The National Midnight Star #56

Errors-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Reply-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Sender: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Precedence: bulk From: rush@syrinx.umd.edu To: rush-list-all Subject: RUSH Fans Digest of 10/01/90 (#56)
RUSH Fans Digest, Number 56 Monday, 1 October 1990 Today's Topics: Administrivia raster info please? A Rush Lyrics Server Digital Man and Heavy Metal Re:SOH video censoring? Re: A Rush Newsgroup Re: Peart's Black Sabbath bashing Tennis Match Anagram (for Mongo) Frequently Asked Questions List (long) (none) "A Nice Morning Drive" ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Manager, RUSH Fans Mailing List <rush-mgr> Subject: Administrivia Well, I'm back after a much-needed weeks vacation to the Outer Banks, NC. It looks like there was nobody to send out any mailings last week, so this is the first for many in over a week. I hope you didn't suffer withdrawal too badly... :-) Let's see, just a couple of things, then on with the Digest. First of all, there is a new redistribution at CMU beginning this this edition. If you are reading this from there, please drop me a line at the administrative address (at end of the Digest) with your name and e-mail address, to let me know you're there. Otherwise, I have no real idea of how many of us there are! On a related topic, at latest count, we've broken the 400 barrier for subscribers! I estimate there are about 415 of us out there, but there could me more, as there are a few redist. sites out there also. Who knows, there may be 500 of us! No wonder my poor computer has fits trying to send the mail out... I'll be posting to the two general music newsgroups in the next week or two to try to drum up 'new business', so membership could jump another 20-50. I delayed this because of my vacation, and also to let new students get used to their computer accounts & get to usenet. Feel free to pass the adminis- trative address around to friends if they want to join; the more the merrier! NOTE: I will only accept additions from the actual person/userid - I won't add somebody 'for a friend'. Sorry, but I've been burned (not badly), but it put the 'fear of God(dess)' in me. Last, but not least, I felt wordy today, so I interjected a few comments more than usual amongst the postings. I hope I didn't annoy the individual posters... rush-mgr ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 90 12:01:43 -0400 (EDT) From: "Charles Edward Batey, Jr." <cb2o+@andrew.cmu.edu> Subject: raster info please? Hey guys, About a week ago, I requested info on getting the Rush rasters. Since then several people have sent email to me asking me to send them the info if i got it. Also, several other people have posted to the digest in the past few days with the same request... So come on, someone out there has to know where the rasters are... Thanks, Ted Batey ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 90 13:43 EST From: From the Depths Of KHAZAD-D\M Comes A Message <SMM0264@ritvax.isc.rit.edu> Subject: A Rush Lyrics Server There is a server that has all of the Rush lyrics. In address is "Lyrics@umass.edu". For Subject type "Rush". The Message should read "Lyrics/album=album name" -Sean [ Note: this has varying success from an Internet site. I've tried several times, to no avail. If you cannot get through to them, post here - there are several people who have complete sets of lyrics who should be MORE THAN HAPPY to send them to you. :rush-mgr ] ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Chris Schiller <chris@hpsctcd.hp.com> Subject: Digital Man and Heavy Metal Date: Fri, 21 Sep 90 14:04:48 PDT > > OK, here's a question I asked a while ago but everyone seems to ignore: Does > anyone know if Digital Man is based on a movie or book? Lines like "He's got > a force field and a flexible plan/He's got a date with fate in a black sedan" > seem to be too specific to be imagery... Any clue where it came from or any > interpretations on it? Thanx... > > robin_m@apollo.com |That deep down inside we're all one and the same The references to Zion and Babylon were discussed a while ago as being space stations in Gibson's _Neuromancer_. (Excellent Book) Someone asked if anyone knew if a Peart/Gibson connection. I don't remember a reply. I think the book came out after the album. This started me thinking about the possibility of a some kind of classical reference to Zion and Babylon. I'm pretty sure from the song and the book that they are used as opposites like the different brain hemispheres (See _Hemispheres_ by RUSH, 1978 :-) ) one for civilized and regulated and the other more loose and carnal. I've always planned to go look up some references. Anyone know off the top of their head? Instant revelation: Maybe there is an Avalon/Cygnus connection... [ oooh, sign me up for the 'loose and carnal' side! ;-) :rush-mgr ] *********** From another reader: > Black