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Subject: 04/05/93 - The National Midnight Star #656 *** Special Edition ***
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Midnight Star, Number 656
Monday, 5 April 1993
Today's Topics:
RTB Radio Special transcription
FAQ: Changes to Rush Fans Frequently Asked Questions
----------------------------------------------------------
From: meg@syrinx.umd.edu (******* Meg *******)
Date: Mon Apr 5 18:08:02 EDT 1993
Subject: RTB Radio Special transcription
============================
Roll The Bones Radio Special
============================
Announcer: Welcome to the Roll The Bones Radio Special! I'm John Derringer.
Join me for the next hour as we explore Rush's latest album, _Roll The Bones_,
with the three individuals behind the music. Geddy Lee.
Geddy: I don't know how we got this image. Maybe we wore too many robes in the
'70's. They have this super-serious image of us.
Announcer: Neil Peart.
Neil: Anyone who's been a fan of ours for any amount of time knows that the
only thing to expect is no expectations. Anything can happen, and if we like
it, it will happen.
Announcer: Alex Lifeson.
Alex: It's just as much fun as it ever has been in the best of times.
Announcer: After more than twenty years and nineteen albums, it's rather
remarkable to find a band as full of enthusiasm as Rush is. Guitarist Alex
Lifeson feels the group's rekindled spirit started with the 1989 album,
_Presto_.
Alex: And then when we started working on this record, that enthusiasm carried
over. And it was really then that we started to think in a much longer term.
Rather than record to record, we were thinking three, four, five records into
the future. And that's exciting for us; it's been a really long time, but
we've learned over the past year or so, that touring can still be fun if it's
done properly and you have the right attitude about it. And recording was
never really a problem; we always enjoyed recording. But we're becoming more
efficient at that, and we're enjoying it more because of that. You know, we're
better prepared and we're taking a slightly more laid-back easy attitude about
it, rather than being so microscopic and meticulous about the placement of
every single note and beat. We're kind of kicking back a bit and letting the
feel come through, and if it's not as perfect and exact as maybe our approach
has been in the past, it doesn't really matter any more. You sit back and
listen to it, and really when it comes down to it, someone who's listening to
the record's not gonna really notice those things. The approach with this one,
and it's evidenced in the fact that we did all our recording in two weeks
rather than two and a half months, that this attitude is a much better
attitude and you still get the results and still have fun and you feel more up
through the whole process of recording, because it really is a very
concentrated, exhausting thing to do.
Announcer: Rupert Hine co-produced _Roll The Bones_ with the band. Alex feels
that Rupert, and Peter Collins before him, were central to helping Rush
develop a new attitude to recording.
Alex: That was the same idea with Rupert, and even more so in this record. I
think we learned that from both those guys. We applied it more on _Presto_ and
with this record, we went into this record with that attitude, and again
Rupert stressed that he felt this was the important thing, that the vibe was
there and the feel was there. He said, "Neil, don't get so caught up in
recording." I mean he was up for taking anything from the guides and using it
on the record. And they were just recorded on a small eight-track Tascam
portable recorder, a couple steps up from a cassette player. So, you know,
that didn't matter to him; it was really the feel. And I think we locked into
that.
Announcer: Drummer Neil Peart is also Rush's words man.
Neil: I would say as many lyrical ideas come from conversation or TV, some
little twist of phrase that I like and write down, so that by the time I start
to write lyrics, I have pages and pages of just little jottings. And some of
them don't make any sense to me any more, but there they are. "Roll the bones"
is a perfect example; that phrase has been in my notebook for at least ten
years, just waiting to find a home, and finally this time I had the theme of
"Chance" and I thought, "Yes! Roll the bones, perfect!" So it came out, but
still, I have ideas in my books still that are even older than that that are
still waiting to find a home. So, again, the discipline comes in just forcing
yourself to write it down, which a lot of times is very inconvenient. If you've
got your arms full of suitcases and stuff or if you're just about to go to
sleep, there's that classic moment between waking and sleeping when everybody
knows a lot of things go through your head. And it takes enormous discipline
if you're really tired to get up and jot something down. It's like, "Oh, I'll
remember it in the morning," but of course you don't. So that's the discipline
factor of it. So inspiration isn't really so much to do with it as it is I can
sit down on the first day of lyric writing and go through pages and pages of
stuff and see what connects. And it becomes just craftsmanship then and having
the patience to sit for three days, looking at a sheet of paper that you don't
really believe in sometimes. Quite a few songs on this -- well "Dreamline,"
the opening track, was the very first one I think I started working on, months
before we started working together. And I just didn't believe in it at all,
but something kept compelling me to keep going, and I knew I was all lost in
this imagery and I couldn't get everything to go together and I thought it was
just garbage. And I sat for the first three days working on it, but I didn't
believe in it, you know, I thought, "No, it's junk." Every day I'd read over
it: "Junk." But at the end of it I came up with something that was satisfying
to me.
