Cast & Credits
Director: Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn
Producer: Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn
Editor: Mike Dunn
Executive Producer: Noah Segal, Peggi Cecconi, Shelly Nott
Writers: Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn, Mike Dunn
Cinematographer: Martin Hawkes

Program Notes
For fans and newcomers to the legendary Canadian band Rush, this is the music documentary to experience. Directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn embark on a comprehensive exploration of this extraordinary power trio, from their early days in Toronto, through each of their landmark albums, to the present day. Sit back and revel in the words, music, and wonder of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart.

Tourbooks dating back to 2112 have been brought back to all their glory (and then some) by modern printing technology and are all beautifully crafted with high-end laminated covers.

These individual books are slightly upgraded from the ones in The Complete Tourbooks, as we had more leeway with paper thickness etc. The covers are thicker, and laminated, for a beautiful finished look.

"Geddy had been in [Dunn and McFadyen's previous documentary] 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey' and we were thinking about other bands we could work with," explains McFadyen. "We felt that RUSH had always been overlooked by the critics so we met them on tour and they liked what we said. We started working on it, then IRON MAIDEN came about so we took a break to do that and raised the financing for the RUSH film. We've started on it now and done a load of interviews so now we're editing with a load of archival footage."

"We've been lucky. Not only have we had access to [RUSH management] SRO's archives but also Geddy, Alex and Neil's own personal archives," enthuses director Dunn. "I was just at Geddy's house this week. Going through his personal collection of memorabilia. I dug up some gems I don't think RUSH fans have ever seen so we're hoping to offer something new."

The 6th Annual CSHF Gala welcomes a diverse line-up of talent who will perform renditions of this year’s inducted songs. Alexisonfire will perform ‘Tom Sawyer’ (Rush); Les Claypool performs ‘The Spirit of Radio’ (Rush), YouTube phenom Jacob Moon presents his rendition of ‘Subdivisions’ (Rush) and Quebec superstar Robert Charlebois will perform his classic song ‘Ordinaire’ (Robert Charlebois, Mouffe, Pierre Nadeau).

Miroir Noir
Vincent Morisset, Vincent Morisset & Arcade Fire ARCADE FIRE
Merge*F>A>B

Snakes & Arrows Live
Pierre & François Lamoureaux Allan Weinrib, Pegi Cecconi, Ray Daniels RUSH
Anthem*Universal

Iron Maiden Flight 666
Sam Dunn, Scott McFadyen Ron Smallwood, Stefan Demetriou, Andy Taylor IRON MAIDEN
EMI

The Trews Acoustic - Friends & Total Strangers
Tim Martin, John-Angus MacDonald, Larry Wanagas THE TREWS
Bumstead*Universal

DRUM! Live
Aaron Young, Doris Mason, Colin Smeltzer, Daniel Brooker Brookes Diamond DRUM!
Independent*Fontana North

You've asked for it, and now it's here: a precise recreation of Geddy Lee's Rickenbacker 4001 bass. His primary instrument of the 70's, first seen during RUSH's first tour in 1974, Geddy effectively retired this bass after the Signals tour until bringing it back on tour in 2007.

This 1:4-scale replica miniature bass collectible is made of solid mahogany wood, hand crafted and airbrushed with outstanding detail. As these guitars are hand made, please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery as supplies are limited.

This bass guitar sells for $24.99. Click here to order. For the complete RUSH miniature instruments collection, click here. Axeheaven is providing a special discount for Power Windows Website Users. To receive the discount, just enter the below coupon code while checking out at AxeHeaven.com:

* For free shipping for all domestic orders: coupon code
* For an overall 10% discount off of international orders: coupon code TEN2010

"Geddy had been in [Dunn and McFadyen's previous documentary] 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey' and we were thinking about other bands we could work with," explains McFadyen. "We felt that RUSH had always been overlooked by the critics so we met them on tour and they liked what we said. We started working on it, then IRON MAIDEN came about so we took a break to do that and raised the financing for the RUSH film. We've started on it now and done a load of interviews so now we're editing with a load of archival footage."

