Ian Grandy interview --- "outtakes" (comments on l

[sdaly]

[snowdog2112]

Thanks for all this, I can't believe no one else has commented. Great stuff. Amazing that Geddy hated the recording of Frankfurt in 1979, Black Forest is one of my favorite bootlegs.

 

 

[ytserush]

This is awesome stuff!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

A lot of this stuff is new to me.

 

I think that Frankfurt '79 gig is a gem too, though it's been a few months since I've heard it. I should pull it off of the shelf

[Don Quixote]

While it clears up the question of the infamous "Cousin Tapes", it still leaves one to wonder what the headline show at Massey Hall was in 1976, and whether or not they played a full version of The Fountain of Lamneth. I'm betting it never happened.

 

Someone, sometime, somewhere has got to corner Geddy or Alex (likely the easier of the two to get the answer out of) and ask point blank if they ever played it live.

[The Big Money]

ok.

[sdaly]

QUOTE (Don Quixote @ Sep 23 2009, 01:53 PM)

While it clears up the question of the infamous "Cousin Tapes", it still leaves one to wonder what the headline show at Massey Hall was in 1976, and whether or not they played a full version of The Fountain of Lamneth. I'm betting it never happened. Someone, sometime, somewhere has got to corner Geddy or Alex (likely the easier of the two to get the answer out of) and ask point blank if they ever played it live.

Unfortunately, I honestly don't think they REMEMBER whether or not it was ever played.

 

I've also talked with two people who were on the crew for that tour (one of them being Ian), and neither of them remembers whether or not Lamneth was ever performed live. (Incidentally, I was told that "I Think I'm Going Bald" WAS performed live at some shows on that tour).

 

But seeing as how that rumored Massey Hall 1/10/76 "set list" came from the SAME source (the guy claiming to be Geddy's cousin, etc), I do not think ANY stock can be placed in it. It was almost certainly just MADE UP out of thin air.

 

-Skip

 

[sdaly]

By the way, I actually think Geddy's memory on things like this tends to be a bit better than Alex's. I've heard/read where he has "mis-remembered" stuff many times, confusing tours/dates/etc...

 

[snowdog2112]

QUOTE

Unfortunately, I honestly don't think they REMEMBER whether or not it was ever played.

 

This is a good point. Sometimes when the band is asked something about their history and they're kind of vague about it some people always assume they're just being coy or don't want to talk about it. The reality is that I'm sure most serious Rush fans and certainly the ones who care enough to collect bootlegs and look at old concert dates and setlists know FAR more about their history than they do. It's not like they sit around listening to their own live albums or anything. There have been several times when I've heard or read one of the three even refer to songs as being on the wrong albums and such. Plus, they said around the TFE tour they had never played Natural Science before then just as one example. There's nothing wrong with that, they just have a different perspective about it. They'd have to be really self-important types to be able to tell you about what their various setlists were and so on. I'd bet a lot of money that they couldn't tell you for sure whether certain songs were performed even on recent tours with any accuracy.

 

I always think about this when people talk about what may still be in their "vault". I don't think they dodge the issue, they simply don't know what all exists for sure. I've read that Neil basically had to ask for help in finding that Auburn Hills video from 1994 so he could put a clip of his solo on Anatomy of a Drum Solo on there, they also said at the time that they simply got the clips from Don Kirschner's show for the R30 DVD off the internet, and someone in another thread talked about someone recently showing Alex a copy of that 1976 Passaic show with the implication that it was new to him. I'll bet that if someone went up to them and asked "Hey, is there any chance that the footage from the Pinkpop Festival from 1979 will ever be released?" they'd probably not even know what you were talking about. There's an interview on youtube with Geddy and Alex talking about the old stuff on the second disc of R30 and they had clearly forgotten all about some of that stuff until Geddy's brother dug it out. I think the people who assume they just have this vast library of stuff (video anyway) that they know about at their fingertips that's waiting to be released are just assuming too much.

