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Showing posts from January, 2013

Canadian Cosmonaut Chris Hadfield Talks About Rush From Space

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CBC Music ran a piece today on Chris Hadfield, the Canadian Cosmonaut who is currently aboard the ISS (International Space Station). In the segment, Chris talks about his musical influences, focusing largely on Canadian acts. The cosmonaut reveals that Rush was among his earliest influences. From the article: "It’s no secret that Canadian prog rockers Rush are big fans of space exploration, whether it’s 1976’s 2112, the space rock opera that thrust them into stardom, or 1982’s “Countdown,” a song that describes the launch of space shuttle Columbia that the band watched from a VIP area at the Kennedy Space Center. It’s only fitting that Rush would, in turn, influence Canadian cosmonaut Chris Hadfield, who says he started listening to them in high school and was drawn to the band’s “incredible originality and dissatisfaction with normal” in a new video post he’s made from aboard the International Space Station..." You can read the entire article and view the accompanying

Rush: The Unauthorized Illustrated History Hard Cover Book Coming in May

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Update (05/23/2013): Amazon has been shipping this item now (in the United States). I received my copy yesterday and I can tell you that it is a beautifully crafted book. A true tribute to Rush. Update (05/02/2013): According to Amazon, the release date for this book has been pushed back to May 30th. The estimated arrival dates are between June 4th and 6th (within the U.S.) for those who pre-ordered the book. Martin Popoff, author of the 2004 Rush Biography Contents Under Pressure: 30 Years of Rush at Home and Away is following up that critically acclaimed offering with an illustrative history of the band. His upcoming book, titled Rush: The Unauthorized Illustrated History , is set for release on May 15th: Formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1968 under the heavy influence of British blues, Rush solidified its lineup in 1974 and has gone on to record 18 studio albums (and counting). Notable for bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee’s high register, Neil Peart’s virtuosic drumming and inventive ly

Rush Reference on FX's Archer - 'Van By Night'

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FX's long-running animated series Archer has had a history of Rush sightings throughout its run. Most have taken place in the form of a Rush album-themed mural appearing on the side of Krieger's van (one of the main characters in the show). On the most recent episode of the show from the 4th season titled "The Wind Cries Mary," Krieger's van received the "Fly By Night" treatment. Check out a full-sized screen capture HERE . This is the fourth such Rush reference on the series, and the third van motif to appear. Back in March of 2012 , a Neil Peart-inspired drum kit along with a conversation regarding YYZ takes place between the show's characters. Back in January of 2012 , a van appeared in the show with a Hemispheres -style painted motif. And in April of 2011 , another van appeared in a great Exit...Stage Left motif. Thanks to Ed from RushIsABand for the news and the screen-cap. Related News Stories [ Another Rush Reference on FX&

Rush: A Brief History of Time, Part 10

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It's been six months since the last update to Cygnus-X1.Net's Rush: A Brief History of Time ; an on-going collection of articles, interviews, reviews and advertisements about Rush that spans every decade from the 70's onward and collected from the world over. The tenth installment includes 114 new articles and advertisements; 5 from the 1970's, 59 from the 1980's, 13 from the 1990's, 4 from the 2000's and 33 from the current 2010 decade. The majority of the earlier articles focus around the release of Power Windows and includes some great advertisements not only for the album, but for the released singles as well. The later articles focus on Clockwork Angels, many of which come from foreign magazines. Below is a sample of Part 10. To check out the entire segment, click HERE . To check out all ten installments of Rush: A Brief History of Time, including a chronological listing of all the articles, click HERE . Enjoy- The tenth installment of Rush:

Rush Announce Special Fan Ticket Pre-Sale for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

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Rush have just announced that there will be a special fan-only ticket pre-sale to the upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, CA. From the band: The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame announced ticketing details for the 28TH Annual Induction Ceremony held APRIL 18, 2013 in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre. We want to celebrate and share this moment with as MANY Rush fans in the room that night as possible! There will be a special Rush fan pre-sale that starts Monday, January 28 at 10 a.m. PST through Thursday, January 31 at 10 p.m. PST at Ticketmaster. The password for this pre-sale is rushfan . There will be preferred seating held in every price and seating area. Please also be aware that tomorrow, January 24, a Presale for American Express Cardmembers begins. Advance tickets for American Express Cardmembers will be available from Thursday, January 24 at 10 a.m. PST through Sunday, January 27 at 10 p.m. PST. Tickets can be purchas