"We've been lucky. Not only have we had access to [RUSH management] SRO's archives but also Geddy, Alex and Neil's own personal archives," enthuses director Dunn. "I was just at Geddy's house this week. Going through his personal collection of memorabilia. I dug up some gems I don't think RUSH fans have ever seen so we're hoping to offer something new."

Meanwhile, Rush and 16-year-old Montreal jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky also seem to be involved. A publicist for the veteran Toronto rock trio and Yanofsky herself both responded to questions from The Canadian Press with no-comments, citing non-disclosure agreements.

"NDA, non-disclosure, we're not allowed to say anything," Yanofsky said when asked if she would perform.

In adult life, music took precedence over sports, but my bandmates liked to watch hockey games on motel and studio lounge televisions, for example, so I did not escape observing and even getting involved-feeling the pain of becoming emotionally invested in something you were powerless to affect-like watching "your" team struggle and fail (that would be Toronto's Maple Leafs). Alex and Geddy had grown up in Toronto with longtime Montreal Canadiens forward Steve Shutt, and we would sometimes meet up with "Shuttie" in cities where we were both playing. (Further ironic that throughout our career, the band played in all of the NHL arenas, sharing the same "office space" as the hockey players.)

In the early '80s, touring with another Canadian band, Max Webster, we rented small hockey arenas after shows, suited up in skates and pads, and-in the middle of the night-played outrageously inept hockey for a couple of hours. (My ankles were stronger by then, and skates were better-but I still basically shuffled around the ice. Fun, though.)

The timing for the “Hockey Theme” proposal was perfect. The band had been off that year, after three years of writing, recording, and touring, so I was eager for a new musical challenge. This one would be especially demanding, but I would have the time and energy to devote to it. And with the Blessed Event of Olivia Louise’s arrival that summer, it was great to be able to work close to home.

"The Opening Ceremony is our biggest chance to speak to a global audience and tell the story of a contemporary Canada that will inspire the world. So many talented Canadians have shared their thoughts and hopes for the ceremonies over the past six weeks and we are most grateful,? said John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). ?We?d like to thank the Government of Canada for its generous contribution and their tremendous support in putting on spectacular ceremonies of which all Canadians can be proud."

Anything's possible now; we can record a couple of songs and put them out and then go on tour if we want. So at this point, we're just embarking on writing, but keeping ourselves open to all those other possibilities. One of our early titles for this year was Research and Development. That's where we're at.

   Q. So you might start making music in smaller increments?

Or larger. I went to see a band called Porcupine Tree not long ago. And I was talking with (singer-guitarist) Steven Wilson. They just put out a 55- minute piece. That's a finger to the whole iTunes shuffle thing, and he intended it as such. And I thought, 'Yeah, that's another way of rebelling against it -- by just saying no.' There's too much lost in giving up the integrity of an album -- what it represents to you as a musician, and as a human being, for that matter. So I like that approach. That's very possible for a band like us. So there are no limitations; we might go big or we might go small.

"I know that the mechanism that brought us up doesn't exist anymore," he says. "For instance, a perfect example of how reversed it is, in those days we made no money touring for a long time, even into the successful years. You counted on record sales and songwriting to make your living. And touring was a way to publicize that. Suddenly, in the last 10, 15 years all that turned around and our income is entirely from touring, and recording is an indulgence. In a band like Rush, no one's going to pay us to make a record. It's going to be an indulgence. Even Snakes and Arrows basically paid for itself and that's it, and if we want to make a living beyond that we have to go on the road and tour."

My literary buddy Chuck Klosterman once wrote: "Somehow, Rush has purposefully or accidentally put themselves in a position where virtually anybody can make an oblique argument about what they represent. This is a common problem for hard rock bands, and especially for Rush; everyone wants to categorize them, but no one wants to claim them."

Klosterman goes on to quote Rush bassist and singer Geddy Lee: "It's funny. When you talk to metal people about Rush, eight out of 10 will tell you we're not a metal band. But if you talk to anyone outside of metal, eight out of 10 will tell you we are a metal band."

