Rush News

Geddy Lee says he’s thrilled Toronto’s ‘capybabies’ named for band

Today's Toronto Star announced, the offspring of Toronto’s famous fugitive capybaras have new names. The three “capybabies” are — drum roll please — Alex, Geddy and Neil.

Rock fans of will recognize the names as a tribute to the three members of legendary Canadian band Rush: Guitarist Alex Lifeson, drummer Neil Pert and singer Geddy Lee, who on Saturday said the band is “thrilled to hear that three cute little furry creatures from South America now bear our names.”

“Thanks to all who voted to give us this special honour,” he said, through his publicist. “By the way, which one is me? In the picture I saw none of them were wearing glasses.”

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Toronto's Trio of Capybara Pups Could Be Named After Rush

Rush's reverence in their home city of Toronto cannot be understated: the power trio have recently been awarded the Key to the City and have a city park named after members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. Now, the group have a chance to be further immortalized in having a trio of capybara cubs named in their honour.

An online vote opened by Friends of the High Park Zoo lists "Alex, Geddy, Neil" as a combination of names for the cubs, who were born earlier this year. The poll says that "submissions from the public ranged from local landmarks to popular trios and adorable nicknames."

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Golfing in the Limelight: Rocco Mediate and Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson - PGA.com

PGA.com has posted a new feature on golfer Rocco Mediate.
In 1992, Rocco Mediate was preparing to play in the 74th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, when he learned his favorite band Rush would be in town at the same time. So, he sent an invite to the members of Rush to join him for a round of golf at Bellerive. Guitarist Alex Lifeson accepted the offer, and the two played a round close to the time of the PGA Championship. It was one of the first rounds of golf Lifeson—who was inducted along with fellow bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 2013—ever played.

The golf bug struck a sweet chord with Lifeson. Since then, Mediate and Lifeson went on to appear together in one of the first episodes of “Playing Lessons from the Pros” on Golf Channel. During his touring days with Rush, Lifeson was known to play golf regularly and reportedly had a handicap in the single digits. In 2006, Lifeson became a co-owner of the Tom Fazio-designed Coppinwood Golf Course near Toronto. When Mediate played the Canadian Open in 2010, he sported a Rush hat during a round and was also seen wearing Coppinwood apparel.

Despite his low handicap, Lifeson characteristically uses self-deprecating humor to describe his golf game. "I remember how thoughtful and considerate Rocco was," said Lifeson in 2013. "He spent a great deal of time with me, a truly novice golfer, on the range hitting a million 7-irons. The thing is, he still spends time with me on the range, so either he's a dear friend or I'm a pretty lousy golfer...or maybe both! This photo is of that day."

Looks like a match made in “Rocco Roll Heaven!”