 

 

[sdaly]

QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ Sep 23 2009, 04:26 PM)

QUOTE Unfortunately, I honestly don't think they REMEMBER whether or not it was ever played.   This is a good point. Sometimes when the band is asked something about their history and they're kind of vague about it some people always assume they're just being coy or don't want to talk about it. The reality is that I'm sure most serious Rush fans and certainly the ones who care enough to collect bootlegs and look at old concert dates and setlists know FAR more about their history than they do. It's not like they sit around listening to their own live albums or anything. There have been several times when I've heard or read one of the three even refer to songs as being on the wrong albums and such. Plus, they said around the TFE tour they had never played Natural Science before then just as one example. There's nothing wrong with that, they just have a different perspective about it. They'd have to be really self-important types to be able to tell you about what their various setlists were and so on. I'd bet a lot of money that they couldn't tell you for sure whether certain songs were performed even on recent tours with any accuracy.   I always think about this when people talk about what may still be in their "vault". I don't think they dodge the issue, they simply don't know what all exists for sure. I've read that Neil basically had to ask for help in finding that Auburn Hills video from 1994 so he could put a clip of his solo on Anatomy of a Drum Solo on there, they also said at the time that they simply got the clips from Don Kirschner's show for the R30 DVD off the internet, and someone in another thread talked about someone recently showing Alex a copy of that 1976 Passaic show with the implication that it was new to him. I'll bet that if someone went up to them and asked "Hey, is there any chance that the footage from the Pinkpop Festival from 1979 will ever be released?" they'd probably not even know what you were talking about. There's an interview on youtube with Geddy and Alex talking about the old stuff on the second disc of R30 and they had clearly forgotten all about some of that stuff until Geddy's brother dug it out. I think the people who assume they just have this vast library of stuff (video anyway) that they know about at their fingertips that's waiting to be released are just assuming too much. Could not have said all of this any better. 100% agreed.

[ytserush]

QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ Sep 23 2009, 04:26 PM)

QUOTE Unfortunately, I honestly don't think they REMEMBER whether or not it was ever played.   This is a good point. Sometimes when the band is asked something about their history and they're kind of vague about it some people always assume they're just being coy or don't want to talk about it. The reality is that I'm sure most serious Rush fans and certainly the ones who care enough to collect bootlegs and look at old concert dates and setlists know FAR more about their history than they do. It's not like they sit around listening to their own live albums or anything. There have been several times when I've heard or read one of the three even refer to songs as being on the wrong albums and such. Plus, they said around the TFE tour they had never played Natural Science before then just as one example. There's nothing wrong with that, they just have a different perspective about it. They'd have to be really self-important types to be able to tell you about what their various setlists were and so on. I'd bet a lot of money that they couldn't tell you for sure whether certain songs were performed even on recent tours with any accuracy.   I always think about this when people talk about what may still be in their "vault". I don't think they dodge the issue, they simply don't know what all exists for sure. I've read that Neil basically had to ask for help in finding that Auburn Hills video from 1994 so he could put a clip of his solo on Anatomy of a Drum Solo on there, they also said at the time that they simply got the clips from Don Kirschner's show for the R30 DVD off the internet, and someone in another thread talked about someone recently showing Alex a copy of that 1976 Passaic show with the implication that it was new to him. I'll bet that if someone went up to them and asked "Hey, is there any chance that the footage from the Pinkpop Festival from 1979 will ever be released?" they'd probably not even know what you were talking about. There's an interview on youtube with Geddy and Alex talking about the old stuff on the second disc of R30 and they had clearly forgotten all about some of that stuff until Geddy's brother dug it out. I think the people who assume they just have this vast library of stuff (video anyway) that they know about at their fingertips that's waiting to be released are just assuming too much. Absolutely!   At this point, the band isn't the 24/7 concern of yesteryear that some of us more dedicated individuals would like to believe.     Thankfully, Geddy (and/or the rest of the band) had the forethought to not toss whatever material was there so it could be "found" later.   Imagine being the one to go through there and discover what might be there....

