The National Midnight Star #790

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 18:30:08 -0400 Message-Id: <9310212230.AA21405@syrinx.umd.edu> Errors-To: rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu Reply-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Sender: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Precedence: bulk From: rush@syrinx.umd.edu To: rush_mailing_list@syrinx.umd.edu Subject: 10/21/93 - The National Midnight Star #790
** ____ __ ___ ____ ___ ___ ** ** / /_/ /_ /\ / /__/ / / / / /\ / /__/ / ** ** / / / /__ / \/ / / / / /__/ / \/ / / /___ ** ** ** ** __ ___ ____ ** ** /\ /\ / / \ /\ / / / _ /__/ / ** ** / \/ \ / /___/ / \/ / /___/ / / / ** ** ** ** ____ ____ ___ ___ ** ** /__ / /__/ /__/ ** ** ____/ / / / / \ ** 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 790 Thursday, 21 October 1993 Today's Topics: Rush/ Pearl Jam TAI SHAN Promo Album Donna Halpern Ratings Neil's Balls Re: 10/19/93 - The National Midnight Star #787 Neil's Dead Rush and MTV one word...AMAZING!!! Observations of CP inside photos "Brought to you by the letter..." Discrepancy!! Album Cover Dissenting opinion on Nobody's hero, Cp. Cleveland Sales RushFan(tm) long shot redux Third milestone? Binary in the album sleeve: I figured it out the trees What CP stuff means/Take it outside already WHAT RUSH WILL BE PLAYING ON TOUR Mystery Science Theater 3000 References I'll mention it (Cut To The Chase) CP/Binary/unknown cp's RUSH shirts CP binary code, and a couple of symbols Various Counterparts Musings I disagree with Kevin from Brewerton. Hi all Quit rubbing it in! ---------------------------------------------------------- From: jrwilkie@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: Rush/ Pearl Jam Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 13:59:33 EDT >I, too purchased my Cp CD at Target a day early, so it's not a hoax. >Anyway, my post regards the intro to "Animate": t is EXACTLY the same as >Pearl Jam's "Why go" off "Ten". I mean, the drum beat is IDENTICAl. >Play them back to back, and you can really hear it. The bass line is pretty damn close to "Evenflow", if not EXACTLY the same notes, at least the exact same feel. Jeff ---------------------------------------------------------- From: jrwilkie@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: TAI SHAN Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 14:06:06 EDT I have to admit to something here.... I like... NO, I LOVE "Tai Shan". Just had to get this off my chest. Jeff ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 13:09:27 -0500 (CDT) From: Timothy K Nielsen-1 <niel0016@gold.tc.umn.edu> Subject: Promo Album So I have a friend that works at a local record store, and I go into it today to get the new album (he was going to give me his discount) so I was going to get it at like $10.00 They also had Presto for $8.00, and with his discount it would be only $4.00. Then he already owed me $2.50 for lunch, so we're talking even cheaper. THEN, he hands me a copy, and says that it it the promo, and that nobody wanted it, so I could HAVE it. Still wrapped and everything. So I walked out with COUNTERPARTS and PRESTO for $1.50. Not a bad day, huh? ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 14:35:51 -0400 (EDT) From: RILEYPF@bcvms.bc.edu Subject: Donna Halpern Last night I spoke to a friend of mine that is a freshman at Emerson College in Boston and he told me that his professor for Introduction to Mass Communications is none other than Donna Halpern. For those of you who don't know who she is, she was the Cleveland programmer or dj that first "discovered" Rush. She started playing them on the air, thus giving them their big break in the States. My friend told me that she won the respect of the class on the first day by disclosing this information to them. Not many teachers can come into class and say, "Hello class. You may have heard of Rush...well I discovered them." I think it would be great to take a class taught by the woman responsible for the current-day existence of Rush. Apparently she also a Boston-area radio consultant in addition to being a faculty member at Emerson. I thought you might find this tidbit interesting. --Pat Riley ---------------------------------------------------------- From: jrwilkie@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: Ratings Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 14:49:36 EDT Dale R Buske <buskedr@iastate.edu> says... >Here's how I would rate them: > >Albums that rate a "10" on my 1-10 scale: >Moving Pictures, Signals, Hold Your Fire, Counterparts > >Albums that rate a "9": >2112, Permanent Waves, Roll the Bones > >Albums that rate an "8": >A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Grace Under Pressure > >Albums that rate a "7": >Fly By Night, Presto, Power Windows > >Albums that rate a "6": >Rush, Caress of Steel I think you should rate them relative to all rush albums. For instance, a "1" would not be a BAD album, just not good for Rush. My opinions (keep in mind that I like "Tai Shan"): album Rating Comment ----- ------ ------- Rush 1 A fun album, but not comparable to any other Rush album. Fly By Night 3 The sound begins to develop, but there are just as many bad tunes as strong ones. CoSteel 3.5 WOAH! The Necromancer ROCKS! "I Think I'm Going Bald" sucks! 2112 7 Now we are kicking ass. A weak side two brings the rating down a notch. ATWStage 4 Weak live album. Poor sound quality. I never got into it. AFTKings 7.5 Geddy at his strongest as of this point. Picture of band brings it up 1/2 point. Hemispheres 8 Part II of Cynus a classic. Neils cowbells stick out in my mind. Perm Waves 10 My favorite. The first RUSH album I learned all the bass lines to. Natural Science is as good as it gets. Moving Pics 10 Rush is at their peak. Every song is great. YYZ, Tom Sawyer, Vital Signs..... Exit...SL 8 Best Live album. Sound quality sucks. The fact it was my first RUSH album ( I was TEN years old and already had an outstanding taste in music!) brings it up three points. Signals 9 A disappointed 12 year old sits and asks why Rush rocks no longer. An enlightened 14 year old rediscovers a great album and is inspired to go buy a bass guitar. P/G 8 Same enlightened 14 year old goes and buys the latest Rush album. Keyboards?? Overuse?? Absolutely