[Dreamline played]
Announcer: Neil Peart tells us about the album's title.
Neil: _Roll The Bones_ is the perfect title, because through all of the
thoughts that I go through on the album, about all these nasty things that
happen, and all these terrible things that could happen to you: a drunk in a
stolen car could run over you on your way home tomorrow night, and you could
have the best-laid plans for what you want to do, but there's still that
element of chance that it could all go wrong. But the bottom line of that
is, "Take the chance, roll the bones." If it's a random universe, and that's
terrifying and it makes you neurotic and everything, never mind. You really
have to just take the chance or else nothing's going to happen. The bad thing
might not happen but the good thing won't happen either, so that's really the
only choice you have.
Announcer: Geddy Lee's vocal style has undergone an important transition on
_Roll The Bones_.
Geddy: It's intentional and it's something I've been working on my entire
musical career, is to get to a point where I can say from record to record
that my vocalizations, or whatever you want to call them, is improving and is
more in my natural register, which is something that seems to be comfortable
for me now. It seems to be where I feel we have the most musical range, is in
that natural singing/talking range. So, it's an intentional thing and I think
it's helped the melodic character of the band tremendously, because it's
opened up just so much scope. There's so much more music available to us when
I sing in that range, and when songs are written in a more carefully chosen
key. That has a lot to do with it as well.
Announcer: One of the more "interesting" numbers from the new album is the
title song, which contains the group's own unique take on rap.
Neil: Yeah, that started off as a lyrical experiment for me; I was hearing
some of the better rap writers, among whom I would include like LL Cool J or
Public Enemy, musicality apart, just as writers, it was really interesting.
And it struck me that it must be a lot of fun to do that; all those internal
rhymes and all that wordplay and everything. That's meat and potatoes for a
lyricist; it's stuff you love to do and can seldom get away with being so
cute in a rock song. So I thought, "Well, I'll give it a try," and I submitted
actually I think the song "Roll The Bones" without that section to the other
guys and got them to like it, and said, "Well, I have this other thing I've
been working on, and see what you think." You know, not knowing how they'd
respond, but I'd had the fun of doing it and I've been rejected before; my
notebook's full of things that haven't made it too, so that was the situation
there. And they got excited about the idea, but then how to treat it was the
other question, and we did think of trying to get a real rapper in to do it,
and we even experimented with female voices, and ultimately found that that
treated version of Geddy's voice was the most satisfying as creating the
persona that we wanted to get across, and was also the most satisfying to
listen to. And with the female voice in it, it wasn't as nice texturally going
by, where Geddy's voice treated like that became a nice low frequency sound,
and you could listen to it just as a musical passage without having to key in
on the lyrics or anything, just let the song go by you. And it was pleasant
to the ear, so I think that was probably one of the big factors in choosing
that. We'd even been in contact with people like Robby Robertson; we thought
we'd like to try his voice on it and had contacted his office, and so on. John
Cleese we thought of; we were going to do it as a joke version, get John
Cleese in it: "Jack, relax." Get him to camp it up, but again from the
musicality and longevity factors, that would have got tired quickly; that's
the trouble with jokes.
[Roll The Bones played]
Announcer: Neil feels that his passion for cycling carries over to his lyric
writing.
Neil: I think the observational part of it does, and certainly I have a much
better picture, not of only the world at large, but certainly of the United
States, 'cause on tour on a day off I'll most often be riding between cities
if they're close enough. Or I'll get our bus driver to drop me off 100 miles
from the next city, ride the rest of the way in. Or on a day off I'll go ride
around the city and it is a whole different way of seeing things. When you're
on a bicycle, people don't feel threatened by you; I pull up at a stoplight
and people will start talking to me, where if I were in a car, or if I were
walking down the street they would never do that. But somehow if you're on a
bicycle you're a harmless eccentric and people will pass the time of day with
you. I always make it a point to leave really early and then stop for
breakfast in some little town in Ohio, or Indiana or Wyoming, or wherever I
happen to be. But I'll always choose a little farming community and go into
the local diner and just sit there and listen. Hear the things people are
talking about. The incognito aspect of it is really nice but also you're
seeing real people in their real every day lives. And I think for a writer's
perspective, that's what a rock tour can be very alienating. The thing Roger
Waters has written so eloquently about is that alienation factor, which cycling
for me has been the escape from, because when I'm out there, I'm just another
guy on the road.
