H to O

I really noticed how different YYZ sounded with Omar’s style. He covered it all great in his own way. He’s a drummer that really pulls back on the beat, where Neil is propulsive and drives the beat forward. Interesting contrast. I could hear where Neil would have pushed YYZ differently, and it seemed Alex and Geddy were having to adjust to Omar’s different groove. It was all awesome!!!

What a huge surprise!!! So cool to see Geddy and Alex on stage together, and Dave and Omar did great! Unique seeing these songs played with Dave and Omar’s styles. They were all smiles, and surely Taylor and Neil are smiling too!!! 🙂🙂 I only saw Geddy and Alex’s part, and Wolf Van Halen’s part (OMG - Wolf!!!). I’m looking forward to seeing the rest!

Happy Birthday Alex!!! 🥳 🎉 🎂

Geddy and Alex!!! That was so cool, and considering the event and fun nature of it, I thought they sounded fine. Clearly everyone was having a blast!!! What a treat for the performers and audience. Closer to South Park!!!

I just picked up AP’s new album, plus two other recent releases that I didn’t know about (The Secret and Try Anything Once). I have some catching up to do! Really like Oraborus from the new album, and also You Are the Light and Halos. I was really surprised with the album closer, a cover of Be My Baby. Interesting choice! AP can be kind of hit or miss for me too, but the hits really hit!!! Looking forward to listening to these more and getting into that AP vibe. I really need to make a playlist of the “hits”, because there are plenty!!!

Still trying to digest the album. Listened to the first half a few days ago, then the whole thing yesterday while on a drive. Once I reached Never Have I ended up hitting repeat, and I’ve been repeating this song ever since!!!

I’ll look forward to watching this later, Rick is awesome! Just saw Steely Dan’s Earth After Hours tour a week ago! 4th time seeing them! What an awesome show, and Donald’s voice is in great form. Helps to have the AWESOME back up singers, the Danettes! Musicianship of all members was off the charts, and Keith Carlock was incredible, as always. He took Aja to a whole new level, which is quite astounding when you think about it… Haven’t been to a concert in a few years, it was a full house from what I could tell, and it was nice to be out with fellow fans. Inspiring!!! Anyway, it’ll be interesting to hear Rick’s take on their sound.

I’m really enjoying this album! I posted previously, but it got deleted during the recent upgrade. It’s a nice diversion for Alex, and I really like Maiah’s voice and the rest of the musician’s playing. There seems to be some sneaky powerful parts hidden in the generally mellow vibe. Example for me is the descending guitar line coming from the break back into the chorus on Never Said I Love You. I just love that part!!! I have the exact same feeling with Spy House. Just can’t get used to the vocals on that. Although good, they sound “added” to me. In contrast, I thought Maiah knocked it out of the park on Kabul Blues. Very soulful and really added to the song on that one for me. Anyway, I’ve been listening to the iTunes version, and I bought the cd, so I’m looking forward to spinning it on a better sound system!

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot It’s been stuck in my head ever since reading an article that the shipwreck occurred Nov. 10, 1975. 46 years ago today.

The email, the “satisfied customers” testimonials, the video and fan access to the area under his desk by his computer wires, and the lovely new tune…. What a great surprise this morning!!! I really love all of these little 2-3 minute songs, and it sounds like he baked this one just a little bit longer than the others…

Enjoying release day for this. Two listens through and I’m stunned! “A” game all around and Mangini, are you The Alien? Holy Shit!!!

That brought tears to my eyes and made my day at the same time!!! Thanks ReRushed! Wonderful tribute OSU!!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

No problem, I still get to rediscover the credit music on S and A Live!

Thanks RushFanForever!!! I’m gonna go ahead and watch the dvds anyway, just to make sure…

These are awesome!!! I recognize Kroove, or a variation of it, from the closing credits of the S and A Live dvd, or maybe it was R30… I’ll rewatch them both in their entirety to check :)

Great interview! I can’t wait to hear more of Alex’s new projects!!!

I liked the tunes and I’m all signed up! I now have Spyhouse repeating in my head… Checked out the guitar on Epiphone.com too. Back ordered there and at guitar center, but I’m gonna look into getting my hands on one of those. Great to see Alex and looking forward to seeing what may evolve!!!

So sorry to see this news today. RTF was such a huge influence on me, then The Electric Band and so many other projects Chick was involved in. What an amazing musician and person! Rest In Peace Chick Corea ❤️

Thanks for posting this! Just a studio hang with Alex, and his guitars. I thought Andre did fine as an interviewer. I’d have crumbled... Actually, Alex is so laid back, probably not! I spun Victor after watching, and it was cool to listen to with new insight. I forgot about Mr. X. Hell yes!!! Happy Anniversary Victor!!!