[daisycutter88]

Concerning unreleased material "in the vault". I remember around the time "Replay X3" was released, there were reports that film for the ENTIRE Toronto '84 show was found and that someday it would see the light of day. Anyone else remember this?

[snowdog2112]

Yes, I remember it well, an interview done by Douglas Maher. I don't give it much weight. I'd kill to get all three of the 80s shows fully restored but I think the odds of that happening are less than zilch. Maher's interview history is suspect to say the least, apparently including fabricating quotes and interviews for attention.

[snowdog2112]

Here, I just found it, if you want to get your hopes up....

 

 

By Douglas Maher, All Headline News, October 12, 2005

 

 

Montreal, Canada (AHN) - Rush's producer and director Pierre Lamoureux sheds light on the upcoming "R:30 - Rush Live In Frankfurt, Germany" DVD package that is set to hit stores November 22.

 

Lamoureux is responsible for the huge undertaking of not only the "R:30" package but the DVD releases of "Exit Stage Left...," "Grace Under Pressure Tour - 1984," and "A Show of Hands" all of which are being released in 2006 in both a special box set and individual package.

 

"There is a lot of work that has gone on with the band over the last year," Lamoureux saysin an exclusive with All Headline News.

 

"We have the entire Rush catalog in our hands. Not just the studio material theyhave released on albums, but every single demo or song that has not been releasedas well. We are setting Rush up for the future for releases that will be able to have 5.1 audio mixes along with SACD formats down the road."

 

The news is obviously going to make every Rush fan shine from Bangkok to LakesidePark in Canada, but Lamoureux insists it only gets better from here.

 

"For obvious reasons I can't get into every detail about the band's business and future but I can assure you the concerts that we are re-releasing are not straight VHS to DVD transfers. These are color touched, remastered, and re-mixed in 5.1 stereoand we are deciding which extras we will add to each in the coming days. We are basically done with everything except the extras and that decision lies with the band.

 

Lamoureux reveals that the "Grace Under Pressure" DVD in particular might holdspecial surprises for fans down the road; some suprises, never thought to be possible.

 

"We found the footage for 'Grace'," Lamoureux says.

 

"The concerts will be released in the same format as the original releasesincluding track listing and running time of the actual concert. But down the road when Blue-Ray technology becomes more popular and we are able to extend things out to levels beyond where we are at currently...we can then go back and releasethe found footage that was not on the original release."

 

Lamoureux adds that the frustration of the job has been finding the footageto begin with. As a matter of fact, he is asking for any information leading to people who worked on the crews of the filming of "Exit Stage Left..." and"A Show of Hands" to please come forward and contact them.

 

"We know someone has the film from those shows... we just need to get them at this point. It could be someone who worked with a former producer, a filmcrew member... anyone at this point. We didn't expect to find the 'Grace Under Pressure stuff... and we did.'"

 

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and engineer Rick Chycki did the engineeringfor the 2-audio CDs for the deluxe package of "R:30" and Lamoureux's brother Francois did the audio chores for the recording of the concert itself.

 

"The band decided they wanted to do this half-way through the tour so it was a matter of getting things going quickly and trying to find venues," Lamoureux adds. "I approached the band's management SRO about filming Rush on their anniversary tour and they turned me down being so close to their "Rush In Rio" project. As the tour went on they decided it would be a great idea but it was too late to film Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks although we talked about it, wejust couldn't get crews into the cities at the right time."

 

Lamoureux admits that the DVD was almost filmed in Montreal but the band optedfor Germany instead.

 

"It was a great crowd in Frankfurt and the DVD will display that. It was originally going to be even shorter (R:30 is not a complete concert) but the band decidedthey wanted to add even more material from the concert because it all came out so well, thankfully we didn't have a glitch the entire night... so that materialwill probably be used somewhere down the road."

