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Neil's passing away was tragic but at least he had time with his family and friends. I can't imagine how I would feel with a loved one passing away suddenly thousands of miles from home. :(

It might be true, but I definitely wouldn't trust Wiki yet.

I've never been a fan of Foo Fighters at all. But Grohl and Hawkins always seemed to pop up in programs about other artists. One thing that came through was that Hawkins LOVED music, and really loved other artists. And judging from the media accounts since yesterday, the feeling was mutual across the spectrum of styles. I have no personal knowledge of how good he was, but I doubt he would have been as sought out to comment on other artists if he WASN'T a great player himself. I'm 54. Good God, 50 is SO young. RIP.

RIP, Taylor Hawkins. :rose: Here are two photos of Taylor and Neil together in happier times. Rock N Roll Hall of Fame ceremony 2013; // Doane Perry (Jethro Tull drummer), Chad Smith, Taylor Hawkins, Neil, Stewart Copeland backstage at R40, 2015

Mentioned before, but always worth retelling. Summer of '69, I'm working a summer job for Detroit Parks & Rec. at a golf course in a large park. The front 9 holes and the back 9 are separated by a pathway of 150 yards. If you so desired, you could choose to play 9 holes on the back 9. I would sit in a shack and assign tee times to players, up to a foursome. I get a call over the intercom from Chris, the club Pro, who says "put me down (reserve) a slot for 1:15. And when we get there don't say anything!" Ok, no biggie. 1:10 rolls around, this built up brother saunters up, sweaty polo shirt, cargo shorts, sweaty visor, beat up pair of spikes, says, "I'm with Chris". I nod and carry on. He turns aside, I see his profile and it hits me. It's Lem Barney, at that time a cornerback for the Lions. I hear a group of voices talking and laughing, the rest of the foursome; Chris the Pro in font. The pair behind Chris are all color coordinated-golf sweaters, slacks, spikes, McGregor golf bags, just stylin' and profilin'. One in red and white, the other in lavender and white. I look up and HOLY SHIT, the guy in red is Motown legend William "Smokey" Robinson, and HOLY f***ing SHIT, in lavender is Marvin Gaye. Chris says, " PJ, what's up"? Remembering his warning, I nod and say, "Gentlemen, the 10th tee is yours." Hell, I think I was to stunned to say anything else!

Stunned. That's just fuped duck. RIP, Taylor.

It might be true, but I definitely wouldn't trust Wiki yet. Wiki removed any mention of an overdose, from what I can tell. The more I think about, I can't imagine he would go back to doing that. That would be a big surprise.

Peart too. "Drums in the forefront where they belong...and who let the drummer write the f***ing lyrics? Rush did baby...... "

This is so sad; he was only 50 and has three kids. The Foo Fighters are on tour in South America right now. What an awful thing to happen; it's unbelievable.

What the f**k?

I was a teenager, our next door neighbour had been doing "Extra" rolls in movies for quite some time (the long white beard, the solemn face, etc.), often cast as a dinner guest. He came to me and asked if I could show up for a movie set, could I bring a friend? I did, and we sat around all day for a pay of sixty dollars. There was a catered lunch, lots of dressing up in period clothes (70s coal miners work suits, check that nobody had a modern watch, etc.). After a few hours we were called to action and told to stand in a line as a helicopter landed. Being told where to go and when to stand still, it was very exciting but strict with lots of commands and directions of what to do. With faces smeared with black dust and political flyers being passed around, I was to meet a fellow and shake his hand. At the very moment when I was shaking his hand, the director yelled "Cut!". The guy told me to stand still and not let go of his hand, "keep still", he said. I knew he was a semi-famous actor, I knew I was lucky to be a part of something - but the logistics, the surprise of being interrupted for something, the whole "stay put, be in the moment" part escaped me. I stood there with my hand in his, we waited for a few minutes. It was a long few minutes with our hands holding together. But nobody moved. Then it continued and the rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I was holding Charles Bronson's hand, standing there waiting, him being very helpful, in the movie Act Of Vengeance, 1986. Best sixty bucks I ever earned!

