Errors-To: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu
Reply-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu
Sender: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu
Precedence: bulk
From: rush@syrinx.umd.edu
To: rush_mailing_list
Subject: 04/18/91 - The National Midnight Star #218
** ____ __ ___ ____ ___ ___ **
** / /_/ /_ /\ / /__/ / / / / /\ / /__/ / **
** / / / /__ / \/ / / / / /__/ / \/ / / /___ **
** **
** __ ___ ____ **
** /\ /\ / / \ /\ / / / _ /__/ / **
** / \/ \ / /___/ / \/ / /___/ / / / **
** **
** ____ ____ ___ ___ **
** /__ / /__/ /__/ **
** ____/ / / / / \ **
The National Midnight Star, Number 218
Thursday, 18 April 1991
Today's Topics:
Jack Secret, guitar synths, Neil
witch hunt
Myster Science Theatre 3000
Re: FM
Getting some stuff off my chest...
spiteful editors
Cinderella Man
YYZ & Alex's censored singing
Radio days, etc
Re: 04/17/91 - The National Midnight Star #216
Marillion...
2112
Tree Talk
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 09:13:21 hst
From: Hinano Akaka <bigtuna!hinano@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Subject: Jack Secret, guitar synths, Neil
Guten Tag!
MINOR POINT: Someone mentioned the other day about Jack Secret being a
nickname for anyone who happens to change disks for Geddy and Neil on
stage. Did you mean to say "the specific person" who changes them or
"anyone in the world" who changes the disks? Because Jack Secret is
the nickname for Tony Geranios specifically. Just as Alex
is Lerxst, Larry Allen is Shrav, and Skip Gildersleeve is Slider
(formerly known as Detroit Slider). Just wanted to clarify...
GUITAR SYNTH ON HEMISPHERES: Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they
scrap the guitar synths on Hemispheres? I recall Alex mentioning once
upon a time that he had tried to use guitar synths on some songs on
the album but they were such a pain that all of the songs it was
used on were scrapped. Or am I confusing it with something else?
NEIL: For me personally, Neil is the best drummer in the world.
However, he is only one among my favourites -- William Calhoun, Jr.,
Manu Katche, Greg Bissonette (he's coming Saturday!!), Max Roach,
Peter Erskine, Dave Weckl, the list goes on. As a drummer, I cannot
say that Neil is the best, as much as I love him. Listening to Manu
Katche, as an example, you can really hear a different side to
drumming that Neil will never be able to master -- his style and his
personality are too different for him to master it. He may touch upon
it, but he'll never master it as Katche has.
When I first started getting interested in playing the
drumkit, I wanted to be just like Neil (sound familiar anyone?). If
nothing else than just wanting to be smooth and 'flawless'. I think
I'll just stick to knitting... but now I fully understand what he
means wen he says to listen to a hundred different drummers to learn
from all of them. Well, I've got about 90 left to go...and I still
haven't figured out the first 10 yet! Well, once upon a time, there
was a point to this but now I've forgotten what it was (it's close to
finals week and all I can think of is my trip to Australia next Spring
Break. sigh.). OH H*LL!!!! If anyone finds my mind, let me know, I
seem to have lost it...
puanani akaka
----------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert B Simmon <presto@rpi.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 15:35:08 EDT
Subject: witch hunt
On an interview two years or so ago (the series about important albums
with Red whoever) they discussed moving pictures, and described the recording
of witchunt. Apparently, they went out into the environs of Le Studio and
got a little drunk, and recorded twleve tracks of neil ranting and raving &
the rest of the band plus the stiudio staff carrying along with neil. they
then mixed the tracks specifically to hide what was said. From experience,
translation is rather difficult: i.e. impossible.
-rob simmon
----------------------------------------------------------
From: cfabrams@eos.ncsu.edu
Subject: Myster Science Theatre 3000
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 16:49:48 EDT
Anyone out there ever see any of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episodes
on the Comedy Channel (now CTV)? For those of you who don't know about
MST3000, it's a show where these science fiction characters watch really
awful B movies and crack on them the whole way through. Anyway, on one
particular episode, the host, a standup comedian named Joel Hodgeson, is
showing pictures that fans, mostly kids, had drawn of him and his robot
friends. It seems this one picture he held up to the camera was a sort of
Escher-like optical illusion some very talented young artist had sentin.
"Ooh," Joel says, "I bet you listen to Rush...."!
