feliciasnh

That's really kind of awesome. Why don't we mention that to everyone here in a separate thread? Or maybe suggest donating to ANY cancer research place of their choosing... By the way, not just because of Neil, but f cancer. Has taken a lot of my family, friends and colleagues. :( I think that it was mentioned in the official statement about his passing, a suggestion to make a donation to a charity (cancer related or not) of your choice, in his honor. I liked the clever redditor who came up with the amount. :D I wonder how many places are receiving donations of $21.12 and wondering why the heck such an odd amount? :)

I thought of Earl, too. I would imagine we'll hear from him at some point. Would love to be able to reach out and give him a hug.

A post on Reddit talks about making donations in Neil's honor, for $21.12, at Cancerresearch.org. It made me smile to type in that dollar amount of $21.12 :)

I'm glad it isn't just me who feels that way. I couldn't bear to listen to their music right now. Even hearing it in my head brings new waves of tears.

He looks thin.. his clothes look like they're hanging off of him. :( That would not have clued me into him being sick, though. I'm sure I would have thought, wow, good for him, drop a few pounds, get in better shape, way to go. :(

Having a big ugly cry over this one. I have been a fan for 38 years or so. It was so cool to meet Alex & Geddy at GUP in 2018. They must have known he was sick then, but never let on at all. That must have been hard for them, being around all of us rabid fans knowing what they knew. I never even gave any thought to how I'd feel when/if one of them passed while I was still on this planet. Now I know. Taking it pretty badly. It feels the way it has when a beloved family member has died. Of all the ups and downs in my life, there was one constant - these three guys and their music. It is so heartbreaking to think that he had been sick. For me, that's the worst part. That he wasn't just living a nice, carefree, anonymous out-of-the-public-eye existence being with his family, riding, doing mundane things. He was f***ing dealing with cancer.

wait, WHAT? When is GUP V??

I'm such a noob compared to.. well.. everyone else here! I showed up last summer/early fall, in a quest to find other people who might be attending GUP IV :) I can't believe I missed out on all the years of Rush socializing by not realizing this forum existed. *sigh*

I remember listening to CA during the weeks leading up to the first show of the tour which I was lucky enough to attend. I didn't listen to it very repeatedly, so I hadn't gotten super familiar with the songs, life was too busy at the time. We went to the show, and in chatting with another fan after, they were like wow! great show! what are your favorite songs off of the new album!? I remember telling them.. "well,... I don't know the name yet, but it's that kind of slow song at the end" Oy. I would listen to the album off and on, but I didn't really focus on it because I was listening to a bunch of other artists whose shows were coming up on my radar, too. Fast forward to 2015 for R40, and I've got the album on repeat play while I paint the entire interior of our house about a month or so before the tour. I absolutely became enthralled with this album, absorbing the sounds and lyrics like I hadn't in the past. CA is my #1 favorite. I still love Signals, and HYF, but in different ways than I do CA.

All those years of Earl posts and I just discovered this forum 4 or 5 months ago. I have been missing out! I finally hung a picture from GUP IV on my cubicle wall today. I've gotten to the point where I don't get paralyzed from anxiety and excitement thinking about what an awesome day it was. I can now look at the picture and just smile like a normal person LOL You never cease to bring a smile to my face when I read what you have to say. Your stream of consciousness is unparalleled. Never change!! :sundog:

I will check it out this weekend :)

The video doesn't work for me in the US, however I did find the song on Google Music. That's a good song! It definitely shares some common themes with The Garden :) Thanks for sharing

This this this. "It is what it is, and whatever" are not at all the simple lyrics that they appear to be on the surface, at least to me.

Yes - The Wreckers, for sure. The line near the end, "All I know is that memory can be too much to carry, Striking down like a bolt from the blue". It makes me think of my "soul mate" dog who passed away a number of years ago. Out of nowhere, a memory of her will pop up and just, ugh.. be too much sometimes.

Wow, I had not been aware of that Eric Johnson song, that's a great one. Thank you for sharing.

