The National Midnight Star #381

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: 11/19/91 - The National Midnight Star #381
** ____ __ ___ ____ ___ ___ ** ** / /_/ /_ /\ / /__/ / / / / /\ / /__/ / ** ** / / / /__ / \/ / / / / /__/ / \/ / / /___ ** ** ** ** __ ___ ____ ** ** /\ /\ / / \ /\ / / / _ /__/ / ** ** / \/ \ / /___/ / \/ / /___/ / / / ** ** ** ** ____ ____ ___ ___ ** ** /__ / /__/ /__/ ** ** ____/ / / / / \ ** List posting/followup: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Administrative matters: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu or rush-mgr@syrinx.umd.edu (Administrative postings to the posting address will be ignored!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The National Midnight Star, Number 381 Tuesday, 19 November 1991 Today's Topics: Administrivia (none) Re: 11/15/91 - The National Midnight Star #377 MIDI RTB review in _People_ magazine Erland Sommarskog and morse code things... The Dice ROLL THE BONES TOUR BOOK Neil would tell me to get a life... BOOT SPOILER (KINDA) Clearing the air Cleveland Show RTB video? RTB Tour Book re: Neil's bass drum European Matters Re: need tix to Worcester show B's and D's Eric Johnson? (none) weirdo magnet Tour date/place list? Hugh Syme About the poll results Sticks. CLEVELAND SHOW. MIGHT BE SPOILER> More On Concert Dates, Sorry Re: Ticket suggestions, anyone? More thoughts on Cleveland (Definate SPOILERS) extra extra! ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Editor, The National Midnight Star <rush-mgr@syrinx.umd.edu> Subject: Administrivia Since I notice several people are asking about tour dates, I thought I'd mention that two sets of *tentative* tour dates have been posted to the NMS - I call them 'leg 1' and 'leg 2' of the tour, coincidentally before and after my birthday/New Years (figure that one out, folks :-) - no, it's not New Years). I they were in issues 345 and 364, and can be gotten via anonymous ftp from Syrinx in the 'rush/digest' directory or from the mail server at Ingr.com. A combined list can also be ftp's from Syrinx in the file "rtb.tour.dates" in the 'rush/special' directory. Addresses for both Ingr.com and Syrinx are at the end of every issue. rush-mgr ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 10:37:14 +0100 From: schaaphe@serc.nl (Frank Schaapherder) Hi there, I asked for European tour dates a few days ago. It seems I've solved my question myself. I have heard from a usually reliably source Rush will be playing in Holland at the 3rd of May 1992. The exact place is (still) unknown to me, but I expect they will play in Rotterdam. The guys seem to love May for playing in Holland, they played on the third in 1983 and on the second (or fourth) of May in 1988. Whenever I cross more European dates, I'll post. I also read some of you guys have been making banners. What struck me is that there wasn't a single person who had a banner saying something like: "The National Midnight Star says 'Hi' to The Boyz" Just a thought, I'm probably rambling as usually. And yeah, thanks to Jimmy Lang (and the other authors) for the anniversary issue, I really enjoyed it. -- Frank (schaaphe@serc.nl) ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 07:48 ADT From: Ross <EG9192030@HUSKY1.STMARYS.CA> Subject: Re: 11/15/91 - The National Midnight Star #377 About Much Music... Yes, they air Rush videos. Quite often, actually. Yesterday, I saw RTB, and Subdivisions. About a month ago, they had the Labatts Blue Spotlight on Rush, for half an hour. ALSO, they had a contest in which they were giving away 10 RTB Cd's. You had to answer a 'skill testing' question. Anyways, I was lucky enough to win one. :-) Anyways, I would have to say that Much Music does play quite a bit of Rush. ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 08:11:09 -0600 From: wadew@ducvax.auburn.edu (Wade Williams) Subject: MIDI > Geddy >writes a version of the songs with all of the parts- even vocals, >guitar, drums and keyboards with Passport software. Usually done on an >Atari ST (Great for MIDI applications) or a MAC. As an excerpted interview in TNMS pointed out, they experimented with the Atari because they liked a software package on it. Apparantly, they hated the Atari itself and as soon as the Mac's software was updated, they went back to it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Wade Williams "Any escape might help to smooth the User Services Specialist unattractive truth, but the suburbs Academic Computing have no charms to soothe the restless Auburn University dreams of youth." (N. Peart) wadew@ducvax.auburn.