The National Midnight Star #147

Errors-To: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu Reply-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Sender: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Precedence: bulk From: rush@syrinx.umd.edu To: rush_mailing_list Subject: 01/10/91 - The National Midnight Star #147
** ____ __ ___ ____ ___ ___ ** ** / /_/ /_ /\ / /__/ / / / / /\ / /__/ / ** ** / / / /__ / \/ / / / / /__/ / \/ / / /___ ** ** ** ** __ ___ ____ ** ** /\ /\ / / \ /\ / / / _ /__/ / ** ** / \/ \ / /___/ / \/ / /___/ / / / ** ** ** ** ____ ____ ___ ___ ** ** /__ / /__/ /__/ ** ** ____/ / / / / \ ** The National Midnight Star, Number 147 Thursday, 10 January 1991 Today's Topics: Administrivia: Re-additions (FYI) Alex's solos and modes MP CDs Didacts Moving Pictures CD continued ... Rush Art Palidromes of undoubtedly cosmic significance mail server index Re: Canadian TV shows and RUSH and other tidbits More on Lerxst's Solos Reader Profile Moving Pictures ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Administrivia: Re-additions (FYI) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 10:45:17 EST From: RUSH Fans Digest Manager <rush-mgr> As some of you have noticed, when re-adding somebody upon returning from some hiatus, you may be wondering why I send the latest version of the introductory notes. This is for a couple of reasons; firstly, I don't know how long you've been on the list, and the file changes over time. Secondly, I have a routine I follow when adding somebody to the list - it helps me 'keep the flow' when I follow this routine for all additions, even if you've only been gone a couple of weeks. Editor, The National Midnight Star (RUSH fans mailing list) ---------------------------------------------------------- From: bold%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Jeff Beck) Subject: Alex's solos and modes Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 12:42:34 CDT > From: rjf@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu (Robert J. Friedman III) > Subject: RE: Alex solos > In response to Jason Bold's comments on the beginning of "Freewill", > since the key is F a B major scale would not be "B Phrygian" but > F Phrygian (this is because the interval between the first two notes is > a semitone--this can occur only in the Phrygian or Locrian (usually not > used because of its "satanic" connotations)). The mode for FW however, > cannot be F Phrygian because the semitone occurs between F and E (the > first and second notes). Thus, the mode is more likely D Phrygian. > I believe I've kept all that straight, but Crimson (at OSU) can correct > me otherwise. Hmmm. Let's see. An F-major scale is: w w h w w w h F G A Bb C D E F A B-major scale is: w w h w w w h B C# D# E F# G# A# B Well, he *does* use the notes from a B major scale, but there is no F in a B major scale, only an F#. The notes he plays for the F part are: F - F - C - C - B - A - G - F - F - C - C - E - D - C - D - G (repeat, but end with an "E", rather than a G) This gives us: F G A B C D E F Looks like some mode of a C major scale. So, what mode of C major starts on an F? CDEFGABC - 4 - Lydian. It must be F Lydian for the main riff. IDPLMAL (You know - If Dora Plays Like Me All's Lost ;-) I think he might change keys after the intro. There are too many accidentals between the key of B and the key of C. Any comments? (Sorry about all the space. I was thinking on "paper".) -- ****************************************************************************** * Jason Bold - Madison,WI= [(rutgers||ames)!uwvax||att!nicmad]!astroatc!bold * * "A strawberry mind, a body that's built for two" - Michael Hedges * ****************************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 10:50:31 PST From: spike@d31mf0.Stanford.EDU (John T. Fourkas) Subject: MP CDs I too would be interested if anyone has the address to which I can send my MP CD for replacement. Or will they be valuable some day? Also, Tom Sawyer is not the only song that's cut off. It's kind of hard to tell on Red Barchetta, since it fades in, but it's missing about a second also. I haven't checked the other songs, but it seems like