Questions sent! Here's how I phrased all the suggestions I received, with a few of my own questions added: 1) Tell me about your formation years, and how did you get to become a producer. What drove you in this career path? Did you ever intend to write and play your own songs? 2) What are your memories of working on Jimi Hendrix’ Axis: Bold as Love? 3) When you worked with Rush, was all the material they brought in usually completed or did you have to help them expand or contract some songs? What was the song they brought that you changed the most? 4) It’s no secret that Neil, along with the other members, could be somewhat stubborn when it came to altering his already conceived drum parts. What was it like sharing your thoughts about those kind of band issues in the studio? 5) When Rush’s “A Farewell to Kings” was being recorded, what was the feeling like, recording in England, free from the pressure of the record company, since 2112 gave some semblance of artistic freedom? 6) Was there ever any discussion at any point after Rush’s “Signals”, about you possibly working again with the band? 7) Have you listened to all of Rush’s post-“Signals” material? What's your favorite album from their career after Signals? 8) How difficult was it for Rush to transition from recording bed tracks "off the floor" as a band, to tracking individual performances? Whose idea was it? Do you feel that what was gained by such an approach overcame any losses? 9) What qualities about Rush made you want to keep working with them after the first album? What did you see or hear in them that made you interested? 10) I would love to know your thoughts about developing artists over a period of several albums as Rush were allowed to back in the 70s before they started really having major success. How do you view your role as producer in terms of having played a part in Rush’s development? 11) Having worked with Lawrence Gowan way back before he became well known, what are your thoughts about Gowan's work with Styx? 12) Can you share some details of producing Cutting Crew's album, The Broadcast? The production was excellent as was the songwriting! 13) Do you see that sort of a relationship among band/producer/label as something that can ever come back in today’s music environment? Or is there some other way that the industry can foster artist development that doesn’t seem to be happening so much anymore? 14) Tell me about working with IQ on their “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” album. Did they contact you because of your work with Rush? How did the sessions go? Did you enjoy the experience and final product? 15) Voivod’s “Angel Rat” is a curious entry in the list of albums you produced. There was a lot of controversy among the band’s fan base when it was released, but through the years its reputation has been somehow redeemed. Was it a difficult album to work on? 16) Next month is the 25th anniversary of Fates Warning’s “A Pleasant Shade of Grey”, so it seems like a nice time to ask you about that masterpiece. What can you tell me about that album – it’s a very dense collection of songs, full of ambition on the band’s part! 17) Do you have any interest to work with Ray Alder or even Jim Matheos again, specifically to write vocal lines? Many fans really love the work you did with Ray on the Fates Warning albums (Parallels, A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Disconnected). 18) Speaking of another famous prog band, apparently the relationship between you and Dream Theater did not end well. Would you like to shed some light into that, and maybe tell us your side of the story? You worked with them on “Metropolis Part II: Scenes From a Memory”, one of the highlights of their career! 19) Metal / hard rock bands like Lizzy Borden and Fifth Angel speak wonders about working with you. How does your approach to production change, depending on the style of band you’re working with? 20) What singers and bands would he like to work with (or hypothetically, would have liked to have worked with), including some bands who may not be active anymore or even from the past? 21) Who are some producers or engineers that you particularly admire? 22) Who are some specific songwriters you particularly admire? Both from the past or more recent. 23) With all of the technology available, how come many albums recorded in the 80’s have a superior sound to an album recorded in the 2020’s? 24) You have worked with so many stellar artists, Jimi Hendrix up to present day bands, the stories should be put down somewhere for history. Would you consider writing a book at some point? 25) Your last production credit is 2021’s “Unfolded Like Staircase”, from Discipline. What are you working on at the moment?

