Friday 9 June 2017

Rush

i live right next door to rush’s head office
i see some action here and there
but i keep my distance
i am not a long awaited friend

years ago - des showed me the home in the beaches that geddy used to live at
i was fairly accessible - nothing like the fortress one expects of royalty
we joked around about showing up at his family barbcues 
and saying things like ‘caress of steel is under rated” and “have you really ever gone dog sledding?”

what i love about rush
is that they’re at the centre of hypocrisy
on one hand their intelligent and acerbic
on the other they’re really funny and self deprecating 
those movies at the beginning of the ‘time machine’ tour were fucking funny
they let us all in on the joke

at rehearsals we all talk about our favourite album
one thing is clear
rush never phoned it in
they never pretended to be anything other than musicians
if you go deep into their catalogue 
you’ll hear some gems in the later albums - driven / the wreckers / dreamline
rush worked hard 
they followed their own compass
and now millions of us love them

the 2112 show was a massive undertaking
we took a deep breath and dug in
i started adding more and more musicians to the show
for a trio - they made a big sound
no other trio in the history of rock made anywhere near as grand a sound

i hope that all the fans dig the show
we put our hearts into it

it’s funny - after the oshawa show
i got a ton of emails - a lot people getting upset because we have 9 musicians on stage
other’s getting upset because we look nothing like them
of course i find this all hilarious

be sure of this
no where else in the world will you hear this music performed ‘note for note - cut for cut’
we know how to perform this record
our lifetime investment in our ‘hometown boys done good’ apparent

i hope that geddy gets to see another pennant win
i hope that neil finds a perfect stretch of road
i hope the alex never runs out of stages to jump up and jam on

and i hope that everyone has a good time and remembers and celebrates
the toronto band that figured out how to sound true
and share it with the rest of the world


craig 
june 9, 2017

(IPA beer and Planters peanuts)