not. Alex Lifeson in great form. PowWindows 9 First new album release after the "Enlightenment Who can deny "Big Money"? Keyboards now a comfortable fit in the band. A pleasure to listen to. A young bass player marvels..... Hold Your Fire 6.5 This one took awhile except for "Time Stand Still" and "Force 10". Still, bordering on stale at times. Time for a direction change, and we get one. A young bass player very confused by "Force 10". Show of Hands 5 Live albums with alot of keyboards and sequencing just don't work. Presto 4 A few good songs. WHERE'S NEIL? "Show Don't Tell" a standout from rest of album. Got into "The Pass" and "Chain Lightening" marginally, but overall a weak Rush effort. Roll Bones 2 GASP! I'M Choking! Stronger Focus on song- writing fails. Counterparts 8 Disappointed that the counter diagram didn't make the cut the be the cover. COMEBACK of the CENTURY!!! Love it. I want more. The "Roll The Bones" that worked. I wanted a picture of the parts of a counter for the cover, so I'm docking it a point. (I also wanted a picture of a big toe going through a press for Presto) ---------------------------------------------------------- From: jrwilkie@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: Neil's Balls Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 14:56:23 EDT >Bravo to Neil for having the balls to write the song and Bravo to >Geddy for managing to convey the emotion through his vocals. I wouldn't say that Neil's balls are THAT big. He covers himself quite nicely. "Not a challenge to my masculinity" and "A Straight Minority". Kind of the Seinfeldian "Not that theres any thing WRONG with that" in reverse. Jeff ---------------------------------------------------------- From: gt3144a@prism.gatech.edu Subject: Re: 10/19/93 - The National Midnight Star #787 Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 14:58:26 -0400 (EDT) > I (like many other RUSH fans) have had the problem of finding the proper way > to introduce my favorite band into a relationship. When the RTB tour came around, the girlfriend of a friend who I was going to the concert with wanted to go, sorta. My friend, in his words, didn't want her to go just for the sake of being with him - if she didn't like Rush, she wouldn't like the concert, and would make it unpleasant for him. In the end, she decided not to go. He tried to get her to listen to some Rush, and when she saw the cover of 2112, decided they were satanic. I was (silently)) relieved, since she was something of a snob, and we didn't get along. > In yesterdays digest, someone (sorry can't find the name) stated that > he couldn't stand to hear Geddy whining "Heerrrro" in the chorus. I saw that comment before hearing the song, and expected to hate it, but I really don't think that Geddy whines much, and overall, I like the song. > Other comments on the new CD... Although I've figured out most > of the pictures, I'm not sure why the nude breasts are in there. I like > the Counterpart picture with Geddy playing the drums. There's also a neat > picture of Neil with his Mohawk sitting on the pot! (that's what it looks > like folks!). I think that all the pictures on the cover are "counterparts" of each other (i.e. hot and cold water faucets) The breasts could be considered each other's counterpart. Recall that in the interview Neil said something to the effect that counterparts could be duplicates, or opposites. ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 14:05:58 -0500 (CDT) From: ST1S1@Jetson.UH.EDU Subject: Neil's Dead Ok, well, I got my complimentary copy of Counterparts. BTW if anyone saw the SOUND WAREHOUSE upcoming release poster it said: Rush - counterpart Those Bastards!! Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone was going to take a guess about the meanings to all the art put in the insert of the disc. Maybe someone already knows what these things are and what they mean, becuase I sure don't. maybe as I get closer to understanding the lyrics from the album, they might make more sense. To say the least, I love the disc. I think it is kick ass....and since I got it this morning, I've listened to it twice...I'm in my third go around now. Now my question: Me and a friend of mine were talking, and he has been a Rush fan for a while, only he stopped listening after Hold Your Fire claiming that the newer albums didn't have the same feeling. Counterparts is the first Rush album he isn't going to buy, based on the fact that he says that the lyrics absolutely SUCK! I agree to a point, but not totally. He goes on to say that Rush would be better off if Neil Peart was gone, and they had a replacement of equal playing skills, but better writing skills. Hmmmmm....... I'm wondering. What do you think? If Neil died today, would Rush quit, or would they try to find a replacement? I told him that if Neil was gone, not only would they not be able to sell any albums, but they would basically end their existance. Send responses back to TNMS for all to read, or just to me if you'd rather. ST1S1@jetson.uh.edu Thank's for reading.... ************************************************************************ WHY ARE WE HERE????................For the beer!!!! ************************************************************************ ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 15:15:43 EDT From: u6x22@crcws4.bgm.link.com (Chris Bush) Subject: Rush and MTV As many of you may have heard, Adam Curry of MTV fame now runs a gopher server, at mtv.com. Anyway, some guy named Ken Clark (ken@mtv.com) has a weekly column that he posts on there, under kenscolumn. Anyway, he mentions the new Rush album in his 10-16-93 column, here's what he has to say... "While we're doing new records, I also checked out the new offerings from RUSH and PEARL JAM this week. Here are my mini-reviews: The RUSH sounds exactly like their last LP "Roll The Bones" to me. It's quite good, but if your expecting "A Farewell To Kings" or even "Moving Pictures" your barking into the wrong bush. I'm sure there will be cool videos and some MTV airplay." One has to wonder how many times he listened to either album to make a comparison like that. I get the feeling he's doing a little Rush album title "name dropping" by mentioning MP and AFTK to lend credibility