Bahamas

Constructively selfish...because it means you can watch them as they return to the feeder? Not so selfish? Maybe not "survival of the species friendly" but with everything else going on in the world, yup, why not put down some seeds for our fluttery friends

I trust you are focusing on the oldies but goodies! No Natural Science in that mix? Beneath, Between and Behind? You're calling them the Obscure Four, cool! - maybe those four songs could include another song and then magically be called "Part Five of Obscure Four", sort of like "Part Four of the Fear Trilogy"? Okay, New_World_Man, I will stop trying to derail this topic - promise! Back to In The End

Mr. Lurkst, teach me/please explain a bit more what you are thinking? You play guitar, I don't, but I like what you are saying about cranking up the amp - I really like the pauses in the song and then the super sharp Alex guitar riffs! Is the "one two..." quote, something Alex said on stage at some point? Or a soundcheck? Rings a bell from a concert video... I looked at the album jacket after seeing this post (CDs are too small to read nowadays without glasses on hand) and all songs are credited with all three members - except for Best I Can and In The End. So not pre-Professor lyrics, but Lee/Lifeson? Yes, not every moment of their musical history has the exact correct reference, but are you just generally saying the music is still in the early stages? I also like cranking up the first album every once in a while, and that is simple stuff! But still fun to hear. And credits at that point are perhaps ambiguous... Maybe it all fits with the music they went on to create? The beginnings must help the successes of the endings? Influences and such... And I have never really paid a lot of attention to play lists, thank you for the mention of a limited "shelf life/pick list" - I will watch for this rarely played live song, now more often. Looks like it will be an easy chore! Cheers. I would really appreciate any positive reply.

So glad I logged in tonight! I love this song. Not only is it part of the first album with them together, every song feels like their own - no filler songs or remakes of other artists (not talking about Feedback, at all) to round out a full record. Key changes and strumming chords can sound tired, but it really feels alive with In The End. I wait for the different guitar sounds and really enjoy hearing it, every time. It's like a juvenile Far Cry? Nice one, New_World_Man, I agree - an underrated song and deserves to be celebrated in its own right (Side note, the mixing on this album is interesting. Rivendell is practically un-listenable? And a shame because it's another example of what the guys really, really wanted to write and play, no? There was a re-mix of Vapor Trails, I think there should be a re-mix of Fly By Night)

Thank you for thinking about this, Alexmai. But I wonder if you are looking only at "capacity" and not so much at the ticket sales/seat occupancy? Many things come together when considering these statistics. I also have looked through Wandering, but it is very number/review specific. The whole picture is not that obvious? The concerts were some of the biggest EVER that Rush had performed, huge numbers - but they were in soccer/football stadiums that are very, very large. Those stadiums are meant to accommodate tens upon tens of thousands of fans - yet they were available for concert bookings, and the whole Rush team admits to not realising how popular they were down south. It would look on paper that those shows were under attended, but a couple were, in fact, the biggest ever.

Because Rush Backstage does not send food products outside the U.S. and Kozlik's does not show the product (?), we ordered directly from Henderson Brewery. It really is a nice mustard. Not too sharp or too sweet - and it might be a tasting imagination, but there does seem to be a different angle to the taste. Not a hops or beer flavour, but a smooth taste that suggests you could use it on almost anything. And I now realise, over 19 albums the guys covered a lot of different sounds and musical influences. Perhaps that is exactly what the mustard is supposed to inspire? Very yummy mustard!

I forget to look at this forum, thanks for the giggles everybody! A teenager brings her new boyfriend home to meet her parents. They're appalled by his haircut, his tattoos, his piercings. Later, the girl's Mom says "Dear, he doesn't seem to be a very nice boy." "Oh, please, Mom!" says the daughter. "If he wasn't nice, would he be doing 500 hours of community service?"

And if you check out and listen to "Strombo" and Rush on the 40th Anniversary of Moving Pictures...it's about 40 -50 minutes, not posting where the exact time stamp is for the reference... but very Canadian. (look for George Stroumboulopoulos - if you have the keyboard skills) They also refer to Cliff Burnstein, both Alex and Geddy. And, if I may say, George also refers to an earlier interview with Neil about the thirtieth anniversary of Moving Pictures. Be prepared for nostalgia, just saying.

There is a gallery featuring his artwork - and then Youtube has some footage of songs and live concerts. His artwork can be seen at karenrobinsongallery.com (It's the Karen Robins Ontario gallery, if that makes sense) Some portraits you can recognise right away (mostly Canadian) but others were likely done for various political statements and such. If you go too far down the rabbit hole, you will see that he chose to use the federal government sanctioned medical assisted dying application, because of Parkinson's and his wish to die as he chose.

Thank you for that! And the details, much appreciated. So a swinging, old school R&B wins, perhaps? I will try to look it up next week. Now I see (lol), it is hearing the renditions and did it have anything to do with a big NFL game approaching? There have been some odd and cringe-like voices over the years - and with some other sports - artists add their particular nuance. You wait for the anthem to begin...then slowly lean to a side...then squint into the television (or other) and then start wondering what the internet is going to say tomorrow.

My wife loved it all! I got caught up in other shows but hope to see it soon.

Do not, but always looking for more! (Sorry, doesn't answer your question - but I still want to get a hold of it)

Tell us, pjbear05, I am sure there is a lot of culture around that song and its history. Being a Canuckistanian, I wouldn't reach for a book on our national anthem. But this is a play on words - not O Say Can You See, but rather, Hear? The patriotism? The history? What did you find interesting?

