Rush News
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"Lee says this current leg sees four or five changes in the set list, with some rarities played last year replaced by more signature material. 'We're playing more cities on this tour that we haven't played in quite some time, and I think those fans kind of want to hear more of the classic tracks.'" - Geddy Lee, Jam!Showbiz, April 14, 2008YOUR HELP NEEDED! I want to cover Rush's tour the best I can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. I would especially love to post scans of your TICKET STUBS, as well as any newspaper reviews, advertisements, photos of billboards, and just about ANYTHING else you come across that you would like to share with your fellow Rush fans. Please email your items to be permanently added to the Tour Archives of this website! Snakes & Arrows 2008 Tour News & Interviews
"With this one, we recorded both nights and there are songs on there from both nights -- so it gives you a bit more comfort. You're a bit more relaxed about it knowing if you screw it up at night one, you can nail it on night two. All in all I think we played very well those two nights." - Geddy Lee, Jam!Showbiz, April 14, 2008Several Snakes & Arrows Live items can be found in the "Downloads" section of this website, including a Userbar, PSP Wallpaper, Winamp Skin, and most importantly, a complete collection of Desktop Wallpaper. Thanks to Cygnus-X1.net for providing a majority of the raw linernotes images. The DVD release of Snakes & Arrows Live is to be released later this year, although official date has been announced. In a recent interview Alex Lifeson remarked: "'The group decided to put the CD out first', he says, because 'we wanted to kind of bridge the two halves of the tour with a release so there's something there, and then we'll follow up with the live DVD.'" - Billboard.com, April 1, 2008Related News
The members of Rush have been quietly gathering up wins in various music magazine readers polls:
The mulitimedia section of Rush.com has been updated with the second episode of "The Biggest Fans". This episode focuses on Alex Lifeson's Barbie collection. Thanks to Chris Falskow for the heads up!
"According to the KVR audio forum, a company called Sonic Reality recently completed a Neil Peart drum sampling session, engineered by Nick Raskulinecz. It appears the session started on March 18 in Los Angeles, and the final product is scheduled to be released by the end of 2008.
The end result of this project will be a "Neil Peart Studio Profile," most likely a complete sample of Neil's Snakes & Arrows DW kit and his V-drum sounds -- and possibly Neil Peart loops. Sonic Reality has produced other Studio Profiles on such drummers as Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos and Yes/Earthworks/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford. If you're curious about what this all means, you can basically buy professionally-recorded sampled sounds of drummers that you can use with music software on a computer -- or plug these samples into keyboards or electronic drums. Studio Profiles cost around $79.00..." - AndrewOlson.com  "How to best sum up the Foo Fighters show on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre? What a Rush! Literally. Rush singer-bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson surprised the crowd by showing up about an hour into the Foos’ two-hour-and-10-minute performance to play with drummer Taylor Hawkins during his drum solo and the three musicans then played the Rush instrumental YYZ. Let's just say the appearance by the Toronto prog-rockers injected some much needed energy and excitement into the proceedings and Hawkins even had a hug for Lee afterwards. 'Rush! Rush!' screamed Foos leader Dave Grohl in amazement as the two musicians walked off stage...'You've got nuts the size of grapefruits,' said Grohl to Hawkins after he played with Lee and Lifeson..." - Jam! Showbiz, Mar. 23, 2008. For video clips of the performance, click here and here.Update: Rush.com has a full gallery of Geddy and Alex at the Foo Fighters' show, and there is also a gallery at the Foo Fighters website!  Visit Hughes-and-Kettner.com to see a short video of how Zach Tabore became Hughes & Kettner's newest youngest endorsee.....thanks to Alex Lifeson! Thanks to Darin Loccarin for the heads up!
The promo copy submitted to radio stations includes three versions of the song; the radio-edit (4:19), the live version (5:03) and the full album version (4:55). If you haven't heard it in your area, contact your local rock stations and request it! In addition, the track is available as an mp3 download from Amazon.  RushCon 8 will take place July 8-10, 2008 in Toronto. This is the first midweek Rushcon ever, scheduled to coincide with the Toronto RUSH concert on Wednesday, July 9th. The convention will be held at the Days Hotel & Conference Center - Toronto Downtown. Planned events include Tuesday night's "In the Mood" Mixer, Wednesday day's "RUSH-based Games and Charity Auction" (a chance to win cool RUSH prizes plus a RUSH memorabilia auction including autographed items!) benefiting the Daily Bread Food Bank of Toronto (to date, Rushcon has raised $40,000 CND for charity!); Wednesday night will include a Toronto Harbor boat cruise to the RUSH show, concluding with tours of Toronto on Thursday. Visit RushCon.org for details.