Announcer: One of rock's more inventive and ambitious lyricists, Neil feels
there is one major theme to all his work.
Neil: One of my ongoing themes through the years has been innocence and
experience, and the transitional phase, which of course is adolescence, and
the price that you pay of knowledge. And it never ends. I don't think that
transition for instance... I love the woods, and I have a cottage in Quebec
and I always go out hiking and skiing in the winter and everything, and it
wasn't until recently that I learned that the entire southern Quebec and
southern Ontario were completely logged a hundred years ago. So any time you
see some woods, they're second-growth woods, and many times the trees are only
forty or fifty years old. Well, having gained that knowledge in the last few
years suddenly I look at a forest and I see a bunch of young trees now, I
don't see a primeval forest; I don't see essential nature. So I'd rather have
the knowledge and the experience of knowing that to be true rather than an
innocent falsehood. I'm not very self-referential in lyrics, and when I do
write about that innocence/experience dichotomy, or about childhood or
something, it's usually from a character point of view. "The Big Wheel" is a
good example on this album; where it seems to be autobiographical, but it's
really not. It's where I've looked for a universal of that trade-off between
innocence and experience, and that song certainly addresses that. Not in the
circumstances of my own life so much, or if it is, it's not important that it be
autobiographical, that's just by the by really. Very much I want to find
universal things that others can relate to, and that's a thing that's part of
everyone's life, so I think that's probably one reason why I'm drawn to it.
And then so much of it is drawn from observing people around me too, so that
becomes a factor in it too; how they responded to life, and how they take to it.
How they adapt to that innocence and experience thing.
Announcer: Neil is a dedicated craftsman when it comes to his writing.
Neil: I like to think it's more gaining technique really; it's ten more years
of practice and learning. "Ghost of a Chance" is a perfect example; I've
always shyed away from love songs and even mentioning the word in songs
because it's so much cliche, and until I thought that I'd found a new way to
approach it, or a new nuance of it to express, I was not going to write one of
those kind of songs. "Ghost of a Chance" fit right in with my overall theme of
randomness and contingency and so on, but at the same time it was a chance for
me to write about love in a different way; of saying, "Here are all these
things that we go through in life and the people we meet, it's all by chance.
And the corners we turn and the places we go and the people we meet there."
All those things are so random and yet through all of that people do meet each
other, and if they work at it they can make that encounter last. So I'm saying
there's a ghost of a chance it can happen, and the odds are pretty much
against it, but at the same time that ghost of a chance sometimes does come
through and people do find each other and stay together.
[Ghost Of A Chance played]
Announcer: The roots of Rush go back twenty-four years, not many bands manage
to survive that long. Neil and Geddy offer some insights into what's kept them
together.
Geddy: I think it owes a lot to how loose the structure of the band is
musically. We've always maintained that any idea, regardless of how different
stylistically it is, it's still valid if everybody likes it. You know, if
everybody wants to do it, let's do it. So there's never been this great hidden
desire or this frustration of, "I can't do this in the context of my band.
What I really want to do, I have to do on my own." That doesn't exist here
'cause what you really want to do you can do in this band. So that's really
helped that out alot.
Neil: It's a beautiful thing about Rush really, that shouldn't be
underappreciated and certainly isn't by us; never taken for granted is that
there are no areas of frustration. As far as creative input, I'm writing the
lyrics and the other two guys are writing the music, so they have that
satisfaction, and also in the final result each person feels that they've put
in as much as they had to give; also in personal responsibilities too. Each
person is responsible for different areas of the band outside of the music,
and takes on the areas in which they're interested and so on. So that's very
satisfying and does keep us together; you don't have to go and do a solo album.
I'd never have to do that because as much jazz drumming as I like to play I can
get into this band. If I want to be a reggae drummer for a few minutes, I can do
it in this band. If I want to explore African drumming which I've done a lot in
our songs on recent albums, I can do it. There's no frustration about it; all I
have to do is figure out a creative way to use it and the other guys will be
excited about it. An idea never has to be stylistically congruent with our
idea of Rush, or never has to be congruent especially with the public's
perception of Rush, because certainly anyone who has been a fan of us for any
amount of time knows that the only thing to expect is no expectations.
