tomhealey

Hey, I proudly wore my "LET NEIL SING" shirt at 6 shows this year. He's a vastly underrated talent. So I did what I could.

That's a few occasions recently now where Alex has adopted Geddy's scarf. I always thought Geddy's fashion choice was somehow related to saving his voice. Having heard Alex' actual (and horrendous) singing voice on a few boots, I think he needs a whole lot more scarves!

Is Hedgwich Records still in business? Hegewisch Records. Oh my oh my. Does that bring me back.Hegewisch Records was a great local record store, but it was about as far off the established grid as you could find. Located on Torrence Avenue in Calumet City IL, right on the Indiana border, in a neighborhood that always seemed vaguely dangerous, Hegewisch (actually pronounced "Heg-Wish," but to me and my friends, who were in utter awe of the store, "Heg-a-wish") was a music fan's best friend. They had new releases (yes, on vinyl, back at a time when the choices were either vinyl or the more obscure 8 track, with cassettes being a very distant third), but more importantly, they had a very impressive selection of "imports" (i.e., boots) on vinyl. And at great prices. Going to Hegewisch was a trip to Mecca for us, a seemingly long drive through unfamiliar territory, but the reward was so damn sweet. The marginally dangerous aura of the place, honestly, was a part of the draw. I remember going there once with my Christmas cash, and coming away with a Saxon "import," a UFO "import," a Riot album that I'd never seen anywhere else (("Fire Down Under" on the cover, but "Fire Down Below" on the spine), with Swords and Tequila being the hit, but Altar of the King being the best song on the album), and a Baron Rojo album (Metalmorphosis) that remained a conversation piece among my friends for many months. Wow, what great memories. A few years later, a trip to Heg-a-wish revealed a greatly expanded head shop, with a correspondingly large reduction in vinyl. As I had no use for smoking materials, I couldn't help but be disappointed. "Still, we saw the magic, was fading every year." Ultimately, the possibly dangerous neighborhood became too much, and the main Hegewisch shop relocated to relatively tame Richton Park. Shortly thereafter, the owner was shot in his home, as I recall, and the stored closed. A sad end to a great childhood memory. Thanks, laughedatbytime, for a great reminiscence.

Most of my Rush shirts are ones that I had made for me. Let's see, there's "Let Neil Sing," "F*** You Puppet," "Just Here To See Audrey," "He Plays Bass->," and "It Didn't Always Feel That Way." I also have an official MLB Toronto Blue Jays home jersey, with "Weinrib" across the back, and the number 3, that I wear to smoke out true Rush fans in a crowd. Finally, I have a shirt from Geddy's drier that got tossed at me by Geddy in Tinley Park, only to have my brother (at the concert once again on a ticket that I bought for him) lunge in front of me and grab. After the show, he realized how tacky that little maneuver was and gave it to me, like God and Geddy intended. Fortunately, someone in the balcony caught his shenanigans on video and posted to youtube ( see from the 8 to 10 seconds mark; we're in the front row, he's standing to my right, and yes, I have on my ubiquitous orange hat), and I've shamed him with it on many of his visits to my house.

I stopped at my Best Buy around 11:20 this morning. They had one on the shelf, and now, of course, they have none. But it didn't look like they stocked up for a huge demand. Bieber CD's, on the other hand, they had aplenty.

Hey I just picked mine up at Best Buy, and found out that I made the packaging! The inside photo was taken at LA, and you can see me (or, at least, my orange baseball cap) next to my friend Christine (blue shirt) in the lower right hand side of the picture. Nice of them to personalize my R40 experience. What a souvenir!

We'll always have Paris Los Angeles.

Dunno. Us Rushtour refugees invaded here a few years back and it didn't seem like it caused too much upset. But a significant migration from CP seems to raise more cautious notes among the faithful.

Oh yes, my brother He Plays Bass and I were there. I can't believe I talked him into driving down from Chicago to Tulsa. He hates flying (and flew to the Manchester opener a few years back with me only when I sweetened the already rich pot (front row directly in front of Alex for a tour opener) with box seats to the Red Sox game the following night), and so he endured hours of very boring driving to Tulsa during which hallucinations apparently set in. I flew to Tulsa and still remember the big welcome sign affixed to the floor in the airport. I still have the picture on my iphone. Never, ever thought any city would be so welcoming to Rush fans. That sign is one of my very favorite memories of the Tulsa opener. And I remember a great BBQ dinner down the street before the show. And because I purposely screened myself from any actual inside info before the show, I was honestly pissed when it opened with a steampunk set and CA tunes. What the hell, I thought, I truly like this album and think it is one of their five best, but they did this already! Then, as the set started evolving, peeling back the layers, about halfway through the first set, I got it. And from then, pure magic. They took me hook, line and sinker, right back to my friend Gary's house, when around age 15 he put A Farewell To Kings on his turntable, and my AC/DC-infused mind would never, ever be the same.I saw the last tour five other times in person, and at least a few dozen more on periscope, but Tulsa, well, that's in a class by itself. My only favorite band walked me back through lots of my own history. Right back into Gary's living room. Even a lawyer, who's only job tools are vocabulary, finds it very hard to find words to express my emotions for that.