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: RTB review in _People_ magazine Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 9:24:35 CST From: tj@alpine.b17a.ingr.com (T.J. Higgins) My wife takes _People_ magazine. I don't read it, but she pointed out the following review of _Roll_The_Bones_ in the "Picks & Pans" column. This is the review in its entirety: "Here is audible proof that dinosaurs still roam the earth. On its 18th album, the Rushosaurus tries to adapt to modern society by abandoning thunderous drum solos and adding Top 40 synthesizer hooks and snippet of rap on the title track. But lumbering guitar solos, chest-thumping lyrics and Geddy Lee's shrieking vocals soon expose the hopelessly primitive nature of the beast. Roll these bones into a museum--say, an FM oldies station. -- Craig Tomashoff" So, I wonder if this guy has ever worked at _Rolling_Stone_? If not, I'm sure they'd hire him in a second after this piece of shi, uh, work. And if he thinks Geddy's vocals shriek on RTB, what would he think about "Cygnus X-1?" SPINNING, WHIRLING, STILL DESCENDING LIKE A SPIRAL SEA, UNENDING SOUND AND FURY DROWNS MY HEART EVERY NERVE IS TORN APART.... Now that is some serious shrieking! Right on!!!! Needless to say, I disagree with his assessment of RTB... --------------------------------------------------------------------- T.J. Higgins 205-730-7922 | higgins@ingr.com (Internet) Mapping Sciences Division | uunet!ingr!higgins (uucp) Intergraph Corp. M/S IW17A6 Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. 35894-0001 ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 10:49:08 -0500 From: walkersc@esvax.dnet.dupont.com Subject: Erland Sommarskog and morse code As for Erland's tardy "Presto" review, I stand corrected by the rush-mgr on respecting other people's opinions. Funny to hear how well known he is in these circles. But whatever he said, it's too little too late. He obviously has not learned to roll the bones yet! Someone a ways back posted something about some dice on the cover of RTB being in the pattern of Morse Code. Has anything come out of that observation? What does it say, if anything? One more thing-can you imagine what would happen if Rush put as much technical effort into their videos as Michael Jackson put creative effort into "Black and White"? Talk about sensory overload... ***************************************************************************** Scott C. Walker The DuPont Company This space for rent. CR&D Wilmington, Delaware ***************************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 12:24:47 -0600 From: toronto@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (James Moseley) Subject: things... Yes, "hello...good morning guv, or just morning guv , is what is being said in 'Camera Eye.' It's a greeting. BTW, this subject was brought up last spring, and was probably brought up before that too. Funny. Dude! Check this out! Before class this morning, I turned on the stereo for my morning wake-up jam. I was going to play a CD but decided to check out the radio stations first. When I turned to the 3rd one, they had just started to play RTB! So I said Killer! Then I turned on the TV to check the temp. and the forecast on The Weather Channel. Being it was 10:30, I thought it's not prime-time. So I turned it to eMpTyV and DUUUUUUDE, just then it faded into the store window at the beginning of the RTB video! Is that killer or what! The video and the song on the radio at the same time! That's a one-in-a- million! All this happening in 10 seconds. What's cool is now I have a copy of the video in SP, better sound, if not better picture too. Oh well, gotta go. Later... James Moseley (toronto@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 13:29:44 -0600 (CST) From: WPM45320@VAX1.UTULSA.EDU Subject: The Dice Midnight Star, This is my first post to the NMS. I was wondering if the dice on the album cover and the tour poster meant anything. If you look at the bottom half of the wall, you will notice that the dice start changing numbers. Are they just random numbers or do they mean something? It seems strange to me that they would start changing the numbers half way if thay didn't mean anything. If anyone knows the answer to this small mystery, then please let me know!! Thanks, Paul Williamson, Univ. of Tulsa ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Nov 91 15:46:52 EDT From: <bxe2@po.cwru.edu> Subject: ROLL THE BONES TOUR BOOK First of all, let me say that the NMS is incredible!!!!! Now here is my story. I went to the RUSH show in Cleveland on 11/17. Needless to say, it was truly outstanding. The boyz really sounded tight and seemed to be having tons of fun. At the show, I bought the tourbook for 13.00. I put it away, and upon taking it out to read when I got home, I saw that a few pages were torn and a few others were never cut(many pages stuck together). Does anyone know someone to call or write to, to get a replacement copy? Any assistance would be helpful!!!!! Thanks A lot!!! Brian Epstein E-MAIL bxe2@po.cwru.edu R O L L - T H E - B O N E S !!!! ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 16:22 EST From: "Rob Lizak Jr." <LIZAK98%SNYBUFVA.bitnet@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU> Subject: Neil would tell me to get a life... >...but I figured the list would find this story neat! :) I got my tickets for Buffalo on Saturday morning, and after standing in line me and other two guys I was with determined we needed some food badly, so we headed over to Perkins and ordered and after we ate, I looked at the bill, it was 23.00 for the three of us, I remarked saying "Whats the chances of having the bill come up even?"