Rush News The Power Windows website has been updated with a Power Windows theme (finally!). More inspired by the lyric notes/back cover than the front cover itself, it was one of the last to be designed, mainly because it was one of the more difficult albums to visualize a style for which half-way does this amazing album justice (hard to believe it was released almost 24 years ago).For you longtime visitors, all that's left in the way of album themes which will eventually appear in the far off future are A Farewell To Kings, All The World's A Stage, Rush In Rio, Archives, Chronicles and Victor (yes, Big Al will eventually get his day in the sun!). As always, for best results, use Rush fonts.
The August issue of DRUM! Magazine, featuring Mike Portnoy on the cover, has the results of their annual Drummie awards. Neil takes home awards for "Drummer Of The Year" and "Progressive Rock Drummer". - Thanks to Michael of NeilPeartDrumSticks.com for the headsup!
"Limelight" is used as the background music for a new commercial promoting Pepsi Rock Band, a contest where your can upload your very own Rock Band music video with the possibility of winning an MTV music award. We'll post the commercial here once it makes its way to Youtube. - Thanks to Tod O'Donnell for the headsup!
In a new article in the UK's Guardian, various artists pic their favorite pop band. Geddy Lee is quoted:
'Describing someone as "the best" is something you do at school in grade 5, but Radiohead are the most interesting of the big groups. In terms of communication and reach, it has to be U2, but I like Radiohead's intricacy and melodic content. They've got a willingness to experiment with melody and texture that a lot of bands don't have. Plus, they manage to stay fresh. It's more about attitude than technology. I've often thought Radiohead carry on what began as progressive rock nearly 40 years ago. There's a similar spirit and willingness to explore.' - Geddy Lee, The Guardian, June 26, 2009 - Thanks to Willie Brown for the headsup!
Neil Peart has updated his website with "Under The Marine Layer", his latest edition of "News Weather and Sports". Neil shares with us how he has been spending his Spring time off, a rare commodity for Rush these past few years. He shares with us his latest hobby, "motor-hiking", and also talks about the local geology and ornithology, etc. In his musings, he also tells us of the upcoming birth of his and Carrie's child; at the time of the writing in June she was seven months along! - Thanks to all who dropped me a line for the headsup!
 Last Wednesday, the 2009 International Digital Media Alliance Excellence Awards were held at the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills. Taking home the award for Excellence in Disc Audio (Blu Ray Disc) was Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live. - Thanks to Rushisaband.com for the headsup!
 One month from today, RushCon9, the ninth annual convention for Rush fans, will kick off in Toronto. For three days, from July 24-26, Rush fans will descend on the band's hometown for three fun filled days of games, trivia, memoribilia, Rush-related sight-seeing tours and more. Special guests this year include Michael Mosbach, who serves as head of Rush security as well as Neil Peart's riding partner, Martin Popoff, author of Contents Under Pressure, and Rush tribute band, Limelight. Visit the RushCon9 website to register or for more information.
Time for the latest reports of Rush In Pop Culture. As always, this does not include the usual slew of Rush references made during talkshows, gameshows, sporting events, news programs, etc. - Thanks to Jim Annison, Mark Stench, Derek DiSabato, Chris Rosenkranz and Keith Filling for the headsup!