Anything could happen and if we like it, it will happen.
Announcer: _Roll The Bones_ features a sound that is less dense and textured.
Neil: Probably by design from the beginning with us, the way we design the
songs and the way we arrange them we had that in mind, and I think it is a
trend that will continue; introducing more space and, not sparseness exactly
but just less going on. I went back and listened to _Power Windows_ not long
ago, which was the first album we did with Peter Collins, and he was
determined that we should do lots of different things. And he brought in Andy
Richards on keyboards and that, and that record is so dense with ideas and
things coming at you, that I found it dizzying. And for us, we get going
through it and we know all the songs intimately, so you add this and add that
and it all makes perfect sense. But I was listening to it for the first time
in a long time, and from a listener's perspective, and it was overwhelming;
there was so much stuff coming at you all the time. Which was great for the
record and it works, and I still really like that album. Since that time, I
think we got over the novelty of trying those things and having samplers and
digital synthesizers and so on at our command. The same with electronic drums:
when I first got interested in them I got drum samples of every possible drum
sound in the world, from African drums to symphonic timpani available, and all
kinds of atmospheric sounds; and naturally when you have that it's new and you
can control it, and you can do whatever you want with it -- you do! So we went
through that phase, certainly over _Power Windows_ and _Hold Your Fire_ I'd
say, and to a lesser degree with _Presto_. By this time the novelty has worn
off. On _Roll The Bones_ for instance, I only used electronic drums on the
little rap section of that song; otherwise, it's all acoustic drums. And not
by decision. I had all kinds of plans for how I was going to update my set-up
for new electronic use and all that, but I just didn't need it: they weren't
those kind of songs.
Announcer: Another important continuing development on the album is the role
of the guitar. Alex Lifeson.
Alex: With _Presto_ we decided that the guitar was going to play a more
predominant part again, that the keyboards were going to go on second and that
they were just going to be filler; enhancements for the coloring of the song,
rather than to play a major thematic role. And even more so with _Roll The
Bones_, it comes up a little bit more, and I think this is probably the
direction we'll continue, because I think we've realized that the core of the
band is drums, bass, and guitar. And that's really what the important elements
are, and that's really what should be developed. It feels better to me and it's
the same for the other guys; they all say the same thing. Having the guitar up
there, there's so much emotion in that instrument and you play off that,
everybody plays off that, and it really has to be in that role.
Announcer: One of the album's highlights is the song "Bravado".
Alex: That's a special song for me, that's one of the songs that we lifted some
of the guitar parts off the demo tapes we used on the finished record. The
solo is a thrown away solo that was just a one-take solo. That song and "Roll
The Bones" and "Ghost Of A Chance", but "Bravado" and "Ghost Of A Chance",
those two solos I feel are probably among the best that I've done -- the most
emotive and the most spontaneous, and they were both one-take solos. And we
just got used to hearing them and they fit so perfectly, and the bass and the
drums kind of fit into what the solo was doing, there was really no reason to
re-record it. You could never capture that innocence and emotion in it. And
that's what it really boils down to; sound doesn't really matter, you can get a
half-decent sound on anything and enhance it and make it a little better,
but at the cost of losing the emotion. It's not worth it.
[Bravado played]
Announcer: When it comes to its audience, Rush enjoys not only an incredible
loyalty, but quite the span in terms of age.
Neil: When I look out at our audience when we are playing, I see people in
their teens that literally weren't even born when we started touring the
United States, and on the other hand I see people who were obviously our age
and have grown up with us. We've been fortunate in the communication factor
and also because our music is so sincerely open that we've reflected their
lives and in some cases been the soundtrack of their lives right the way
along; just as we've been the soundtrack of our own lives. So that's pretty
gratifying, but we're very responsive to what's going on around us, and in the
late seventies, to the tremendous upheavals of punk music and new wave, and
then world music after that, and then what's happening now with hip hop and
everything. We're listening to that and we're responding to it, and there's a
new rebirth of guitar music right now, which is a much shorter step for us to
adapt to or to be inspired by, but at the same time it's happening and we're
listening to it, and because we're listening to it and enjoying it, it becomes
part of our aesthetic of what we think rock music should be. We incorporate
all that and then it just becomes part of the melting pot and if we ever
need any of those kinds of influences, we can pull them out of our tool box.