... one of the other guys with me said "Yeah imagine though if it would have been $21.12".. I laughed and then looked back down at the check... and there it was staring me in the face, our customer number... in bold black letters 2112!! So we asked the waitress if we could keep the check, and she let us... I know its a silly story, but I thought it was be something a little different than what has been on the list as of late... --Rob. lizak98@snybufva.cs.snybuf.edu lizak98@snybufva ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 13:33 CDT From: IB91@vaxb.acs.unt.edu Subject: BOOT SPOILER (KINDA) urce (hopefully reliable) that this was a major snafu. Not only is that not Alex playing, but it's not even Rush! It is in fact Tommy Shaw(?) from Styx. Oh wellcan't wait for the concert in Dallas (Feb 16) will the Tone Ranger still be opening (E.J.)? audios [ I think part of the original mail might have been lost on this one - this is how it arrived at Syrinx, minus a few extra headers trimmed by my software. You might want to re-post this... :rush-mgr ] ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 18:07 EDT From: "CRAIG B. BERWALDT JR." <V057QGHV@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu> Subject: Clearing the air Hello.... All right ...all right....I see I have pissed a few people off with my "real fans" post. I would now like to clear the air. I openly admit that I like all of the songs that I bitched about them playing this time out. What I meant by my real fans comment was this: I get the feeling that the guys feel obligated to play songs like Tom sawyer and CttH etc... for the fans that may only be familiar w/ these types of songs(those being the more popular or well known ones) Apparently I speak for an extremely small minority when I say that I would much rather hear songs like Middletown Dreams(my alltime fav if anyone cares), Open Secrets, Vital Signs, Afterimage....etc. My reason for this is thatI have already heard those other songs umpteen times live and would just like a little variety in the live shows. I love 2112 and all the others just as much as the next guy and didnt mean to imply that you were not a REAL FAN if youliked them. I certainly hope all those that I have upset can now understand what I meant. I realize my original comments may have been a bit ambiguous. I would appreciate it if anyone else has a problem w/ this to please flame me personally. Thanks.... Craig ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 19:11:43 -0500 From: Mickey <mccormic@cis.ohio-state.edu> Subject: Cleveland Show Hello, hello. Love TNMS, been reading it for a month, my first post, batter up. I have to say that I agree with some earlier posts in that the sound on this show seemed to be lacking. Unless a song was Alex intensive,(Limelight, Xanadu) you could hardly pick out his playing mushed in with the other sounds. I also agree that Ged's bass has sounded a lot better in previous shows. Neil's solo was the only time the mixing seemed to be on track. During Superconductor, Alex's mike was mixed out and he singing into a dead mike for two lines in the chorus. I noticed that this happened twice during two different Eric Johnson songs as well. It may have been mechanical, I dunno. Presto seemed to sound a lot better eventhough the tourbooks credit the same person as tour sound technician on both tours. I also agree with Mark Caufman in that the extra large stage was hardly used. Ged and Alex hardly moved around at all compared to previous shows. Unless I missed it, Ged didn't even say 'goodbye' or anything during their two stage exits. I definitely have seen the Boyz put on better shows. (Ones that sounded better too). Shawn McCormick mccormic@cis.ohio-state.edu ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 20:06:48 -0500 From: at656@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael Sensor) Subject: RTB video? Hello all... Just a general inquiry: Has *anyone* seen/taped the RTB video off of eMpTytV since it first came out? The other night I set my VCR to tape all night and came up with two showings of the (now-abbreviated) "Black or White" video, 2 of Van Halen's "Top of the World" (or whatever it's called), 2 of Tom Nasal and the Heartbreakers, and one of -- oh god, don't do this to me - 2legit. Argh! I got both the live and video versions of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, so at least the evening wasn't a total waste. My point: I would like to know when the video's been seen so that I can (try) to tape it. In addition, if anyone has a copy of it, I might be interested in obtaining (ahem) a copy. Ony 13 days remain until the first Philly show. Time to go roll *my* bone... ;-) Michael -- |========| Michael Sensor | "Leck mich am Arsch!" || Temple University | - Goethe || Department of German | Share and Enjoy. ==== Philadelphia, PA <at656@cleveland.freenet.edu>|Nome to Rome... ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 21:36:12 -0500 From: Mickey <mccormic@cis.ohio-state.edu> Subject: RTB Tour Book Me again. If you do get the chance to see the tour or know someone who is going, GET THE TOUR BOOK!!!! It is spectacular eventhough it is $13. It is 28 pages like the Presto one but it contains more photos and they all aren't concert photos. Some are from inside some sort of mobile home or RV and there is one or two from backstage, as well as one from the back of a limo. For those of you that already own one, or for those who have asked questions about it, I may have some answers. Some of the things I peck you may have seen in earlier posts, but I haven't yet. The outdoor stage shots are from Cooper Stadium in Columbus, Ohio during the Presto tour.(Inside cover and soundcheck shots of Alex and Ged(pg 22-23?) The skulls and bones in the Morse config. on the bottom of page 1 spell 'remember death'. I don't have a clue.(remember deaths, remember the death?) If your page of Alex in the chair(5-6) is stuck together, it is a factory error. The guy selling them at Richfield in Cleveland said that many of them are cut wrong. Look at the picture of Alex in the chair. Notice that the pictures of famous people on the desk and on the mantle all have his picture imposed on them. Alex and the Pope. Alex and Liz Talor. Alex and Bush. Alex and the Queen. etc. The only one I can't figure out is the one with the older couple and what looks like a child. The picture of Neil bundled up I believe is from the making of The Pass video. (Ref. Presto tour book) Lastly. On the back cover, where the albums are listed, Anagram for Mongo has become Anagram for Mango. Anyone else find anything interesting?(Who is the guy in the bunny suit?) Row the boats. Shawn(mccormic@cis.ohio-state.edu) ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 91 19:38:28 HST From: hinano@ahi.pbrc.Hawaii.Edu (Hinano Akaka) Subject: re: Neil's bass drum LIFE AGAIN!!! So nice to know you can always return home after being weeks behind and not knowing what the heck is going on... A few days ago (or was it months?) Daniel P. Becker responded to my post about mourning Neil's bass drum (sorry, I'm too damn lazy to call up the actual post...). Yes, I do, in fact, understand that a single-bass drum does NOT, in fact, imply single-bass technique. I play drums myself (albeit loosely) -- not that you could have known that; or cared -- but I am rather glad you mentioned it anyway for tht benefit of anyone out there who would NOT have known that he could still play double-bass with only one bass drum. I was just thinking that I'm so used to his being behind a doubl-bass drum kit, it'll seem so strange seeing him with only one b. drum. Call me senntimental... (heck -- screw the spelling...) Anyway, just wanted to clear that up! puanani "Ho-hoo!" ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 15:55:57 GMT From: fallon@mee.tcd.ie Subject: European Matters Greetings! Firstly, does anyone know when the boys will be touring England?. I reckon that's the only chance that I'll get to see them since they have never come to Ireland before and I doubt that they'll do so this time. It should be some trip (train - boat - train)!. I went out recently to get my copy of Guitar Player - Nov 91 but was dissappointed to find some other band on the cover (CUSM i think). I remember a couple of years ago one of the guitar magazines did a double issue with Rush on the cover of one and George Lynch on the other but the interviews were in both. Anyway this edition has no Rush interview at all. Is it a policy of Guitar Player to vary its contents for the different (N.America/Europe) markets?. Maybe someone will transcribe it eventually > > ;) ;) (nudge nudge wink wink). BTW, I agree that the voices on TCE are (que Cockney accent..) "(h)ello" "mornin' Guv" Nothing sinister, just a nice touch of atmosphere. Niall Fallon Tel : (01)772941 ext: 1580 Dept. of Microelectronics FAX : (01)772442 and Electrical Engineering, E-Mail : fallon@mee.tcd.ie Trinity College Dublin 2 "Pavements may teem with intense Ireland energy buty the city is calm in this violent sea." ---------------------------------------------------------- From: rivard@claude.ma30.bull.com (Dennis Rivard) Subject: Re: need tix to Worcester show Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 10:36:38 EST > Just tried to get Rush tickets to the 12/10 show at Worcester > by phone, and was unsuccessful. Anybody in the Boston area or > at MIT have any extra tickets to sell? My guess is that the show > will sell-out, and they will add another show (they've done this > on the last few tours for Worcester). I got my tickets Wednesday (it appears you tried on Saturday), and got lower side, whatever that is... From what i gathered, they were pretty much almost gone by the time I got my tix. If your problem was that you couldn't get through to Ticket Bastard, I tried for 30 minutes before I got through, then was put on hold for another 20... LONG DISTANCE! arrrgh! Anyway, I saw Paula Abdul at the Centrum Thursday, and they were still only advertising Rush on 12/10, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too high for a second show. Dennis ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 11:23 EDT From: AARON_KP@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu Subject: B's and D's I was wondering if anybody knows what 'Brought to you by the letter D' on Presto and 'Brought to you by the letter B' on RTB means. I thought that the 'D' on Presto referred to the all-digital recording technique, but that was shattered when RTB came out in DDD as well. Just curious. Anyway, in the completely useless anecdote department, I was riding back home in a limo from my fraternity's formal when I turned on the tape deck, and Signals came out! It almost completely salvaged a thoroughly miserable evening...my blind date was about as exciting as a piece of driftwood. Whatever. Only 15 days to Roll the Bones in DC!! Ken Aaron, Johns Hopkins University ORQ: "How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit." ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 11:43:33 EST From: robert l pitas <bpitas@sun3140d> Subject: Eric Johnson? I have tickets for the Dec 9 (Prov. RI) and Dec 10 (Worchester) and according to a newspaper add for the Worchester show, Vinnie Moore is opening... Does anyone know what the cutoff date for E.J. is? I would go to see him in concert by himself, so when I heard he was opening for the boyz, I was reasonably psyched... Now I hear he's not opening for them... Someone please tell me that the last show he's going to open for is Dec 9 @ Prov! *************************************************************************** * Bob Pitas * Elfin songs and endless nights * * bpitas@flora.CCS.Northeastern.EDU * Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights * * ___ _ _ __ _ _ * Time will never touch you * * | \ | | | / _\ | | | * Here in this enchanted place * * | / | | | \ \ | | * -Neil Peart * * |___\ \_/ \__/ |_|_| * "Rivendell" * *************************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 13:55:50 est From: Donna Skarbo <skarbo@hp800.lasalle.edu> Hi there all! Two people mentioned that the Dec. 1 show in Hartford, CT, I believe has been postponed. One of the posters wondered why. Well, the postponement is probably due to the fact that RUSH is playing in Philadelphia the night of Dec. 1. This show is being presented by WMMR rather than Electric Factory so the reason they scheduled that day MAY have something to do with it. On another topic...I was considering having a RUSH party on Dec 3. I have not made a final decision on this matter but I received only a small number of replies. What I am considering doing is having just a small get together before either the Dec 1 or 3 show. For those who are still interested, please drop me a line and let me know what is a better day and I'll make a final decision. Also, I apologize for not getting on this sooner; I have been SWAMPED at work. Please send mail to skarbo@hp800.lasalle.edu. Thanks a lot! Donna [ I'll be there, Donna! I'll arrive sometime during the day, and will let you know several days ahead of time what my 'itinerary' is for that 24 hours.... I'm also bringing beer... Be afraid, be very afraid. :-) :rush-mgr ] ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1991 14:21:11 -0500 (EST) From: RH2@JAGUAR.UCS.UOFS.EDU (Rebel, Runner, Restless Young Romantic) Subject: weirdo magnet ...thats the name of my punk/thrash/pop band, just in case you recognized no relation at all to RUSH. the lead guitarist wanted to do thrash version of 'working man' but, as it is blasphemy, even to 'working man', we are not. i just would like to confirm that YES, i did hear that neil will be on rockline on dec. 2. lets get in there guys and prevent the morons from asking reaaalllyy stupid questions like 'so, like, whats you favorite canadian beer, lerxst??' necromancer ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Tour date/place list? Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 11:47:46 MST From: Guy Kendall <gkendall@ncr-mpd.ftcollins.NCR.COM> Is there a list of the cities and dates that Rush will hit on the RTB tour? I am one of those unfortunate Coloradoans that has to miss Rush every other tour. But I say NOT THIS TIME! If they aren't coming to Denver, I want to make a road-trip to the closest place. If there isn't a list of places they will hit on this tour, which places did they hit on the last few tours that are close to Colorado? Where did all you Coloradoan Rush Fans go for HYF and p/g? Also, how do you get tickets for a out of state concert? Is there a universal Ticketmaster number or something? Thanks. -- Guy W. Kendall - Applications Engineer Guy.Kendall@ColoSpgs.NCR.COM NCR Microelectronic Products Division Voice: 719-596-5795 x465 1635 Aeroplaza Drive | Do Integrated Circuits | Fax: 719-570-6045 Colorado Springs, CO 80916 | work in South Africa?? | BBS: 719-596-1649 ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 14:50 EDT From: THE ALMIGHTY <KRKST2@vms.cis.pitt.edu> Subject: Hugh Syme Hello everybody, I have a breif question I'm sure one of you can answer. I was listening to Styx, _Edge_of_the_Century_ yesterday and I was looking through the liner notes and I saw a familiar name. Hugh Syme is given credit for the art direction of the tape. I looked through my old Styx tapes (The Grand Illusion, Paradise Theatre, Kilroy was Here, and Caught in the Act) and he is not mentioned in any of these. Does he do anyone else's albums? and Did Rush break him into the field? Please reply to me not to the NMS, it is long enough already. Thanx! Kevin Ryan Kirwan The Pitt Drumline "We'll strike like lightning, and leave you shocked." Congratulations to Geddy Lee, _Guitar_Player_ magazine Bassist of the Year 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Tero Valkonen <d40374w@kaira.hut.fi> Subject: About the poll results Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 21:59:02 EET I was kinda surprised about those "great player" poll results. I didn't see Allan Holdsworth mentioned in the guitarist list, nor did I see Vinnie Colaiuta noted as a great drummer. Now there are two probable reasons: 1) You don't know those two. If this is the case, check out Allan Holdsworth's album "Secrets". It features Allan and Vinnie among several other great musicians. 