About Mereley Players

"i see red, it hurts my head, guess it must be something, that i read"

This book is reported to be encyclopedic in nature, with many never before seen photographs of the band. However, Rush has not endorsed the book, and SRO/Anthem refuses to comment on it, and I feel compelled to share with you some history about the book and the author.

I try to maintain "Power Windows" with the same integrity exemplified by Rush, and the irony of this essay does not escape me. Unfortunately, this "Spirit of Rush" is not shared by all Rush webmasters. The "Rush Reference Page", run by Robert Telleria, made public claims that "Power Windows" and other popular and respected websites had plagiarized him, labeling us "pirates". Unwisely, most of the properties he claimed were his are actually owned by Rush. If his claims were true, he could have easily had these sites removed from the Internet for theft of his intellectual properties. Other accusations were also made, but I will spare you the details. In truth, I avoided the Rush Reference Page as it was widely known that it contained many errors, which were excused by his supporters as acceptable as they were reportedly "intentionally" included by Telleria to catch possible web pirates.

At the same time these accusations were made, the "Rush Reference Page" was closed so that fans would instead buy his book, Mereley Players. The book had been scheduled for release for over a year, but as no surprise to many it was faced with many delays. Once released, two items on the cover stood out as warning signs of the content within: first, the title is misspelled as "Mereley" Players; second, the back cover states "Robert Telleria is the reigning authority on all things Rush". Not surprisingly, Telleria has reportedly claimed the printer, without his knowledge, added the "reigning authority" quote and caused the typo, even though it is common practice for the author or his publisher to approve a final proof before going to press. More than likely his history for publishing erroneous information has carried over into his book. In addition, coinciding with its release, claims were made that contributors to sections of his website from which some of the information in the book had been taken may not have received appropriate credit; I sincerely hope such claims are not true, as it would greatly diminish the respect a Rush book deserves.

As another fan so eloquently spoke:

"A misspelling in the title of a book is about as bad as it gets. Given Telleria's long track record of sloppy mistakes, the title mistake is probably a big sign pointing towards the level of accuracy you can expect from the material inside the book. He's made some mistakes even a relative Rush newbie could catch, but most of his mistakes are very subtle errors, frequently errors resulting from poor guesswork and assumptions, and the reporting of these suppositions as if they were confirmed fact. His mistakes are often in obscure details which are hard to verify, and are often not easily noticed. I'm really concerned that fans who don't know better might treat his book as if it is reliable, and will cite it as a source of facts during discussions, or might even use it as their source when writing their own websites, articles and books about Rush. Telleria's mistakes are liable to be repeated in magazine articles, websites, Internet postings, and word-of-mouth. In that way, one person's sloppy but subtle error becomes repeated as if its fact until few (if any) remember that it's not true."

So now you have some history behind Robert Telleria, the "reigning authority on all things Rush" and his new book, Mereley Players. I truly hope this book is insightful, honest, and worthy of your time. Keep in mind, however, that Telleria in essence has inadvertently claimed that much of the information on his site was found on Power Windows (accurately and without typos, I hope). Yet, if you still feel you must purchase the book, here is a link to Mereley Players online.

Sincerely,

Power Windows Webmaster
January 2002