9/4

I'm planning to go back and really listen to and study all of the Rush albums, going in order from start to finish. I just finished listening to the debut pre-Neil Rush album. I like it as a bluesy, sometimes groovy, classic rock album with some resemblances to Zepp. John Rutsey did a fully adequate job on the drums, though his playing is pretty conventional (I read that he left the band due to health issues, not because Geddy and Alex kicked him out or due to a falling out). Looking forward, the effect of Neil joining the band was clearly transformative with regard to elevating the sophistication of the album concepts, lyrics, and music. I won't say that Neil was the heart of Rush - that would be a disservice to Geddy and Alex - but he certainly reshaped the band into something which had limited resemblance to the original Rush. Of course, I'm just preaching to choir here, but interesting to make these comparisons in the wake of Neil's passing.

For me, the mortality aspect isn’t a factor, since I’ve had plenty of reminders of that for years.

This is where I am with Neil's death. It's sad the way his life ended and I was sad for a couple days after it happened and that was it. I never got into this negative state of mind where I needed to be told to stay positive and things will get better. I take solace in the joy of the musical legacy Neil left behind. It all depends on what kind of connection someone feels to Neil. I don't think it's odd to feel a strong connection despite not having had direct two-way communication with Neil. For some people (including me), it feels akin to losing a family member or close friend. I completely understand that. Neil as well as Geddy and Alex did become like "friends" to us through their music. But what has helped me with this is that Rush had been retired for a few years before Neil passed. So, to me it was like hearing about the passing of an old friend you weren't in contact with for some time. It's sad to hear that they're gone but the hurt is much less because I wasn't as connected to them in their final years. If Rush was still active this news would have hit me much harder than it did. I try to avoid dwelling too much on the negative, but, for many of us, I think our sadness is increased because of the tragedies Neil went through two decades ago, the relatively young age at which he passed without the opportunity to have a proper retirement, the nature of the illness he had, the wife and young daughter and bandmates he leaves behind, etc. Especially for those of us who retain an idealistic bent, there's a sense in which these things seem rather unjust, relative to what he contributed to the world through his art and the example of how he lived his life.

This is where I am with Neil's death. It's sad the way his life ended and I was sad for a couple days after it happened and that was it. I never got into this negative state of mind where I needed to be told to stay positive and things will get better. I take solace in the joy of the musical legacy Neil left behind. It all depends on what kind of connection someone feels to Neil. I don't think it's odd to feel a strong connection despite not having had direct two-way communication with Neil. For some people (including me), it feels akin to losing a family member or close friend.

Yes, John McCain had the same type of cancer, as did Ted Kennedy. This is supposed to be a relatively rare cancer, with an incidence rate of about 1 case per 30,000 people per year, but anecdotal info makes it seem like it's becoming more common than that. Because glioblastoma (GBM) is in the brain, the effects on a person depend on where in the brain it is and where it spreads to. Most people who have GBM have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, but it's not possible to remove 100% surgically because the margins of the tumor are diffuse and care must be taken to not remove normal brain tissue. If by 'survival' you mean cure, the cure rate for GBM is much less than 10%, and not much above 0%. Sometimes you'll see stats like 5-year survival rate reported, and people may get the impression that surviving to 5 years is the same as cure, but for many types of cancer (like GBM) people can pass away from them long after 5 years, sometimes as late as 20 years or more. Some data here: https://virtualtrials.com/pdf/long-termsurvivalofglioblastoma.pdf

I like to take Neil's work in the context of the synergy of the band, which enabled each of them to shine. There was magic in the juxtaposition of Neil's precise, powerful, compositional drumming, Alex's textural guitar and free-flying emotive solos, Geddy's pumping and often groovy bass, and the way they used keyboards. Geddy gave heartfelt voice to the lyrics, and the music always fit the lyrics as if written specifically for the lyrics. My mind still boggles at the seeming improbability of three such unique virtuosos finding each other, forming a band, meshing so well with each other musically and artistically, and having personal characteristics such that they could stay together for decades, through thick and thin, to create this body of artistic work.

Being only a hobbyist drummer, I've always been too intimidated to try to play along with any of Neil's drum parts, and I didn't want to dishonor Neil and Rush by making a mess of it (even if the only listener was me). But a drummer in this forum recently said that he found it therapeutic to play along with Neil, so over the past few days I decided to give it a try. He's right. I still have to do much serious study and practice to play Neil's parts at a level which does any justice to them (and may never really get there), but I just played along with Power Windows and felt that I was able to do a non-terrible job and channel some of Neil's spirit. After playing along with this album, I feel like I'm already a better drummer (it helps that I've heard the album and imagined playing the drum parts a million times over the years). The experience makes clearer Neil's brilliance as a composer, his precision, and his power. To this day, I don't know of any other drummer who has ever played like him. My respect for Neil's playing is heightened by what I recently heard in the audiobook of Ghost Rider. When Neil was young, he had weak ankles and wasn't good at sports, and when he got older, learning to ride a motorcycle was a real challenge. So he wasn't gifted with physical 'natural ability', and instead the prowess he developed on the drums was a result of motivation coming from artistic vision and a lot of hard work to achieve excellence. He wanted to inspire people, and he managed to inspire millions around the globe.