2) You don't like them. No need to comment on this. IMO, Vinnie Colaiuta beats Neil hands down as far as inventive playing is concerned. On "City nights" (the first track on Secrets) he plays the way you have never heard Neil play. Well, I wouldn't vote Neil very high on my favorite drummers list anyway (he'd be on top ten, still) but still the way Vinnie plays the drums makes me gasp and wonder. And about Allan; if you haven't heard him, check him out! Guitarists will probably hate him for playing the way they never will, but I love him. To that guy who complained about not getting autographs: Have you realised that Rush have signed autographs for almost twenty years now? I mean, they have probably learned to hate doing it year after year. I would never ask for an autograph in the first place anyway, so I don't see what is so bad about not getting one. An autograph is really a worthless souvenir. PS. Gregg Jaeger: send me your email address. I have an unbelievable talent of missing it every time.. PPS. If those two abovementioned musiciands were listed in the poll results, blame me of being blind. PPPS. How high would you guys rate Fish as a lyricist? IMO, he is the best one. Check out Marillion's album Fugazi for examples of his works. "From a dolequeue to the regiment, a profession in a flash But remember Monday signings when from door to door you dash On the news a nation mourns you, unknown soldier count the cost For a second you'll be famous but labelled posthumous" -Fish ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 16:50:37 EDT From: Mark Gardner <GARDNEMJ@DUVM.OCS.DREXEL.EDU> Subject: Sticks. I've been a drummer for about ten years now, a Rush fan for four. For the past two years I've been using Pro-Mark oak wood-tipped 747 drum sticks almost exclusively, for their light weight and strength. So, when I finally broke my last pair (yes, it does happen to the best of drummers, especially when trying to perfect 'The Rhythm Method' for the nth time) and went to the local music store to get a few more pairs, I was amazed and delighted that those very model of sticks are now signature-endorsed by none other than Professor Neil Peart himself. Needless to say, I snapped up three pairs. My question is: are these the actual sticks that Neil uses, or is this just an advertising gimmick? Does the Roll The Bones tour program mention what equipment the band is using at all? Forgive my cluelessness - they ARE nice sticks anyway, and it is a veritable Cool Thing to have Neil signature on them. As a sidenote, what're my chances of getting one of these babies signed by Neil personally when they come to Philly week after next? :) -Mark Gardner, GARDNEMJ@DUVM.OCS.DREXEL.EDU ORQ: "Fortune is random - fate shoots from the hip." ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 18:59:54 -0500 From: nam2@po.CWRU.Edu (Nicholas A. Mascari) Subject: CLEVELAND SHOW. MIGHT BE SPOILER> Whew!! two Rush shows in a row!!!! People here think I'm crazy for going to see the same band twice in a row! One girl even asked me, "How can you like Rush so much?" My only answer was "How can't I?" Being my first Rush show also made it that much better for me. Oh well, not really too many spoilers here, just some comments. The show was AWESOME!!! Geddy and Alex moved around a lot, not like some other peoples shows. During one of the songs, I forget which, on the first night, (11/17), Alex and Geddy were standing next to each other and vrunning into each other while playing. They had a lot of fun. Too bad other people at different shows didnt think so. Too those who have seen them by now, did Neil where a bandana? I didnt read any spoilers before the show, so dont know if this is old news, but he wore a bandana to both shows.Not the same one either. At first we thought he dyed his hair blond, (or at least it looked like that from 31 rows back ): ) WHY DONT THEY PLAY LONGER THAN 2 HOURS?!?!?!? My only disappointment. (psst. hey guys. you have enough songs to play 10 hours!!!! why not go for at least 3!!!!) oh well. tour book is hilarious. Like the shot of Alex in front of pictures of him with George Bush, Queen Elizabeth, and the Pope. And geddy's noses and ponytails. vNeil's air guitar got a big cheer from the crowd! I had a blast!!!! -- |~~~\ | | /~~~\ | | Nick Mascari-Case Western Reserve | / | | \ | | "If you choose not to decide, you |~~\ | | \ |~~~~| still have made a choice" | \ \__/ \___/ | | Look for "Peart" on IRC ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 16:44:04 PST