some engineer was pretty sloppy in cuing tapes for the digital recording. --John spike%d31mf0@forsythe.stanford.edu ---------------------------------------------------------- From: medrcw!bob@uunet.UU.NET Subject: Didacts Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 12:58:07 CST Recently, somone discovered that the word "narpets" (as in Didacts & Narpets) is an anagram for "parents", and that "didacts" is an anagram for "addicts". "Didact" is also another word for "teacher" or "professor"; since Neil is often referred to as "the Professor", could he making a sly reference to his nickname? What do you think? -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Robert C. Whitehead | Intergraph has no official opinion on | Intergraph Corporation | the Unified Field Theory; therefore, any | Mapping & Energy Division | opinions expressed are simply my own (and | Technical Documentation | they are the correct opinions, I might | Mailpath: b17a!rw1923!bob | add). | Phone: (205)730-1923 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "... aloneness. You are so alone. You live out your lives in the shell of flesh, self-contained, separate. How lonely you are; how terribly lonely." -- Kollos, the Medusan Ambassador (through Spock), "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" Stardate 5630.7 ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 14:02:08 -0500 From: jtkung@caf.MIT.EDU (Joseph Kung) Subject: Moving Pictures CD continued ... As someone already pointed out, the first pressing of the CD was from West Germany by PolyGram [as most all old CDs], and had the first 1/2 second cut-off from the beginning of "Tom Sawyer." I bought this disc back in '82 or '83, and never really complained, though I knew there was an error. Somebody pointed out an address and phone number of PolyGram Quality Control in Indiana, and they sent me a new disc [made in the US by PDO, Philips/Dupont Optical] for free in a few days [I still have the old copy]. I don't think this offer is true anymore since all updated copies are okay and can be had for less than $7.99 [the BEST CD buy on the market, IMHO]. Up until 1985 with Power Windows, all the Rush CDs were manufactured in West Germany by PolyGram, and had PolyGram's red striped logo. This is how you can tell old CDs from new ones, and consequently old, CD-crazed Rush fans from new ones. :-) Power Windows was the last CD by Rush made there. Most CDs in the US are now made by PDO or WEA [Warner/Electra/Atlantic] Manufacturing. BTW, anything mastered by Nimbus [either in or Canada or England] is usually of top quality. For some reason, these CDs exhibit great sound quality. Also, the ZTT stuff from England is great, as opposed to the domesticated Island stuff that's 2nd or 3rd generation copy, and sounds like shit. Same goes for the EMI label in England as opposed to the domesticated C(r)apitol counterparts. Now I know why imports are so expensive ... - Joe ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 1991 11:23:48 PST From: crenshaw.osbu_north@xerox.com Subject: Rush Art Re: Del Gordon's request for Rush art: Well, actually, this past semester I painted a cubist portrait of Rush for a graphic design class. It's a little big to scan (18"x24"), but I designed it on the computer, so I could probably rasterize the black and white design. The only problem with that would be the low resolu- tion. I based it on scans of the boyz from the Presto liner notes. I'll try and do something about this if anyone is interested. Cheryl by the way...I like that random Rush generation! Love the way these two lines work together: We can build a world of wonder We can walk our road together (ok, I admit it, I write poetry...maybe one of these days I'll post my one and only Rush inspired piece...but only if you ask nicely! :-) ---------------------------------------------------------- From: orwant@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Jonathan L. Orwant) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 14:49:09 EST Subject: Palidromes of undoubtedly cosmic significance Not only is 1991 palindromic, but its factors are also palindromic. The next year for which