosic music monsters and the importance of ‘The Spirit of Radio.’” - Frontwoman Kobra Paige
Words of the Prophets also features their spin on other Canadian-based classics including “Lay It On the Line” by Triumph, “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” by April Wine and Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Let It Ride,” among others.

Rush Brazil Festival 2015

Tomorrow (Saturday, August 29) the "Rush Brazil Festival" celebrating Rush's music will take place in São Paulo, Brazil.  The largest Rush festival in Brazil, there will be four tribute bands and promises to be a good time for everyone. For venue details and more information visit Rush Fã-Clube Brasil. - Thanks to Vagner Cruz for the headsup!