From: keith@lucid.com (Keith Thesing) Subject: More On Concert Dates, Sorry Sorry to beat a dead horse but, does anyone know of any Bay Area tour dates?? If not how about West Coast tour dates. I haven't been able to read mail for three weeks so I'm a bit out of touch. vThanks, Keith- ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 17:24:42 PST From: paulh@jupiter.odetics.com (Paul Hodgetts) Subject: Re: Ticket suggestions, anyone? Dan Dickerman <dickermn@hpcugsya.cup.hp.com> writes: > To all those of you who brag of x-row tickets (for all single-digits x): > could you share with the rest of the class exactcly what you have to do > to get such good seats? Those of us with shows poised for announcement > would be eternally grateful, I'm sure. and, > So what's the secret guys? If standing second in line is not the answer, > and first isn't much better, how is the basic concert-goer supposed to > get the good seats. My friends and I have been working on this for 15 years now. I'm not quite sure if there is a secret, but I'll share what we've learned. First we have to understand the sheer volume of tickets that can move through a typical TicketMaster. You didn't say what city you lived in - I live in the Los Angeles area where there are hundreds of outlets. We've seen 5 shows at the Forum (21,000 seats per show) sell out in 2 1/2 hours. That works out to something like 700 tickets per MINUTE. If you figure there may be something like 50 seats per row, that's 14 rows per minute. As you can see, it becomes vitally important to get your tickets pulled as soon as possible after they are released into the system. If two minutes go by, you could be stuck halfway back on the floor with everyone standing on their chairs in front of you :-(. Plus, you always have the wierd chance that another show will be released after 45 minutes and the 75th person in line will get 4th row! If you can get some inside info on how many nights the band has contracted the arena for, you may be able to use that info to your advantage. The next major thing that comes into play is the way each outlet handles the ticket sales. It is important to find an outlet where the employees know about the system and how to make best use of it. They have to have the printer filled with tickets long before the show goes on sale (it is incredibly frustrating to watch someone load the printer after tickets have gone on sale as the rows slip away). A good outlet will start trying to pull tickets 5-10 minutes before the scheduled release time and keep at it continually until tickets start going on sale. This way they stand a good chance of being one of the first to grab seats. A good outlet will be organized to the point where they are always at least several people ahead in finding out how many tickets you want so they can continuously pull tickets without delays in between. They will have separate people handling pulling the tickets and taking money. And they need to be honest with the customers - no pulling 25 tickets for employees before they open the doors to the people in line. They have to have sufficient security to keep people from snaking into line. All I can say is shop around and try different outlets and when you find one that meets the above criteria, become VERY good friends with one or more employees or the manager. And don't be afraid of trying to educate them on the techniques above - we did this with an outlet that was way out in the sticks (not many people in line) and it paid off for us BIG TIME over the years. It also probably goes without saying that you MUST get a good place in line. If you can, camp out all night or whatever it takes to be there first. As was mentioned, even if you think you're second in line, the person in front of you may have 50 friends showing up at the last minute. Here in L.A. they have instituted a policy of random priority numbers. They won't let you show up at all until two hours before the show goes on sale, at which point they pass out numbers at random. Then, 30 minutes before the show goes on sale, they pick a number at random to see where the line starts. With this policy there is absolutely NO WAY of beating the system using the techniques I described above, it is just a matter of DUMB LUCK (unless you are REALLY good friends with the manager and they pull you tickets before they open the door (how far will YOU go to get good seats :-}. Then again, I suppose you could try and buy priority numbers from people (hmmm?). I used to go to 2-3 concerts per month, but with this new policy I had to say f@#k it after getting shafted dozens of times. So I decided to limit my concert going to a half dozen shows a year that I REALLY want to see, and I go to a ticket broker/scalper and pay ridiculous amounts of money, but I always sit in the first 10 rows or so. I'm concentrating now on finding a broker/scalper who always has the seats I want for the best price. I don't like this situation - there's a lot of shows I miss this way - but I know of no other way (in L.A.) to reliably get good seats any more. Although it's a privilege that only a few have, if you know someone from the band or the record company or a radio station, make