Alex: We did an interview not too long ago for a guy from a magazine, and at
the end of the interview he asked if we wouldn't mind signing some records. We
said, "Yeah, sure," and he brought out some album jackets that he had:
_Hemispheres_ and some older stuff. And I asked him, "Who is it for? Who
shall I make it out for?" and he said, "Oh, it's for my father. He's one of
your biggest fans." And I thought, "Oh, no, his father!" You know, it's been a
long time.
Announcer: Geddy offers some thoughts on the future for Rush.
Geddy: I mean with us, I don't really know what's going to happen from record
to record in terms of complexity or texturally or whatever. But I think you have
to allow yourself a kind of scope, and the opportunity to be influenced by
certain things whether good or bad. And we allowed ourselves to be influenced by
synthesizers and that kind of orchestration, and it was a fascinating time, and
I think we did some really interesting things with that. At a certain point you
go, "You know, it's time for a change again" and "I feel like a slave to this
equipment and I'm not really enjoying the way I'm using it. I feel like I'm
a little bit trapped by it." So whether it's less or more, just the reaction
to all that technology was important for us to streamline and get back to some
sort of organic style of writing that seemed to be more expressive and less
demanding texturally. I think the reason we are still together is because when
we sit down to write a record, stuff starts coming out and we get excited
about that and that is the reason that that writing period is so enjoyable for
us; because there is this creative spark that we have with each other and a
remarkably similar musical direction.
Announcer: When it comes to Rush's image, Geddy thinks that while they are
certainly committed artists, they also have a fun side.
Geddy: I don't know how we got this image. Maybe we wore too many robes in the
'70's. They have this super-serious image of us, and it's so far from what our
relationship is, because our sense of humor is really one of the strongest
parts of our relationship. If things aren't going good, you know one of us is
gonna start cracking a joke about something, and I think you have to be. We
really don't take ourselves seriously as people; we take what we do seriously,
but there's a time for being serious and I think people that say there isn't are
kidding themselves. You know, I'm spending a lot of time out of my life to do
this -- that's serious! To give up that much of your life for any kind of work,
you gotta feel like the work is worthwhile. It's fun to have a laugh and we do
have a good time doing it, but there's also a side of it that you have to
say to yourself, "This is meaningful, this justifies the amount of time
spent on it" because time is the most precious commodity there is.
Announcer: When it comes to pure musicianship, the grammy nominated band has
few peers. The instrumental "Where's My Thing?" showcases the band's chops and
its sense of humor. Neil was surprised but pleased the song was released
as a single.
Neil: Well it actually was; I was really proud of our record company, that they
released "Dreamline" as the first track and then they put out "Where's My
Thing?" for alternative stations or basically anyone who had the nerve to play
it. And it made a great alternative for college radio in the States or
alternative radio anywhere that exists, which isn't very far but at the same
time it was just a very creative thing for a record company to do, I thought.
Not just to be worried, "Ok, here's our marketing strategy," they would say,
"Let's do this because it would be fun and unusual, and the song is there." So
I thought that was really a good thing to do. A friend of ours says that it's
just another version of "Telstar" like all instrumentals are, which is funny.
And very true!
[Where's My Thing played]
Announcer: "Where's My Thing?" from Rush. Thanks for joining us for the Roll
the Bones radio special. Be sure to catch Rush in concert on their _Roll The
Bones_ tour. I'm John Derringer.
----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 93 00:30:40 PST
From: dan@phoenix.csc.calpoly.edu (Dan Delany)
Subject: FAQ: Changes to Rush Fans Frequently Asked Questions
Rush FAQ: Changes since last posting
A few lines around each change are shown to give you an idea of the context.
Lines that have been added have a + in the first column.
Lines that have been deleted have a - in the first column.
Lines that have been modified have a ! in the first column. The old form of
the line is shown first, then the new form is shown.
SPECIAL NOTE for the March 28 1993 posting:
A bunch of stuff has been deleted from the FAQ files. This information
is now contained in the Arcane Rush Trivia file.
----- Changes to faq.header -----
*** /tmp/da10542 Sun Mar 28 00:30:08 1993
--- faq.header Tue Mar 23 14:24:07 1993
***************
*** 13,19 ****
I'll send you the most recent version. This set of files is posted on
the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month to rec.music.info,alt.music.rush, and
TNMS. The FAQ is also available via anonymous ftp from syrinx.umd.edu
! (128.8.2.114) in the /rush/special directory.