[ Yes, wasn't that in "The Side Hackers" episode? :rush-mgr ]
cAm
North Carolina State University "Yup, we luv them compewters!"
cfabrams@eos.ncsu.edu
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 18:11:24 EDT
From: warsaw@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (Barry A. Warsaw)
Subject: Re: FM
>> FM was one of the best opening bands I've seen at a Rush
>> Concert {one of the worse was Marrillion, at the Radio City
>> Music Hall shows- they were booed off the stage.}
I'm afraid I have to dispute this. I was also at the RCMH shows (well,
really just 1). It was a great experience all around (ever eaten
chinese food while watching Rush live?). I think the reason Marillion
got booed off the stage was due to the preponderance of teenie-bops
(saw *lots* of parents and <16 year olds there) at the show, and
because they were relatively unknown at the time. My friends and I
had never heard of them before, but we were struck by how good they
were, and how like Genesis as well. We'd stand up and cheer and yell
just so they'd know that not everyone in the house had bad tastes in
music.
BTW, Rush was incredible, playing many songs from the upcoming album
(i.e. previously unreleased)!
-Barry
----------------------------------------------------------
From: yackob@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca
Date: 17 Apr 91 17:46 -0500
Subject: Getting some stuff off my chest...
>X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.1 10/31/90)
Excuse my righteous indignation, but in response to yesterday's
episode, where dave.bbs@shark.cs.fau.edu (David Edward Weiss) asserts
>some more answers (concerning The Trees)
>i know a lot of people don't remember this, but Canada wasn't always
>an independent country. it used to belong to England -- you may have
>heard of it.
>hint:
>Maples (note it is capitalized in the lyrics) == Canada
>Oaks (see above comment) == England
>this song was written just before the split. think about it, and then
>think about it some more. you'll see i'm right.
The split was in 1867, although arguments could be made that
Canada was not truly independent of England until the end of the Great War.
David Edward Weiss is referring to the repatriation of the Canadian
Constitution, which occurred in 1982, and wasn't a big deal for anyone
but constitutional and parliamentiary fanatics. I was going to let this
go, but I feared that someone might mistake this for the truth. You
can't possibly believe that Canada was a colony until 1982.
Also, rush-mgr was right when he said that the Canadians and English
pronounce the letter "Z" as "Zed" - this has nothing to do with the French
pronunciation, as Chip Hart guessed, except it might have evolved from
it centuries ago. This is the English pronunciation and has been for a long
time.
Also, cs132042@cs.brown.edu (Jason Rosenberg) said his English
teacher noted that Maples are dark wood and Oaks are light - I don't know
about Oak, but all the maple I've seen is light - my guitar necks,
my guitars....
--
Kerry Yackoboski <yackob@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca>
The Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Laboratory, ECE Dept., U of Manitoba
Mysterious Moon Man of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
----------------------------------------------------------
Subject: spiteful editors [ Hey, watch it! :-) :rush-mgr ]
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 16:36:53 -0700
From: Michael J. Konopik <zzz@erg.sri.com>
Every year, Playboy conducts their music poll. With the ballot, they list
like ten of their recommendations for each category (pretty nearly all the
way from "best rock group" to "best country-western six-string nose-picker").
Several years back (I think it was sometime around '82), Neil took second in
rock drumming as a write-in. And the next year he STILL wasn't included in
their suggestions list.
I also remember that during the P/G and PoW tours I couldn't ever find any
Rush dates in the Rolling Stone tour listings.
I know that magazine feature editors have a lot of subjective control over
what goes into their publications. But is it just my imagination that Rush
has gotten a particularly hard time from the media? It sometimes seems as
if these writers and editors have it in for the boyz...
Does anybody have any insight on what might have caused a rift like this?
-Mike
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 15:42:37 -0900
From: "SCOTT M CLARK" <JNSMC%ALASKA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Cinderella Man
Is this based on a real person or what?
[ The song, written by Geddy, is based on the movie "Mr Deeds Goes To Town".
:rush-mgr ]
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 20:07:19 EDT
From: t47822@ursa.Calvin.EDU (Mark C. Turner)
Subject: YYZ & Alex's censored singing
This is my first posting since receiving the NMS last week. I am
just wondering if any of you out there new this (probably - if you do...
keep scrolling!); the rhythm at the beginning of YYZ (the triangle and
subsequent band riff) is morse code for...yep, you guessed it...YYZ. If
you don't believe me, check it out. I freaked when I found that out.
[ It's also the transponder code for Toronto International airport. When
they saw 'YYZ' on their luggage tags, they knew they were going home.
:rush-mgr ]
Also, I was wondering if any of you out there know what Alex is
singing at the beginning of La Villa Strangiato on the ASOH video. It's
silenced out and says some humerous tidbit about hazerdous to your health. I
don't know...thanks.
[ Check the FAQL for the answer to this one. :rush-mgr ]
Mark Turner
t47822@ursa.calvin.edu
- "...grab myself out a nice cold beer..."
----------------------------------------------------------
From: snarkboy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Snarkboy!)
Subject: Radio days, etc
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 20:12:21 WET DST
Hey! I heard Rush on the radio twice today... First was "Limelight."
Second was [oops! I don't know the name!] the one with
"..Concert Hall!" and "...Salesmen!!" toward the end.