Sabbath is a very important personal favorite of mine, I feel > that Neil is conveniently losing sight of the main strengths of early > Black Sabbath. > [...] > I'm wondering what all you other Rush fans think of this. I've never > considered Rush a heavy metal band, although they are pretty heavy and > even metallic at times. Different flavors of music and all. So what > do you all say? > ron rader, jr rlr%bbt@rti.rti.org = Opinions are my own and do not > Black Sabbath is thought by many to be a rip-off of Led Zeppelin. And in the beginning, to have ridden on the coattails of their success. This is not my opinion, I have just seen many comments like this over the years. I'm not sure why people think Rush is Heavy Metal. For want of a better pidgeon hole I guess. I'm not sure I consider Led Zeppelin to be Heavy Metal even though the term was coined in reference to Black Dog. In fact I remember when Van Halen was considered pop. I still don't think they are Heavy Metal. Maybe the advertisers or the industry need labels in order to target the hype. [ Led Zeppelin (Page/Plant) didn't consider themselves 'Heavy Metal', rather they considered themselves 'rhythm & blues'. Check out their first few albums; the non-pop songs were excellent R&B tunes! :rush-mgr ] Chris Schiller chris@hpsctcd.hp.com "We break the surface tension with our wild kinetic dreams" ---------------------------------------------------------- From: David Edwards <lux@inmos.com> Date: Mon, 24 Sep 90 12:47:56 BST Subject: Re:SOH video censoring? i was at the concert that was filmed (as well as the one before & the one after!). alex was doing his nonsense singing bit (naah nahh nah nah nahh nahh nahh etc). you could hear it quite easily & it was very funny - i wished they'd left it in the video release. Dave Edwards, Software Group, INMOS Ltd. Email (UK) : lux@inmos.co.uk | Snail : INMOS Ltd, 1000 Aztec West, Internet : lux@inmos.com | Almondsbury, Bristol, Janet : lux@uk.co.inmos | BS12 4SQ, UK. ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 8:23:14 EDT From: Wes Morgan <morgan%engr.uky.edu@RELAY.CS.NET> Subject: Re: A Rush Newsgroup This list does not create enough traffic to warrant a newsgroup. It's that simple. Heck, I'm a *huge* Rush fan, and I wouldn't vote for a newsgroup. Do you realize that, right now, most of the "full feed" sites have over 600 newsgroups? At UK, we have over 800! We have a very high degree of quality postings; let's keep it that way..... Wes Morgan -- The opinions expressed above are not those of UKECC unless so noted. Wes Morgan \ {rutgers,rayssd,uunet}!ukma!ukecc!morgan University of Kentucky \ or morgan@engr.uky.edu Engineering Computing Center \ or morgan%engr.uky.edu@UKCC.BITNET ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Peart's Black Sabbath bashing Date: Tue, 25 Sep 90 12:15:33 CDT From: T.J. Higgins <a106d!tj@uunet.UU.NET> rader writes: > > Hmmm. It seems that Neil is slamming Black Sabbath, and the other > early heavy metal bands (wonder what he thinks about Steppenwolf?). > Grand Funk always struck me as kind of silly, but given the fact that > Black Sabbath is a very important personal favorite of mine, I feel > that Neil is conveniently losing sight of the main strengths of early > Black Sabbath. > Simply put, Black Sabbath was an extremely dark and depressing band > (maybe proto-Gothic?). They did not cause the depression, they were a > reflection of the times. > IMO, Black Sabbath was just about the first band to integrate sheer > darkness and pain, and express them eloquently and skillfully through > their music. No, they aren't devil worshippers. Neil Peart is doing > Black Sabbath a big disservice here. Religion, man. It's all religion. Having been brought up in the Catholic church, I feel I can safely say that I know all about darkness and depression. I don't know if Ozzy Ozbourne was also brought up Catholic, but it certainly seems that way. Regardless of the times, and despite their denials, Catholicism gives you a negative view of the world. After 20 years of being told you are a worthless piece of shit who doesn't have a chance in hell of making it to heaven, you tend to believe it. It's taken me years to realize this, and I've still not completely exorcised it. While the times were certainly bad when Sabbath was first starting out, I don't think that can fully explain the internal strife that is apparent in Ozzy's lyrics and Iommi's guitar work. It's my feeling that one or both of them was brought up in Catholicism or a similar religion, one in which the individual is made to feel worthless. Early Black Sabbath is/was a personal favorite of many a young Catholic lad. First of all, parents, nuns, priests, and teachers hate it. But mostly, B.S. put into words the feelings of the listeners. By God, we could *relate* to what Ozzy was saying, on a primal level. The song "Black Sabbath" has to be about oppressive religion. It just HAS