If you have any suggestions for additions to the list or corrections,
please send them to me at dan@phoenix.csc.calpoly.edu and I'll add them in
--- 13,22 ----
I'll send you the most recent version. This set of files is posted on
the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month to rec.music.info,alt.music.rush, and
TNMS. The FAQ is also available via anonymous ftp from syrinx.umd.edu
! (128.8.2.114) in the /rush/special directory. The file you are reading
! now is current as of the date at the top of the file. If you are reading
! this within a few days of that time, please don't send me mail asking for
! the FAQ - you've got it!
If you have any suggestions for additions to the list or corrections,
please send them to me at dan@phoenix.csc.calpoly.edu and I'll add them in
***************
*** 121,134 ****
so I will try to keep in touch.
<end of Mike's quote>
! Peter Collins will produce the next album.
! SEIDENBERG@MARY.FORDHAM.EDU apparently has a source of information,
! and has posted the following:
! The band will start working on material on Jan. 15. I wonder if that
! means that the band will start writing then, or that the band will go
! into the studio then.
! The target date for release is September 15. This disagrees with what
! Alex has said, and I don't know who is right.
--- 124,191 ----
so I will try to keep in touch.
<end of Mike's quote>
! And then the following was posted on March 14 by Mike Rizzello.
! <mike.rizzello@canrem.com> The person answering the questions is
! the 97.7 music director, Paul Morris. I have no idea what his
! connection with Rush is.
! This was taken from the "live" call-in show for rock questions:
! "They are in pre-production, that's the step before they actually
! start recording the album. They plan to do the whole album in Canada.
! It's going to be a different sounding Rush record, that's marvelous.
! Nothing wrong with the other Rush stuff, but I always like this band
! because they change. They like to move on and do something different,
! and that's what they plan to do. Apparently they are having a great
! time recording this record, they are in great spirits, and they want to
! get it out, I think for this year, 1993, look for the late fall..."
! Q:"Producer or anything like that?"
! "Peter Collins, and they are getting along just great with him."
!
! Q:"Can you clarify 'different'?"
!
! "We know some people here who are sort of, I don't want to say
! 'part of' the Rush camp, but are very close to the band. Uhh, no, I
! mean when you are in pre-production, this is where you're throwing
! around the ideas. This is a band that probably spends more time in
! preproduction, then they do actually recording the record, as they,
! get it together there, and as you know, if you know Rush, each of the
! band members bring in ideas into the studio, and there they work them out.
! And uhh, I think that the ideas are being worked out right know, but
! the whole purpose here is, uhh, they're bringing fresh ideas, musical
! ideas, I think but that's what you're going to hear in the new record.
! But I can't tell what's going to be, I don't think Rush are going to
! go reggae, okay..." {insert some laughter here} "I don't think that
! it's going that traumatic, I think the differences will be subtle ones,
! but still I am open arms to all of that..."
!
! Q:"So late fall, or fall sometime?"
!
! "Well when you are just starting to write a record, you have in sight
! a goal for the end of the year, but, you know, it may take an extra
! month longer or they may finish up sooner than they think. But once
! the album is put together and the concept is made clear, then the album
! cover has to be put together, album concept is put together, and that's
! really important for Rush. They don't slap together pictures of the
! three guys on the cover, right? And they have to do the other business,
! you have to plan the tour, and that's a awful lot of business before
! you get set up and say the album is on the street September 30th or
! something like that..."
! <end of Mike's quote>
!
! SEIDENBERG@MARY.FORDHAM.EDU apparently has a source of information,
! and has posted that the target date for release is September 15.
! This disagrees with what Alex has said, and I don't know who is right.
!
! SEIDENBERG@MARY.FORDHAM.EDU posted the following on March 22:
! Wanted to give you all the REAL update on the new album. First of a
! schedule: They are hoping to be finished with the record and have it out
! in September. The tour will start now in January 94. According to a
! very close source to the band, there will be 11 songs on the new record.
! Peter Collins has been helping them write the record as well. They are
! coming to the end of the writing process and within two to three weeks
! they will probaby start to record the new album. That (oops) is all I
! have found out so far. Oh, one more thing, according to my source,
! Ged said that the new songs are intense.
! <end of quote>
----- Changes to faq.1 -----
*** /tmp/da10546 Sun Mar 28 00:30:09 1993
--- faq.1 Wed Mar 24 15:38:47 1993
***************
*** 49,54 ****
--- 49,59 ----
are mostly about _Presto_, since this CD was
released shortly after _Presto_.
+ There's also an interview CD called "Rush -- The Story of Kings" out there.