If you're ever around, tune into 97.5 KLT in NORTHERN MICHIGAN and maybe
you to will be able to sample some of these tunes!
Poetry/Interpretations:
Can you ever look too far into something? I always get into huge
arguments with teachers because of poetic interpretations. We say that,
for example, the trees are Canada and England or Black and White, etc.
I realize that no-one here knows for sure if either of these is
"correct," but what if RUSH didn't even think of these possibilities?
What if they were simply talking of the trees in their back yard? I'm not
trying to deny that certain themes were put into the songs, but that
doesn't always have to be the case. Even I could write something wordy
today and then look at it in a week and FIND morals and themes in it.
Ever heard of the poem, "The Red Wheelbarrow"? Well, if you haven't
it is approx. 6-7 lines long and talks about rain and a wheelbarrow and,
I think, chickens. Pretty exciting, eh? Well, my english teacher
INSISTED that the author put each object there for a reason, that
each object had a meaning, and that we all should understand the
poem to have that specific meaning. He's a great teacher, but I think
that he got a little simple-minded that day.
Here's my question: Was I or he right?
-- Snark!
"Forever is a mountain we've yet to climb..."
-King's X
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 91 22:11 EDT
From: <DXT100@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: 04/17/91 - The National Midnight Star #216
please remove my email from you mail list. Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 91 13:41:11 +1000
From: Stuart Raymond Mills <stum@cs.su.oz.au>
Subject: Marillion...
WRTo : DSchmidt seeing MArillion live
WHY ON EARTH WERE THEY BOOED OFF STAGE???
ESPECIALLY by RUSH fans???
Personally I think MArillion are a GREAT band. They rate nearly
in the same class as RUSH!! They are progressive , have intelligent
lyrics (better that RUSH in some cases) etc etc!!
I can't BELIEVE that any intelligent audience couldn't appreciate
their music!!
OH well,
that's my A$0.02 worth!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
*********** stum@minnie.cs.su.OZ.AU ***********
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
*********** UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY ***********
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
*********** "Todays Tom Sawyer, mean mean pride...." ***********
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 91 09:41:43 EDT
From: rlr@bbt.com (Ron Rader)
Subject: 2112
I usually ignore song interpretations, but I'll add my voice from the peanut
gallery regarding 2112.
Our protagonist commits suicide, we go into a hard fast section of the song,
and we're bombarded with the voice proclaiming "Attention All Planets Of The
Solar Federation, We Have Assumed Control."
Most of you feel that this is a positive note, with the Elder Race coming
back to wrest control from the Priests Of Syrinx and free the people from
tyranny. I wonder though... considering the vast amount of material Neil has
written condemning societal control by force, do you really think "we have
assumed control" spoken in a deep and menacing voice is meant to be positive?
I've always thought this was the Priests reasserting their iron grip over
the Solar Federation, but the idea that it is the Elder Race returning has
merit. Regardless of which group is speaking, I most definitely feel that
the final note of the song is depressing and negative (which I enjoy more
than a 'happily ever after' ending). The real antagonist in 2112 is collect-
ivism by force, not just the Priests.
So what do you all think?
--
ron rader, jr rlr@bbt.com OR ...!mcnc!bbt!rlr = Opinions are my own and do
| | i gotta six-pack & nothing to do... = not necessarily reflect those
| | i gotta six-pack & i don't need you = of BroadBand Tech. (SO THERE!)
*** Punk ain't no religious cult, punk means thinking for yourself - DKs ***
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1991 09:49 MST
From: "Eric Kay (303) 499-7577" <KAY_E@CUBLDR.Colorado.EDU>
Subject: Tree Talk
I'd like to add to the current discussion about "The Trees".
As one interpretation I consider the song almost as a satire on
current society. We know that the maples ARE shorter and do indeed
recieve less light when surrounded by oaks, but that's the way Mother
Nature (God, for the creationists) set things up. That the Maples
could actually form a union and enforce equal heights is, in reality,
rediculous. However, this does occur in society as evidenced by the
industrial unions and all sorts of labor and equal rights laws. Is
this man's attempt to govern his own system of competition? It seems
to me that man is attempting to apply to society a luxury simply not
available in nature. Should we let "natural" competition run un-checked
in society? Sounds like an economics issue to me....
Anyways, lets not get caught up in interpretations. Just take it as
another musically awesome, fun little RUSH song.
-Eric Kay
----------------------------------------------------------
To submit material to The National Midnight Star, send mail to:
rush@syrinx.umd.edu
For administrative matters (additions, deletions, changes, and
questions), send mail to:
rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu
There is now anonymous ftp access available on Syrinx. 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 also a mail server available (for those unable or unwilling to
ftp). 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.
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 authors' management, or the mailing list management.
Copyright The Rush Fans Mailing List, 1991.
Editor, The National Midnight Star
(Rush Fans Mailing List)
********************************************
End of The National Midnight Star Number 218
********************************************