this is true is 2112. -Jon (former math team nerd) ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: mail server index Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 16:14:01 CST From: Keith E. Ford <infonode!fordke@uunet.UU.NET> Here is the index of the email server as of 9-JAN-91. See the end of this issue for access information. Note, I've converted some of the sun raster files into GIF's using the PBM utilies. Some names have changed, so please take note. Enjoy! -kef/M- BYTES FILENAME DESCRIPTION ------- -------------------- ------------------------------------------- 38486 changes :index changes since Thu Nov 29 02:30:14 1990 1353 help :help for using mail server 9157 index :index of requestable files 9157 index.sav :in case I bit bucket the real one 597 misc/faces :ASCII faces for email 36028 misc/ibm_faq :frequently asked questions for IBM pc's 61687 misc/inet_guide :RFRC1118, HitchHiker's Guide to Internet 7591 misc/net_mail :how to email from one network to another 46489 misc/unix_faq :frequently asked questions for Unix 2384 misc/using_simtel :how to use list servers for Simtel rush/digest/1 : " :and all in-between, thanx Mgr! rush/digest/146 : " 9599 rush/lyrics/2112 :2112 4930 rush/lyrics/aftk :A Farewell To Kings 1049 rush/lyrics/batlscar :Battlescar, from Max Webster 7649 rush/lyrics/cos :Caress Of Steel 6015 rush/lyrics/fbn :Fly By Night 6393 rush/lyrics/gup :Grace Under Pressure 5586 rush/lyrics/hemis :Hemispheres 10295 rush/lyrics/hyf :Hold Your Fire 6318 rush/lyrics/mp :Moving Pictures 11956 rush/lyrics/presto :Presto 5229 rush/lyrics/pwaves :Permanent Waves 8463 rush/lyrics/pwindows :Power Windows 7522 rush/lyrics/rush :Rush 7868 rush/lyrics/signals :Signals 16306 rush/misc/3told_tale :Thrice Told Tales, Rush history by Neil 13202 rush/misc/alex_iv :'89 Music Express interview with Alex 11043 rush/misc/barchetta :A Nice Morning Drive, from Road & Track 28172 rush/misc/bass_playr :'88 mag interview of Geddy Lee 9160 rush/misc/chron_info :text from Chronicles 3716 rush/misc/cos_pk :'75 COS press kit 31118 rush/misc/discograph :Rush discography, music list 5694 rush/misc/equipment :hardware used by Rush 14515 rush/misc/grp_of_dec :'90 iview Alex gave at Artist of Decade 25375 rush/misc/gup_tb :GUP tourbook 13141 rush/misc/hyf_tb :HYF tourbook, Fireworks, making of HYF 2993 rush/misc/kubla_khan :the poem, for Xanadu 79156 rush/misc/mod_drmr1 :4/84 iview with Neil in Modern Drummer mag 4972 rush/misc/mod_drmr2 :3/87 Win Neil's Drums 32970 rush/misc/mod_drmr3 :5/87, 10/87, 8/88 of Modern Drummer 17358 rush/misc/mp_tp :Moving Picture tour program 10641 rush/misc/neil_25qna :'85 25 questions to Neil 54544 rush/misc/neil_iv :'89 Modern Drummer interview with Neil 23301 rush/misc/nstudio_iv :"In The Studio" with Alex & Geddy for MP 19624 rush/misc/presto_tb :Presto tourbook, Paper Scissors Stone 20404 rush/misc/pw_tb :PW tourbook, Personal Waves 11408 rush/misc/q107_iv :Rock Report with Alex, group of the decade 16320 rush/misc/red_rose :'78 story about Rush (and a red rose) 20127 rush/misc/rston2_ivs :reviews from Rolling Stone 20947 rush/misc/rstone_ivs :reviews from Rolling Stone 40802 rush/misc/rush_faq :frequently asked questions about Rush 14640 rush/misc/rush_spec :'83 from The Source, Rush Special radio-view 6634 rush/misc/satanism :Neil Peart's editorial on satanism 9849 rush/misc/sounds78 :from SOUNDS mag, iview with Alex 25759 rush/misc/sounds82 :from SOUNDS mag 78196 rush/misc/successup :Rush, Success Under Pressure, the book 101205 rush/misc/ugif_2112 :ugif/bw, 2112 cover 84965 rush/misc/ugif_aftk :ugif/bw, A Farewell To Kings cover 49758 rush/misc/ugif_ag1 :ugif/bw, alex & geddy 49230 rush/misc/ugif_alex1 :ugif/color, alex w/guitar 20838 rush/misc/ugif_alex2 :ugif/bw, alex w/guitar 55669 rush/misc/ugif_ang1 :ugif/bw, the boyz 87231 rush/misc/ugif_ang2 :ugif/bw, the boyz 21015 rush/misc/ugif_ang3 :ugif/bw, the boyz 124666 rush/misc/ugif_fbn :ugif/bw, Fly By Night cover 10965 rush/misc/ugif_ged1 :ugif/bw, geddy w/bass 92963 rush/misc/ugif_hemi :ugif/bw, Hemispheres cover 197 rush/misc/ugif_how :*** how to display a ugif file 28774 rush/misc/ugif_neil1 :ugif/bw, neil w/drums 74993 