Rush: A Brief History of Time - The Ohio Files Now Online

Rush: A Brief History of Time - The Ohio Files Now OnlineThe fifteenth 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.

This fifteenth installment, dubbed The Ohio Files, is unique in that the entire collection of articles and advertisements came from newspapers situated in the Ohio Valley of the United States. As most fans know, Rush's early rise to fame in the United States began in the Cleveland, Ohio area where then-DJ Donna Halper first starting spinning the band's debut album on Cleveland's WMMS radio station. Since that time, and throughout their career, the Ohio area remained an important part of Rush's history. So much so that the band recorded their 2010-11 Time Machine Live Album in Cleveland, Ohio.

Not only does this installment focus on articles from the Ohio area, but nearly half of the 69 totals entries come from the 1970's, with 18 alone coming from the band's 'debut' year of 1974. Before we get into the details of this installment, I would like to extend my thanks and deep appreciation to Pete Beshuk who provided all of the contents of this installment. Around ten years ago, Pete spent a lot of time in the Columbus, Ohio library where he researched and printed Rush-related newspaper articles from microfiche. He graciously offered to send me his collection, which I carefully scanned and catalogued into this latest installment. Thank you again, Pete!

As mentioned earlier, there are a total of 69 articles and advertisements in this installment, with 28 coming from the 1970's, 17 coming from the 1980's, 16 coming from the 1990's, and the remaining 8 coming from the 2000's.

Here's a brief sampling of the articles included in this installment:

Beginning with articles from the 1970's comes this Letter to the Editor from the August 9th, 1974 edition of the Cleveland Plains Dealer where a young Rush fan predicted their rise to fame:
"...I'm so glad that a newspaper gets to these shows. But you were off base. Rush was really the top at that show. Just wait and see how they grow in popularity! - J. Schaeffer, 19 ..."
Something tells me that J. Schaeffer is still a fan today.

Also coming from August of 1974 is this article titled New to States, Rush is off to a flying start, which was published in the August 31st, 1974 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer:
"...Rush is the name and you may have seen them two weeks ago at the Gardens with Uriah Heep. If you didn't, well, just try it next time out. Because the band is a fine show..."
The article also includes a very brief interview with Geddy Lee, which may be one of the earliest ever published.

Continuing through the 70's comes an article from the January 27th, 1977 edition of the Columbus Dispatch titled Hot Rush heats up a cold night. The article is a very favorable review of the band's tour stops in the area, yet it was a fashion comment that really caught my attention:
"...Semi-garbed in a loosely-flowing, knee-length kimono and jeans, Lee exposed his high-pitched vocals as well as his bare chest..." :-)
To read the entire fifteenth installment, please click HERE.

To check out all fifteen installments of Rush: A Brief History of Time, which includes a chronological listing of all the articles (nearly 1,550 in all), please click HERE.

I hope you enjoy the look back.

Comments

Share This