I had the great privilege of lecturing for John J. Miller’s college course, Hon252, THE GOOD, THE TRUE, AND IRON MAIDEN. If you’re interested, here’s my lecture on “To Tame a Land,” and the connection between science fiction and progressive music. From Yes and ELP to Cosmograf and Aryeon.
If The Stoic Wisdom of Neil Peart interests you, then you may be interested in Stoic Week 2015…
Video: https://vimeo.com/144107689
I’ve already reviewed Kevin Keller’s excellent new album, La Strada, in Progarchy, and he is now posting some fascinating behind-the-scenes videos of what went into the making of it.
In this one, Keller talks about how influential Genesis, Yes, and Rush (Neil Peart in particular) are to his music. Something Progarchy readers can definitely relate to!
In an effort to avoid lame homecoming activities and pathetically drunk alumni hitting on poor freshmen ladies, I decided to spend last night curled up on my bed listening to Rush (Caress of Steel through Signals) while reading Brad Birzer’s new book on Neil Peart. I’m not going to offer a full review because I don’t think I could do it justice, but I highly recommend it to all of you. It helped me greatly understand both Neil Peart the man and the musician.
After reading Dr. Brad’s book, it is clear that there is a lot Mr. Peart and I disagree about, particularly when it comes to religion. However, I deeply admire him much in the same way I admire other anti-religious or anti-Christian greats of the western tradition. Despite his aversion to Christianity, Peart doesn’t come out and attack Christians for their beliefs. He is very much live and let live, and I can completely support that.
The structure of the book is chronological, beginning with Peart’s beginnings with the band and ending at the present. Brad includes in depth analysis of Rush’s lyrics, Neil Peart’s written prose, and looks at his personal life in order to understand the band’s music. Brad rounds out his look at the intellectual study of Neil Peart with generous interview references from all three band members, as well as personal interviews with masters of current prog, such as Andy Tillison. While Brad didn’t get the opportunity to conduct any new interviews with Peart himself, he makes up for that loss by looking at essentially every pertinent interview, book, and magazine article available.
In short, Neil Peart: Cultural Repercussions is a must read for fans of Rush, Neil Peart, progressive rock, literature, the western tradition, and cultural criticism. Brad paints Peart as the great western man of our time, continuing the culture of the past, all the while doing it with the enthusiasm that only Dr. Brad Birzer can provide. It really is an outstanding book, well worth your time.
Order Neil Peart: Cultural Repercussions from Amazon, here.
Limited Edition – 500 Copies on Orange Vinyl
This is the historic record of Rush taking their first steps towards rock superstardom.
Fresh from their first US Tour and with Neil Peart having just joined the band, the new look Rush decamped to New York and set up their gear in the famous Electric Ladyland studios.
On 5th December 1974, before a tiny studio audience, Rush, as we have come to know them , made their first ever US live radio broadcast. Neil was yet to record with the band, but some of the material which would appear on Fly By Night was already being routined in the live arena. Featuring the earliest studio versions of Anthem, Best I Can and Fly By Night, this powerful record is essential listening for every Rush fan.TRACK LIST
Side A
1. Finding My Way
2. Best I Can
3. In The Mood
4. Anthem
5. Fly By NightSide B
1. Here Again
2. Working Man
My good friend, the ever intrepid master of integrity, Tom Woods, and I had a blast talking about Neil Peart. We got into his drive, his honesty, and his politics. Enjoy.
http://tomwoods.com/podcast/ep-511-todays-tom-sawyer-neil-peart-rush-and-liberty/
“We interrupt our PROGramming to bring you this prog-related aside…”
When not dominating stages throughout the land with Rush, you’re likely to find Geddy Lee occupying choice seats behind home plate at Toronto Blue Jays games, seeing as how he’s a HUGE baseball fan.
With the band having wrapped their R40 tour and with the Jays having reached the American League playoffs for the first time since 1993, it’s pretty much a given that Dirk will be there if he’s in town.
In case you missed last night’s mayhem in Toronto, feel free to Google “Blue Jays Game 5,” find the highlights, and then click below to hear Geddy’s reaction to what he saw at last night’s game.