rush/misc/ugif_rush :ugif/bw, Rush cover 1718 rush/misc/uncovers :text which songs were based on or inspired by 41328 rush/misc/word_list :word count from all lyrics ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Canadian TV shows and RUSH and other tidbits Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 15:12:36 MST From: Brent Taylor <cal_pn!bjtayl@uunet.UU.NET> Greetings from the Great White North (God, I hate that phrase). Anyway, Cris Fuhrman was wondering about Canadian television and content regulations. I'm not positive on this, but I think there are only guidelines that shows produced in Canada for the glorious Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (makers of Degrassi, for example) reflect something about Canada (ie RUSH in the background, Ontario plates). Its not a hard and fast rule or anything. The other principal network in Canada, CTV, tends to produce programs that don't reflect Canada at all. Ever see "Night Heat" on late at night on CBS? Made in Toronto, but you would never know it... However, this is is improving with them - they have a show called E.N.G. that actually makes references to Toronto (whatever good that will do!) [Had to flame Canadian Easterners at least once, they expect that from Albertans.] Other shows made in Canada but you'd never know it: Mcgyver, 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy (all mostly made in Vancouver, but for American networks.) The bit about "Great White North" on SCTV was a joke pointed at such things as these guidelines, and also Canadian content regulations in radio. For those of you that aren't lucky enough to be stuck here when its -35 C with one of those four strong winds blowing, the CRTC (Canadian version of the FCC) dictates that 30% of the songs on AM and FM rock stations must have Canadian content (ie RUSH, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell) between 6 AM and midnight. Some say its tampering with what the market will bear, others say that you wouldn't have bands like RUSH at all if it weren't for CANCON. Some say its the typical Canadian inferiority complex coming into play again. As for RUSH and radio out here, can you say "BARREN WASTELAND"? The AM stations won't touch it at all, the two rock FM stations in Calgary are stuck in classic rock/ contemporary hits formats and only play the Native Sons when nobody is listening (11 pm to midnight) to fill up their CANCON quota. You occasionally get the late night guys playing them, but for the most part the band is entirely ignored out here. The university station won't touch them because RUSH is too commercial for them!! Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you think life as a RUSH fan would be better if you moved up here, you're dead wrong. Oh well, got most of the albums anyway... Brent "I'm Canadian, I own a toque, and I drink Molson, eh" Taylor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruno Gerussi Lives! |Brent J. Taylor (ingr!cal_pn!bjtayl)| ph 403 291-7509 Bring back the Beachcombers!| Intergraph Calgary Logistics |fax 403 291-7531 ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 91 18:56:40 MST From: fpeabody@isis.cs.du.edu (Fred Peabody) Subject: More on Lerxst's Solos Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't Freewill be in F Lydian? The main descending riff [that the song starts out with] Starts on F and uses the notes of the C major Scale. This would make it F Lydian, I believe. Does anyone know if Lifeson uses this mode in his solo or does he switch keys? Also at the beginning of La Villa Strangiato, where there's that fast Spanish-sounding mini-solo Alex is using a Phrygian scale. Presto was a big let down for me solo wise. The only good solo is Chain Lighting. It sounds kinda like Eddie Van Halen. [anyone know what scale that is?] The rest of the solos seem to be using Ionian and Major Pentatonic type scales and don't really have the agressiveness of previous material. They all sound like something you'd here from any other generic radio band. [make that any other modern band] It hurts me to say this since Alex is my favorite guitarist, but it's how I feel. Changing gears here, I was