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• Geddy Lee Appearance on the 'Canadians For Haiti' Telethon: With the recent devastation in Haiti following a series of earthquakes, a number of Canadian celebrities organized the Canadians For Haiti Telethon which has raised over $9.4 million thus far. While Geddy Lee did not perform at the event, which aired last Friday night, he did make an appearance and spoke about the cause. You can view the video segment with Geddy via this LINK.

For additional information on the event, please click HERE.

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• Permanent Waves Featured in the Current Issue of "Classic Rock": The new issue of Classic Rock Magazine time warps back 30 years to 1980 to "celebrate a pivotal 12 months in rock history". Among the albums and bands discussed is Rush's pivotal Permanent Waves

"'Permanent Waves was the step,' drummer Neil Peart recalls. 'It changed how we made records; it taught us to breathe, with Spirit...and Freewill. We were learning to be more concise too. A lot of lessons were learnt. Not least to step back from it all."

Thanks to RushFanForever for the head's up.

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• Neil Peart “Soulscape” Art Print: International artist Tom Noll, who is renowned for painting various musicians, is now making his original oil painting of Neil Peart, titled “Soulscape”, available for sale as a giclee art print. The print is 27" x 18" (68.6 cm x 45.7 cm) in size, is printed on 100 lb. cover stock using fade resistant UV inks.

Neil Peart provides unending energy that sparked this colorful and moving painting of him playing. I've pictured him here with his "Neil's Personal Model" sticks and the Drum Workshop set of red-painted DW maple shells with black hardware and gold "Snakes & Arrows" logos as featured on the Snakes & Arrows Tour.

Limited to a run of just 500 units, this extraordinary print sells for $350 plus shipping. Please click HERE for more information and a close-up view of the print. Thanks to Eric from Power Windows for the head's up.

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• RushPetition.com Is Back: Skip Daly, webmaster of RushPetition.com, wanted me to let everyone know that his site has been re-launched in preparation for the possible 2010 Rush Tour. Skip's site takes your votes for the top five songs you would like Rush to play on the next tour. This time around, the song selections are those which have not been played in the last 20 years (i.e. the Presto tour). Worry not, there are still 85 songs to choose from. Cast your vote HERE.

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• Caress Of Steel, A Record To Die For: Caress of Steel is one of my favorite Rush albums, as witnessed by the color schema of this site. Brian Damkroge, a writer for Stereophile recently listed CoS in his "Records To Die For" feature.

"Caress of Steel, Rush's third album narrowly edges out their fourth, 2112, as my R2D4. The sparse arrangements showcase their playing; in particular, Alex Lifeson's chord-based guitar style is shown off far better here than on their later, more complex albums. With Caress and 2112, Rush exploited the album format with longer, more developed operettas than were possible with their later focus on radio-friendly singles. Yes, 'I think Im going bald' is woefully out of place, the lyrics a little pretentious, and Geddy Lee's vocals are an acquired taste, but the music and sound are incredible. Rush at their very best."

Thanks to GeddyWannaBe for passing along the news.

Toronto veteran progressive rock trio Rush lead the 2010 Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame inductees.

The group, made up of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, will join fellow inductee Robert Charlebois at the March 28 sixth annual gala at the Toronto Centre For The Arts' George Weston Recital Hall.

In total 11 songwriters, 16 songs - including the Rush classics Tom Sawyer, Limelight, The Spirit of Radio, Subdivisions and Closer to the Heart - and two Legacy Award recipients will be inducted.

Among the six classic Canadian songs being inducted this year are The Hockey Theme by Dolores Claman.

For the Winter NAMM show of 2010, Sonic Reality sound development company is proud to announce "Neil Peart Drums Vol. 1: The Kit", a sample library for BFD2 and Infinite Player, powered by Kontakt, as part of the Drum Masters series. Neil Peart, legendary drummer of the band "Rush", has collaborated with Sonic Reality and producer/engineer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains) to bring the authentic sound of Neil's "Snakes and Arrows' Custom DW® Drum Kit into the digital domain. With advanced features such as deep level dynamics, humanized random alternating hits, discrete multiple mic mixing and more, this deluxe sampled kit is an ultra-realistic recreation of Neil's actual acoustic set as used live on tour and in the studio.

