I'm happy to announce another new section to the Cygnus-X1.Net website - The 'Tom Sawyer's Treasures' Rush Collector's Fanzine Archive. As some fans may remember from the pre-internet days, Rush fanzines were the primary source for gathering information and news on the band. In 1993, the collector-focused, Scotland based fanzine was first launched by Jim Wright and Chris Jones. The inaugural issue included the following introductory message from Wright and Jones: "...In this new fanzine we will be dissecting rare Rush vinyl, CDs, etc, right down to the matrix number. Our aim is to inform collectors/fans of the worldwide rarities available and by giving a detailed description we hopefully will encourage more of you out there to start collecting. The time has never been better as record companies are now producing less vinyl but more CDs and tapes. This means that vinyl prices will soar in the future (but don't tell anyone!)..." The fanzine was shor...

The Rush Backstage Club has just announced the availability of a Limited Edition copy of Clockwork Angels: The Graphic Novel . Signed by Neil Peart, Kevin J. Anderson, and artist Nick Robles, and limited to a run of just 500 copies, this is sure to sell out quickly. Further details from the Backstage Club: This limited edition version of Clockwork Angels The Graphic Novel includes a numbered bookplate autographed by Neil Peart, Kevin J Anderson and artist Nick Robles. The book comes packed inside a custom slip case and the book itself features a beautiful debossed gear cover with a blue foil stamp and matching satin ribbon bookmark. This release is limited to 500 copies. Owen Hardy, like all the people of Albion, has lived his whole life under the rule of The Watchmaker. His entire life has been planned down to the exact second. But what happens when a young boy decides that things should not always goes as planned? Rush’s Clockwork Angels is a testament to the band’s creative ...

TeamRock.Com has just posted a new, exclusive interview with both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson in celebration of Rush's unofficial 50th anniversary. The two bandmaters actually met back in 1966, though their first gig together wouldn't take place until two years later: 1968: The First Gig Alex Lifeson: It was cool to be young and be in ‘a band’. I had a friend named John Rutsey who played drums, and we had a little basement band called The Projection. The guy that lived next door to me, Gary Cooper, was the bass player. He was older than us and he was the only one who had a car. That was a very important friend to have. That band never really gigged. We just played at a party maybe once every six weeks during the summer. It was mostly about getting together and playing the three or four songs that we knew. And Gary Cooper didn’t stick around for long. But out of The Projection came the first gig as Rush. John’s brother Bill had said, ‘You need a better name for the band – how ...

The thirteenth installment of the ongoing series Rush: A Brief History of Time , an ever-growing archive of articles, interviews, reviews, and advertisements about Rush that span every decade from the 70's onward, and collected from the world over, is now online . The thirteenth installment includes 239 "new" articles and advertisements; 54 from the 1970's, 39 from the 1980's, 110 from the 1990's, 1 from the 2000's and 35 from the current 2010 decade. Roughly half of the articles this time around focus on the releases of Presto and Roll the Bones , including some great, separate interviews with each of the band members. Also included in this installment are numerous, early concert reviews from the 1970's, many of which definitely did not paint Rush, or their musical prowess, in a favorable light. One such review from 1974 had this to say: "I really don't see what all the excitement over Rush is about. They're just another "high...

Update: Well, that didn't take long. The item has sold-out, which isn't surprising given the limited run. We'll keep an eye out in case the Backstage Club offers up more in the future. The Rush Backstage Club has just announced the availability of a Caress of Steel Artist Proof Lithograph drawing that is framed and signed by prolific Rush artist Hugh Syme. From the announcement: We have released the Artist Proof Limited Edition of Hugh Syme's original Caress of Steel drawing. This is the first piece of art Hugh created for Rush, and it became the centerpiece of the album cover. This is printed on high quality heavy art paper, and framed meticulously by our friends at Frameworth. Each piece is hand signed and numbered by the artist, in a limited edition of 40. Each piece also comes with a Certificate of Authenticity affixed to the back of the piece. The litho size is 12" x 12" and the finished framed size is approximately 17" x 17". Price...