In 1989 I went with my parents and former husband to Denver to see a couple of hockey games. Our local hockey team the Golden Eagles were playing the Denver Rangers. It also happened that Marcel Dionne was there that night ( he had just retired from the New York Rangers that year). My mom wanted to get his autograph and he let us take his picture after the game. The next night the Denver team were giving out team photos and you could get them autographed. I'll never forget this (it was even better than meeting Dionne) here was my mom standing in line in her Golden Eagle jersey to get their autographs. One of the players chuckled and said you are in the wrong line, wrong team. They all laughed at that, then Mom grinned and said no I'm not, I'm a hockey fan and I know good players when I see them. Their goalie Mike Richter (who went on to win a Stanley Cup with the NY Rangers in 1994) grinned and said, I like you. Come on over here and I'll sign your picture. She ended up getting all of them to sign it and take her picture with them too. So cool..she's the reason I am a hockey fan. Love my Mom and I miss her lots.

This is not confirmed, the article refers to him overdosing on heroin in 2001. Right now there is no statement from authorities in Columbia. So very sad and way too young :rose: :(

What stands out to me here is all of the drummers that worked together to play Taylor’s part for this project:

Peart too. "Drums in the forefront where they belong...and who let the drummer write the f***ing lyrics? Rush did baby...... " Great rock and roll induction speech there. The same year the aforementioned Cornell inducted Heart. Would love to see Ann and Nancy return the favor if those lazy jackasses in Cleveland finally made them nominated for once.

Moving Pictures tour, second of three shows, Reunion Arena, Dallas. Had seats in the upper deck, Ged's side. When YYZ started I got up and made my way around to the empty part of the upper deck behind the stage. Managed to make it unnoticed down to the bottom rung looking directly down on Neil. Just as his solo ended, I felt a tap on the shoulder. "Go back to your seat" was all he said. I backflipped all the way, though I was hoping to stay there the rest of the show.

He's a fictional TV doctor played by Hugh Laurie.

Opeth - Ghost Reveries Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast Ghosts Of Atlantis - 3 6 2 4

Hey everyone, I got a response from Terry Brown about my request to interview him. It won't be a recorded interview, but he will write his replies to my questions. I was wondering if you guys had any questions for him? It can be related to anything - Rush, Fates Warning, Voivod...let me know your questions, and I will add them to my list!

[it's quite simple! It can be small, it can be huge, it can be anything!] Whew I was in grad school, Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders came to visit and gave a talk. She was great. She made a short yet poignant comment about fighting with the lobbyists and their ilk in Washington. She said, "When you're fighting a bear and you're tired, you don't take a break. You wait until the bear is tired and takes a break." Afterwards, there was a short line to say Hello. I got to shake her hand and say thanks. I told her, "You made me want to go bear hunting!" Got a solid laugh from her..... :D

*studio tracks only

I voted to eliminate Damn the Torpedoes just for the heck of it.

Alter Bridge Blackbird(10/10) III (8/10) Mick

That guy from Kansas. Chair. Don't have a problem with it - he plays great. Axl touring with ACDC. Chair. Until he got healthy. No problem. Plus, the band got to play some old songs that Brian never wanted to or couldn't sing. Nothing wrong with chairs.

that's just.........not fair. stunned. RIP Taylor. Mick

that came off a bit low class.......but not sure if he meant it like that but.....yea rubbed me the wrong way a tad. Phil was always driven. and if he wants to perform......let him. Alex had pain in his hands i know but he kept going.....so viva colllins!!!!! i'm in a chair so i have to stick up for my fav drummer after all, lol Mick

Alex and Geddy both have performed while sitting in chairs.

