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April 26, 2008
News From The World of Rush
It’s stuff like this that makes me glad I’m not a lawyer. A bit of news about Alex Lifeson’s troubles with the Collier County, Florida Sheriff’s Department has come to light recently and it appears to be some good news for his son Justin, who was also involved in the New Year’s Eve 2003 incident at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, FL that gave birth to years of legal battles.
It is being reported that a federal appeals court has said that a lower court judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss a negligence claim by Alex 
Lifeson’s son, Justin Zivojinovich, against the hotel and their security manager on duty at the time of the December 31, 2003 altercation.
That sounds like good news for Justin Zivojinovich, but then the story goes on to report that an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld the dismissal of the rest of the claims brought by Lifeson and his son - including the contention that the Collier County deputies violated their civil rights by using excessive force.
In plain English, it looks like Lifeson’s son Justin had filed suit against the Ritz-Carlton and their security manager for allegedly leading police to expect trouble when they were called that fateful night, which led to an increased likelihood that hotel guests could be injured.
A lower court later dismissed that suit along with another that was filed against the Collier County Sheriff’s Department. Although this late news does not say Justin Zivojinovich’s suit will be reinstated, that sounds like a reasonable assumption. But, like I said, I’m not a lawyer.
In other Rush news, another interview with Alex Lifeson has surfaced where he talks about the group’s experience while recording their most recent album, Snakes & Arrows.
The group was said to be quite pleased with their scenic surroundings at Allaire Studios, just outside Woodstock, New York where they worked for six weeks on the album. In fact, they found the beautiful view from the glass-enclosed studio so inspiring, it helped to fuel the creation of two of the album’s instrumental numbers, "Hope" and "Malignant Narcissism"
For more details on the groups experience while recording Snakes & Arrows, see NewsOK.com.
April 20, 2008
Rush Guitarist Alex Lifeson In Newspaper Interview
In an interview that was conducted by telephone just before the start of the second half of their Snakes & Arrows tour, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson discussed a number of topics of interest to Rush fans.
There is some talk about how surprised the group was to find out how
popular they were in South America after performing in Brazil a few years ago.
The group seems to be enjoying as much or more popularity today than they ever have, with more younger fans showing up in the audience and creating hope for the continuing popularity of the Canadian trio.
Lifeson also spent a little time talking about the legal problems he became involved with following an incident at a Ritz Carlton hotel in Florida back in 2003, which has still not been resolved to Lifeson’s satisfaction.
The group’s drummer, Neil Peart, also comes up during the conversation with some attention given to his lyrics, which often reveal his feelings regarding faith and religion. Frankly, I’m surprised that there does not seem to be more controversy surrounding his lyrics given the strong feelings many people have for that subject.
The future of Rush is also discussed, which included some comments that suggested the group may take a break after the current tour and may or may not tour again in the future, although Lifeson admits that there has already been some talk of another tour between him and Geddy Lee.
Lifeson also has some kind words for Foo Fighters, whom he and Geddy Lee joined on stage recently for a surprise performance in Toronto.
There’s a lot more in the interview which can be read here, and includes a link to the audio from the original telephone conversation.
April 16, 2008
Geddy Lee Interview In Canada’s National Post
A somewhat brief, but recent interview with Rush lead vocalist and bassist Geddy Lee has appeared in the National Post.
Many of Lee’s responses to questions seem a bit on the smart-ass side, but that’s probably just a reflection on his sense of humor. The guys from Rush have a history of not taking themselves too seriously.
In the interview, Lee is asked about such things as the set list for the Snakes & Arrows tour, the unusual items that appear on stage with the group during their live performances, reviews that the band has inspired from critics through the years and the great song that Lee has talked about in the past that he has not yet written.
Rush has just recently embarked on the second half of their Snakes & Arrows tour which wraps up in Atlanta, GA on July 22.
For more, check out the National Post.
April 14, 2008
Rush’s Geddy Lee Still Battles Nerves
Even after a career that spans decades and many live performances, Rush bass player and lead vocalist Geddy Lee reports that there are 
still certain circumstances that make him nervous about performing live.
Lee revealed recently that he gets a little nervous when he knows the group’s live performance is being recorded for a live album.
Talking with the Winnipeg Sun, Lee says: "There’s always a bit of nerves when you’re recording, even though we played about six million shows and we’ve done so many live recordings that it’s getting ridiculous. When you know that you’re being recorded you want to put your best foot forward."
Lee also seems a bit baffled about the new Rush documentary that is in the works and seems to find it hard to believe that a filmmaker would find the group interesting enough to base a documentary on.
"A filmmaker thinks that we’re interesting," Lee says. "We’re doing our best to disappoint."
April 12, 2008
Rush Interviews And Press Conference
Some new audio interviews and a press conference are available for Rush fans to check out as the group embarks on the second half of their Snakes & Arrows tour.
The lion’s share of this new content consists of audio interviews that were done with Alex Lifeson by rock radio stations. The audio interviews were done by telephone with Lifeson calling in from Puerto Rico where Rush was preparing for their first show of the tour that kicked off last night.
Although I expecting to hear pretty much the same thing on each audio interview, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that each interview was pretty unique and covered varied topics which included things like how each member of the group specializes in some of their duties like overseeing cover art for albums and audio/video projects.
Lifeson also talked a bit about the guitars he is using during the tour, some of the weird items the group shares the stage with during their show, the current status of his Florida legal troubles, their recent impromptu appearance on stage with the Foo Fighters and how Neil Peart’s personal tragedies influenced the group.