 

Stating the fact that a Rush show is not an easy task (clocking in at over 3 hours and 15 minutes) Lamoureux says,"I have never worked so hard in my life, it was like working two concerts in one night..a double shift, but watching the guys in Rush perform is just an amazing experience."

 

[ytserush]

Concerning unreleased material "in the vault". I remember around the time "Replay X3" was released, there were reports that film for the ENTIRE Toronto '84 show was found and that someday it would see the light of day. Anyone else remember this?

 

No.

But I would think this is more plausible than finding any more video from Exit...Stage Left.

[ytserush]

Here, I just found it, if you want to get your hopes up....

 

 

By Douglas Maher, All Headline News, October 12, 2005

 

 

Montreal, Canada (AHN) - Rush's producer and director Pierre Lamoureux sheds light on the upcoming "R:30 - Rush Live In Frankfurt, Germany" DVD package that is set to hit stores November 22.

 

Lamoureux is responsible for the huge undertaking of not only the "R:30" package but the DVD releases of "Exit Stage Left...," "Grace Under Pressure Tour - 1984," and "A Show of Hands" all of which are being released in 2006 in both a special box set and individual package.

 

"There is a lot of work that has gone on with the band over the last year," Lamoureux saysin an exclusive with All Headline News.

 

"We have the entire Rush catalog in our hands. Not just the studio material theyhave released on albums, but every single demo or song that has not been releasedas well. We are setting Rush up for the future for releases that will be able to have 5.1 audio mixes along with SACD formats down the road."

 

The news is obviously going to make every Rush fan shine from Bangkok to LakesidePark in Canada, but Lamoureux insists it only gets better from here.

 

"For obvious reasons I can't get into every detail about the band's business and future but I can assure you the concerts that we are re-releasing are not straight VHS to DVD transfers. These are color touched, remastered, and re-mixed in 5.1 stereoand we are deciding which extras we will add to each in the coming days. We are basically done with everything except the extras and that decision lies with the band.

 

Lamoureux reveals that the "Grace Under Pressure" DVD in particular might holdspecial surprises for fans down the road; some suprises, never thought to be possible.

 

"We found the footage for 'Grace'," Lamoureux says.

 

"The concerts will be released in the same format as the original releasesincluding track listing and running time of the actual concert. But down the road when Blue-Ray technology becomes more popular and we are able to extend things out to levels beyond where we are at currently...we can then go back and releasethe found footage that was not on the original release."

 

Lamoureux adds that the frustration of the job has been finding the footageto begin with. As a matter of fact, he is asking for any information leading to people who worked on the crews of the filming of "Exit Stage Left..." and"A Show of Hands" to please come forward and contact them.

 

"We know someone has the film from those shows... we just need to get them at this point. It could be someone who worked with a former producer, a filmcrew member... anyone at this point. We didn't expect to find the 'Grace Under Pressure stuff... and we did.'"

 

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and engineer Rick Chycki did the engineeringfor the 2-audio CDs for the deluxe package of "R:30" and Lamoureux's brother Francois did the audio chores for the recording of the concert itself.

 

"The band decided they wanted to do this half-way through the tour so it was a matter of getting things going quickly and trying to find venues," Lamoureux adds. "I approached the band's management SRO about filming Rush on their anniversary tour and they turned me down being so close to their "Rush In Rio" project. As the tour went on they decided it would be a great idea but it was too late to film Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks although we talked about it, wejust couldn't get crews into the cities at the right time."

 

Lamoureux admits that the DVD was almost filmed in Montreal but the band optedfor Germany instead.

 

"It was a great crowd in Frankfurt and the DVD will display that. It was originally going to be even shorter (R:30 is not a complete concert) but the band decidedthey wanted to add even more material from the concert because it all came out so well, thankfully we didn't have a glitch the entire night... so that materialwill probably be used somewhere down the road."

 

Stating the fact that a Rush show is not an easy task (clocking in at over 3 hours and 15 minutes) Lamoureux says,"I have never worked so hard in my life, it was like working two concerts in one night..a double shift, but watching the guys in Rush perform is just an amazing experience."