use of them to try and get seats. The seats may be good (maybe not), and they may even be FREE. Sorry for rambling on so much, but that's the combined experience of 15 or so people over the past 15 or so years. There's always a factor of luck involved, but we have found (up until the random number thing) that using the above techniques will over a period of time consistently get better seats than we could otherwise hope for. Hope this helps a little. -Paul- ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 21:56:02 -0500 From: ap555@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (John Brooking) Subject: More thoughts on Cleveland (Definate SPOILERS) First, in response to Joshua Soliz, who commented about them refusing to give autographs. Aside from any other considerations of whether or not they should have given you autographs, we should also keep in mind that it can't be easy for a band to "stay loyal" to thousands of fans, it's much easier for us thousands of fans to be loyal to the three of them. We buy a studio album about once a year, maybe a boot or two, some paraphanelia, maybe we play their music in a band, we stand in line for tickets: All in all, I would say they still put in many times more effort "for us" as we do for them. >Note: Any flame mail will be laughed at over a cold beer and bounced all >over the net, after all remember this was just an opinion! Have one for me! On to the recent concert... >To everybody who thinks Geddy is the mystery rapper: Could it have been Neil? He had a microphone in front of his drum set. Or how about that guy sitting at the electronics in back of Neil, who was he and what does he do, anyway? >Some of the pictures in the middle are hilarious: > Geddy in his dressing room with a set of noses and a few ponytails hanging >in the corner. And notice Alex's picture on the previous page with pictures of him with famous people? I'm sorry, I have great respect for Neil, but I thought having his picture taken reading Aristotle's _Poetics_ was just a bit show off-y, IMHO. (Although about his shadow in the background -- is this supposed to be him *screaming*? If so, maybe he's trying to make a statement about what it's like to read Aristotle, which as a philosophy minor I would totally understand and would let him off the hook, pride-wise, if this is the case.) And while we're on far-reaching propositions, has anyone actually tried to interpret the skull and bones pattern inside the front cover as Morse Code? I'm a little curious, if only to confirm my suspicion that it doesn't mean anything and they just put it there knowing thousands of fans would scramble to decode it... ;-) I *loved* Alex's "equipment description". I'm a lover of puns, and I really like Alex's sense of humor, very dry wit. Geddy's was good, too, alas for his poor Jays. And as an anti-Bush person, I appreciated both of their "comments" about him. "Try to avoid confrontations", Alex says.... Cracks me up!!!!! :-) :-) :-) With these two, it was somewhat disappointing that Neil actually did just write about his equipment changes. >during the part of Anthem where Alex plays the intro riff again, after the >first verse, Neil stood up behind his kit and started playing air guitar. Aww, man, I missed that! I must have been watching Alex... (And I *was* at the 17th, same show). It was cool how he (Neil) turned around in the middle of his solo, good crowd pleaser. I did notice him dropping his stick twice after twirling it, but that's bound to happen sometimes. They did look like they were having fun, but at the same time the music was flawless as far as I could tell. (I didn't notice the glitch towards the end of Boats that someone else mentioned.) Bringing the rabbits back seemed like more of a touch of humor (if they weren't the first time!) than merely recycling props. From where I was sitting (upper side), I could see the whole stage, including the guys standing behind the rabbits rocking them and wiggling their ears, which added to the humor. The long closing medley was great, including as it did so many great songs, and I personally actually found it a bit difficult to identify even songs I knew well until maybe 20 seconds in, since mostly they started in the middle rather than the beginning. Strange. But this made it fun, it was sort of a game. And I've always loved "Closer to the Heart", and it was the logical emotional extension to hear its opening chords with hundreds of lighters going up all over the stadium. Good show. - John Brooking -- ap555@cleveland.freenet.edu | "Wheels within wheels in a spiral array, a -----------------------------+ pattern so grand and complex. Time after time we lose sight of the way, our causes can't see their effects." - Rush ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1991 22:21:37 -0500 (EST) From: RH2@JAGUAR.UCS.UOFS.EDU (Rebel, Runner, Restless Young Romantic) Subject: extra extra! ticket ticket! to see RUSH in montreal on the 28th if you happen to be located in or near pa, you can even ride with me, though that could be a scary proposition. rose ----------------------------------------------------------
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