+ This CD contains no music. It is an interview with Alex around the time
+ of HYF. The text of the interview is available via anonymous ftp from
+ syrinx.umd.edu in the rush/special directory as "alex.hyf.int.Z" .
+
* The Anthem release of ESL, available in Canada is [ADD], but
the US CD is [AAD]. Some people have told me that their CD says
[ADD] on the disc and [AAD] on the label.
***************
*** 403,413 ****
810 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
! Write: Anthem Records
! Oak Manor P.O. 1000
! Oak Ridges, Ontario
! Canada L0G 1P0
One more note: "Battlescar" has a subscript: "recorded live July 28th,
1980 Phase One Studios -Toronto-".
--- 408,423 ----
810 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
! Write:
! The Anthem Entertainment Group Inc.
! 189 Carlton Street
! Toronto, Canada
! M5A 2K7
+ Tel: (416) 923-5855
+ Fax: (416) 923-1041
+
+
One more note: "Battlescar" has a subscript: "recorded live July 28th,
1980 Phase One Studios -Toronto-".
***************
*** 913,924 ****
also agrees with the way Geddy pronounced "Peart" when introducing
Neil's solo during RTB shows.
- I heard that Neil Peart has a PhD in <field of study>. Is this true?
-
- In _Visions_, Neil is quoted (on page 65) as saying that he is
- a high school dropout. I don't see how he would have had time to
- go to school and get a degree, what with being in Rush and all.
-
Does anybody have an address I can use to write to the band?
This address was posted to TNMS, but I can't vouch for the
--- 923,928 ----
***************
*** 937,998 ****
Modern Drummer
870 Pompton Avenue
Cedar Grove, NJ 07009
-
- Who says <phrase> in <song>?
-
- Geddy says "One, two, buckle my shoe" in "In The End" on ATWAS.
- Neil does the narrative during "The Necromancer."
- I've never seen anything definitive saying who whispers in
- "The Twilight Zone."
- Neil does the "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation - we have
- assumed control" bit at the end of "2112."
- The deep voice at the beginning of "Cygnus X-1" is none other than
- Terry Brown.
- Neil says "Subdivisions" in the song of the same name,
- even though Alex is shown saying it in the video and does it live.
- Alex says "That's nice" at the end of "Chain Lightning."
- We don't know who says "I will be the judge" and "Give the jury
- direction." I did receive the following email on April 11, 1991
- on just this very subject:
-
- { Begin quoted text }
- >Good day. I am a Rush fan who has access to an Amiga and a good quality
- >digitizer. I noticed that in the "Who says what" section of the FAQL you
- >wrote that you don't know who says "I will be the judge" and "Give the
- >jury direction."
- >
- >Out of curiosity, I digitized that section of "Show Don't Tell," and then
- >played it back at the "proper" speed. Although the main vocal track
- >(Geddy's voice) was obviously too high, I could now hear the background
- >vocals that were intentionally slowed.
- >
- >The task was fairly difficult because of two reasons:
- >1. The background vocals are very weakly mixed in comparison to the main
- > vocals, which makes it hard to distinguish the voice.
- >2. The phrases are actually whispered, sampled, and then slowed down by
- > some factor.
- >
- >All above statements coming to a conclusion with my submission to the
- >FAQL issue: Neil whispers "I will be the judge" and "Give the jury
- >direction" during "Show Don't Tell."
- >
- >Yoav Gershon
- >ygershon@ucdavis.edu (or ygershon@deneb.ucdavis.edu)
- >UC Davis.
- { end quoted text }
-
- According to Neil on the December 2, 1991 "Rockline," Geddy does the RTB
- "chat" section.
-
- What is a Lerxt?
-
- A Lerxt is an Alex Lifeson.
-
- Do the other band members have nicknames?
-
- Ged and Neil also have nicknames, Dirk and Pratt. Hence "Lerxtwood Mall,"
- "Old Dirk Road" and "Pratt & Co." on the map on the back cover of _Signals_.
- - from ano@uk.ac.rdg.cs.csres
What's the story behind Alex's "Hentor Sportscaster" guitar?
--- 941,946 ----
----- Changes to faq.2 -----
*** /tmp/da10548 Sun Mar 28 00:30:09 1993
--- faq.2 Thu Mar 18 09:31:13 1993
***************
*** 15,36 ****
all of us - sometimes good, and sometimes he's bad!" in the December
1985 Backstage Club newsletter.
- Where is Lakeside Park?