Now, for the first time, e-drummers, keyboardists and composers can play rock drum samples with the iconic signature sound of drum legend - Neil Peart and have a world-class, hard-hitting drum kit suitable for many styles of music from Progressive Rock to Heavy Metal! Producer Nick Raskulinecz engineered the sample sessions with over 20 channels of Neve® mic preamps, deluxe vintage tube mics and multiple room positions for one of the most elaborate sampled drum kits ever. With the assistance of Don Lombardi and DrumChannel.com, every detail of "The Kit" was captured both in high-resolution audio and documented on video with a thorough explanation by Dave Kerzner of Sonic Reality on how the drums were sampled.

After legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart recorded a new rock version of The Hockey Theme last month, the percussion-inspired rendition of ''Canada's second national anthem'' made its NHL on TSN debut Thursday night prior to the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs game.

Peart's unique rock version of The Hockey Theme will be used during select NHL on TSN broadcasts throughout the remainder of the NHL season. It will also be available for digital download on iTunes on Tuesday, January 19th.

The new version of The Hockey Theme showcases Peart on a custom drum kit by DW Drums featuring the logos of all 30 NHL teams. Peart and DW Drums are donating the custom kit to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, where it will be on display for hockey and music fans alike to enjoy.

"We feel very much liberated from the album format in a way right now, because in the three years since our last album (2007's 'Snakes & Arrows'), suddenly albums don't mean anything," Peart told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview from his home in California.

"We're thinking of writing and recording a few songs and maybe releasing them, and playing them live, and then going back and doing some more later. We just feel really free (in terms) of what we might do right now.

"Anything is possible in the nicest way and we like the fact of shaking it all up."

After being "blown away" by the invitation to recreate the classic tune, Peart decided on his approach: a "drum solo with horns."

Drawing on every trick in his drumming arsenal - and it's an understatement to say the famed percussionist has many - Peart tried to cram as many spectacular flourishes into the one-minute clip as he could.

He imbued a bit of a Latin flavour to the beat, included a breakneck snare fill and his classic double kick-drum fills, played with a tempo and phrasing that Peart says were unique for him.

He's hopeful that Canadians are willing to give his version a chance.

"I can only hope that it's received with the spirit and sincerity with which I offer it," he said.

There is no more democratic band in rock than Rush. They have always divided up various responsibilities equally among the three members, including doing interviews. Therefore, album after album and tour after tour it would be one bandmember's turn to "meet the press." While Rush has always been graciously accessible, I must confess that never was more than one member ever made available.

By the time this session occurred I had already interviewed Rush bass guitarist/singer Geddy Lee twice, so I was reasonably confident on what to expect. Imagine my shock when Lee (family name Weinrib) matter-of-factly answered my first question ,regarding his earliest recollections of music while growing up, by replying," I came from a family of immigrants, basically. My parents survived the Holocaust in Poland, and then married after the war and moved to Canada. I was basically brought up in a household that had survived turbulent times, to say the least, so there was a total rebuilding in a new country, in a new culture, & trying to adapt. Music wasn't a prevalent and over-riding thing in our family."

I was stunned. There was nothing in any rock reference book or band biography to prepare me for this revelation. The enormity of what Geddy was saying, in a measured but sober tone, left me speechless for several minutes, although it felt like an eternity before I regained my composure. Everything I had prepared to ask Lee about Rush's breakthrough 1980 album Permanent Waves suddenly seemed so trivial, so shallow and inconsequential. Since then I have tried to keep some perspective on the relative importance of this rock'n'roll game in the search for real truth, real meaning in life.

The evolution of Paragon Brilliant is about more than spit and polish. It began with the pursuit of the openness and responsiveness of an older cymbal, right "out of the bag."

