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Subject: 10/16/91 - The National Midnight Star #357
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The National Midnight Star, Number 357
Wednesday, 16 October 1991
Today's Topics:
Philadelphia Rush Party - Xanadu - Etc., etc.
Neil Peart, pseudointellectual. NOT!
mail etiquette
All kinds of stuff!
Enough is Enough!
Roll The Bones
that Dreamline sound!
Rush News
a few things
No Intensity?
Rush Using Too Much Ear Candy
Max Webster...
Classroom Blues
Clueless
----------------------------------------------------------
From: Editor, The National Midnight Star <rush-mgr@syrinx.umd.edu>
Subject: Administrivia
Just a quick note: If you upload something into the rush/incoming directory
at the anonymous ftp site, please send me mail at the administrative address
to let me know that it is there and a brief description about it. I'll move
it to the images directory (once I verify that it can be viewed), and update
the CONTENTS file there.
rush-mgr
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 91 19:18:25 -0400
From: at656@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael Sensor)
Subject: Philadelphia Rush Party - Xanadu - Etc., etc.
Hello all,
I've got several things to post today, so I'll try to make things
short.
1.) To reiterate a previous post: For anyone who lives in the Phila-
delphia/Delaware/NJ area or who plans to make a jaunt to Philly for the
December 3 concert, there will be aq RUSH PARTY on Saturday, November 30.
It is being hosted by my girlfriend Donna Skarbo and myself. If you're
interested in attending, please email me or Donna (skarbo@hp800.lasalle.edu).
Note that we are willing to change the date if necessary.
2.) Someone asked in today's NMS about the "cartoon themes" played
in "La Villa...". To be exactly precise, the "Monsters!" theme is entitled
"_Powerhouse_ Theme 'B'" and is found in Warner Brothers cartoons, usually in
situations involving machinery or tough guys. (Thanks to the liner notes to
"The Carl Stalling Project" [a disk of WB cartoon music], (c) 1990 WB, Inc.)
3.) It was also mentioned that someone had "Xanadu" as part of a
literature (?) class. For the record, a friend's Communications 251
(Rhetoric Theory) class at Penn State used "Marathon" as an example of
metaphor and simile.
4.) Rush and Satanism: Ha ha. These religious record-burners will tell
you that you can find *anything* in a record played backwards. Anyone who's
had even an introductory psychology class knows that you'll hear something in
a backwards lyric if you'
re told it's there beforehand. Cf. the great Queen "Another One Bites The
Dust"/"Start to smoke marijuana" scandal. ;-)
5.) "Nome to Rome": Someone asked if this was U.S. or hoser slang.
I think all that Neil was trying to say here is that existence exists uni-
versally - "a fact's a fact." The "Nome to Rome" is just a catchy line to
rhyme with "home boy" (plus, it implies universality, since Nome and Rome are
sort of on opposite ends of the globe).
Well, I've exhausted my quota of bandwidth for today. But, before I
go, a moment of silence for the Blue Jays...
and, LET'S GO BUCS!!!!!! (*massive cheering*)
M.
--
|======| Michael Sensor | "Altruism holds _death_ as its ultimate
|| Temple University | goal and standard of value."
|| Philadelphia, PA 19122 | -Ayn Rand, "The Objectivist Ethics"
==== <at656@cleveland.freenet.edu | NOME TO ROME, BOY | PERSEVERANTIA
VINCIT
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 91 20:35:01 EDT
From: jaeger@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger)
Subject: Neil Peart, pseudointellectual. NOT!
> Everyone epitomizes Neil Peart as a god-like poet. His lyrics, while
>showcasing his broad vocabulary, are quite wordy. It's
>pseudo-intellectual. If he dares to use such intellectual words, the
>phrases and ideas should follow the intelligencia of the selected words.
>He is "way out there" in his own literary world. Rush fans pretend to
>know what he is talking about. I don't believe he knows what he is
>talking about.
First of all, ``intelligencia'' is not an word in the English language.