to his knowledge of Rush. Its one thing to like or dislike an album and say so, but to compare to very different sounding albums like that is irresponsible. Anyone who wants to let him know how you feel, his email address is printed above. Give him a nice shout, let him know about NMS, and try to get him to give Counterparts a little listen (he doesn't even mention the name of the album, I wonder if he knows it). Encouraging remark about MTV airplay though. His remarks about the new Pearl Jam were not overly laden with praise either, surprising for an MTV flunkie. Anyway, thought I'd let you know. Later... Chris ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 15:15:33 -0400 (EDT) From: jeff barnhill <jbarnhi@andy.bgsu.edu> Subject: one word...AMAZING!!! Hello Rushians: Here's a little poem: It's a gloomy day in Bowling Green Yet the sun shines bright The new RUSH album is here And now everything's alright So as the people laugh And the children play We listen to a new dose Of what RUSH has to say >...finally Well anyway, I tried...sorry! I got it a day late because the record store was given a bum shipment, oh well!! Now a few thoughts: Once again the theme of three appears in the artwork. You have to be blind to miss it! It's everywhere. Secondly, Of course the question everyone is asking, What is the binary code on the inner cover? I think the term "counterpart" is well defined by the pictures on the inside, don't you? One thing I did find missing is the individual pictures of the band members, unless I was mistaken and saw monkey pictures that really aren't pictures of monkeys! Of course, I, like most guys, am a fan of breasts, so I have to say it... Nice tits! (if you don't have the CD yet, you'll see). Anyway, on to the music itself. Definitely a change has occurred! But the funny thing is I still hear the distinct style really coming through.(some have said they don't hear it). I think the songs were well planned and written and they really do not sound like they were put together in five minutes (ie. RTB). This one definitely sounds as if a lot of work went into it. I'll definitely be hooked on this one for a long time!!! I can't wait for the tour. I better start saving my money now!!! One last thing... I'm really liking this new trend of placing a design on the actual CD. RTB had the skull and now Cp has the nuts and bolts! huh, huh, huh, that's cool!!! Solely my thoughts and opinions Jeff ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 16:08:36 -0400 (EST) From: Brendan Schulman <brendan@minerva.cis.yale.edu> Subject: Observations of CP inside photos Some of the pictures inside the CP jacket caught my attention: 1. The maple leaf has a Fleur-de-Lis printed over it. The Fleur-de-Lis is Quebec's "symbol" (inasmuch as it's on their flag). I would suggest that this is a statement on the Canada/Quebec conflict. Counterparts - both dependent on each other, but often holding opposite viewpoints. 2. The heart of US currency bills -- is this a reference to the struggle of money and love? Why are the bills American? They use a Canadian quarter in two other photos. Can it be they've sold out their hearts - both to money and America? After all, this pic is in the section with photos of the group... Also, the Bald Eagle after Everyday Glory is an AMERICAN symbol... 3. Geddy is playing the drums in one shot. Huh? Is he trying to act like his "counterpart," Neil? 4. In the first box of text, it says, "...hot & bothered...lift & separate...ribbed & lubricated...in & out...long & hard..." Is this another expression of sexual obsession in the album? 5. The "star" on the back is an optical illusion, often found in Psychology texts. I think it demonstrates how the illusion is the "counterpart" to what's there - the other forms define it, even though it doesn't exist... If anything, it's more like a Star of David than a pentagram. 6. (Not a picture.) Who were Pat Lynes and Lee Turner? The album is dedicated to them... Oh! Are those the subjects of Nobody's Hero? _____________________________________________________ ________| Brendan Schulman Yale University |_______ \ | P.O. Box 3618 Pierson College '96 | / \ | New Haven, CT 06520 brendan@minerva.cis.yale.edu | / / |_____________________________________________________| \ /__________) (_________\ ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 14:51:00 +0000 From: "Robert (R.A.) Herrage" <herrage@bnr.ca> Subject: "Brought to you by the letter..." .. oe Here's some pieces of information that I've found so far: > From Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary, .. - diaeresis 1: a mark placed over a vowel to indicate that the vowel is pronounced in a separate .. .. syllable (as in na i ve or Bront e ) 2: the break in a verse cause by the coincidence of the end of a foot with the end of a word .. - oe as in French boeuf "beef", German H o lle "hell". This vowel, which occurs only in foreign-derived terms and names, can be approximated by attempt- ing to pronounce the vowel \e\ with the lips mod- . erately rounded as for the vowel \u\. This vowel is often anglicized as the \er\ of *bird* by those who do not "drop their r's" or as the correspond- ing vowel of *bird* used by those who do (see the section on \r\). Where this anglicization is shown, it is represented as \e(r)\. > From the liner notes, .. ..., Nick & M.J. Cavedroek & Josh, ... Anyone find anything else? Rob ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Discrepancy!! Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 17:03:58 -0400 From: ""Daniel D. Modell"" <ddmodell@mailbox.syr.edu> I have a quote from the Counterparts interview which reads: > Now unlike that song, our next track "Speed Of Love" features words. And not > only that, but they're words written by someone other than Neil Peart. It's a > rare collaboration between Neil and his old pal, Pye Dubois. However, in the album lyrics, it is written that "Between Sun and Moon" is the song that Dubois collaborated on. WHAT'S THE DEAL? ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Album Cover Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 17:12:58 -0400 From: ""Daniel D. Modell"" <ddmodell@mailbox.syr.edu> Forgive my double post... So who is going to try and decipher the binary code on the inside cover? .. Did anyone notice that this album is brought to us by the letter ae? I like the counter parts. Read through the whole Time & Tide section. It's a work of genius. Hugh Syme deserves an award for this album cover. This is exactly what I am going to school for. Album cover art is my favorite graphic design aspect. Roger Dean (Yes) and Hugh Syme are my two main inspirations. Any of you who have Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction will notice some similarities in this album cover, as well as Roll the Bones and Fates Warning - Parallels (produced by Terry Brown!) Funny how that all works out. One more thing, and please don't take this as a flame: > Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1993 01:10:48 - ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 17:13:16 -0400 (EDT) From: bennett jason <bennej9@ac.wfunet.wfu--------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 17:13:16 -0400 (EDT) From: bennett jason <bennej9@ac.wfunet.wfu23456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[a\]^Ý_“efghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~€‚ƒ„…†‡ˆ‰Šb‹ŒŽ‘’“”•–—˜™š›œžŸ ¡¢£¤¥¦§¨©ª«¬­®¯°±²³´cµ¶·¸¹º»¼½¾¿ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚÛÜÝÞdßàáâãäՈHZ),/2$0'%4>>>>>>>>>>>/7'3ÿÿÿ.edu> Subject: Dissenting opinion on Nobody's hero, Cp. NMSers, Everyone been listening to the album? I've noticed there are a lot of negative criticisms about Cp in general on the digest the past few days. I must say I disagree, though not ignorantly. I don't want to be one of those eMpTyVer's who say the album "sucks" or the album "kicks a**." I prefer to sit quietly and listen. This album has a whole lot of brain food, in addition to that pareticular "Rush" quality of having a different musical style on each album. Pr and RTB have just hit me in the past six months with the quality and general good worth of their sound and what they are conveying. I think there's a lot more to this album than just a play between male and feamle or that one song is just about AIDS or homosexuality. In fact, "Nobody's Hero" smacked me in the face today with a lot deeper meanings than than the lyrics state. It seems Neil seems to be making a statement about popular reverence for "heroes" in general. Those that "cure the wasting disease" or "land the crippled airplane" don't have to be doctors or pilots, but oneself. The AIDS victim Neil referred to was a hero to himself, because he chose to keep living his life according to his principles. In this way he did cure and overcome his wasting disease, because he chose not to let AIDS cripple his life or sacrifice his person. I could comment this way on each song, but I just wanted to comment that ya'll seem to be taking the popular superficial route that RTB or Pr has been interpreted in the past. "Nobody's Hero" isn't just a sappy loss of a friend ballad, but i find it a very inspirational song, in being the hero to yourself in living your life for yourself, not for the fans or for a team. The unreflected life is no life at all(transcendentalist paraphrase). Now I can say it: COUNTERPARTS KICKS BUTT!!!!! -jason ************************************************************* * "Though we live in trying times, * -Jason Bennett- * * We're the ones who have to try." * bennej9@wfu.edu * * -Neil Peart * Wake Forest University * ************************************************************* ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 18:03:21 -0400 From: cps5@po.cwru.edu (Chris Schmitz) Subject: Cleveland Sales Yello, I overheard someone I know talking about when they went to pick up CP on the 19th at Record Town in downtown Cleveland. They asked the salesperson why it was not on sale and he/she said, rather peevedly, that if he wanted a cd on sale, then he should buy the Pearl Jam cd. It seems that people had been asking the same question all day. They had only ordered 150 CP cd's or so and they were down to about 20 or 30 and it was about noon. They were outselling Pearl Jam by about 3 to 1! Pretty cool, huh?! Just thought you'd all like to know. BTW, the cd's awesome! Chris Chris Schmitz --- Glaser House "The shifting shafts of shining Weave the fabric of their dreams." -- N. Peart ---------------------------------------------------------- Subject: RushFan(tm) long shot redux From: john.grothman@aquila.com (John Grothman) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 11:08:00 -0600 About a month ago, I posted the story of the quote, unquote FAN, the young lady that camped out in front of Geddy's house for several days before Geddy politely asked her to leave. I posed the question then "That short ecounter was worth it to e Would it be worth it to you?" Of all the responses (direct and indirect) to that question, only one NMS subscriber felt that it would have been worth it. The remainder of you felt that fans like her gave fans like us a bad name. Bravo. Makes me proud to be a participant in this collaboration of individuals. Why bring this up again? Please consider the following item in this morning's Chicago paper. ------------------------------------------------------------- Fans after group's CD break store window MADISON, Wis. - A music store was one display window down after Pearl Jam fans rushed the place early Tuesday. Three people were injured by shattered glass when a crowd pressed against the window at The Exclusive Co. shortly after the store opened about midnight to sell the rock group's latest release "Vs." About 300 fans gathered. The store sold 800 compact discs within an hour. No arrests were made. ------------------------------------------------------------- No arrests were made? Come on now. What would we suggest? I think the NMS concensus would be to lay the "Bad News Fans" side by side on the street and have none other than Mr. Neil Peart ride over them with his bicycle. One other thing. 300 fans? 800 CDs? Were the other 500 CDs "Counterparts"? Purchased by true RushFans(tm)? Can't think of any other explanation, can you? Obligatory ST:TNG Quote - Riker: How did you like command? Worf: Comfortable chair. Obligatory _CP_ review - Later. This one's long enough already. Later. No sig. No ORQ (is that a NORQ?). ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 17:26:10 -0500 From: junoks@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Stacey Ksenzakovic) Subject: Third milestone? I'm only going to say one thing-- or maybe two-- about the album. The rest I'm sending to John Aegard for compilation. I read an interview in the gopher in which Geddy said there were certain albums which were milestones-- everything before was just working toward it. He said 2112 and MP were those two. Could it be that Cp is the third? It's very different from everything else and quite a few ppl have called it the best since MP. Hmm... Just a short message to Randall Haskins on the Pearl Jam thing-- While I was at the local Midnite Madness, they had Pearl Jam on the loudspeaker, and one of the songs was an awful lot like SiO. Revenge, perhaps? Or mysterious coincidence? <insert twilight zone theme> Blessed be, Julie/ Juno/ Panacea *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~* * I AM the rational romantic mystic cynical idealist! * \ / * * "Try as they might, they cannot steal your dreams." * ----><---- * * _.__ _.__ __.. -Geddy Lee, "Cinderella Man" * / \ * *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* attempted geddy smile 8^) with contacts :^) See? I listen well. ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 18:08:25 EDT From: "Michael A. Weintraub" <MWEINTR@american.edu> Subject: Binary in the album sleeve: I figured it out Few things to say... 1. Great album. Worth the wait. 2. I was bored Tuesday night during the rain delay in the World Series game (the way the Phils were playing it shoulda just kept raining... :( ) so I actually figured out what the binary in the CP sleeve is... Here's the translation (rush-mgr: please edit whatever is necessary out, especially if I wasn't the only Quixotic soul around! -thanx MAW)... This, btw, is Brought to You by the Letter "P" There are 182 zero's and one's, so I assumed that to be 26 sets of 7 0&1 'characters' (like how 1001001 is 7 characters).... Here are all 26: 1. 1010100 64+16+4 = 84 translates to: T 2. 1010101 64+16+4+1 = 85 " " " U 3. 1010011 64+16+2+1 = 83 S 4. 0101101 32+8+4+2+1 = 45 - 5. 0100101 32+4+1 = 37 % 6. 0110010 32+16+2 = 50 2 7. 1101001 64+32+8+1 = 105 i 8. 0101011 32+8+2+1 = 43 + 9. 0110101 32+16+4+1 = 53 5 10. 0010101 16+4+1 = 21 {nothing} 11. 0110100 32+16+4 = 52 4 12. 1101011 64+32+8+2+1 = 107 k 13. 0101001 32+8+1 = 41 ) 14. 0101100 32+8+4 = 44 , 15. 1011010 64+16+8+2 = 90 Z 16. 1001010 64+8+2 = 74 J 17. 1011010 32+8+4 = 90 Z 18. 0101010 32+8+2 = 42 * 19. 0101011 32+8+2+1 = 43 + 20. 0110100 32+16+4 = 52 4 21. 1101011 64+32+8+2+1 = 107 k 22. 0101001 32+8+1 = 41 ( 23. 0101100 32+8+4 = 44 , 24. 1011010 64+16+8+2 = 90 Z 25. 1001010 64+8+2 = 74 J 26. 1011011 64+16+8+2+1 = 89 Y *Whew* Some notes: Sets 15, 17, and 24 all equal the same character "Z". The character for #10 is not listed in my ascii guide. I think it might be a control character of some sort. My interpretation: Exactly what I expected: It means nothing. Random numbers put there to look aescetically pleasing. Total jibberish when you 'translate' it, as I did. Your milage may vary, of course. Other comments: The voice before "Alien Shore". That sounds a lot like something akin to "vatta va hoe", good luck to someone who wants to translate that. Do three bovines (cows or steers) make up a 'stock'? I assume so, but I don't know. If so, then that set of 'Counterparts' makes a lot of sense. Who thought that CP was 58 minutes long? The CD is 54m and change, did you base your timings off of the slower (therefore, longer) .au files? to the Vortex: Here comes the Yes .sig from Hell. Enjoy :) Thanks for 'sticking it out' with me. *groan* Slainte mhath, Mike :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : Mike Jvi Weintraub aka mweintr@american.edu : \ / ___ __ : : The American University, Washington DC, USA : \/ ___ |_ `: :...............sig Quote du Jour.............: / ___ \ : :"Though we know that time has wings, we're : / / : : the ones who have to fly" : \___/ : :::::::::Rush 'Everyday Glory':::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ps. GO PHILLIES! ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 20 Oct 1993 18:25:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Matt Siegel <MSIEGEL@CENTER.COLGATE.EDU> Subject: the trees I'm new to this thing, and I was wondering if anyone ever discussed the possibility that the Trees is symbolic of US-Canadian relations.....the Oak-US, the Maple-Canada??? The lyrics suggest it might me true.......just a thought... ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Chris Nelder <chrisn@microsoft.com> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 16:25:52 PDT Subject: What CP stuff means/Take it outside already Joe Servaites wrote: |BUT, what's the deal with that maple leaf with the boy scout symbol? |How about that P and Q? (Mind your P's and Q's???) The pile of X's and Y's? |The guy shooting the compound bow? Who is that playing the accordion? Here's my reckoning: All of the art (except *possibly* that of the guys) is about counterparts. You got P's & Q's (why did you question that?). I'd say the rush_mgr was right about x & y being symbolic of chromosomes, but they're also a famous pair aside from that (what symbols do YOU first use when you write out an algebraic equation?). The leaf picture I took to mean "leaf and bud." Bow and arrow: there ya go. Fun pics overall, I thought--nicely done and humorous to boot. It occurred to me that the illuminated manuscript-style collection of two-word counterparts would make a good wedding sermon--how's that for an idea? Meanwhile, Gregg Jaeger and Eric Simpson are having an intellectual posturing match over Rand and Dos Passos. Admist the rhetoric, a few interesting ideas were raised, but enough is enough. PLEASE guys--I don't want to sort through pages of this stuff every day: TAKE IT OFFLINE, TAKE IT OUTSIDE. Thank you. --Chris chrisn@microsoft.com ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 18:54:59 -0400 (EDT) From: FISHBOY <AACUNZO@ccmail.sunysb.edu> Subject: WHAT RUSH WILL BE PLAYING ON TOUR Got your attention, have I? I just read an interview with Geddy Lee in _Good Times_, a local entertainment paper. I don't have time to type in the whole thing, but the only real interesting thing was the following: It's