Seems like it was just yesterday… I was standing in my kitchen at about 5:30PM, having just arrived home from a long work week. The 10th was a Friday, and I was supposed to meet some friends for a dinner date. I haven’t done a lot of dating in recent years, but my friends knew this girl that I just “had to meet”… So, I’m standing in the kitchen thinking about how to kill a couple hours before the dinner when a text came in to my phone from a dear friend of mine: “H to O, I’m so sorry to hear the news” with a couple heart emojis tacked on. Um, what news? It had to be that something happened to a mutual friend of ours, or, something happened to someone that my friend knows is really important to me. I didn’t text her back right away. I don’t know why, but with an uneasy feeling my first thought was to check for Rush news (here). And, there it was, totally unexpected, totally devastating, and totally mind numbing. Stunned. A wash of complete emptiness. I texted her back with thanks for caring and letting me know. My spirits crushed, I then had to decide what to do about the dinner that I needed to be at in an hour or so. It had been planned for a while, and I couldn’t come to grips with what would be best: cancel at the last minute, which is totally outside of the norm for me, or go and try to meet someone in my completely devastated state of mind. I went. I did my best to delay the grieving and be somewhat sociable at dinner. Upon arrival, my friend that set up the dinner said she was sorry to hear about Neil. She and her partner are not fans like me, but they appreciate the band and know how much I love Rush (like most of my friends, when they hear Rush they automatically think of me – sound familiar??? :) ). The girl I was meeting really didn’t know about Rush, possibly since she was foreign, so she said she was sorry to hear the news and really had no idea how devastating this truly was for me. I talked briefly about Neil and how much of a huge influence he’s been to me, and I generally stayed away from the subject for the evening, although there were a few times I felt like I was going to burst into tears because I absolutely could not get the subject off my mind. I turned my phone off because it was blowing up with texts from friends and family during dinner... I bluffed my way through things OK, but I’ll be honest, while my dinner companions and I were having our conversations, I wasn’t hearing a damn thing they were saying. I had to catch myself a few times just vacantly staring at the TV at the bar on the other side of the room with some sporting event on it. I managed to engage as best as I could, finished dinner, had desert, said goodbyes and I was now relieved to be able to begin my grief. My dinner friends texted me after everyone got home safe and said they had a nice time, and so did the girl I met, so I at least made it through the dinner and presented myself OK. They asked me what I thought of this girl, and quite honestly, I could barley even remember anything about her. I told them I thought she was nice… It’s too bad, actually, because she was nice, but I really wasn’t even there at the dinner. I still believe I did the right thing by going, but I have never been in a situation where I had to delay grieving and put on a (semi) happy face like that. It’s amazing to me, and to many of us here, how truly hard Neil’s passing hit me. Now home, I simply sat in my basement studio and stared at the wall into the wee hours of the morning. Had a couple The Macallan while random bits of Rush songs played in my head. A lyric here, a chord progression there, a drum beat or fill, random show memories, and a lot of tears. I was stunned for days, and it took many months before I could play a Rush song or watch a DVD. Neil lived a majorly full life and he touched many people in many different ways. I am so proud to be a Rush fan and can’t even measure the influence they’ve had on me in music, business, life in general… An unwavering quest for excellence in everything they’ve done. Thanks for letting me ramble if you've made it this far..., and I’m looking forward to reading other’s experiences that day one year ago. Excellent thread too. It’s been therapeutic to write this!!! :)

I listened all the way through. It was cool to hear some atmospheric Alex style playing in there, but the song didn’t really grab me. Might be cool for people who like this genre I suppose. What I really did enjoy was looking at Jason’s blog and website from the OP link. Pretty interesting person on a unique musical path, and I REALLY enjoyed watching his videos playing with Alex and an invisible drummer at the charity golf tournament in 2019. They rocked!!! Alex did great, the invisible drummer botched some fills but didn’t train wreck..., and Jason held is own with bass and vocals. Limelight, Spirit, and Freewill! :) I’m glad I checked it out!!! Thanks for posting!

1983.07.12 - Rochester Hills, MI, United States - Oakland University, Howard C. Baldwin Memorial Pavilion - Meadow Brook Music Festival This confirms the above mentioned tour date here, along with an article here. Thanks RushFanForever, that was the show! Appreciate the links. Particularly: $9.00 lawn / $11.50 Pavilion referenced in the pre-show article. Man, I miss those days... no wonder I saw so many shows back then!!! I know I'll be throwing on "Travels" this weekend, as well as some other Pat Metheny with Lyle Mays.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I remember seeing The Pat Metheny Group on the Travels Tour in around 1983 at Meadowbrook Music Theater in the Detroit Metro area. I went with a couple of my band mates from high school. I was fortunate to see many great musicians at this intimate outdoor venue around that time period, JLP, Zappa, SRV, Buddy Rich, even Loretta Lynn, as well as many others. When we went to see The Pat Methany Group, we were stunned at how good they were. It was one of the few shows where we literally drove home and no one could say a word to each other. We would simply look at each other with stunned, knowing eyes and jaws on the floor, and mumble something like, wow... We had never witnessed that level of musicianship. I've certainly had my share of shows that left me speechless, many from the band we follow on this website, but this show was astounding at a whole new level for me at the time. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see Lyle and The Pat Petheny Group, especially during such an impressionable point in my life. RIP Lyle Mays