wondering who's producing Rush's new album. I hope it's not Rupert Hine! The Presto song arrangements strike me as kinda commercial for some reason, and I *HATE* that stupid sing-along at the end of War Paint. [an otherwise solid song] Geddy's bass playing was also rather disappointing, with a few exceptions, one of which was his cool bass solo on Show Don't Tell. At least Neil's drumming was awesome... [FP] [An Alias] ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Reader Profile Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 10:58:01 N From: Gordon MacKinney <gordon@hpbblb.bbn.hp.com> Dear Mr. Editor - Point #1, you do a great job. You run a clean, intelligent publication, with many thanks, of course, to your insightful contributors. [ Hey, I don't write this stuff - it's 98% the list members... :rush-mgr ] Point #2, speaking of these contributors, as a new subscriber, I'd be interested in a profile of TNMS readers. How many are students, non-students, Americans, Canadians, male, female, etc? [ Whew, that's not a trivial task! Are you volunteering? :-) You could probably get a decent estimation from the members list; figure out who's got a male/female name, and scan for addresses ending in ".ca". :rush-mgr ] Thanks, Gordon MacKinney Boeblingen, Germany ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 09:05:42 EST From: Corum%USCN.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu Subject: Moving Pictures Barf, heave, toss.... I have one of those early MP discs; probably purchased the first week of release. Still, I noticed something.... At around 8:50 into "The Camera Eye", there are two curious noises that sound like someone burping (Alex?) and someone admonishing him gently (Geddy?) Other friends o' mine remembered the sounds and checked, and agree. Can anyone confirm this? The second voice -sounds- like Geddy's, but it's difficult to be sure.... Of course, if the rest of the world, with its cleaner, newer MP discs, has already heard this since it's obvious on a cleaner master, I'll be suitably humbled.... :-) --Paul W. Cashman ILink SF&F conference co-host corum@uscn.bitnet President, Int'l Michael Moorcock GEnie: P.CASHMAN Appreciation Society CIS: 71520,3130 "Better the pride that resides / In a citizen of the world Than the pride that divides / When a colourful rag is unfurled" ----------------------------------------------------------
To submit material to The National Midnight Star, send mail to: rush@syrinx.umd.edu For administrative matters (additions, deletions & changes), send mail to: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu There is ftp access available on Syrinx now. The network address to ftp to is: syrinx.umd.edu or 128.8.2.114 When you've connected, userid is "anonymous", password is <your userid>. Once you've successfully logged on, change directory (cd) to 'rush'. There is a README file giving brief information on what is contained in the directories. Currently available: previous issues of the NMS, lyrics, and a relatively current subscriber's list. Future avaiability will include articles, interviews, etc. Anything with a ".Z" suffix is in compressed format, and requires you run 'uncompress' on it before you can read it. There is also a mail server available (for those unable or unwilling to ftp). Previous issues of The National Midnight Star (in it's current incarnation), lyrics, individual articles, and more are now available at an archive file server. For more info, send email with the subject line of HELP to: server@ingr.com These requests are processed nightly. Use a subject line of MESSAGE to send a note to the server keeper or to deposit a file into the archive. [ NOTE: the address "htodd@gmuvax2.gmu.edu" is no longer available for back issues of the NMS, due to disk space problems at their site. This address may or may not become active again for this purpose; stay tuned here for details. ] The contents of The National Midnight Star are solely the opinions and comments of the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management. List Management ********************************* End of The National Midnight Star *********************************