been 20 years of progression, or, at least in '94 it will be. Though it's not the 20th Anniversary of the band (they're passed it), it has been 20 years since Neil Peart replaced John Rutsey on drums (Rutsey played on the first album but elected not to tour) and as the trio sees it, that's the most important anniversary. When they begin their U.S. tour in January, they will be doing a very special live show. "We'll do a few songs from the new album," says Lee, "but we're going to concentrate on doing at least one song from every album as a celebration of 20 years. We're in the process of figuring out what to play, some choices are obvious, songs that have been successful that we know the audience expects. The harder part is settling on what we'll play that's more obscure, at least for our live shows the last ten years, we're still finding out what we feel we'd enjoy doing. There will be a lot of surprises." Can you say, "Wow"? I hesitate to think of what this means. "I Think I'm Going Bald"? "Natural Science"? The entire "2112" or "Hemispheres"? Now I *really* can't wait for the tour.... Well, I gotta run. Later mein froinds! Andy Acunzo aacunzo@ccmail.sunysb.edu ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 20 Oct 93 17:05:00 PST From: "Mark Pettit" <PETTIT@CSUPomona.Edu> Subject: Mystery Science Theater 3000 References Anyone notice the DOUBLE references to Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the "thank you" section? There was the obvious one "MST-3K", but then two or three entries later there was this entry: "Gamera (is turtle meat)". Heheheh. I don't know how many of your Rushians are MST3K fans, but that was GREAT in my opinion. I wonder who in Rush watches the show... Also, did you see the reference to "Lucy & Desi" in the section of dual counterparts? Hmm... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Pettit Internet: Pettit@ACM.Org ! Parrotheads of the Down to the Banana Republics / Down to the tropical sun ! Internet, UNITE! Go the expatriated Americans / Hopin' to find some fun ! Buffett Forever! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why couldn't this guy be on the plane instead of Buddy Holly?" --- Crow ---------------------------------------------------------- From: jim.hamilton@permanet.org (jim hamilton) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 19:39:14 -0500 Subject: I'll mention it (Cut To The Chase) I have to agree that this song is just ABSOLUTEly wonderful (I'm not going to go on about the whole album cause that would just be way too annoying after Monday's issue of TNMS), but the note about this being a new sound for him (Alex) is incorrect. He has had that tone for the last few tours. I think that they finally have an engineer and producer team that are capturing their true sound as they mentioned in the interview. As far as Alex's virtuosity, I would recommend that you check out Cold Fire. Any guitar players out there will be able to appreciate this solo for what it is. There is almost NO DISTORTION WHATSOEVER!!! And he FLYS through that solo. Hats of to Alex who once again proves that he is INCREDIBLY underrated. Jim ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 17:43:34 -800 (PDT) From: Doron <dholan@tuba.aix.calpoly.edu> Subject: CP/Binary/unknown cp's Hi everyone! I swore I wouldn't put this in my first post, but, YES, this is my first post. Well, well, well. THIS is one RAD album. I have not listened to anything else for the past two days, and I must say, every time I listen to it, I find something new. About the binary on the back of the booklet, if I am not mistaked, there are 183 characters. That means it is one short of being divisible by 8 (meaning you can break it up into bytes, then convert to ascii). Oh well. There are a few counterparts I don't understand. Please help, here they are: blued/tattooed sonny/michael/fredo hoss joe & the other guy Robbie/chip/ernie Another quirk I have found is that on the back of CP (at least mine) case, in the lower right hand corner, right above the Anthem symbol, is a raised *Warner* symbol. What is this? | [] [] [^ [] [\] --> Doron (e-mail: dholan@oboe.aix.calpoly.edu) Reasoning is partly insane/Image just an eyeless game | Anagram (for The night is turning thin/The saint is turning to sin | Mongo) -RUSH ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 17:51:22 -800 (PDT) From: Doron <dholan@tuba.aix.calpoly.edu> Subject: RUSH shirts I have a topic here that no one has touched upon since I have been subscribing (3 months). +-----------+ |RuSH Shirts| +-----------+ The shirts from the RTB tour were OK, but not outstanding. IMOHO, there were two duds, the shirt with the vortex writing that had the skeleton with the skin still on it, and another that just had blocky bones and said RUSH on the pocket (don't remember the back). I got the white shirt with album cover on the front and tour locations on the back, the skull popping out of the box (pusshead) with the dartboard on the back, and a black shirt with the cover art on the front and the bones flying through the dice window (pic inside the booklet) on the back with a list of songs on RTB. Judging from the CP booklet, they can have some pretty creative shirts...but that was what I thought about Peter Gabriel, and all of his shirts weren't spectacular either. Anyone have any thoughts or some ideas for c00l shirts? living the SLO life, | [] [] [^ [] [\] --> Doron (e-mail: dholan@oboe.aix.calpoly.edu) Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Reasoning is partly insane/Image just an eyeless game | Anagram (for The night is turning thin/The saint is turning to sin | Mongo) -RUSH ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 20:01:29 CDT From: ervan@cs.rice.edu (Ervan Darnell) Subject: CP binary code, and a couple of symbols Someone asked about the symbols. I vote the bow being 'bow and arrow' instead of 'hunter and hunted'. Where's the hammer for the nail and what's the counterpart for the tooth? [ Perhaps the tooth itself is a counterpart -- you have the part you normally see (the crown), and the part you normally don't (the root). : rush-mgr ] For that mystery code. Here it is: 1010100101010110100110101101010010101100101101010010101011011 1101001010101101001101011010100101011001011010100101010110100 1010100101010110100110101101010010101100101101010010101011011 The first and last rows are the same. The 2nd row is the first shifted left one place (almost). With '*' & '.' it is: *.