Probably this guy meant to spell the word ``intelligensia,'' which
would make the sentence incoherent as ``intelligensia'' is defined
as n.pl.: ``intellectuals, considered as a group.'' What he probably
intended to say was `the phrases and ideas should match in intellegence
the sophistication of the words he uses.'' IMHO, Neil's ideas have
always done this. In fact, I think the _ideas_ expressed in RTB far
outrank the _vocabulary_ he uses, though there are phrases which are
certainly up to par -- for example, ``learning that we're only immortal
for a limited time.''
I can't tell you how sick I am of hearing people call Neil
pseudointellectual. Now, telling an intellectual from a
pseudointellectual is perhaps meaningless and can certainly
be difficult. I cite Susan Sontag, who is the most obvious
problematic case. Others would cite Ayn Rand. Hell, in his
day I'm sure Nietzsche was called pseudointellectual by alot
of people. But in any case in my opinion Neil is definitely
_not_ pseudointellectual nor are his lyrics. Who am _I_ to
judge? Just one person. But I do have an education (triple major
B.S.(physics, philosophy, and mathematics), a master's in physics,
working on a Ph.D. in the foundations of quantum theory) and have
spent alot of time with people most of the world would call
intellectuals: philosophers who were students of the Vienna Circle
philosophers Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach (namely Hilary Putnam
and Abner Shimony) and a physicist student of Eugene Wigner (again
Shimony, who is my academic advisor for my Ph.D.). I have also spent
a semester talking about literature with Saul Bellow (who has a
Nobel prize in literature). So I've been with and studied from
_real_ intellectuals, and in my opinion Neil Peart is _NOT_
pseudointellectual. Not that I think that such a label
is particularly important. (Nor does Neil from some things he's
said about being _called_ an intellectual). It's just that being
called a pseudo-intellectual is a serious put-down for someone
who is sincerely trying to get at the truth about deep matters.
On a more normal note:
The _Life Under Pressure_ CD cost me $24.99. And
the # of Ticketbastard (I was just on hold for 20 mins!)
in Boston is (617) 931-2000.
Gregg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Jaeger (jaeger@buphy.bu.edu) ``Hold Your Fire''
Dept(s). of Physics (and Philosophy) ______/|/|
Boston University, Boston MA 02215 (_) \|\| Trystero?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 91 21:55:22 -0400
From: dougw@grebyn.com (Doug Worthington)
Subject: mail etiquette
Hello Rush fans,
I have a request to all of those that will be attending a Rush
concert. Would you please inform the readers that your mail message
contains information about the concert that might be a suprise during
the show, such as song order. All you need to do is put the word,
SPOILER or something in the subject line so I can skip the message until
after I have seen the show.
Enjoy the show!!!!!
THANKS
dougw
----------------------------------------------------------
From: bigal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Nathan Charles Crowell)
Subject: All kinds of stuff!
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 91 22:39:11 EDT
A few things to chew on:
1) Newsgroup ===> NO!
2) Dogs barking, oral requests, etc. =====> WHO CARES?
3) Neil's Lyrics ===> Intellectual AND great!
I thank you for your time....
Big Al (The Nate-man, Nate-o-rama, Nate mailin' the TNMS....)
OBRQ: "Everybody got to elevate from the norm..." - Vital Signs
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 91 23:18 EDT
From: "Doug Morack (412)457-1292" <DCM115@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Enough is Enough!
Come on people!!!! This dog bark-sonar blip argument has gone on long
enough. What does it matter???? It's just a part of a song and nothing else.
It doesn't mean anything. Next people will be saying that the jet noise at the
beginning of Dreamline is the Atlantic Ocean at some beach in South Carolina.
It's very clear that no one is going to agree on this issue. Let's just drop
it. We'll all be better off.
-Doug (Countdown to Pittsburgh concert - 13 days!!!!)