Foo Fighters to Induct Rush into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Ever since the announcement that Rush was being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2013, speculation has abounded over who, exactly, would actually induct the band during the ceremony. Names being thrown around included Rush 'discoverer' Donna Halper, Smashing Pumpkins front-man and Rush fan Billy Corgan, and even a group of dedicated fans. However an article just published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer has confirmed that both Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters will have the honors: Foo Fighters and self-professed Rush super-fans Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins will induct the Canadian prog-rockers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April in Los Angeles. "It's got to be a dream come true for them. The Foo Fighters would have grown up listening to Rush on '70s radio," said Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Greg Harris by phone from Washington, D.C. "You can tell that they have a real sense of rock

Rush Announce Initial 2013 North American Clockwork Angel Tour Dates

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The wait is finally over. Today, Rush have formally announced the intial North American tour dates for the 2013 leg of their Clockwork Angels tour. The band originally announced a set of 2013 dates in Europe, which will take place from May 22nd through June 10th. Now, they've added on nine additional shows throughout the eastern part of North America which will take place before the European leg, with a promise to add more dates in North America during the summer. From the band: As previously alluded to, and due to overwhelming demand, the Clockwork Angels Tour will continue in 2013 to over 20+ cities in North America this year. Beginning in April, fans will be able to catch RUSH live in a number of new markets not visited on last year’s tour. Today we have announced details for the spring leg of the tour which include: April 23 Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center April 26 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ BB&T Center April 28 Orlando, FL @ Amway Center May 1 Nashville, TN @ Bridges

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Ticket Information Now Available

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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has just announced the ticket information for the Induction Ceremony which will take place in April: Ticket Purchase Information Tickets to the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony go on sale to the public on Friday, February 1st. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Members will have the opportunity to purchase advance sale tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013 Inductions starting Monday, January 28. Memberships must have been active as of January 1st, 2013. Some restrictions apply. Stay tuned for more details! Scheduled for Thursday, April 18, 2013, the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles. This marks the first time since 1993 that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on the West Coast. The ceremony will again be open to the public, as it was in 2009 and 2012 in Cleveland. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for 2

Rush Clockwork Angels Tour DVD Not Coming May 21st

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Earlier this week we reported that Rush's upcoming Live Concert DVD filmed during last year's Clockwork Angels tour would be released this coming May 21st. The original report came from MusicTap who just posted the following update/retraction : If you’re a Rush fan and were all excited about the date I laid out for you for the upcoming Clockwork Angels DVD, then I owe you an apology. It would appear that the DVD (untitled as of this point), is NOT scheduled for May 21. One of the dangers in running a site like this is a bad date feed. Release dates may find their way into your mailbox, often by trusted resources. Usually you can run with them. For example, the 2112 Deluxe reissue announcement, which proved to be true. I received the info about the DVD from the same source, however, today, from a more trusted source, I was told that the DVD does not have a release date in place. I was told that it would be made available, likely in the Fall of this year, corresponding

Alex Lifeson Hentor Sportscaster Replica Guitars Now Available

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"Freddy's Frets", a custom guitar shop from the Niagara on the Lake area on Ontario, has received permission direct from Alex Lifeson to create and sell replicas of his "Hentor Sportscaster" customized Fender Strat guitar. Alex used this guitar heavily during the 1980's and named it after Peter Henderson who co-produced the band's 1984 album Grace Under Pressure . From Freddy's Frets : "Hello my fellow Rush fans! Alex Lifeson has given me permission to backwards engineer and meticulously blueprint his iconic Hentor Sportscaster so that I may make and sell accurate replicas. I have had the Hentor in my possession for about 6 months and have documented every property and detail of this amazing and unique sounding guitar. Alex's only stipulation was that for every guitar sold, a portion of the profit goes to his charity "Grapes Under Pressure". While in my possession over the last few months I made suggestions to Alex on upgrading

Rush Clockwork Angels Tour DVD Coming May 21st

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According to a brief announcement at MusicTap , Rush's forthcoming Live Concert DVD from their Clockwork Angels tour is set to be released on May 21st; far sooner than expected. It's somewhat interesting that the band would decide to release the Live DVD presumably in the middle of their North American tour later this year (though they have yet to announce the tour dates). From the post: Another DVD planned for release is Clockwork Angels Live featuring Rush, planned for May 21 via Concord Records. Rush filmed two consecutive tour dates last year in preparation for the Live DVD - November 25th in Phoenix and November 28th in Dallas. Based on reports, the Dallas show is expected to be the primary show for the DVD while the Phoenix show will be used for the inclusion of other songs not played in Dallas and any additional filler and/or corrections needed. No additional information is available at this time on the release, however more details will certainly begin to surface