I did a search and didn't see a post. He passed away Feb. 7. I am not typically touched by the passing of "famous people" (except Neil - wow that was a kicker) but the eccentric Canadian painter, musician and long time friend of Rush just feels like it is worth recording in the forums of our beloved band. I read Ray had a painting of his in the office. As an early touring act with Rush, they remained friends until the end. In later years, Neil mentions in one of his books about visiting and talking about life. May he rest in peace, going out the way he wanted.

I saw a headline about that and clicked on it. Even up here in Winterland! Interesting that every time you read about a GoFundMe activity and wonder - really? A lot of them pile up the money. Like, taxes and extra payments we all incur every year and they keep increasing are not enough? - there is room for a few bucks to help somebody who needs/can use it. It all adds up!

Wow, thank you Rush Didact - I will cut and paste this for further reference. That is a lot of research!

Very nice - that would make my day, too! Something I wrote about a while back, being outside in the winter with the snow and the silence - interrupted, as you describe, by wildlife - is a feeling I can relate to, when Neil describes his winter activities. But spring on its way? I wish! We have some time yet, being in the middle of our continent. Yes, Lake Superior is a buffer but it's going to be winter for some time to come. No coastal temperaments for us.

Reading my first Stephen King book - ever! Some of you inspired me to keep his name in the back of my mind and my wife is an avid reader of crime, mystery and fantasy novels. She shares the stories with me in conversation, but I don't always bite. I wanted something completely different - and honestly, Barack Obama's A Promised Land is very interesting, but long and sometimes sleepy - so I wanted a complete change. Fairy Tale.

Well, looks like bjohio only joined to ask about Neil's road trips? I looked for this post to say that on Cygnus-X1.net (the excellent Rush support site) Sunlight On Chrome posted GPS routes for Ghost Rider on a Jan. 26 Twitter post. If you are still watching the forums, it might help?

If Rush is my "jam", winter wilderness stuff is my "peanut butter" It began over 20 years ago when the college approached the local search and rescue unit about wilderness skills - because students will be getting all their flight hours up here over Boreal forests. After graduation they can go on to become pilots for whatever company, but many will be bush pilots for mining companies and such. I started with the search unit in 2010 and got into this particular course a few years ago. It's a ten class program with 7 night classes of simple wilderness first aid, group dynamics, building a survival kit, proper clothing materials, footwear, combating fear and panic, etc. and then 3 outdoor exercises - 2 single Saturdays where they learn to start fires using only a flint striker (works anywhere, anytime, always and every time - with practice) and then shelters (the lean-to that you can build to any size with a multi-tool and wire or some rope) and the tripod signal fire. Then it culminates with an overnight weekend of all skills put together. Yes, some years it's -10 C and other years it can be -25 or more. It's a destructive non-environmentally friendly program, but using crown land and notifying the rural police, fire departments and such, and with one of their instructors doing a fly-over with dash cams on the final day, the students get to see how tiny and difficult it is to see the little columns of smoke from the signal fires at 1000 feet. They really get a perspective on how to stand out in thousands of square miles of dark forest cover. It takes hours to scramble a search team from southern Ontario and then many more to begin spotting and mapping the original flight plan and grid searching out from that pattern - over hundreds of miles, so they are taught how to spend a couple of days waiting and hoping for a rescue. They are nervous going in and super psyched and proud coming out. Foreign students, older students changing careers, always a few women, people of all walks of life - but want to be pilots. 45 - 55 students a year? We are all volunteers but it does net our unit some cash to continue operating and paying rent. Started back in the late '60s, the unit is still going but is rarely called out by police for searches these days - it's become more of an community education service. I have always been too shy to ask Alex - "Sir, what is in your aircraft survival kit?" But I think someday I will ask? Cheers Jack Aubrey! It's a really neat course and there are very few of them remaining. Thanks for asking.

I just returned from a class where we were teaching winter survival stuff to college aviation students - a two month long annual affair. After shelter building and discussing how they will be outside and cutting down trees and such, the next topic was signals. They need to learn how to signal to aircraft to improve rescue times and shorten the time spent waiting for said rescues. I introduced the next topic of signals - different types of sound, reflective, ground signal fires, etc. I said "so the next topic is signals." ..."Not only is Signals a great Rush album, we need to know the basics of..." There were a couple of chuckles, but most are too young to understand. Talking to them in groups outside, I always mention Rush as an icebreaker - more and more, it's "My dad is (this or that)" but not the students. Sigh. But I loved that I could sneak that in to get a sense of musical tastes!

Thanks, all. Some interesting points. Much appreciated!

I recently acquired a copy of My Favorite Headache (Thanks ytserush! And in mint condition). On the back of the CD jacket is a website: www.myfavoriteheadache.com so I checked it out. At the top of the page is "This domain name expired on 2022-12-22". There are still links to current bands and performances, it looks like a ticket community page of sorts. The CD is an Atlantic Recording Corporation, A Time Warner Company, 2000. But how interesting (to me) that a popular, established artist makes a solo album, chooses (?) a period of time to activate a promotional website - and it's 22 years with no renewal? Is that perhaps a Time Warner thing? "It's by the decade! Choose how many you want, ok, add two years if that makes you geschlappy about it". Or an expiry date is arriving and the artist figures it's been long enough? I would love to hear from forum artists more familiar with this business, or friends of Mr. Lee who could shed some light. Thanks, Cheers and Safe Holidays to all :) (Edit: And I just realised that after many years of wanting to own and listen closely to the CD, it arrived on Thursday - the exact day the domain name expired! Might buy a lotto ticket tomorrow?)

Brag, brag, brag! I won't say how many times I shovelled today, or how the windchill factor made the three outings feel very, very cold. But I feel for the other winter folks. The days are getting longer but winter is settling in to stay for quite a while.

Up here in Canada, they did not get a lot of airplay. Reading somebody say "the radio" is not trivial. Thanks BigMontanaSKY - any reason to give for learning about the band is nice to see.