 

 

Sorry, But I don't consider Douglas Maher to be a credible source.

[snowdog2112]

Here, I just found it, if you want to get your hopes up....

 

 

By Douglas Maher, All Headline News, October 12, 2005

 

 

Montreal, Canada (AHN) - Rush's producer and director Pierre Lamoureux sheds light on the upcoming "R:30 - Rush Live In Frankfurt, Germany" DVD package that is set to hit stores November 22.

 

Lamoureux is responsible for the huge undertaking of not only the "R:30" package but the DVD releases of "Exit Stage Left...," "Grace Under Pressure Tour - 1984," and "A Show of Hands" all of which are being released in 2006 in both a special box set and individual package.

 

"There is a lot of work that has gone on with the band over the last year," Lamoureux saysin an exclusive with All Headline News.

 

"We have the entire Rush catalog in our hands. Not just the studio material theyhave released on albums, but every single demo or song that has not been releasedas well. We are setting Rush up for the future for releases that will be able to have 5.1 audio mixes along with SACD formats down the road."

 

The news is obviously going to make every Rush fan shine from Bangkok to LakesidePark in Canada, but Lamoureux insists it only gets better from here.

 

"For obvious reasons I can't get into every detail about the band's business and future but I can assure you the concerts that we are re-releasing are not straight VHS to DVD transfers. These are color touched, remastered, and re-mixed in 5.1 stereoand we are deciding which extras we will add to each in the coming days. We are basically done with everything except the extras and that decision lies with the band.

 

Lamoureux reveals that the "Grace Under Pressure" DVD in particular might holdspecial surprises for fans down the road; some suprises, never thought to be possible.

 

"We found the footage for 'Grace'," Lamoureux says.

 

"The concerts will be released in the same format as the original releasesincluding track listing and running time of the actual concert. But down the road when Blue-Ray technology becomes more popular and we are able to extend things out to levels beyond where we are at currently...we can then go back and releasethe found footage that was not on the original release."

 

Lamoureux adds that the frustration of the job has been finding the footageto begin with. As a matter of fact, he is asking for any information leading to people who worked on the crews of the filming of "Exit Stage Left..." and"A Show of Hands" to please come forward and contact them.

 

"We know someone has the film from those shows... we just need to get them at this point. It could be someone who worked with a former producer, a filmcrew member... anyone at this point. We didn't expect to find the 'Grace Under Pressure stuff... and we did.'"

 

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and engineer Rick Chycki did the engineeringfor the 2-audio CDs for the deluxe package of "R:30" and Lamoureux's brother Francois did the audio chores for the recording of the concert itself.

 

"The band decided they wanted to do this half-way through the tour so it was a matter of getting things going quickly and trying to find venues," Lamoureux adds. "I approached the band's management SRO about filming Rush on their anniversary tour and they turned me down being so close to their "Rush In Rio" project. As the tour went on they decided it would be a great idea but it was too late to film Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks although we talked about it, wejust couldn't get crews into the cities at the right time."

 

Lamoureux admits that the DVD was almost filmed in Montreal but the band optedfor Germany instead.

 

"It was a great crowd in Frankfurt and the DVD will display that. It was originally going to be even shorter (R:30 is not a complete concert) but the band decidedthey wanted to add even more material from the concert because it all came out so well, thankfully we didn't have a glitch the entire night... so that materialwill probably be used somewhere down the road."

 

Stating the fact that a Rush show is not an easy task (clocking in at over 3 hours and 15 minutes) Lamoureux says,"I have never worked so hard in my life, it was like working two concerts in one night..a double shift, but watching the guys in Rush perform is just an amazing experience."

 

 

Sorry, But I don't consider Douglas Maher to be a credible source.

I don't either and I said that above, I just posted it for reference.

[Ancient Ways]

Who knows, they may have found it and decided the quality wasn't up to par and tossed it. They have exacting standards and I wouldn't be surprised if they destroyed material they didn't want released.

