HalfwayToGone

At this point you’re better off selling signed stuff than buying it.

They did another big dump of the more reasonably priced stuff this morning—I was able to ensnare a Counterparts era poster of Neil for Ludwig drums and a hemispheres button without feeling ripped too much (the poster was kinda pricey for an unsigned spare but the button was less than $3). They had quite an array this time of all price ranges, but the two new signed posters were like $1000 each. I guess those old autographs any of us got for free or for a reasonable price are now a lot higher in value possibly.

I saw the Primus show early on in Asbury Park, NJ and did the Q&A with the band—I first saw them on the Frizzle Fry tour also in Asbury (their first time there) from about 2 feet away, and have been a fan of that lineup ever since. (They were still playing the opening bell riff and intro to YYZ before launching into John The Fisherman back then). I helped them fill in some information gaps from when their soundguy got kicked out of the first show in the middle of their set (he punched Jim Boone, the house soundguy, in the snoot for reaching over and turning the vocals down). It was a great time. I love those guys. They suck.

I donated for the autographed vinyl but not the zoom chat, because I just can’t afford to donate that much, not because I think it’s an unworthy cause or not worth it for a zoom call with the band. Yes it is the entire band, not just Alex, but 30 minutes of sitting there chatting about whatever you feel like is actually a very long time unless you have a written list of stuff you must ask about—I’ve sat with Chris Cornell in his dressing room alone except for the person I brought along, twice, and each time was only about 5-15 minutes, and luckily he was chatty. Alex is also chatty and funnier than hell—I assume 30 minutes with the band is going to prominently feature his antics and be well worth a donation like that.

All still there. They may take a while to sell even in such limited numbers at those ridiculously overpiced ebay BIN prices.

From the Archives—new stuff on the Rush Backstage Club for the spoiled pensioners lurking here. The cheapest thing is another release of the Fin Costello photos triptych, followed by a framed McNaughten peart photo w/stage used drumstick, and finally the big kahuna is a framed photo from R40 with a band autographed plaque, full sets of stage used strings and a stage used drumstick. Only 10 of the latter and 4 of the framed sticks. Not sure how many more triptychs they did this time. Items range from $5k for the triptych to $9500 for the strings/stick. Not for me, but maybe there’s a filthy rich superfan on here who’d be interested.

Just noticed all the feedback/questions--to be clear: I only noticed the Rush Backstage Club (their online store) posted about this sale ahead of time on instagram on their regular page--so there's no special club one needs to be in. I just usually, like you all, find out after everything is sold out that I'd be interested in. From the things I remember, the signed R30 poster that I got was $100, and the R40 duffel with the R30/feedback geddy's dryer tshirt I also got was $80. The signed poster of Neil, I think for Anatomy Of A Drum Solo, was $400, the Rush ReDiscovered signed box set was either also $400 or more, and may have been only signed by Alex and Geddy, I'm not sure, and there was a big bundle of Show Of Hands releases in various formats, can't recall the price. And whoever said it was an auction, no it wasn't, it was a very small number of things they found laying around and put on sale, that sold out rapidly, like usual. Some of it of course ended up right on ebay for vastly inflated prices like over $1000 for the $100 poster.

I actually got a tip off on instagram for a change, and was able to grab a couple of items before they evaporated (in under 5 minutes). They had a couple of autographed posters--the Neil Anatomy Of A Drum Solo one went fastest (also pricey for a poster!!), the R30 poster signed by all 3 members was cheaper and hung around longer, they had a Rush ReDiscovered box signed by Alex and Geddy (also pricey), a Tie Dye from Geddy's dryers with an R40 duffel, a big show of hands bundle--all gone. They still have a BTLS poster (unsigned) and a copy of the Newsletters bound book w/a promo CD. I just got the R30 poster and the duffle/tie dye and passed on the big ticket items. Love Neil but $400 for an autographed poster is a lot when the other one is $100 and has all three autographs on it.

Sorry to hear that—I’ve known him for just over 35 years. He’s good people, and he was probably almost as nervous to do that interview as any of us would be.

these videos are recorded and archived--just go to the top of the thread and watch the whole interview now or any other time you feel like it. it's not like TV in the pre-early 1970s.

Hope you guys all liked that--you can watch it right in this thread now. Al looks great, and aside from some hard truths in there about hitting the road at his age/after so many years of doing it, in another year or two at the earliest, I thought it was refreshing to not hear stock questions, and get into the creative process, etc. Of course, Andre being a "roadie," there was a big nod to the Rush core crew who were there for the duration, and Alex's commentary was sweet and enlightening. I think Dre did a fine job of making it a unique and eye-opening interview for people sick of hearing the same old same old.

I actually checked in here today specifically to see if anyone posted about this--the interview is being done by a very dear friend of mine, Andre, who is the same guy I mentioned back when Geddy played w/Yes at their RRHOF induction. He's worked for practically every prog rock hero either of us ever had as a tour manager or tech of some sort, and he's Steve Howe's guitar tech/let Geddy and Alex see all the iconic guitars Steve brought with him for the show/ceremony. Last night he had a little facebook live broadcast with comments from the peanut gallery and we all sort of geeked out together over Alex, Rush and various memories of shows, being ripped off by scalpers, etc. He's as excited as any of us would be to do this interview, and probably as nervous too! I'm betting it's gonna be terrific, because Andre is so knowledgeable about everything this sort of an interview would entail. Don't expect the same questions everyone asks Alex and Geddy--I'm sure he'll get into some Rush-related rabbit hole, but he'll be also getting way into Victor and into Alex's head about everything from gear to creativity to Alex's heroes/influences and whatever else he can think of that no "So what's next for you and Geddy" type interviewer would get into. Rory Gallagher came up last night, for example--"hey didn't he open for Rush and Rush opened for him, and yada yada..." I believe the interview will stay up on the youtube channel indefinitely if you don't catch it live.

Pretty sure it’s available as a preorder on amazon which comes to about the same price if you have free shipping on amazon. Also someone posted one red vinyl copy for sale for about $15 more.

It started heading there in around 2015, just after Rush retired, and Neil’s passing is just more of the same.

From the side of the can under a cartoon of the dearly departed at his massive kit: “we lost an inspiration-a poet-a man who turned tragedy into beauty-a man who relearned to play his instrument late in a career when he was already considered peerless because he knew it could be better than what was already the best-a man who did more on the bell of a single cymbal in one song than most people do on a 5 piece kit in a career-a man who was more than content to do his art his way and was grateful for those that appreciated it while neither needing nor courting them.-a genius that got it.”