-
- The consensus of the mail I've received on the subject seems to
- be that the Lakeside Park Neil refers to is in St. Catherine's,
- on Lake Ontario. I don't think any 2 people have yet agreed on
- how one actually gets to Lakeside Park, so I'll tell you to do what
- Bruce Holtgren <70724.1622@CompuServe.COM> did for directions,
- which is to call the St. Catherine's Chamber Of Commerce.
- (If somebody does that and types in the "official" directions,
- I'll add them to the FAQ, but I'm not going to put in directions
- from people who went there once years ago and think they remember.)
-
- Has anybody noticed that Lakeside Park is mentioned in _Strange Brew_?
-
- Yes.
-
What is the significance of May 24?
It's Victoria Day, commemorating Queen Victoria's birthday.
--- 15,20 ----
***************
*** 91,104 ****
writings in the liner notes." - Neil Peart, in the December 2, 1991
"Rockline" interview
- Has anybody noticed that you can hear part of the 1812 Overture in _2112_?
-
- Yes.
-
- Has anybody noticed the whispering in the background in "The Twilight Zone"?
-
- Yes.
-
I read that "Xanadu" was based on a famous poem. Does anybody have a copy?
The poem is "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Your local
--- 75,80 ----
***************
*** 147,157 ****
they have the same meaning, and the reference to German in Rush's
title (Mein Froinds).
- Has anybody noticed that there really is an intersection of Danforth and
- Pape in Toronto?
-
- Yes.
-
Where do the different parts of "La Villa Strangiato" start/end?
This chart was made up by Brad Armstrong <71161.1313@CompuServe.COM>.
--- 123,128 ----
***************
*** 186,196 ****
it looked like Dewey was going to win. The Tribune released an early
morning paper the next day with a "Dewey defeats Truman" headline.
- Has anybody noticed that the signs on the right side of the _Permanent
- Waves_ cover say Lee, Lifeson, and Peart?
-
- Yes.
-
What is the "words of the profits" quote in "The Spirit Of Radio" about?
It's referring to "The Sounds of Silence." Here are the relevant
--- 157,162 ----
***************
*** 345,350 ****
--- 311,318 ----
which tells me that at least 7 of them were wrong, so I'm only
going to change this answer if somebody can come up with proof
that they are right, such as an interview or magazine article.}
+ Check the ART, maintained by lloyo@vmtecqr2.qro.itesm.mx (Luis Loyo),
+ for some theories.
What is the mob saying at the beginning of "Witch Hunt"?
***************
*** 716,744 ****
guitar changes more than once, so it isn't just Alex swapping in a
new guitar.
- Does anybody know what stuff Geddy has sitting on the keyboards in the
- _A Show Of Hands_ video?
-
- The following was posted on April 12, 1991 by Dan Dickerman
- GSY 1-447-4425 <dickermn@hpcugsya.cup.hp.com>
-
- >I have yet to find a clear shot of the dolls, but from what I can decipher
- >it seems he has 6 dolls and a brandy snifter (with cash, of course)
- >distributed onto 2 keyboards: nearest the snifter is Boris Badenov
- >(Bullwinkle fame) and further to our left is a group of 3 consisting
- >of Rocky the Flying Squirrel (Bullwinkle), a toy robot, and something
- >that looks vaguely like a cowboy drawing both pistols (knees bent, etc).
- >
- >[ I think this last one might be Roger (?) Kneebend, one of Julian's old
- > toys, which the group sort of adopted as a mascot during the recording
- > sessions. I'll try to find the reference to him ... :rush-mgr ]
- >
- >On the other keyboard (facing the front of the stage) is a thinner toy
- >robot and (this one's really a ballpark guess) a cartoon dog (though
- >none that I recognize) that is acting the part of the gracious waiter.
-
- What is the round thing on Alex's guitar in the _A Show Of Hands_ video?
-
- Here's what rjf@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu says it is:
- That circular "thing" on Alex's guitar is a patrol patch used by
- some Boy Scouts. That particular one is the "panther" patrol patch.
--- 684,686 ----
----- Changes to faq.3 -----
No differences encountered
Dan Delany (dan@csc.calpoly.edu)
"If I hire a sysadmin and he ISN'T a fascist, I've wasted my money."
- booga@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com (Steve Jankowski)
----------------------------------------------------------
To submit material to The National Midnight Star, send mail to:
rush@syrinx.umd.edu
For administrative matters (subscription, unsubscription, changes, and
questions), send mail to:
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, 1993.
Editor, The National Midnight Star
(Rush Fans Mailing List)
********************************************
End of The National Midnight Star Number 656
********************************************