[ytserush]

Yes, I remember it well, an interview done by Douglas Maher. I don't give it much weight. I'd kill to get all three of the 80s shows fully restored but I think the odds of that happening are less than zilch. Maher's interview history is suspect to say the least, apparently including fabricating quotes and interviews for attention.

 

I completely missed this the first time around. Sorry about that.

 

I held back on the quote fabrication accusations (not seeing that you mentioned it) but completely agree with that. I don't doubt he may have spoken with Lamoureux, but I'd say anything that did not have to do specifically with the R30 project is suspect which is pretty much what you said.

[ytserush]

Thought this thread might be relevant again given the imminent reissue of Hemispheres.

[By-Tor X-1]

I know this is a very old thread, however I was greatly hoping someone had a copy of the original post's text. When the website's forum engine was upgraded a while back, some of the old formatting became incompatible and erased valuable information such as this. I used this thread occasionally over the years as a reference to people about the origins of the Tucson and Offenbach soundboard recordings, etc. Since these were "outtakes", they are not part of Skip's full interview published on other websites.

----------

Edit: I solved my own problem. I completely forgot about the wonderful "Wayback Machine".

I'll repost it here for everyone who may want to read it:

 

Quote

As previously posted, my interview with Ian Grandy is now up at GuitarInternational.com (https://guitarinternational.com/2009/09/16/a-talk-with-ian-grandy-rushs-first-roadie/).

In the course of our conversations, there were some things that I really wanted to ask Ian about as a FAN (and collector of recordings).  This stuff wasn't really suitable for "the general public", but I think those of us who collect Rush RECORDINGS might find this stuff of interest, so I'm sharing a few "outtakes" here.......

-------------------------------

SKIP: You were the band's sound engineer up through 1980.  Did you make it a point to record at least a show or two from every tour?  How did you decide when to record the band?  Do you have any recordings from your work with the band?  What are the chances of a recording from the "Caress of Steel" tour turning up one day?

IAN: There would be a lot more board tapes after I no longer did sound, because they made Jon Erickson record regularly, whereas I did tapes pretty much when I thought the sound would be good (and therefore I'd look good).  I really didn't record very often, although I did a little bit later on.  So, sorry to pour water on your hopes, but if there are Rush tapes out there, then I don't know squat about them.

I can honestly tell you that the only tapes I have are some that a guy sent me about fifteen years ago.  There are some old ones, such as August 14, 1974 at Pittsburgh Arena, Rush's first U.S. gig with Neil, which is horrible quality.  These tapes that I have are not board tapes, but rather some guy with an audience microphone, so there's a lot of extra noise.

As far as I know, there are none from the bar/high school days, at least none that I recorded.  

Some places used to record without permission, such as the Capital Theater in NJ (e.g. the 12/10/76 recording).  I remember the next time we were there, the stage hands were listening to the recording of our previous gig, and asking me questions about it, which surprised me.

The Tucson, AZ 11/20/78 recording was a show that I recorded.  I gave Neil a copy with a cover I created that had the boys dressed as Indians and the title "Indians Out West".

Frankfurt, Germany (5/29/79) I recorded only because the hall had amazing acoustics and a solid low end. I created covers for the tapes of that one that I gave to Geddy and Alex.  Alex's was called "Blitzkrieg" and Ged's "Road To Germany", after the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope movie, and the cover was of Bing, Bob, and Geddy dressed as German soldiers.  Ged's mom and dad met in the Nazi work camps, so it was kind of a delicate subject.  I'd also recorded an entire show at the Hammersmith Odeon (London) in 1979, and edited two songs ("Something For Nothing" and "Cygnus X-1") from that into the "Road To Germany" tape.  When Jon Erickson took over sound, he was given Geddy's copy of the 'Road To Germany' tape to get acclimated. He told me later that the effects blew him away, but he'd been told by the band to use very little effects as Geddy hated that tape. The truth is I could hear exactly what I was doing at that gig and threw in some things I'd not done before and some of it I didn't like either and didn't use again.  You know that Germany tape probably cost me my job as sound engineer as Geddy basically hated it. I listen to it 30 years later and it still stands up in my mind but if you want to know why I didn't record often that would be one main reason.