 The song "A Nightmare to Remember" from Dream Theater's new release, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, contains the lyric "the air is thick and still," likely a nod to "Witch Hunt".Author Steven Seville, who wrote the Primeval spin-off novel Shadow Of The Jaguar, is obviously a Rush fan. The character Connor includes "2112" in his mp3 player's playlist (p43). Later, when the characters split up, they are told to tune their radios to channel 2112 (p106 and p206). And lastly, in the acknowledgments, the author states "Nothing can survive in a vacuum, and as the song goes, no-one can exist all alone." As seen in the trailer to the comedy film Who's Your Monkey, released March 28th, 2008, one of the characters is seen wearing a 2112 t-shirt.  During the second episode of season two of the Japanese anime series K-On! which aired April 9th, 2009, when one of the characters goes to the music store to buy a Les Paul guitar, a Pearl drums banner on the wall has been reworked to read "Peart, the best reason to play drums".2112 sighting!: in the film What Just Happened?, released November 28th, 2008, late in the film as Robert DeNiro's character is trying to catch a plane home from Cannes, the plane's ID number is CS2112F. And lastly, there has been yet another Rush reference by Rifftrax.com for the horror film Saw, released May 13th, 2008. When investigators find the doctor's pen light at the scene of a victim of the jigsaw killer, Danny Glover states "Get a rush on these prints", and Bill Colbert quips "Geddy Lee preferably." Produced by the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000, rifftrax are downloadable audio commentaries, available as MP3's at rifftrax.com.  As previously announced, Warner Music Japan has reissued RUSH's first 12 studio albums as Mini-LP SHM-CD's. Priced at just under $50 each, the first batch of releases include The debut album, Fly By Night, Caress Of Steel, 2112, A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Picures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, as well as Retrospective I and Retrospective II.The CD's are packaged as "Mini-LP's" in cardboard sleeves to faithfully mimic the original LP style. Only the first 12 studio albums will be released at this time, with future releases dependent on actual sales. Rush fan Jun'ya Suzuki of the Japanese Rush collector site "The Sphere" worked closely with Warner Music Japan to faithfully reproduce with exquisite detail the artwork of the original first edition Canadian LPs: you can view detailed images of the mini-lp artwork here. Although the data itself is not remastered, these "super high material" cd's purportedly improve the original audio through the use of new plastic material which is much clearer than normal cd's, thus reducing mechanical distortion and improving resolution. There are already some detrators to this technology, however. - Thanks Jun'ya for the headsup!  I Love You Man, the hit "bromance" comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray August 11th. Both Rudd and Segel are real-life Rush fans, and the film is full of Rush sightings, including a scene which takes place at a Rush concert with a cameo by the band. Additional Rush sightings can be found throughout, including Rudd and Segel jamming to "Limelight", a performance which is included on the I Love You Man Soundtrack (along with the original Rush versions of both "Limelight" and "Tom Sawyer"). Check out this extended 4:13 clip of Rush performing "Limelight" for the film, which includes footage not found in the final release. The video will be released August 11th; click here to preorder."When I met (the band) and I was explaining the scene to them, I was so hypersensitive that they would enjoy themselves and not feel as if we were making fun of them because we were not at all. So I was explaining it to them, like, 'Jason and I are dancing around and we're really, really excited, and Rashida [Jones], her character is weirded out by us but she's kind of bored because we're totally ignoring her. So that's what's going on in the scene. We're way into it and she's kind of bored.' And Geddy Lee said, 'So it's just like any one of our concerts.' (laughter)" - Paul Rudd, ComingSoon.net, March 19, 2009
Along with co-editor Jim Berti, long time Rush and philosophy author Durrell Bowman is putting together an anthology of articles and synopses featuring Rush and Philosophy. The editors recently posted a request for short articles on this topic.
Durrell Bowman is no stranger to this topic. On the "Rush Inspired Literature And Film" page of this site, you will find this listing of his works:
On June 18th, Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio and Doane Perry conducted a live chat on DrumChannel.com. The chat may an now be seen at this link. Also, check out Neil Peart's Master Class at DrumChannel.com. This 10 part video class runs only $14.95!
DrumChannel.com has also posted the first part of what will be a multipart series of a drum jam between Neil, Terry Bozzio, and Joey Heredia which you can view here. The full length jam can be found as a "Bonus Lesson" in Neil's Master Class titled "Frontiers of Composition and Articulation". "During a warm-up session with Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, and Joey Heredia, the Drum Channel crew was so impressed, we started rolling the cameras and managed to capture this amazing musical performance. We call this 'Part 1' of the Neil Peart Drum Jam. The full length jam can be found as a "Bonus Lesson" in Neil's Master Class titled Frontiers of Composition and Articulation - available on DC later this week." - DrumChannel.com, June 16, 2009  Rush's master recording of "YYZ" is included in the new Guitar Hero Smash Hits compilation now available on XBox, Wii and Playstation consoles. "YYZ" is one of 48 songs compiled from previous Guitar Hero releases, yet unlike the version of originally released on Guitar Hero 2, this is the master recording and includes play from all instruments.