*.*..*.*.*.**.*..**.*.**.*.*..*.*.**..*.**.*.*..*.*.*.**.** **.*..*.*.*.**.*..**.*.**.*.*..*.*.**..*.**.*.*..*.*.*.**.*.. *.*.*..*.*.*.**.*..**.*.**.*.*..*.*.**..*.**.*.*..*.*.*.**.** It does not immediately appear to be ASCII or morse, read forward, backward, by rows, or by columns. I don't see any picture. No digit occurs more than twice together. Some parity schemes work similarly (e.g. USPS zip codes). I'm sure somebody will prove me a fool by tomorrow's TNMS for not seeing it. ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 21:25:28 EST From: coleman@ACAVAX.LYNCHBURG.EDU Subject: Various Counterparts Musings I told myself I was not going to be one of those people who posted saying,"I've heard the new album blah blah and it's really good/I think it sux," but here I am posting anyway. I have a few comments to make regarding it, and I'll try to keep personal opinion out of this, except for this: This is possibly my favorite album ever. The bass absolutely grooves, Al has finally taken the spotlight (and started to use his whammy bar like he always should have), Neil kicks ass without taking up too much room on the track (sonically speaking), and the lyrics are simple yet engrossing. The album, overall, comes across as a great new direction, as RtB did, but then don't they all. The production is good, although I just noticed a little harshness and noise in the solo of Cold Fire. Does anyone have any idea how they recorded this album, and did they record like Collins had them do so in the past? Ok. I was one of the lucky few to get the album about two weeks early. Beezus at UTexas sent me a tape of it. The tape didn't sound great, but who cares. I listened to it casually for a while, and finally sat down to give it a good, hard, loud, critical listening. Animate shocked me. It was loud, hard, and fast. Blew almost all of RtB away. Stick it Out was sort of boring, but it grew on me. Cut to the Chase is one of my favorites on the album. I don't want to bore anyone with more opinions, so I'll get on with it. Someone said they didn't really like the lyrics to Alien Shore (or something like that). They also commented about Neil being redundant with "You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome" He was not talking about gender differences in this line, he was talking about race. Gender is not determined by chromosomes, but genes (I think). I may be a little off the mark, but I _do_ know that the chromosome he is talking about is the one that determines skin color. This should be obvious when later Geddy sings about "Color and culture, language and race". [ Gender is determined by a "sex-determination" factor on the Y chromosome. What it exactly is is unknown, but might be a gene. If you don't carry that factor (regardless of whether or not you have a Y chromosome) your gender will be female. (see, I knew being a bio major would come in handy one day.. :) : rush-mgr ] I also tried to figure out what the binary on the back inside cover says. I bought the album at about 12:10 Monday night (Tuesday morning?), and got home with it to find that I had no cd player at home with me (I was on fall break), so I started to break the code down into bytes (that's Pieces of Eight for all you non-computer types) and then converted to decimal. I had assumed that it would spell out something in ASCII, but curses, I had been foiled. It was only a bunch of lines, letters, numbers, symbols, and fractions. I thought about Morse code, but when I looked it up in the trusty World Book, I decided that that would be too much to try to do, considering there are no spaces in the binary code. I also tried converting to Hexadecimal code and then checking that against ASCII characters, but I quickly found (within two bytes) that that was also not the answer. I was thinking that it may be part of the actual digital encoding on the cd, or maybe nothing at all. Yeah, right. Something on a Rush cover not meaning something. Who do I think I am, anyway? For those of you who aren't sure about some of the new songs, keep listening to them. I used to absolutely hate Presto, now it's one of my favorite albums. Nobody's Hero "hit" me wrong at first, but now I think it's great. Just make sure you keep an open mind and don't let the opening lyrics bug you if you're homophobic or a gay basher. The song does seem like kind of a letdown after hearing Cut to the Chase right before it. Here are my picks for standouts on the album (as in we'll hear them live and on the radio often): Animate (it rocks, plus there was a sticker on the cd that had Animate on it) Stick it Out (first single) Cut to the Chase (it kicks ass too) Leave That Thing Alone! (my prediction is that we'll hear an instrumental medley on this tour) Everyday Glory (more on radio than live) Between Sun and Moon (my girlfriend absolutely loves this one, and she's a Depeche Mode fan, so what does that tell you? It's pretty good IMO, too) This cover has got to be one of the best ever! Simple outside, like HYF, with an inside that has you looking at it for hours, trying to find everything in it. Some things I've noticed that are pretty interesting: Song titles: Lock & Key, Beneath, Between and Behind, Hand Over Fist (the hands from Presto) Funny stuff that Alex probably suggested: Ribbed & Lubricated, In & Out, Long & Hard, the breasts, the primate, pink flamingoes on the lawn, Screwed, Blued, & Tattooed, sex, lies, & videotape Has anyone figured out what the leaves are? How about the birds? How about these: luxe, calme, volupte athos, porthos, aramis As a Greek I must say that the only disappointing thing about the cover is the fact that they omitted Alpha and Omega. Damn. I'm going to start a list of all the Counterparts in the cover, so if anyone has anything they've figured out, then send it to me email at: coleman@acavax.lynchburg.edu Have the subject line read Counterparts Cover or some reasonable facsimile thereof. Last thing: I also heard the voice in Alien Shore. It sounds vaguely like: "Morning, Gub." "G-day!" No, wait, wrong album. It sounds like "What shore are you on?" Enough typing. Later. John ! coleman@acavax.lynhcburg.edu RushMan Lives... ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 20 Oct 1993 21:40:30 -0400 (EDT) From: JOSH KESSLER <JKESSLER@CENTER.COLGATE.EDU> Subject: I disagree with Kevin from Brewerton. First of all, how can you say that most people don't listen to Rush's lyrics? Are you saying that Neil's lyrics are too profound for you? Don't include me in your ignorant minority. While I do agree with you that "Cold Fire" and "Animate" are great songs, "Nobody's Hero" is one of the best on the album. Don't expect another album out by the end of '94, its been a while before a new album has come out before two years has gone by. Flames Happen, Kess ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 20:42:13 CDT From: smithm@stolaf.edu (Matthew D Smith) Subject: Hi all Howdy, Just subscribed to the list the other day and I am quite surprised as to the volume of posts. But anyway, to work. 1) Been a Rush fan since early 1987. Knew about them before that, really listened to the (then) new single "Force Ten" on the radio and figured out that these guys are wonderful. I play both bass and drums in four different bands (evenly spaced) so one can understand why I love Rush so much. Seen every show possible since my first (Dec. 9, 1987 in NJ) and have gotten all of the albums. Unfortunately, most of my collection is missing since it got stolen a few months ago, but I'm gradually getting it back 2) Got Counterparts as soon as the UPS shipment arrived at the local record store. AS always with a Rush album, I listen to it once for the general overview, and then I listen to it very closely through headphones so's (sic) I can hear the nuances. A) General overview : GOOD STUFF, but where'z the riffs? Solid production, nice vocals (HUGE King's X fan, so vocals mean a lot to me), quality songwriting. Feel that "Speed of Love" is lacking somewhat energywise, but O.K. otherwise. Wonderful how the lyrics bring forth the duality of male/ female relationships. A superb exploration into how we work, a journey through personal-/inner-space. B) Nuances : THERE'S the riffs. Very subdued, but still the same trio that I know and love. My roommate can attest to that when I hear a particularly wonderful bass or drum fill, I jump or flinch a bit. Sheer musical emotion running through me. Well, I jumped a lot. Those of you out there who are music wise will have undoubtedly noticed the ultra-cool bass chords in "Animate" and the tapped chords in "Stick it Out." Neil is still as good a drummer but ever, but is concentrating more on the roots of drumming now; fluidity, grace, GROOVE. I love the showmanship of the seventies, but the subtleties of the nineties affect me just as much. The subtle little things in "Animate," "Double Agent," and "Leave that thing Alone" are JUST as hard to do as the huge fills of the epic days, but don't sound as hard. THAT is the magic of Peart. 3) So far I have enjoyed all of what I have read of this list save one little thing. Maybe I am the only one in feeling this, maybe not. Those in question, take this as you will. Messrs. Jaeger and Simpson appear to have some differences of opinion as to how Peart is affected by different writers. This is valid and constructive until it disrupts the integrity of this mailing list, as I feel that it has done. I believe that their discussion has extended beyond the realms of a Rush oriented digest. A different forum for the debate, especially one that takes up as much space as this one does, would be much appreciated by me. Now, I don't know if many other people feel this way, but IMHO, they probably do. This will be the last you will hear from me on this topic. Gentlemen, please bear me in mind when preparing another HUGE post. I have little interest in your flames for each other, and I don't like being singed just by trying to wade thugh it to get to more directly Rush related material. End of story. Oh, not quite...try doing this. In continuing your discussion, rather than posting to rush@syrinx.umd edu, Mr. Jaeger, try mailing to eric6@freenet2.scri.fsu.edu Mr. Simpson, try mailing to ... jaeger@buphy.bu.edu There, that should do it. Thank you all for your patience with my long first post. I am looking forward to hearing more about Rush that I could possibly have imagined.. Yours.. Matt Smith smithm >...oops ;) smithm@stolaf.edu P.S. Any questions about the above that would have no bearing to this digest would be welcomed at the above e-mail address. ---------------------------------------------------------- From: philip@knuth.mtsu.edu (Mr. Philip Scoggins) Subject: Quit rubbing it in! Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 21:09:06 -0500 (CDT) Since everyone and their frat brother has made a comment I thought I would too... I STILL HAVE TO WAIT TILL TOMORROW MORNING TO GET MY COPY!! AHHHHHHHHHH! Here in Nashville they never play requests on the 1 (only 1 rock station) and they only play Rush once a day! I've never heard it! <<slowing down>> is really starting to piss me off.. Anyway I love Rush and can't wait for the tour, although I can hardly imagine RTB tour ever being topped! Fil "I think I'm..." "I'm going bald" ----------------------------------------------------------
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 rush-mgr@syrinx.umd.edu There is now anonymous ftp access available on Syrinx. The network address to ftp to is: syrinx.umd.edu or 129.2.8.114 When you've connected, userid is "anonymous", password is <your userid>. Once you've successfully logged on, change directory (cd) to 'rush'. There is also a mail server available (for those unable or unwilling to ftp). For more info, send email with the subject line of HELP to: server@ingr.com These requests are processed nightly. Use a subject line of MESSAGE to send a note to the server keeper or to deposit a file into the archive. Gopher access is now available on syrinx! Use this command to access the gopher: gopher syrinx.umd.edu 2112 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 (C) 1993 by The Rush Fans Mailing List Editor, The National Midnight Star (Rush Fans Mailing List) ******************************************** End of The National Midnight Star Number 790 ********************************************