The Pink Pop show (June, 1979) was recorded without our knowledge.  We were using the same sound system (Electrosound) as on the tour, only with way more speakers and power.  Everyone else used their soundboard, but I used ours, which was a tremendous advantage.  All I heard afterwards was that we'd killed all the other bands.

There was also a tape I made in about 1976 from a gig supporting Blue Oyster Cult called "Reeking In Binghamton", for which the title describes the quality, but I have no idea where that went [editor's note: he might be referencing an April 22, 1977 Broom County Arena show in Binghamton, NY, where Blue Oyster Cult headlined, and Rush/Angel opened].

Regarding the few other soundboards that are "out there", I don't remember recording in Detroit (12/2/78), but I must have done so. The others (1/26/80 and 9/30/80) maybe Tommy (Linthicum, of National Sound) discreetly recorded without me knowing?  That's possible, but I don't know.  Hartford (12/20/81) was "The Incredible Stunned Man", as the band called Jon (Erickson).  He took over running F.O.H. sound in Feb, 1981.

I don't like your chances for a tape from "Career of Steel" (as people sometimes mispronounced it).  We supported various bands on that tour and you really couldn't record much.

SKIP: One recording that I've always loved is from the Agora in Cleveland, 8/26/74.  Do you remember anything about that show?

IAN: So many of the recordings I see labeled as "FM Broadcast", I don't think I even knew at the time were being recorded, starting with that Agora show.  Anyway, at the club there was a house PA, and I'm wondering "where the heck is the soundboard?"  Turns out it's in a room upstairs, and you look out the window to see the band.  You really couldn't hear the mix, so I had to keep running down to the crowd to check it out.

On another note, re: the 12/5/74 Electric Ladyland recording, the engineer mixing it had the bass and guitar real low and I practically had to punch him to get it fixed.  He threw his hands up in the air and told me to mix.  As a huge Hendrix fan, it was quite a thrill for me personally to be at Electric Ladyland, and it was our first time in NYC.

SKIP: There's one long-standing rumor I have to get cleared up.  Do you remember a guy named Jean Weinrib?  Years ago (this would have been circa 1993 or '94, when the web was just starting to catch on), I was pretty heavy into trading live bootleg recordings with folks online.  One collector ended up emailing back and forth with a dude who said he was "Jean Weinrib", and the guy claimed to be Geddy's cousin.  Furthermore, he *claimed* to have a pretty sizable collection of soundboard Rush tapes, going all the way back to the mid-70s (including the "holy grail" for rush collectors --- 1/10/76 at Massey Hall).  "Jean" claimed that, while he didn't travel with the band, Geddy would him patch his tape deck into the board to record whenever he was at a show. Unfortunately, the guy never coughed up anything...and then he up and disappeared, leaving us to wonder if he was ever for real in the first place.  Trivial in the grand scheme of things, yes.  But it's bugged me for years.  Now, you would have been the front of house guy in that era, so I'm guessing you would have known the guy and would have actually been the one to patch him into the board.  So, was this guy for real, or was it all B.S.?

IAN: This is total B.S.  I have never heard of this guy.  It's incredible how people make up shit.  It affects me too.  When I moved to where I live now, back in 1986, I started playing for a ball team in 1987.  We went out for a beer and one of the guys asks me whether I knew the Ian Grandy that had worked for Rush.  I said, "yeah, well, that was me."  These guys basically told me what a B.S. artist I was.  The next week, one of them had pulled out "Fly By Night", and there's my picture on the sleeve.  That's one of many reasons why I seldom bring it up, because people either a.) can't stand Rush or b.) think you're lying.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by By-Tor X-1