Neil Peart has updated his website with his latest installment of "News, Weather & Sports": "The Best February Ever". In it he fills us in on how he's been spending his winter in Quebec, and discusses his cross-country skiing passion in detail. In addition, he talks about the second leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour, both the reasons behind it as well as his well known dislike of touring:
"Early in March I will have to start preparing for another series of concerts, a 'continuation' of the Snakes and Arrows tour. (The Snakes and Arrows 'surge,' I call it.) We had planned to end the tour in Europe last fall, but apparently more people want to see us, or see us again, so we were asked to do more shows. Some of them will be in places we haven’t got to for a while, like New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Winnipeg, and that is nice, plus we plan to make a few changes to the setlist and presentation to freshen it up a little. Although the world knows by now that I’m not crazy about touring, I sure don’t discount the good fortune that we can still do it, personally and professionally — that we can play better than ever, and that people will come and see us. That’s not something I have ever taken for granted. As I have said to friends who might be having their own work difficulties, 'At least if I have to work, I’m glad I can.' And not just any old job, of course — pretty much the best job there is — but none-the-less a hard one." - NeilPeart.net, March 2008
The Gibson Alex Lifeson Signature ES-355 is now available from at Guitar Center and Musician's Friend for a cool $3,699 (that's discounted from the suggested retail price of $5,645.00). If bass is your instrument of choice, you can pick up the Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz Bass for a mere $849!
 "The Alex Lifeson ES-355 features a maple body, 3-piece maple neck, '57 Classic pickups with individual volume and tone controls, and a Maestro Long vibrola tailpiece. It would be the consummate prog rock machine even if it weren't the chosen axe of the Rush guitarist, but because it is, you know it's got the goods. The Vibrola is one of the least wood-invasive tremolo options, keeping the belly of this archtop guitar remarkably pristine and preserving it's natural resonance. The Alex Lifeson Signature ES-355's individual volume and tone controls for each of the '57 Classic pickups give you full reign over the wide spectrum of tones of which these faithful Alnico II replicas of the 1950s PAF humbuckers are capable.'For 33 years, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson has personified the consummate rock innovator a sonic adventurer capable of producing mind-blowing power chords and dizzying arpeggios alike, ultimately sculpted into huge, rich melodies and ingenious arrangements. Throughout most of Lifeson s ride to superstardom, a 1976 Gibson ES-355 has been by his side, both in the studio and on stage. With it, he has created many of Rush s breathtaking layered soundscapes, and the very same ES-355 continues to be an indispensable part of his live arsenal. This Gibson electric guitar is a painstaking recreation of the iconic instrument. It's Gibson s heartfelt tribute to a true modern master, and to the guitar he used to expand the definition of popular music." - GuitarCenter.com
Issue 9 of "Bubba's Book Club" has been added to NeilPeart.net. For this issue, Neil first reviews: This Is Your Life, by John O’Farrell, which he dubs a "comic masterpiece"; The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud, "a modern masterpiece"; Unfinished Journey (Twenty Years Later), the autobiography of classical violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin; This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin, "a piece of 'layman’s science' that aims to explain the neurological effects of listening to, and performing, music"; and lastly Metal Swarm (The Saga of Seven Suns - Book 6) by sci-fi writer and Neil's friend Kevin J. Anderson.
"With Across the Universe, Julie Taymor put together a film based on dozens of unrelated Beatles songs, stitching them together to tell a story. ("I Want You" as a military recruiting anthem? Genius.) But what about all those other bands with deep back catalogs full of plot possibilities? Here are our (admittedly jokey) picks for ten groups and artists whose music (entire catalogs, not just single albums) is ripe for adapting into a feature film... and how we think that movie would go down.
1. Rush - It's hard not to cheat since some of the Canadian supergroup's classic albums from the '70s tell entire stories on their own. But we'll bypass 2112 mysticism to cobble together a post-modern story of an oppressed society ("Red Sector A") ruled by evil corporations ("The Big Money") which inspires an impressionable, young kid ("Tom Sawyer") to break free of his shackles ("New World Man") through the power of music ("Spirit of Radio," "Limelight")... and a fast car ("Red Barchetta"). OK, fine, and then he goes into space ("Cygnus X-1"). Think The Matrix with singing." - For the complete list, visit FilmCritic.com
iVideosongs.com is a new service which allows users to download teaching videos of famous guitarists, including Alex Lifeson. Each video is $9.99, and the guitarists spend time demonstrating how to play all the different parts of some of their most famous songs. The lessons are presented in chapters--introduction, verse, chorus, bridge, outro--and titles can be sorted by skill level and genre. Click here for Alex's page, which includes a sample of his tutorial.
Today marks the 10th birthday of the Power Windows website at 2112.net. After originally residing elsewhere for a few months in '97, we officially moved to 2112.net on Feb. 1, 1998. I had hoped to mark the occasion with a special contest or anniversary celebration of sorts, but time has eluded me, so I'll just mark it with this news entry. Thanks to everyone who has made this website possible, both the contributors and users, and a very special thanks to Blake Willis who owns and maintains 2112.net.