*******************************************************************************
* ____ ___ * Lonely things like nights, I find *
* | \ | | / \ | | * End finer with a friend. *
* |___/ | | \___ |____| * "Anagram (For Mongo)" - Rush _Presto_ *
* | \ | | \ | | * Gonna kick some gluteus max. *
* | \ \__/ \___/ | | * "Roll the Bones" - Rush _Roll the Bones_ *
*******************************************************************************
* BITNET - DCM115@PSUVM * Let's go Pens!!!! *
* INTERNET - DCM115@PSUVM.PSU.EDU * 1990-91 Stanley Cup Champions!!!! *
*******************************************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1991 00:03:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Matthew Joseph Desantis <md4l+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Roll The Bones
Roll The Bones had to have been hastily made. Think about it. Presto
was released late in 1989. They toured in 90. And now we all go out and
buy an album that Rush spent probably less than a year creating.
This is a slightly faster production rate than Rush has used in the past.
When I first started listening to Rush (Probably in early 1980 at the
age of eight) certain songs just grabbed me. Fly By Night grabbed me the
first time I plopped my brother's scratchy LP on the turntable. I'm not
noticing that with the albums after MP. Enter Roll the Bones. Fans
listen to this mass-produced synthy filler music and after about 24hrs -
sure anyone will learn to like it. Sure I could listen to Paula Abdul,
Vanilla Ice - any of the vast assortment of mindless music of today -
and get used to It. My Jazz tastes and piano/guitar instruction tell me
to look elsewhere.
In listening to Roll the Bones, I have formed a theory. Perhaps behind
rush is just a bunch of experienced programmers and a Fairlight CMI
workstation. You could set your metronome to this album. That's not
rush. Neil's lyrics might as well be Spinal Tappish against the cold
programmed music.
Although musically adept, potentially creative and powerful, rush never
really knew who they wanted to be. It's like "Well let's be a zeppelin
copy . . . no let's play like Uriah Heep . . . Wait... YES is pretty
cool. Ok, Let's emulate some police... REM ... Rap...." I like to call
the present rush a musical mutt.
Needless to say I have floor tickets to the Pgh show, and, although you
may not interpret it from my writing. I love rush. If Roll The Bones is
an excuse to tour - I love it ! Sure I'll have to wallow in the high
pitched twang of FM synthesis and guitar effects during (I'm guessing)
the opening number and periodically through the show. I won't be
bitchin' if they play some Xanadu ... YYZ ... By-Tor and the Snow Dog
(fat chance)
I feel that moving pictures marks the correct blend of styles for rush.
Although the album was a great commercial success, (and therefore
shunned by us rush freaks because "everyone knows about that album") It
is good. Neil must play a new solo ... Please pray for a new solo ! ! !
! ! !
|\ | | /_ |_| Matt DeSantis
|/ | | / | | "Hopelessly Addicted to Rush"
|\ |_| / | | P.S. Mr Big sucked in Pgh.
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 91 23:25:55 EDT
From: vanth!jms@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (Jim Shaffer)
Subject: that Dreamline sound!
After the big debate on the sound after "Far away from her hometown" in
"Dreamline", I listened to it myself tonight with the intent of deciding
what it is. (Before it was such a hot topic, I never even noticed it was
there!) If I had to decide between a dog bark and a sonar echo, I'd
definitely vote for the sonar echo. But what it *really* sounds like is a
wood block! Possibly a synthesized wood block, but a wood block
nevertheless. (If it's meant to be a dog bark, it's a spectacularly bad
attempt at synthesizing a dog bark!)
--
* From the disk of: | NEW CONNECTION: | I'm in a groove now
Jim Shaffer, Jr. | uunet!cbmvax!vanth!jms | -- or is it a rut?
37 Brook Street | jms%vanth@cbmvax.commodore.com |
Montgomery, PA 17752 | 72750.2335@compuserve.com | (Rush, "Face Up")
----------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Rush News
From: easy@darkside.com (Phil D. Croix)
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 01:14:48 PDT
I don't think there is any need for a news whatever in addition to the
NMS. Hell, we get all the information we need right here. What with 1000+
members and all, I don't think there is going to be any piece of
information that is not going to be heard on here.
