'Bumped' by Frank Sinatra, from Dec. 6 to 7th, 1987


"Neil Peart has just gotten the word that he and his bandmates in Rush have been 'bumped' by Frank Sinatra. The Canadian rockers and Sinatra usually don't travel in the same musical circles, but they were scheduled to play the same hall on different nights last weekend. It seems that a sold-out Sinatra-Liza Minnelli concert at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey was called off ten minutes before showtime because the orchestra's sheet music never arrived. The Associated Press reported that about 19,000 fans left without incident. The AP also reported that the show was re-scheduled for last Sunday night (Dec. 6) thereby bumping Rush, who didn't need sheet music, back to Monday. The reaction of Peart, philosophical writer in this most philosophical of bands, is suitably philosophical. 'No problem,' he says in a sonorous radio voice that suggests he is an 'MMS jock rather than a rock drummer. 'I like Sinatra.'" - Holding On To What They've Got - Scene, December 10-16, 1987