I have always found that brand-new cymbals have a certain "tightness," both in their physical response and in their sound, and it takes a few shows to play them in. Then they loosen up and start to "dance" on the stand, and the swell of sound from attack to decay would become smooth and open.

When I was talking about that quality to the dedicated cymbal-makers at SABIAN, they took it as a kind of challenge: how can we build that "played-in" quality into the cymbals?

"Certainly, that first Led Zeppelin album (1969) was pretty spectacular, and the more I hear that album lately the more I appreciate it. We don’t have records like that anymore, where a record comes out and everybody just goes crazy over it, and it seems to change things and creates a whole new direction. Maybe it was because I was 15 years old and that’s the kind of music that I always wanted to hear. It just really left a huge mark on me. For me personally, Electric Ladyland (1968) was a real turnaround record. (Jimi) Hendrix was incredible, but that record just had a feel to it and a character that can’t be missed."

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• The 3rd Annual Cygnus-X1.Net Holiday Rush Contest Is Over: This year's Holiday Rush Contest is now over. Nearly 1,000 entries were submitted this year so thanks to everyone who participated. The winning entry has been selected at random and the winner has been contacted. I'll post more about the winner once I get a response. As for the poll, click HERE to see the final results. Also, thanks to many of you who sent in some great comments regarding your 'favorite' decade :)

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• Guitar Aficionado Interview With Alex Lifeson: The current issue of Guitar Aficionado, with John McEnroe on the cover, includes the interview "Golfing With Alex Lifeson of Rush". There are a number of pictures of Alex in action, including this one. Thanks to RushFanForever for the article and to Eric from Power Windows for the news.

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• Trailer Park Boys 2: Countdown To Liquor Day Now On DVD: Trailer Park Boys 2: Countdown To Liquor Day, the second Canadian comedy film featuring the bad boys from the trailer park, is now available on DVD. Once again, Alex Lifeson makes a cameo appearance, this time as a cross-dressing undercover policeman:

"Of course, there's the de rigueur appearance by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, here playing a drunken, undercover cop posing as a transvestite in a gay-prostitute alley (centered around a Chip Wagon that serves alcohol -- man, Halifax is one weird town). The character may indeed be the same cop Lifeson played in the previous Trailer Park Boys movie, showing his true colours."

Click HERE to order the DVD from Amazon.Com.

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• Lifeson makes VH1's 100 Most Shocking Music Moments: It was six years ago when Alex Lifeson and his son Justin were arrested in Naples, FL at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida after an altercation with the local police. The incident was #62 on VH1's list of the 100 Most Shocking Music Moments. The list also aired on the music station this past Monday night. Thanks to RushIsABand.Com for the heads up.

We are now negotiating with Universal and Atlantic to include the following songs to be featured in the feature length scifi film that serves as back-story to the project: Anthem, Bastille Day, The Twilight Zone, Cygnus X-1, Cygnus X-1 Book II, Tom Sawyer, YYZ, The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt, Vital Signs, Subdivisions, Red Sector A, The Enemy Within, Red Lenses, Mystic Rhythms, Manhattan Project, Time Stand Still, Test for Echo, Time and Motion, Limbo, One Little Victory and Nocturne. The band and their management has approved the use of all of these songs, but final negotiations must be completed with Universal and Atlantic before we can announce the final songlist. We're hoping we can include this entire list.

Armed with a team of top recording engineers and musicians, legendary Canadian drummer Neil Peart of Rush recorded a new rock version of The Hockey Theme on Tuesday for TSN. Peart recorded his percussion-focused rendition of ''Canada's second national anthem'' at the iconic Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood on Monday and Canada's Sports Leader was there to capture every moment.

"Some of the songs were dropped from R30 due to technical reasons but also we didn't want to have too many similarities with Rush In Rio. Why not? Well, I think now that it was a dumb decision of ours. In fact I regret not having put the whole show on those disks. But I promise you, all those songs that were cut will eventually see the light of day, in some shape or form." - Geddy Lee, Aardschok Magazine, March 2006