Oh, and to the guy who said that the majority of Rush's new stuff is
"Keyboard and Computer centered" ,
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
When I listen to rush and their latest stuff, I hear first: Bass Guitar,
Guitar, Vocals, and Drums. Get a clue. On the Presto Tour, Geddy
Significantly reduced the amount of keyboards with him onstage. In fact,
I remember only seeing one or two. Probably only 1. And with the new
album, the keyboard parts definately take a back seat to the Drums, and
guitars. And that is the direction I see them heading into on albums to
come. as for the "Era" of Rush that I love the most, ALL of it!!!
>From the older music, right on up to RTB!! Yes, they ARE that good.
And what's all this talk that Rush has lost their energy level that they
"used to have on older records"? When I listen to Roll The Bones, I
imagine these guys looking like they were 20 years old and Full of
energy! It certainly comes out in their music, old and new!
Matt
Dates? Dates? Who has the dates for the west coast?
OGQ:" Well! How Y'all doin' out there anyway?"
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 09:00:26 EDT
From: faulkner@acsu.buffalo.edu (shane p faulkner)
Subject: a few things
It's great to hear that Neil will be on Rockline.. I thought he'd never do it.
My only concern is that after listening to the last 5 or so Rush Rockline
appearances, I have come to the conclusion that you have to be a total
blithering idiot to have your call get through to Rockline. IMO, 95% of the
questions asked are totally ridiculous, and have generally been answered
at least 5 times before.
Neil's last name rhymes with beer, not bert.
Yeah, I saw SNL last saturday and heard the 'MONSTERS!' section of La Villa.
Rush borrowed that riff from Carl Stalling (sp?), the guy who wrote all the
music for the Warner Bros. cartoons of the 40's-60's era.
///////////////////////// The Gangster of Boats /////////////////////////
////////////////// Rush - Marillion - Kim Mitchell ////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ Shane P. Faulkner | Boys and Girls together /
/ University At Buffalo | Mistake conceit for pride /
/ V127L2QZ@UBVMS.BITNET | Ambition for illusion /
/ faulkner@acsu.buffalo.edu | Dreams for self-delusion - Neil Peart /
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 07:45:17 PDT
From: I know you get dizzy but try not to lose your nerve 16-Oct-1991 1046
<murry@adtshr.enet.dec.com>
Subject: No Intensity?
Re: Matt Desantis' post in yesterday's NMS
>>The intensity that the band used to play with is gone.
What?!! No intensity?! You may not feel it, but I
definitely do! IMO, Presto and RTB is packed with intensity.
When Alex kicks in at the beginning of 'Dreamline' with
those power chords, I can't help but jump around like
a lunatic...the intensity of these 2 albums absolutely
blows me away. I'm a long-time fan and I think these
last 2 albums are 2 of their best. I find that I don't
listen to the older stuff as much because the songs tend
to wallow around for awhile before getting to the point,
musically and lyrically speaking. The intensity is there,
but isn't as focused as it is on Presto or RTB. The newer
stuff just comes out and grabs me and is packed with emotion
and intensity and concise lyrics. 'Ghost...' on RTB is the
epitome of this to me. The emotion in Alex' solo towards the
end is incredible.
OK, OK, I'll quit rambling... Different strokes for different
folks...
As for a review, I think you can all guess...I LOVE IT!!!
'Bravado', 'Big Wheel', 'Ghost...', and 'Neurotica' are
my favorites.
If/When someone knows when tickets for any New England
shows go on sale, please post a note!!
Dave
----------------------------------------------------------
From: amy@arla.austin.mcd.mot.com (Amy Moseley)
Subject: Rush Using Too Much Ear Candy
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 10:33:14 CDT
I personally like the effects that Rush has thrown in, even in the pre-
keyboard days, look at how many electronic effects are used on "Cygnus X-1",
"Hemispheres", and "Tom Sawyer."
Geddy can still jam on the bass live BECAUSE Jack Secret is the one who
pops the disks in and out of the Macintosh in order. So if you hear
a sequencing part messed up, either Jack's slipped and hasn't got the
right disk in, or Geddy or Neil triggered it late. Neil triggers many
of the sounds. I know this because Jack told it to me, and being front
row, you can barely see Jack with the Mac (hey that rhymes) doing his thing.