 Last month, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee's appeared on CBC Radio's Q with Jian Ghomeshi. The video is now available on the program's YouTube channel.
 While at the Winter 2009 Namm show, in celebration of their 100th Anniversay, Ludwig drums re-created iconic kits that defined certain eras of Ludwig manufacturing and artist input with the current output of Ludwig products. To represent the 80's/90's, Ludwig recreated Neil Peart's Presto tour kit, which they dubbed the "Ro Sham Bo" kit (aka "rock paper scissors"). Visit Ludwig-Drums for more photos and details."The Ludwig Super Classic kit Neil played on the 1990 tour for the Presto album, to me, represented a brilliant bridge between the "old" Rush...and the "new"...It was the last of his live kits to feature the classic double-kick configuration that is instantly recognizable to the Peart aficionado (of which there is a small army.)...Since Neil left Ludwig in 1995, we couldn't call the kit The Peart Kit, so we called our recreation RO SHAM BO (so named because on this tour, his kick heads featured three illustrated hands doing "Scissors-Paper-Stone" as described in the album track Hand Over Fist,) a very obscure reference that only a true fan would catch (Neil himself reportedly had to look up the phrase "ro sham bo" on Wikipedia to catch the reference.)" - Kevin Packard, Director of Marketing, Ludwig Combo Percussion- Thanks to Jared Tuk for the headsup!  Hitting store shelves today, the latest installment of the Rock Band franchise is now available specifically for the portable Sony PSP gaming system. "Rock Band Unplugged" includes "The Trees", specifically, the "vault edition" which was previously released with Rock Band 2. The game is available as both a standalone UMD, or as part of the "Limited Edition Rock Band Unplugged Entertainment Pack" which contains the all new PSP-3000 System in piano black, the Rock Band Unplugged UMD Game, a School of Rock PlayStation Store downloadable Movie Voucher (with the classic line, "Neil Peart, one of the great drummers of all time, study up"; a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, AC Power Cord, AC Adaptor, and Battery Pack. Note, the PSP allows the user to customize their wallpaper, and what better way than with the album art of Rush? Click here for a complete set of Rush wallpapers for the PSP!"Rock Band Unplugged, based on the award-winning Rock Band series of games, features 41 songs on-disc that encompass popular tracks from the Rock Band music library, as well as nine songs exclusive to Rock Band Unplugged for a limited time before becoming available as downloadable content on other console versions...Travel the globe, play gigs, acquire fans, and become a rock legend, all while riding the train to work! Rock Band Unplugged creates a full band experience in the palm of players' hands by combining traditional beat-match gameplay with key elements from both Rock Band and Rock Band 2, such as overdrive and chords. The hands are the "peripherals" in Rock Band Unplugged, allowing players to take direct control of the lead/bass guitars, drums and vocals. Players can expect an in-depth Rock Band experience with fully functional modes, like World Tour, Band Survival and Warm Up, as well as a robust character creator for full rocker customization." - RockBand.com (includes video demo)  On a related note, on May 19th the all new "Classic Rock Track Pack" for Rock Band was released for the XBOX 360, Wii and PlayStation; this 20 song pack includes "Closer To The Heart" and "Red Barchetta"."Rock Band Track Pack™ Classic Rock is a musical expansion to the Rock Band platform that lets you jam to classic rock heroes like The Who, Rush, Boston and The Police. With Rock Band, you can play on your own, or show off your mad skills by forming a band to live out your rock and roll fantasies with music's greatest soundtrack. Rock Band Track Pack™ Classic Rock is a standalone software product that allows owners of Rock Band and Rock Band 2 to keep the party going with 20 of the greatest hits from the heyday of classic rock and beyond, hand-picked with care by the music-loving Harmonix team. All tracks from the Rock Band Classic Rock Track Pack are also available for play in Rock Band and Rock Band 2 by entering a special export authentication code for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION 3 versions. This Track Pack is also compatible with most other music-based video game peripheral controllers and microphones" - RockBand.com
The June 2009 issue of the UK's Classic Rock presents Prog is now on news stands and features The Top 50 Prog Albums Of All Time. Included in the list are A Farewell To Kings at #39, Snakes & Arrows at #34, Moving Pictures at #29 and 2112 at #27. The issue also includes an 8-page feature on Rush album art written by Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers. - Thanks to Rushisaband.com for the headsup!