to. -------------------------------------------------------------------- T.J. Higgins uunet!ingr!higgins (UUCP) Intergraph Corp. M/S IW17A3 higgins@ingr.com (Internet) One Madison Industrial Park Huntsville, AL 35894-0001 "Well-weathered leather, hot metal (205) 730-7922 and oil, the scent of country air" -Rush ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Sep 90 12:12:13 -0700 From: Ted Ives <tedi@apple.com> Subject: Tennis Match Did anyone attend the Celebrity Tennis Tournament in Malibu this past weekend? I'm eager to get a tape of that and the concert, also. The last I knew, Geddy was searching for a drummer so that he and Alex could do Closer to the Heart. Does anyone know if they performed it? Also, did anyone catch 2112: Overture the other night on TV? I think the show was one of those tabloid shows, maybe Hard Copy. They used it as background music for part of a story. ---------------------------------------------------------- From: bgrave@ub.d.umn.edu (Brian Grave) Subject: Anagram (for Mongo) Date: Thu, 27 Sep 90 15:23:01 CDT I'm not sure if anyone out there has noticed but the reason Neil named the song "Anagram" is because every single line of the song has an anagram in it. Examples... 1. There's no SAFE SEAT at the FEAST 2. Take your BEST STAB at the BEAST 3. The NIGHT is turning THIN 4. The SAINT is turning to SIN In line 1 both SAFE and SEAT can be seen in FEAST etc... The neat thing is that every single line of the song is an anagram. Do ya think Neil is getting a little bored or something? -- BAM bgrave@ub.d.umn.edu "The other day I spilled spot remover on my dog... now he's gone." - Steven Wright ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 90 13:03:10 PDT From: ddelany@bear.calpoly.edu (Dan Delany) Subject: Frequently Asked Questions List (long) The RUSH Fans Digest Frequently Asked Questions List: Updated Sept. 29, 1990 This file contains questions that seem to crop up frequently in the Rush Fans Digest. It will be posted on or around the first of each month. If you received a copy of this file in email, other than as a part of a Digest, it is probably because you asked one of these questions. If you have any suggestions for additions to the list or corrections, please send them to me at ddelany@polyslo.calpoly.edu and I'll add them in. I'd appreciate it if people who submit questions submit anything they know about possible answers, since I don't have all of the answers myself! DISCLAIMER: The information in this file is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I'm not perfect. If you have an answer to one of these questions that doesn't match the one given here that you can verify, let me know, and I'll put it in! [ Many, many thanks to Dan for his effort on this!! This is an excellent list of questions, and may become part of the introductory material (we'll talk about this, Dan). I added a couple of blurbs here and there in this posting, but they are minor. Hope you don't mind, Dan. If you do, shoot me through e-mail. Anyway, on to the questions... What albums has the band released? Mercury 822-541-2 (1974) Rush Mercury 822-542-2 (1975) Fly By Night Mercury 822-543-2 (1975) Caress Of Steel Mercury 822-545-2 (1976) 2112 Mercury 822-552-2 (1976) All The World's A Stage Mercury 822-546-2 (1977) A Farewell To Kings Mercury 822-547-2 (1978) Hemispheres Mercury 822-548-2 (1980) Permanent Waves Mercury 800-048-2 (1981) Moving Pictures Mercury 822-551-2 (1981) Exit...Stage Left Mercury 810-002-2 (1982) Signals Mercury 818-476-2 (1984) Grace Under Pressure Mercury 826-098-2 (1985) Power Windows Mercury 832-464-2 (1987) Hold Your Fire Mercury 836-346-2 (1989) A Show Of Hands Atlantic 7 82040-2 (1989) Presto Additionally, 2 collections are available: {sorry - no catalog numbers, as I don't have these.} Archives (includes _Rush_,_Fly By Night_, and _Caress Of Steel_) Chronicles (1990) - includes stuff from every album, including the tracks that are missing from the CD versions of Exit...Stage Left & All The World's A Stage Are any videotapes of the band available? Polygram Music Video 60285 (1981) Exit...Stage Left PMV 60607 (1986) Grace Under Pressure Tour (includes the video for _The Big Money_) PMV 0741 760-3 (1989) A Show Of Hands (The laserdisc version includes _Lock And Key_, which isn't on the videotape version.) PMV 60466 (1985) Through The Camera Eye (video compilation) includes: Vital Signs Tom Sawyer [live, from Exit...Stage Left] Subdivisions Countdown Distant Early Warning Afterimage The Enemy Within The Body Electric What songs has the band made videos for? A Farewell To Kings Closer To The Heart Xanadu Circumstances The Trees Tom Sawyer Tom Sawyer [live] Limelight Limelight [live] Vital Signs Subdivisions Countdown Distant Early Warning Afterimage The Enemy Within The Body Electric The Big Money Mystic Rhythms Time Stand Still Lock And Key Show Don't Tell The Pass Superconductor Have any books been written about the band? Rush-Visions:The Official Biography (c) 1988 By Bill Banasiewicz (The B-Man) ISBN: 0-7119-1162-2 94 pages From: Omnibus Press Distributor: Music Sales Corporation 24 East 22nd Street New York, NY 10010 Success Under Pressure (c) 1984 By Steve Gett ISBN: 0-89524-230-3 48 pages From: Cherry Lane Books 110 Midland Avenue Port Chester, NY 10573 Rush (c)1982 By Brian Harrigan ISBN: 0-86001-934-9 80 pages From: Omnibus Press Distributor: Music Sales Corporation 24 East 22nd Street New York, NY 10010 The Putnam Publishing Group 200 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 I've heard about the "Rush Backstage Club." What is it, and how do I join? It's an outfit that sells Rush souvenirs (t-shirts, posters, etc) and occasionally releases a newsletter. (I'm not a member, so I don't really know. Could a member send me some details?) To join the backstage club, just send $10.95 ($8 to join plus $2.95 shipping and handling) to: [ Apparently this is now $9, Roger. :rush-mgr ] Rush Backstage Club 1055 E. Tropicana Avenue, #580 Las Vegas, Nevada 89119 Membership obligation is to purchase 1 item of merchandise each [year] to stay on the mailing list. Also, they will answer any inquiries if you include a self addressed stamped envelope. For those international people, pay in U.S. money (NO CASH!!!) and include postage coupons with information requests. What are the birthdays of the band members? Geddy Lee July 29,1953 Neil Peart September 12, 1952 Alex Lifeson August 27, 1953 [ How about original names? Neil's is the original, but Alex and Geddy aren't *their* real names. Alex's last name is 'Zvidnvick', or something like that; Geddy's name is Gary Lee Weinrib, if I'm not mistaken. The source for this was one of our list members, but I can't recall who or when it was posted. Hinano, can you help? :rush-mgr ] What is Battlescar/Max Webster, who plays on it, what is the label/catalogue number for the Universal Juveniles CD? Where can I write to get it? Max Webster is a Canadian band that used to open for Rush. Battlescar is a song from their _Universal Juveniles_ CD that was done as a duet of the 2 bands. To my knowledge, this is not available in the USA. {If anybody knows an address to order from, send it to me, and I'll include it in this posting.} Does anyone have a copy of "A Nice Morning Drive", the Richard Foster piece that inspired "Red Barchetta"? Yes, this file was posted to the Digest once. I would rather not include it in this FAQL, due to it's length. It originally appeared in Road & Track Nov,1973 pp.148-150. Can anyone list everything else that the members of Rush have ever appeared on? This is not a complete list. Please send me your additions! Bob & Doug MacKenzie: _Take Off_ (Geddy) _Modern Drummer_ Sound Supplement: Pieces Of Eight (Neil) Max Webster: _Battlescar_ (Geddy, Alex, & Neil) Jeff Berlin: _Champions_ (Neil) Platinum Blonde: _Alien Shores_ (Alex) {I'm not sure about that title.} Northern Lights: _Tears Are Not Enough_ (Geddy) [ Beyond Borders: Alex and Rick Emmit (sp?) :rush-mgr ] I just bought the CD of {Exit...Stage Left | All The World's A Stage} and it's missing a track! Is there a complete version of this CD available? No. But if you absolutely have to have everything on CD, the 2 missing tracks are on _Chronicles_. What does (for Mongo) after "Anagram" on the PRESTO album mean? It's a joke from the movie _Blazing Saddles_, referring to the "Candygram for Mongo" scene, according to Geddy on Rockline 12/4/89. What is Alex saying during the "censored" section of the Show Of Hands video? According to Geddy on Rockline, he was just sort of babbling into the microphone. (which he did when I saw them on that tour, as well.) Unfortunately, that wasn't recorded, but they really liked the shot of Alex babbling into the mic, so they put the "warning" stuff on the screen as a joke. Does anybody have the lyrics to (song)? The lyricserver at lyrics%umass.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu probably does. Send a message containing the word HELP to that address for information. [ Also, since many sites may have problems getting anything from the server (me included), many people on this list have the complete lyrics also. Try the Umass server first; failing that, post to the list. You might mention that Umass attempts failed, or you'll get the above blurb again. :rush-mgr ] What songs make up the "Fear" trilogy? The "Fear" trilogy consists of: Part 1: The Enemy Within (Grace Under Pressure) Part 2: The Weapon (Signals) Part 3: Witch Hunt (Moving Pictures) Has this trilogy ever been performed live? Yes. It's on the "Grace Under Pressure Tour" video. Why do the songs appear in reverse order? "It's really kind of strange how it turned out, and it's not meant to be as mysterious and clever as it looks. It was more accidental. At the time of _Moving Pictures_, I had actually sketched out each of the three songs in my notebook and talked to the other guys about them and what I was going to go for, but the easiest one for me to clarify in my mind and in words was 'Witch Hunt,' because it was the simplest concept to deal with, and then 'The Weapon' came next because my thinking led up to that point, but in fact a couple snatches of lyrics and even both of the verses for 'The Enemy Within' were written as long ago as that, and all of the titles and everything were fixed on, and what I wanted to write about, but 'The Enemy Within' was the most difficult one to deal with, so it ended up being the last one done, so they happened to go in the order 3-2-1." -- Neil Peart, in an interview on KGB (?) 