Thunder Bay Rush

I see a lot of the names in here have something to do with Rush. But, many do not. Explain the origin of your profile name and explain how it ties into to the coolest band on the planet, if it does. Mine – Thunder Bay is a city that I live 35 miles from… and the rest… well, duh. When I move to New Brunswick this summer, I’ll have to change my name I guess. If this is in the wrong section, someone could move it…

I remember years ago, living in Toronto and trying to “make it” in the music biz… all of the prog guys (me included) always thought that if a song was shorten than 8 minutes and didn’t have at least 3 different time signatures in it, it was dog shit. Then I started listening to bands like Teenage Head and The Pretenders and Gary Numan… (but not for long!)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Hemispheres is the best Rush album ever. Every bar of every song is top shelf. But, the suite itself… effing rules ALL prog rock epics including: Supper’s Ready and Close to the Edge.

For me, it’s still hard to beat the Live bootleg in St Louis, 1980. Someone from this site (I forget who, shamefully) was cool enough to mail me a CD of that show. I listen to it twice a week. Rush is great in both studio and on the stage, but if I had to pick one – stage. Nothing like Rush live… but, if I may… BEFORE 1983. Thank you!

I remember seeing them play this song on the Signals tour in Toronto. The crowd went mental. It went over very well… !!

Yes, I saw that little girl playing YYZ on her keyboard. Unreal talent! There are SO many talented kids out there these days. They probably always were out there, but without the Google and You Tube, we wouldn’t have known about them.

I guess this proves it… the stupider you act, the more famous you’ll be on You Tube. 25 million views. I'm surprised he didn’t end up with his own “Reality TV” show. (Eye roll) Now, back to that little 8 year old girl… that kid will be a superstar drummer in a few years or so.

No kidding… I’m not the guy who sits around watching You Tube all day and in fact, the only time I can (or do) is when I go into the city where they have good Internet (I live off the grid, in the woods and my Internet isn’t strong enough for video.) But on occasion, I do watch and I am astonished at some of the YOUNG talent out there. This little kid is 8! There is another young drummer from Japan, Senri Kawagughi , who is often voted “Best female drummer in the world” by various polls here and there. I think she’s 16 now, but even when she was goddam 12, she was unreal. Even better than most of the big names of today and I’m not kidding. (I’m a drummer so I know what she’s playing.) There is a lot of video on her, but here’s one to start with - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh-ppc2nDv8 She plays electric jazz, odd time signatures with ease and has the POWER and technical chops of someone who has been playing for 30 years. I don’t think she weighs 100 pounds, but the POWER… holy shit.

WAY too adorable. And DAMN good!!

When my youngest was 3, she requested Roll the Bones EVERY TIME WE DROVE ANYWHERE IN MY GODDAM TRUCK! And she knew it all.

I still say, the Rogers Centre in Toronto... 60,000 people. Done.

On the episode where Archie was worried about getting laid off from his job… he was trying to hide this fact so he told his family he was really only worried “the guys” he worked with, losing their jobs. He told his family that he could find another job easily. Archie> “Well, we got little Emanuel. He has one leg shorter than the other… I mean if he gets laid off, he’ll have a hard time finding work. I mean, who the hell wants a spic with a bum leg?” Then Archie shows his concern for Elmo, who is “blacker than the ace of spades.” I imagine that on TV today… holy shit.

I’ve heard that said before too. I couldn’t imagine them not playing some of the sections of Fountain because they were trying to promote the album in 1975. There are some really kick-ass rockin’ parts of Fountain that if played, the audience wouldn’t likely even know that it was part of a 20 minute epic song.

No one ever said Neil was a 4/4 hack… he’s one of the best oddball time signature players in the world. And I really think his playing from say, T4E on, is harder to play that anything from 75 – 81. Why is Neil so good? Because he’s Neil.

Gotta go with Xanadude on this one… Neil always was and always will be my favourite drummer. I never would have known what playing in 7/8 or 6/8 was without him. He is the drummer that got me listening to early Yes and Genesis. Then I really started learning about playing drums. But, if you REALLY watch guys like Dave Weckl, Steve Smith, Vinnie Caliuta and Greg Bissonette, you’ll see that these guys are in a league all their own. Now, could any of these guys play in Rush and make it a better band? No goddam way. Most popular rock drummers play very few rudiments other than very basic ones. Like X said, most of it is straight fours, eighths and sixteenth notes. The guy from AC/DC makes his living playing a straight 4/4, with the bass drum on 1 and 3 and the snare drum on 2 and 4. Basic as it gets. And Ringo never knew what the hell he was playing in half the time. He just played along. What Neil did, was bring that basic format into a new level of odd time signatures and very clever playing. Other than a few spots here and there (drum solos near the end of La Villa for example) most of his playing is fairly simple. I could play every Rush song on drums from the first album right through Moving Pictures when I was 18 years old. And, I was never all that great to be honest.

Let’s face it – there will never be another era of brilliance that was 1976 – 1981.

A friend of mine just sent me the entire first season of All in the Family… some of THE funniest shit in the history of television. CLASSIC! I just watched 9 episodes in a row… and I don’t normally watch TV at all.

Of course, CW Angles can be topped. We ARE talking about Rush here, right?

It took me all of one entire second to consider this one: Hemispheres: The greatest album in the history of recorded music. Even better than the Bay City Rollers.

I don’t think there are better progressive rock musicians anywhere on the planet, in the solar system or in the entire galaxy. These guys are scary good.

Debbie still looks pretty damn good for 68! I remember back in high school… every guy in my class wanted to nail her. Me included. She was a very good singer too. I saw her on TV a couple years ago, and she still can belt it out there.

All I know is if they played the entire Fountain of Lamneth (even if they had to drop ‘er down a key or five) I would pop a nut right in my seat. And if they played the Necromancer, I’d pop the other nut. I’d walk out of that arena a new woman.

The only time I ever heard of Wireless was when they opened for Rush on the Hemispheres tour in Ottawa, 1978. I don’t remember anything about their set and I’ve never heard them on the radio. Not sure what happened to them. I live in the bush and my satellite Internet isn’t strong enough to listen to the album above… when I’m in the city next, I’ll give it a listen. You sound convincing! And, yes, where did Geddy find the time back in those days?

Bastille Day, Ottawa Civic Centre, 1976. 2112 tour, but I guess it could have been the All The World’s A Stage tour??? I’m pretty sure on the next tour (AFTK) they opened with Bastille Day again, but I could be wrong. I DO know, that on the next tour, Hemispheres, they opened with Anthem. That was the first time I saw Neil do the now famous stick toss. Don’t recall seeing it before that tour. I remember vividly, my buddy yelling out, “Holy f**k, he threw that bastard 20 feet!” Edit – Something some of you might find hard to believe – on the Hemispheres tour, as the band was coming back on for the encore, I remember VIVIDLY Neil walking up to Geddy’s mic and thanking the Ottawa crowd. Of course, I thought nothing of it then. But, knowing what we know about Neil today, it’s hard to fathom. I guess it was some time after that tour (or the PeWaves Tour) where he started keeping back from the spotlight a bit. By any chance, was anyone else from this site at that show in Ottawa? It was Dec 21, ’78.

Never was crazy about ITIGB (too basic, sounds like they wrote it in about ten minutes) but the rest of the album is awesome! I remember when I was 14 learning how to play Fountain Of Lamneth on the drums, front to back. Could never get Dictats and Napets “exactly right” for some reason…