Geddy Lee to Appear On CBS's How I Met Your Mother

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CBS's long-running comedy, How I Met Your Mother will be airing a Canadian-filled episode on February 4th and, according to a news release from the Huffington Post , Geddy Lee will be among the many Canadians to make an appearance on the show. From the website: "How I Met Your Mother" is trotting out some very big Canadian stars for the return of Robin Sparkles on Monday, February 4. Alan Thicke, Alex Trebek, K.D. Lang and James Van Der Beek are just a few of the stars who will appear in the episode marking the return of Cobie Smulders in her Canadian pop star guise. A video which is included in the news story lists all of the guest starts, with Geddy Lee's name appearing at approximately the 40-second mark. How I Met Your Mother airs every Monday night at 8PM EST on CBS. Thanks to RushIsABand for the news.

SACD Version of Rush's Counterparts Now Available for Pre-Order

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Update (03/06/2013): The SACD version of Counterparts is now shipping - finally! Thanks Mike Cronis . Update (02/24/2013): The SACD version of Counterparts has been delayed once again. It is now scheduled for release on March 5th. Update (01/17/2013): It now appears that the CD will be released on February 19th according to the pre-order link at Amazon.Com . Back in November, we reported that Rush's album Counterparts was being re-released by Audio Fidelity in the SACD format. The SACD format, or Super Audio CD was first introduced back in 1999 as a successor to the audio CD; claiming to offer a better audio dynamics, more channels (e.g. surround sound), and a longer playing time than a standard CD. While the format never gained much traction, a small market still exists, serving the audiophile community. This mark's Audio Fidelity's first Rush SACD releases since the release of their Roll The Bones Gold CD back in August of 2011. The original announcement indicat

Rush Techs and Road Crew Featured in Online Articles

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There certainly hasn't been a shortage of articles published on Rush over the past few years however the vast majority of those articles focus on Geddy, Alex and Neil. When it comes to Rush on tour, most people know that the magic on stage couldn't happen without quite a bit of magic (i.e. hard work) behind the scenes. So it's nice to see that two separate online articles have just been published that focus on Rush's Road Crew. In the first, titled Six-String Wizards: Meet the Unsung Heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll , The Globe and Mall chat with Scott Appleton; Alex Lifeson's guitar tech from the Clockwork Angels tour. Scott has been in the business for over twenty years and reflects on just how much work has to go in to make sure Alex - and his guitars - are at their best: Appleton works up to 14 hours a day on concert days, starting at 11 a.m. (changing strings, tuning the guitars and setting up Lifeson’s rig), continuing to a soundcheck at 5 p.m., then being on cal

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Rush Coming January 29th

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Rockabye Baby! , the company that "transforms timeless rock songs into beautiful instrumental lullabies" is set to release a album dedicated to Rush songs. Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Rush , which will be released on January 29th, contains 12 Rush classic songs from 2112: Overature to A Farewell to Kings to Subdivisions. From the Rockabye Baby! website: Do you have a modern day warrior putting up a fight at bedtime? Looking for a reliable way to put baby to sleep and not some fly by night sandman? Try Rockabye Baby’s tender lullaby versions of Rush’s hard rock hits. This magic music will bring your baby closer to the heart of slumberland. Guitars and drums are traded for soothing mellotrons, vibraphones and bells, and the volume is turned down from an eleven to a two. Rockabye Baby is the perfect way to share the music you love with the littlest rocker in your life. You can listen to samples of each track at the Rockabye Baby! website . Interestingly enough, t

Rush's Working Man Used as Theme on Transporter: The Series

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Update (01/06/2013): Click HERE for a longer version of the theme song. Thanks RIAB! The new HBO series, Transporter: The Series which is based on the Transporter movie franchise created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, includes a "refreshed" version of Rush's classic song Working Man as the opening theme. The theme song, which is sung by Danielle Armstrong, may not be immediately recognizable, even to Rush fans :-) According to some credits, it was produced by Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee. You can listen to the song via this LINK or the embedded player below. Transporter: The Series, which is described as "The continuing the adventures of Frank Martin, a professional freelance courier driver for hire who will deliver anything, anywhere, no questions asked for the right price, and lives by three, unbreakable rules, which he constantly breaks." premiered last October 11th, 2012 in Germany and then later on December 6th, 2012 in France. The Canadia

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