101 FM, San Diego: 10/2/84 Where does the name 'Rocinante' come from? It was the name of Steinbeck's motor home in _Travels With Charlie_. It was also the name of Don Quixote's horse. I read that "Xanadu" was based on a famous poem. Does anybody have a copy? The poem is "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Your local library probably has a copy. Where did the story of _2112_ come from? 2112 is very loosely based on _Anthem_, by Ayn Rand. Much of Neil's early work was influenced by Rand. Is that crackling noise about 10-20 seconds into "Distant Early Warning" on the _Grace Under Pressure_ CD supposed to be there, or is my copy defective? It's supposed to be there. There is a rumbling at that point on the _A Show Of Hands_ CD and on the _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video. Near the end of "The Camera Eye," there are some mumblings that I can't quite make out? Does anybody know for sure what is being said? No. Who says <phrase> in <song>? ---------------------------------------------------------- From: a! Alex says "That's nice" at the end of "Chain Lightning". Alex says "Subdivisions" in the song of the same name. The deep voice at the beginning of "Cygnus X-1" is none other than Terry Brown. Neil does the "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation - We have assumed control" bit at the end of "2112". Neil does the narrative during "The Necromancer". {Can anybody confirm or deny any of these?} In "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" By-Tor is the bad guy, but he's a hero in "The Necromancer." What happened? When asked about this on Rockline, Geddy said something along the lines of, "He saw the light." What building is on the cover of _Moving Pictures_? The building pictured is the old Parliament building in downtown Toronto. It is several blocks South of the Toronto Planetarium surrounded by a park. There is a multilane road that splits into two multilane roads to run around both sides of it and joins up again on the south side. The entrance on the cover is on the South of the building. Why was the headline on the newspaper on the cover of _Permanent Waves_ blocked out? "There are always the inevitable last minute crises, such as the Chicago Daily Tribune being still so embarrassed about their "Dewey defeats Truman" error of more than thirty years ago, that they actually refused to let us use it on the cover!" -- Neil Peart, in the _Permanent Waves_ tourbook { To clarify this: When Truman ran against Dewey for President, he lost in most of the states with early returns. So, it looked like Dewey was going to win. The _Chicago Tribune_ released an early morning paper the next day with a "Dewey defeats Truman" headline. } ############################################################################## Please send me your suggestions for additions or corrections. "All the world's a stage | ddelany@polyslo.calpoly.edu And all the men and women merely players: | Daniel Alan Delany They have their exits and their entrances; -- Wm. Shakespeare (1564-1616) And one man in his time plays many parts." _As You Like It_ II,vii,39 ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 90 12:44 EST From: Paul Ackerman -- The Quiet Storm <ACKERM25%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu> Subject: "A Nice Morning Drive" I'm sorry to do this but I have deleted the issue that contained "A Nice Morning Drive" and I would really like to have it back. My BITNet address is: ACKERM25@SNYBUFVA.BITNET. Thank you. [ From Internet, try: "ackerm25%snybufva.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu" :rush-mgr ] Does anyone confirm or deny a rumor about Rush releasing a video for Chronicles? It sounds kinda far-fetched considering how they don't like the idea of the album, but who knows what Mercury will do? Paul Ackerman ----------------------------------------------------------
To submit material to the Rush mailing list, send mail to: rush@syrinx.umd.edu For administrative matters (additions, deletions & changes), send mail to: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu The contents of the Rush Fans Digest are solely the opinions and comments of the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management. List Management ******************************** End of RUSH Fans Digest ********************************