I love mis-heard lyrics, haha! I know there are some that I still haven't figured out and usually just mumble my own nonsense as I sing along. One of my favorites is non-Rush, "Big old Jed had a rhino", (Big old jet airliner) by Steve Miller ;)

Thank you, Lucas - I only wish I'd found this forum years sooner :)

It is a beautiful, sacred mountain :)

Oh! Sorry.. an unintentional breach of protocol on my part. I first got into Rush when I was probably 13 or 14, in the early 80s. I remember hearing Spirit of Radio and thinking.. this is something else! The first album I got was Exit Stage Left - I used my hard earned babysitting money on that double album! I thought..what a bargain - I get the music from all of those different albums with just this one purchase. I was so hooked on that album; those versions of those songs are still some of my favorites. :) The first concert I ever saw was for Power Windows in 1985 - I still have that ticket stub and got it signed by Geddy last weekend! Weehee!! As for favorites and lists.. well... I pretty much love them all. Over the years, different ones have had more meaning to me than others, and that always seems to change and evolve. My favorite era.. here goes... the synth years... :) Hold Your Fire is still one of my "go to" when I need a quick Rush fix. I think Permanent Waves qualifies as *both* a 70s and 80s album ;)

I'm so sorry, toymaker.

It got me again, on my way home from work yesterday. Darn near an ugly cry in the car! This song has evolved so much over time for me in how it evokes emotion. At first, I really enjoyed it as "that slower song" on Clockwork Angels. It was a nice end to the album, wrapped things up well in my mind. It was great to hear it live on the CA tour, and I enjoyed listening to it whenever it came up on random or on purpose. Then came R40, and the realization that the tour had most likely signified an end to an era. Now, hearing The Garden, knowing that it is the last song, on the last album they'll ever produce. Oh wow.. I couldn't hear it without getting at least a bit choked up while singing along, and occasionally shedding a couple of tears. The final blow was Time Stand Still. Such perfect placement and use of that song as the credits are rolling. Bonafide ugly cry. 10 tissues, at least, swollen eyes, the whole nine yards. Oyyyy I was glad that I was at least home alone at the time. The Garden comes off of all of my playlists after this - it caught me offguard one morning on my way to work and reduced me to tears. I couldn't have that happening! I went about a year or so, then gradually attempted to listen to it again. Finally, just recently, I was able to make it all the way through. It was almost like the stages of grief, where at some point, you turn the corner and the memories that made you sad are now the happy ones that you enjoy reflecting on. That was, until I decided to listen to the live Rush albums yesterday. Oh cool, I thought, here's a live version of The Garden - I've got this! Oh no I didn't!! The sound of Geddy singing that live, combined with the recent experience of meeting him at Grapes Under Pressure, somehow regressed my whole "grief" progression and dumped me right back at the sad point. Ah well.. I'll give it some time, because time heals all and I'll get to listen to it again some day. Are there any songs (Rush, or otherwise) that have such a powerful emotional impact on you? Sad, happy or otherwise? Thanks for hearing me out.. I knew that this would be a safe place to share this, with a group of people that would uniquely understand what I was talking about :)

I did not get one of those! The only sort of "after" the event thing I got was the license plate frame.

Coffee has been consumed - hopefully this works :) https://imgur.com/a/3xw8iSx

This exactly. Seriously - I lucked out BIG TIME, meeting both Earl and Rod (and Geddy and Alex, too, I suppose ;) ) and spending the day hanging with them. It wouldn't have been nearly as fun without these two guys to share the experience with. To paraphrase Earl - these two strangers were definitely long awaited friends who made this day even better. I hope our paths cross again someday :) If you ever find yourself near Tucson AZ - I'd better know about it ;) (trying to add a pic of the three of us but failing - will try again after more coffee!)

I think Rod summed it up the best - it was like a big wedding reception, and Geddy and Alex were like the bride and groom. Geddy seemed really happy to engage in conversation about baseball (I think everyone knows how passionate he is about the sport), but for the most part, it was kind of hard to get in any kind of thoughtful conversation from my perspective. They also had security guards following them around pretty closely a good part of the day, but not for the entire thing. I didn't see Alex making the rounds during lunch, but when Geddy came by, I begged (almost) him to sign my ticket stub from 1985. He obliged, and joked about having some pretty bad hair back then. Didn't we all?! ;) I did, however, get a meaningful conversation with Alex's wife, Charlene. I had no idea who I was even chit-chatting with until I asked her if she was at the event for the band or the wine, then she gave me the scoop on who she was. Wow.. she was so nice to talk to, happy to share some stories, and then I made sure to excuse myself and move on before overstaying my welcome. What was SUPER cool to me was that she was there with her best buddy, Esther. Who here is familiar with Shut up Shuttin' Up? OH MY GOD, Esther still sounds exactly the same! She was like, yea, Just shut up and PLAY THE GUITAR! Wow.. They were joking about how much wine they had that day.. no kidding, it sounded like they were truly having fun on the recording :) Lovely people. So cool to meet you, Rod and Earl - I'm such a noob here and you were so awesome to hang out with, easy company like we've known each other far longer than just the day, I couldn't have asked for better companions to share this experience with.