 I have made one small addition/change to the site, however: to the Desktop Wallpaper page, I've updated "The Rush Art Gallery" wallpaper image by adding what is believed to be the official Snakes & Arrows Live album cover. For the first time, this wallpaper is available in both standard and widescreen formats. A Power Windows website original, this image features every studio, live and compilation Rush album arranged by release date. Enjoy!
"Terry had approached Alex about making a guest appearance – and played him some of our new songs. Alex liked what he heard and said he would have a chance to do 'something' before Rush began rehearsals for their 'Snakes and Arrows' tour. The window of opportunity arrived this past March – and Terry went to Alex’ studio where the two proceeded to work their magic on "Sacred and Mundane." Listening to Alex' parts for the first time was amazing – and the amount of work he put into the song was beyond what we could have hoped for. He came up with a counter-riff that literally 'became' the song; he added acoustic guitars to the refrains; played an acoustic Celtic counter-melody in the bridge; came up with a cool backwards solo in the breakdown section; and added an assortment of guitar textures and effects from start to finish. Terry and Alex spent almost 12-hours recording." - Chris Herin, guitarist, Tiles-music.com
In addition to allowing the player to master lead guitar, Rock Band challenges rockers to master bass guitar, drums and vocals. This is the second game to include Rush cover songs in Harmonix/Electronic Arts' games; "YYZ" was included in Guitar Hero 2. "With a lot of the rock guitar games that are available now...a whole new audience is coming around to knowing who we are. We're seeing a lot of young kids that have learned about Rush that way. So its very interesting to us to see all of these 11 - 14 year old budding guitar players coming to our shows." - Alex Lifeson, KZRR Albuquerque phone interview, April 8th, 2008
Mobile Fidelity's Limited Edition 24k Gold Audiophile CDs are some of the most valuable collector's items within the Audiophile market, pressed directly from the original studio master session tapes and engineered to produce the finest CD sound quality available. This is the fourth Rush album to be released in the Ultradisc II™ line; previous releases include 2112 (1993), Moving Pictures (1992), and Signals (1994), all of which are now out of print; the Permanent Waves Ultradisc II™ is sure to be highly coveted by Rush Audiophiles. Click here to preorder. Mobile Fidelity's 180 gram vinyl release of Permanent Waves is also now available, with preordered copies also now delivering. This will be a numbered limited edition (how limited is unknown), click here to preorder.
"Available Light" from Rush's 1989 album Presto, is one of four tracks which have been recorded for an all new full orchestral jazz covers project to be released mid-to-late 2008. The as of yet unnamed band began as a recording project founded by composers Ryan Fraley & Ralph Johnson with vocalist Lydia McAdams. Besides Rush, the band is covering Queen, Yes, Led Zeppelin and more; there are samples of the four completed tracks (including "Available Light") currently available on their website with eight more tracks in the works. Judging from the samples, this covers album will be very unique, with classic prog songs lovingly rearranged for a full jazz orchestra with beautiful vocal accompanyment. Visit progjazz.com for more information, including a mailing list to be automatically notified once the CD is released.
Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn, who last year won multiple awards for Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, are currently producing Rush: The Documentary, the first major documentary of its kind to cover the history and influence of Rush.
"Grindstone Media is hoping to have a hit on its hands with Rush: The Documentary. The $1.5 million feature doc about the famed rock band is produced and directed by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn -- the creative team behind 2005's Metal: A Headbanger's Journey -- and executive produced by Grindstone president Paul Zimic. McFadyen -- currently in Helsinki, Finland with Rush's Snakes and Arrows tour -- finds it ironic that despite the band's influence on groups as diverse as The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica, that this will be the first in-depth look at its history and influence. 'Most Canadians are aware of Rush, but I don't think that the degree of their success or influence on the international music scene is recognized or respected. We're talking about a group that is ranked fifth in the world for most consecutive gold and platinum albums, behind groups like The Beatles and the Stones,' he says. The doc will include new interviews with some of rock's biggest names -- including members of Metallica, Nirvana and Iron Maiden -- plus never-before-seen footage shot by singer Geddy Lee himself, which Grindstone hopes will attract Canadian broadcasters." - Playback, Oct. 29th, 2007
Originally set for release from Rounder Books on September 25th, The Roadshow Illustrated Companion has been delayed with a new release date of July 25th, 2008.
"A stunning companion to Roadshow: Landscape with Drums, The Illustrated Companion combines eloquent text with a range of full color photographs depicting the byways, bystanders, backstage hands, and other features of Neil Peart's ever-changing landscape as he journeys by motorcycle between dates on Rush's historic 30th Anniversary World Tour. Including concert photos taken by official Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan The Roadshow Illustrated Companion vividly chronicles Peart's ultimate travel adventure delivering a sublimely executed treatise on the art of travel." Archives
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