Technology has allowed us to combine jamming bass with cool keyboard
sounds. What's wrong with that? To say that MIDI isn't music, well,
for a long time people thought electric guitars were sacrilegious. Are
we going to go back to acoustic days? Or pre-CD days, when music was
analog?
--
Amy J. Moseley
Motorola Computer Group
(512) 329-7117 :)
amy@austin.mcd.mot.com or
uunet!cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!arla!amy
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 13:15:13 EDT
From: Brian Cadwell <cadwell@astro.psu.edu>
Subject: Max Webster...
This is my first post to NMS. A few things......
Yes I like RUSH. All their albums. I am glad
they don't sound anything like they used to.
It's a dog sound.
Has anyone heard anything from a band called Max Webster?
My first RUSH concert was in Minnesota on the Moving
Pictures tour. Max Webster, a Toronto band, opened for
them there and a few other places also. RUSH and Max did
a tune together called Battle Scar, released on the self
titled Max Webster album. Max had released about 5 or 6
albums before that (which I picked up while in Toronto
a few years back). The lead guitar player/singer for Max
was Kim Mitchel (sp?), he put out a solo album about 3 or
4 years ago.
What about that Philly tour info. I need a location for
the concert and time of tickets sales. I already know
it's gonna happen 12/3.
Oh yes. Please always remember to roll the bones. Give me
a @#$% break!!! Knock that sappy shit off.
B.C.
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 13:37 EDT
Subject: Classroom Blues
From: mtuxo!mjt1@att.att.com!the
Fellow RUSH-faces,
First off, the NMS is great, just got here a week ago, posting for the
second time, a fan since 75.
Growing up (and currently living) at the Jersey Shore (Belmar - a couple
of miles from Springsteen Land, Asbury Park), I too had interesting and
pretty fruitless experiences trying to win over classmates by bringing in
RUSH albums to class. Mine was HEMESPHERES, more specifically, THE TREES.
My teacher was heavy into THE DOORS while everybody else was into the BOSS.
I was into neither. Can't stand Springsteen (met him, a nice guy, had a
couple of beers, talked, just don't like the tunes) and don't bother with
the DOORS. Anyway, personal tastes aside, my classmates hated the song.
I explained the message the song conveyed before I played it but nobody
was interested, including my teacher. I'll never forget this, he says
"It's not like "Come on baby light my fire". Now there's a meaningful
message" I still can't believe he said that! Now I'm not (fasten your
seatbelts!) "knocking the DOORS" (oooh! everybody okay?) but don't tell
me a line like that is meaningful and the message conveyed in THE TREES
isn't! Moron!!
My conclusion was "They just don't get it" and it was unlikely they
ever would. So I gave up trying to convert anybody after that.
Some people react with negativity to things they don't understand,
then there's the rest of us.
Mike T.
===============================================================================
Today's Yuk:
Q - What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an agnostic, and
a dyslexic?
A - Someone who lies awake at night wondering if there really is a dog.
===============================================================================
----------------------------------------------------------
From: apross@Athena.MIT.EDU
Subject: Clueless
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 15:02:10 EDT
OK, I'm new here, and I've got a question. What's ftp and how do I use it?
Thankz. Also, does anyone have tour dates for the Boston area? Am I too late?
-------------------------------------Adam P. Ross------------------------------
>>ORQ (O stands for obligatory, doesn't it?)
I say these are not bad, all these thoughts I've had;
They reflect just what I'm learning.
You know that the hardest part, I say it is to stay on top,
On top of a world forever turning.
--"Here Again," _Rush_
----------------------------------------------------------
To submit material to The National Midnight Star, send mail to:
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For administrative matters (subscription, unsubscription, changes, and
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rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu or
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There is now anonymous ftp access available on Syrinx. The network
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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
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These requests are processed nightly. Use a subject line of MESSAGE to
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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 357
********************************************