Below you can hear the audio interviews and view the press conference that was done in Puerto Rico ahead of the first date of second half of the Snakes & Arrows tour. The press conference includes comments from Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee and we can only imagine that Neil Peart is somewhere on his motorcycle exploring the streets of Puerto Rico.
- 103.5 The Fox - Denver, CO - April 8th
- 107.7 The Bone - San Jose, CA - April 8th
- 94 The Rock - Albuquerque, NM - April 8th
- 93.7 The Arrow - Houston, TX - April 8th
Thanks to Power Windows for this Rush News.
April 8, 2008
Rush’s Geddy Lee To Guest On Children’s CD
Geddy Lee is lending his talents to a new children’s CD that will be coming from Barenaked Ladies. Entitled Snack Time, the new CD is scheduled to be released on May 6.
Other artists that are set to be part of the new CD include Lyle Lovett, Jason Priestley, Sarah McLachlan and Gordon Lightfoot.
It’s kind of interesting to hear about a kid’s CD coming from a group with a name like Barenaked Ladies. If something like that came out when I was a youngster, I probably would have wanted to get it just because of the name of the group!
Details on the new CD seem a bit hard to come by at the moment, but it appears to be about healthy eating for kids. We don’t often see stuff like this coming from rockers like Barenaked Ladies, so kudos to them for promoting healthier kids.
Thanks to Power Windows for the scoop.
April 3, 2008
Rush Hopes To Begin Work on New Album Next Year
Download Rush Ringtones Rush Apparel
As the start date for the second leg of the Snakes & Arrows tour draws near, late word from Rush reveals that the group hopes to begin work on a new studio album next year.
A few days after Rush opens the tour in San Juan, Snakes & Arrows Live 
will be released on April 15. The new CD will feature some special treats like live performances of "Circumstances" and "Entre Nous" which had not been performed live previous to last year.
Later on in the year, a DVD will be available from the same show in Rotterdam where the material for the CD was recorded. The video footage was shot in HD, which is good news for HD snobs like myself.
Although the plans for the new album are not firm at this point, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson reports that the group will probably take a break after the tour is finished and probably won’t be ready to work on any new material until the spring of next year.
For more on this story, check out Reuters.
March 24, 2008
Rush’s Lee & Lifeson Surprise Fans At Foo Fighters Show
There were a few hints provided by Dave Grohl before the Foo Fighters show in Toronto on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre, but the fans may not have expected to see two members of legendary Canadian rock trio, Rush, appear on stage.
Rush bass player and lead vocalist Geddy Lee along with guitarist Alex Lifeson took the stage to perform with Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and ran through Rush’s challenging instrumental number, "YYZ."
Foo Fighters and the members of Rush have become acquainted by way of Nick Raskulinecz, a record producer who has worked with both groups and is given a lot of credit by Rush for the success of their most recent album, Snakes & Arrows.
Below are some fan-filmed videos from the show.
March 14, 2008
Recent Update on Neil Peart’s Site
The guy that is often considered the greatest rock drummer of all time, Neil Peart of Rush, has posted a new entry to his website.
I always make it a point to read every word he posts there, not only because I am a Rush fan, but also because he is such an interesting writer and he often writes about things that are totally unrelated to music that I find interesting.
With this most recent update, Peart talks about spending time in his 
native Canada during February and how much he loves being there during that time of the year.
He’s obviously someone who loves nature and the outdoors, and since I have an appreciation for those things as well, this latest entry was interesting to me. I’m sure here may be some people out there who find the subject as boring as watching paint dry.
Although I don’t share Peart’s enthusiasm for the winter season, I do sometimes appreciate the beauty of a winter day here in New Hampshire where I live. My problem with winter in this part of the world is that it is just too darn long. I often say that if spring started here around the end of January, I really wouldn’t mind winter all that much and might even come to appreciate it as much as Neil Peart does.
One item leaked out by Peart during this most recent update is a hint that he may be moving back to Canada. It seems he has been living in California for a while now and it appears he may be a little homesick and planning a move back to the Great White North.
Check out Peart’s latest post here.
February 28, 2008
Rush To Release Snakes & Arrows Live
One of my favorite rock groups of all time, Rush, will be releasing a new live CD in early April. The material for this new CD was captured during "Part 1" of the Snakes & Arrows tour while they performed at the Ahoy Rotterdam arena in The Netherlands last October.
The new live album is scheduled for release on April 8, which is just three days before "Part 2" of the Snakes & Arrows tour gets underway with a first-ever performance in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Rock radio listeners can also expect to start hearing the live version of the Snakes & Arrows Track "Workin’ Them Angels" beginning on March 10 when the single is released to rock radio stations nation-wide.
I’ve taken a little heat in the past about my lack of interest in live albums and I confess that I have not changed my ways. However, since Rush — as alluded to earlier — is perhaps my favorite rock group of all time, it’s nice to hear that they are coming out with a new CD. I’m quite happy with my studio version, but more power to all the Rush fans who are eager to get their hands on the live version.
I should also point out that my lack of interest in live albums does not reflect on my feelings with regard to attending a live performance. Listening to a live CD and being present at a live performance are vastly different experiences and I might grab the chance to go see Rush live when they pass through my neck of the woods this summer.
Rush is scheduled to be on the road at least into the end of July, which will complete an ambitious tour schedule that will take them to some cities that they have not visited for ten or more years.