The archiving of Grand Designs is ongoing, very slowly. I started with the threads with the least amount of posts and I'm working my way up. GD contains the biggest threads on the board, and there's a bunch of them. The closed TOST threads are very big (the biggest has 8512 posts), but the biggest in GD are the closed A-Z word game threads, with five of them eclipsing 10,000 posts. Archiving just one of those threads could take a whole day, maybe longer, and the process of archiving one thread that size would slow the board down for minutes at a time, all day long. The biggest has 18936 posts! Imagine how long that one would take. The thing is, do we need to archive those game threads? We really don't. Therefore, they will be deleted. We really only need the current version of any game thread -- once a closed version has been replaced with a new one, I say out with the old. Two seconds to delete a 10,000+ post word game thread that no one will go back and read as opposed to over a day to archive it? Yes, that makes too much sense. The plan is to archive the closed TOST threads. A few years ago I deleted a bunch of the really old ones, but we'll try and keep the ones that remain. Unless you regular TOSTers feel like we can lose them. If you guys feel like you'll never go back and read those old threads, please let me know. Once I get ready to start archiving the big threads, I think I'll move the most popular GD threads out to RS so people can continue to use them, then temporarily close GD and finish archiving it. I'm thinking cutting off traffic to that forum will smooth out the process. Then I'll re-open it and move those threads back in. And to answer the question some of you were about to frantically type before reading this sentence, no, deleting threads does NOT lower your post count. :fistbump:

Some forget he was the touring drummer for Alanis when Jagged Little Pill came out. He's in the videos for You Outta Know and You Learn. Remember the pie throwing scene from the latter? Flea and Dave Navarro actually play on You Outta Know with Benmont of the Heartbreakers on keyboards.

It might be true, but I definitely wouldn't trust Wiki yet. Wiki removed any mention of an overdose, from what I can tell.

OMG, this is bad. WOW, stunned. :(

He OD'd on heroin two decades ago and was in a coma for two weeks. I'm gonna be pissed if his demons came back to get him. Same thing happened when PS Hoffman and Scott Weiland died. I'm fearing the worst like I did when I first heard about Cornell since he showed hints of depression but seemed to overcome it in his later years especially on his solo Higher Truth album. When I found out it was suicide, I cried my eyes out. That and Petty the same year really damaged me emotionally. Goddamn, I feel for Dave. First Kurt and now him and this was the day the new Dream Widow EP was digitally released. This is like Bowie's Blackstar album two days before his death. Fitting since he's said many times that Under Pressure is his favorite song. RIP and say hi to :Neil: , Bonzo, Moon, Watts, Baker, etc..

I saw him in August. I am glad I did.

I can't process this, so I'm just going to share one of my favorite videos of Taylor. He happed to be a massive Queen fan, in addition to everything else. http://youtu.be/-xuxI_3jNWs

This is just almost beyond belief. Only 50 and was such a fun guy to watch drum and had an infectious personality. WTF indeed.

Saw the Facebook post from the official foo fighters page minutes after it was posted and I thought their page was hacked or something.. really shocking. He was a great solid rock drummer. Grohl must be just devastated.

Awful, awful news. Wow.

Queensryche EP - Queensryche

Loudness - Thunder In The East The first Metal Church record Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance

The Stones performed their pair of El Mocambo gigs under the name The Cockroaches, appearing on the bill alongside Canadian rock band April Wine.

:rose:

Foreigner-4(10/10) Mick

For a non-Rush question, I'd love to know how he got involved with Blue Rodeo. He produced their debut album, Outskirts, which went platinum in Canada and is still my favourite album of theirs. It sounds excellent and speaks to his talent at getting wonderfully organic, analog-sounding instruments on tape, especially in a time period (1987) that was known for sounding anything but analog and organic. I'd like to know how he weathered that time period, when synthesizers were taking over and the trend was for very thin, brittle production.

= Lipstick + Pig

Obscured By Clouds - Pink Floyd

Hard for me to know what to say. Having had a long term illness a bit ago I can understand the inner strength it takes to endure, which Lorraine had plenty of. She was such a part of the matrix interwoven in TRF. Her memory here is what will keep her with us. :rose:

No words for how sickened I am by this. Sting was sadly right. History will teach us nothing. https://www.reuters.com/world/wwii-holocaust-survivor-killed-ukraines-kharkiv-2022-03-22/