 Looking for that perfect Father's Day gift for your Rush-fan dad? AxeHeaven.com is offering a special Father's Day special for Power Windows users. Axe Heaven is offering free shiping for Power Windows Website Users (or 10% off your order if international). Place your domestic order by Monday June 15th to insure delivery in time for Father's Day. To receive this discount, just enter one of these two coupon codes while checking out at AxeHeaven.com: 1) For free shipping for all domestic orders: coupon code FS2009; or 2) For an overall 10% discount off of international orders: coupon code TEN2009. For complete details of all the currently available models, click here; note, supplies are limited with new stock coming soon, so be sure to order yours today! Power Windows is proud to bring you these meticulously created 1:4-scale replica guitar collectibles from Axe Heaven.com. When it comes to RUSH, the instruments used by Lee and Lifeson are as iconic as the music they created. Now you can own miniature reproductions of the band's most memorable guitars* for a reasonable price (*Alex Lifeson's Gibson EDS-1275 Doubleneck, his signature Gibson ES-355, and Geddy Lee's signature Fender Jazz bass). Power Windows has been working with Axe Heaven to insure these guitars have been reproduced as closely as possible, to include such details as the maple fretboard and chrome volume plate on Geddy's signature Jazz bass, and the gold embellishments on Alex's signature ES-355. These collectible guitars are perfect for the home or the office, letting your acquaintances know where your allegiances lie; in addition, their low cost makes them a great gift.
The "Decades Music Theme Park" is a new rock-and-roll-themed amusement park scheduled to open in 2013 in Eloy, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. One of the attactions will be the "Spirit Of The Radio" concert hall, although the details are a bit confusing. From the park's website:
"Planned to open directly between the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas – will be a living monument to rock music and its artists as well as a dream come true for thrill seekers of all ages. The park itself will feature interconnected Lands and Districts that represent each decade of rock music – the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s in its first phase – with interactive thrill rides, live music and other attractions where audience members can step back in time to the sights and sounds of each era.- Thanks to RushIsABand.com for the headsup!  The Buddy Rich Memorial Concert 2008 is now available on DVD for $39.95. The three DVD set was produced by Neil Peart and Don Lombardi."Three discs with almost five hours of content! Featuring Neil Peart, Chad Smith, Tommy Igoe, John Blackwell, Terry Bozzio with Efrain Toro, Nick Rich, Peter Erskine, Will Lee, and Jeff Berlin. These artists pay tribute to Buddy Rich, one of the greatest drummers of all time. With an all-star big band, they play not only Buddy classics but also their own hits. Over two hours of concert footage, plus almost two hours of rehearsal and backstage footage memorialize this historic drumming event."In addition, Neil Peart will be participating in a live chart on the Drum Channel on Thursday, June 18th, 6pm PST. Catch DC LIVE with NEIL PEART of Rush, Doane Perry of Jethro Tull, and Terry Bozzio!  The July issue of Modern Drummer hits news stands on June 2nd. In it are the 2009 poll results for various "best of" contests, in which Neil Peart takes home second in the Best Rock drummer category, and third in Best Progressive Drummer category. - Thanks to Frank Ray for the headsup!
Neil Peart has updated the Bubba's Book Club section of his website, with five book recommendations with a common theme of "heroes". - Thanks to Tony Stiles for the headsup!