Loved watching the scopes. But even more, loved reading the hilarious board comments. I looked forward so much to each show. Can't believe that it's all over. Sigh. Good times.

I suspect Solaris BlueRaven re the deletions.

I wasn't a member of the board when this thread was started, but if I had been a member, I'm not sure that I would still be a member.

...an organ located near the liver.

All people really irk me.

I still have hopes that Geddy finds a way to wiggle his way into being the Who's bassist for the continuation of the tour. Now that show, I'd go see.

yeah, I'm shocked some people seemed to periscope every single show of the tour. watching a band slowly but steadily get exhausted seems depressing more than anything. What? Where were YOU when this was all going on? lurking in the shadows... They got better, the crowd energy escalated, and the TRF periscope crowd built some classic memories. I really think it was something special. That's right. I didn't see any signs of the band getting exhausted. If anything, they got better and better as the tour went on. Agree. And scientific research has statistically confirmed that the incidents of couch burnings increased remarkably as the tour progressed.

I thought this was going to be a thread looking for anagrams for actual Rush album titles (or for Mongo, if you prefer) like this: Clockwork Angels = Rock Glow Slacken Moving Pictures = Servicing Up Tom Roll The Bones - Boners To Hell Caress of Steel = Lees Farce Toss Counterparts = Tuners To Crap That sort of thing.

Each of the last two summers, my nine year old son and I have gone on a weekend baseball sojourn. In 2014, it was Pittsburgh-Cleveland-Detroit, and thisyear Minneapolis-Kansas City-St. Louis. Next summer, we're talking about doing Toronto and the two New Yorks, if the schedule allows. And I've already decided that if we're going all of the way to Toronto, I'm going to get seats in the small area where Geddy sits, on the hope that he attends that game. Those seats are held by real diehards, so they don't often appear on Seat Geek, but I'm not going without something in that area. And no, if I happen to go and Geddy's there, I'm not going to fawn all over him and tell him he's great and that his music changed my life and that my brother plays bass because of him and ask if he remembers winking at me eight years ago in Kansas City and tell him they should have played Prime Mover last tour and pick up his used hot dog wrapper or anything like that. If he's there, I'm going to approach him between innings and ask him to sign my ticket from the last LA show. That's it. Oh, except if I get the chance, I'm going to buy him a beer. How cool would it be to say that I bought Geddy a beer! "Hi, he's forty years of unbelievably interesting and thought provoking jams!" "Uh, thanks, here's a Molson!" Actually, food and drink is usually free in those "club seating" areas, so I probably won't get the chance, but it's fun to think about.

Um, I've always guessed about 50, so I'm going to go to the tour page on cygnus and see how many I recall. April 3, 1980 - Chicago April 4, 1980 - Chicago April 5, 1980 - Chicago February 28, 1981 - Chicago February 29, 1981 - Chicago July 9, 2002 - Bristow, VA (thank you FS!!!) August 1, 2002 - Bonner Springs, KC October 30, 2002 - Chicago, IL June 5, 2004 - Tinley Park, IL June 13, 2004 - Bonner Springs, KS July 9, 2004 - Mountain View, CA July 10, 2004 - Concord, CA June 13, 2007 - Atlanta, GA (thank you StephenA!!) August 8, 2007 - Morrison, CO August 23, 2007 - Bonner Springs, KS September 8, 2007 - Chicago, IL April 25, 2008 - Dallas, TX May 20, 2008 - Moline, IL June 7, 2008 - Kansas City, MO June 9, 2008 - Chicago, IL July 24, 2008 - Indianapolis, IN June 29, 2010 - Albuquerque, NM July 1, 2010 - Kansas City, MO July 5, 2010 - Chicago, IL July 23, 2010 - Chicago, IL April 12, 2011 - Chicago, IL June 12, 2011 - Austin, TX September 7, 2012 - Manchester September 15, 2012 - Chicago, IL October 10, 2012 - Bridgeport, CT May 3, 2013 - Raleigh, NC June 28, 2013 - Chicago, IL August 4, 2013 - Kansas City, MO May 8, 2015 - Tulsa, OK May 10, 2015 - Lincoln, NE June 12, 2015 - Chicago June 21, 2015 - Montreal (thank you FS!!) July 9, 2015 - Kansas City, MO August 1, 2015 - Los Angeles, CA OK, so I can only recall about 40. That works for me. If I think of any more I'll edit.

I gotta say, most of the songs named in this thread, I would really like to have heard on one of the last few tours. Now, if we're truly rolling out the shite-wagon, make sure Superconductor is at the helm,

Dunno. I think we'll always want "one last time." Other than lack of touring outside North America, I'm not sure how much better a last tour could get.

Haven't read through the thread. Don't have to. Anyone answering anything other than Superconductor is just plain wrong. And worst song in concert, btw? Xanadu/Superconductor. Even the immense superiority of Xanadu cannot save the hopeless mess of Superconductor. Thread locked. Move along.

None of this explains where Lorraine has been for the last three days. That concerns me more than some noob trolling old heads.

No, but I got called out for playing the "I was in Neil's final photo" card...

My hologram's all have pants on, thank you.