Geddy also talks about his baseball memorabilia collection, Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson’s photographic contributions to the band, compares lead singers to starting pitchers and, if he could get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame or the Baseball Hall of Fame, which would he choose…and is Rush really done touring?
By the way, the Jays eliminated the Texas Rangers to advance to the American League Championship Series, so it’s a safe bet that we’ll see our favorite bass player even more this October!
“We now join our regularly-scheduled PROGramming, already in progress (and still on the same epic song, no doubt).”
Following up on the recent release of the “Roll The Bones” video from Rush’s upcoming “R40 LIVE” concert film, the boys have posted a clip to one of the highlights of the R40 tour (and “Permanent Waves,” for that matter): “Jacobs Ladder.”
“R40 LIVE” will be released on November 20th.
I’ll say no more – enjoy the video!
In his best-selling book, Ghost Rider, the Canadian drummer not only proves to be an excellent writer (imagine Willa Cather and Jack Kerouac as one person; a bizarre combination, I know, but an accurate one), but he also reveals himself, yet again, a serious and stoic social and cultural critic. Here are two sample passages from Ghost Rider.
The first day in Mexico was Selena’s birthday, and I had made careful plans on how to ‘memorialize’ that day. Early in the morning, I walked to the big cathedral in the Zocalo, went inside and bought two princess-sized votive candles (the biggest they had, of course) and lit them in front of the chapel for ‘Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe’ . . . . I sat there awhile, and cried some (well, a lot), amid the pious old ladies, tourists, and construction workers.[1]
Later in the book, in a less autobiographical nature, he explains his own vision of what art is.
I once defined the basic nature of art as ‘the telling of stories,’ and never had I felt that to be more true. I played the anger, the frustration, the sorrow, and even the travelling parts of my story, the rhythms of the highway, the majesty of the scenery, the dynamic rising and falling of my moods, and the narrative suite that emerged was as cleansing and energizing as the sweat and exertion of telling it.[2]
Each of these passages shows Peart at his deepest. The side the craves beauty and the side that craves telling the world about the beauty he has seen.
His travels also opened Peart to a number of personal revelations. Overall, he believed that “the elemental ‘faith’ in life I used to possess is completely gone,” and that with such an erasing of the past and its securities, “every little element of my former life, behavior, interests, and habits, was up for re-examination.”[3] Two specifics also emerged in this rebirth. First, he had to accept the help of others, recognizing it as the gift it is and was intended to be by the giver. Pride had to give way to charity. Second, he came to see a more mystical side of life, well beyond his previously steady devotion to late eighteenth-century European rationalism. In one incident—that would greatly influence the next three albums—Peart encountered a man who read his fortune through Tarot cards. The reading proved so accurate that Peart ‘s “jaw dropped, and it’s still dropping.”[4]
Though most orthodox religions forbid the reading of Tarot, artists as diverse as T.S. Eliot and Russell Kirk have employed its meaning—however tragic and deep or superficial and meaningless—effectively as a form of story telling, especially when regarding character and morals. Peart does the same through his lyrics over the next several albums.
NOTES
[1] Peart, Ghost Rider, 310.
[2] Peart, Ghost Rider, 355
[3] Peart, Ghost Rider, 146-147.
[4] Peart, Ghost Rider, 338-339.
Our good friends at Prog-Sphere have the following news regarding the November release of a R40 Live dvd.
Canadian rock legends Rush had both of their hometown Toronto performances — on June 17 and June 19 at the Air Canada Centre — professionally filmed and recorded for a future live DVD release. It is the first time the band had filmed a hometown concert in almost 20 years — since the recording of Rush‘s 1997 show at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre on the ”Test For Echo“ tour. Prior to that, they recorded the legendary ”Exit… Stage Left“ at Massey Hall in 1980.
The new Rush set will be released on CD/DVD on November 20 via Zoe / Rounder Records / Concord Music Group.
For all details, go to: http://www.prog-sphere.com/news/rush-release-new-live-dvd-november/
Progarchy 