"The books I read are chosen by what seems at the time to be 'natural selection'—the simple criteria of picking up the next volume that feels 'most likely to please.' Sometimes, though, a sequence of books turns out to share an unexpected theme. These five reviews are presented in the order in which the books happened to be chosen (from my endless 'books to read' shelves), and the common theme that emerged is 'heroes.'" - Neil Peart, May 2009
Rush were the guests on the syndicated radio show In The Studio with Redbeard last week. The focus of the discussion was the 35th anniversary of the release of Rush's debut album in 1974. You can hear the interview here. Thanks to Rushisaband for the headsup!
Alex Lifeson will appear with an all star cast of actors and musicians in the upcoming Canadian vampire comedy Suck. From writer/director Rob Stefaniuk, filming began shooting last December in Toronto. Lifeson has a cameo as a Canadian border officer, who stops a vampire rock band and asks them about their business. After some small talk, Lifeson says "Are you a band? I used to be in a band too! Man,that brings me back! Well kids, have fun!" Later, Lifeson stops the vampire hunter, and when the hunter confirms he is coming to Canada for "hunting", Lifeson replies "Welcome home!" - Thanks to Rushfan19 for the headsup!
 Retrospective 3, the latest compilation from RUSH featuring tracks from 1989-2008, was released Tuesday, March 3rd. With just over 10,000 units sold the first week, the album debuted at #47 on the Soundscan chart (U2 was #1). Offered as both a single CD edition as well as a CD+DVD edition (click here for tracklists), Retrospective 3 includes one previously unreleased track: "Ghost of a Chance (live)". Also included on the DVD is a live performance of "Secret Touch" which was cut from from the R30 DVD release, as well as the trio's appearance on The Colbert Report last July.VH1 Classic has produced an all new one hour "Box Set: Rush" special. The special focuses on the 19 years featured on Retrospective 3 and beyond, with Geddy Lee commenting on each video. Visit VH1Classic.com for show times, or view it online. “We don’t really have hits...It’s more ‘All The Songs That Were Not Hits’ by Rush, ha-ha!" - Geddy Lee, ClassicRockMagazine.com, Feb. 12, 2009Radio Interviews and related news:
 We have the first glimpse of Rush: The Documentary, which was first announced in 2007. Grindstone Media has launched a website for the documentary with a short press release and movie poster. - Thanks to Rushisaband for the headsup!"From the creators of the acclaimed documentary METAL: A HEADBANGER’S JOURNEY and the follow-up GLOBAL METAL comes the first in-depth story of the rock band Rush. Canada’s 'holy trinity of rock' has risen to become one of the world’s most successful bands with the 5th most consecutive platinum and gold records, just behind KISS and THE BEATLES.As previously announced, a source working on the film has stated they are hoping for a November 2009 release. The Rush documentary was delayed as Banger Productions have been focused on Iron Maiden documentary, Flight 666: The Movie; based on that film's trailer, Rush fans can look forward to a fantastic film.
"The Snakes & Arrows Live DVD (click here for the full track listing) was filmed with 21 High Definition cameras in 16x9 widescreen format, over two nights in October 2007 at the Netherlands’ Ahoy Rotterdam arena during the renowned rock trio’s lengthy world tour. Additional SD footage was filmed in Atlanta this past July...Related News  It's official, Rush will be getting their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! Thanks to efforts of their fans, spearheaded by none other than Donna Halper, Rush will be one of 25 recipients chosen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's Walk of Fame Committee to be enshrined in 2009. Besides Rush, the recipients include Harry Shearer, Hugh Jackman, Ben Kingsley, The Village People, Tinkerbell, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Cameron Diaz, Robert Downey Jr., Tim Burton, Leslie Caron, Charles Durning, Ralph Fiennes, William Petersen, Kyra Sedgwick, John Stamos, Mark Burnett, Chuck Lorre, Kenny "Baby Face" Edmonds, Dave Koz, The Miracles, Doug Morris, Shakira, and Bill Handel.Related Stories
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