It's nice to hear those words from them. Each of them is amazing, and together they were beyond amazing. Artists for the ages who have touched our hearts and minds in a way that only the best art can do.

He is one of Neil's friends. A simple internet search can add other details about him ;) he was the drummer of Jethro Tull during the 80s. I have met him. Super nice guy Neil’s personality is such where he would never tell anyone he was in pain even if he was. It’s one of the many characteristics that make him such an admirable man. This isn’t to say he was or wasn’t in pain. He just despised the idea of anyone worrying about him. He never wanted to be a burden to anyone: (which is what makes cancer such a cruel fate, as it’s a disease that affects far too many in a horrible manner). I’m sure Neil hated that. True, though I can believe that he wasn't in significant pain. At this point, I'll use free will and choose to believe that he wasn't in pain.

Actually, for glioblastoma, the median survival is a little more than a year, and survival to 3.5 years is uncommon, but not rare. Some people have survived well over 10 years and appear to be cured, but that is indeed rare. I agree that living longer with a poor and diminishing quality of life isn't necessarily preferable.

If what Sully is saying is true, it doesn't really surprise me and I can't really fault him for revealing it at this stage, though I personally would prefer not to have known it. Being located in the brain and highly invasive, glioblastoma can have an array of detrimental effects, including effects on speech, memory, thought, emotions, movement, etc. I'm not religious, but if I was, God rest his soul.

I think that's quite possible. The earlier symptoms for this type of tumor, prior to diagnosis, could be be mistaken for effects of getting older, other ailments, etc. Neil may have been feeling unwell for a while and not known why.

I have a somewhat different view. Being a prolific artist who diligently strove for excellence, I believe that Neil was glad to see his work appreciated, and did want to have a connection with the millions of people who appreciated his work. What he didn't want was endless gushing one-on-one adulation from people he didn't know personally because (a) pretending that a stranger is a long-awaited friend is just pretending, and he didn't want to be a pretender, (b) that would have prevented him having the normal kinds of human interactions that he had when traveled the backroads of the world with a degree of anonymity, and [c] he wanted us to each strive for excellence and actualize our potentials in ways that made sense in our own lives, rather than being tempted to simply try to emulate him. I believe that Neil anticipated our mourning, and would have been understanding of it, but he wanted our mourning to eventually dissipate and be replaced by more positive thoughts and feelings. I know, easier said than done, but hopefully that's the road we're on. Considering how things would likely have played out if everyone found out 3.5 years ago that Neil had a brain cancer that probably only left him with a few years of life remaining, I think it was very wise for him to not let the world know. He was wise until the very end, truly a person to admire and learn from ... On a side note, Audible is making all of Neil's books available for free until January 28. Very classy of them to do that. I've downloaded all of them and plan to go through all of them. https://www.audible....eart/B000APH4T0

I'm definitely hearing the music differently now. I'm listening a lot more intently, and in the process I'm rediscovering Rush. The music sounds better to me now, but it also evokes many jabs of sadness. I'm starting to think that it may be better to think of Neil as a professional percussion composer and percussionist, rather than a 'rock drummer' in any conventional sense of that term.

I personally am not interested in hearing any further details about what Neil went through in dealing with his cancer. Knowing what my mom went through with the same type of cancer, that would be a very sad tale, and telling it would just increase everyone's pain. I think that what Geddy and Alex can do now is say some words which provide the kind of tribute to Neil which only they can provide, and which help the rest of us deal with the loss.

I ran across this post in another forum, which I find to be very insightful, and I wanted to share it here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/neil-peart-of-rush-passed-away/post?postid=1863433#1863433

This makes me simultaneously happy and sad. Even in drum solos, he was disciplined, compositional, and precise. Look at his facial expression - unwavering concentration and absorption. Put on good headphone and crank this one up:

Here's a good convenient source to read Neil's lyrics: https://www.azlyrics.com/r/rush.html Reading them rather than listening them, I'm finally realizing, decades later, that they're more poetry than prose.

No artist works in a vacuum. An artist like Neil can achieve commercial success if they innovate at the cutting edge, yet produce work which has wide appeal (very difficult to do both!). Contrast that with someone like the late guitarist Alan Holdsworth, who was placed as much on a pedestal by his peers as Neil was, but Alan's music was well ahead of its time (arguably, even decades later, it may still be), appealing to a relatively narrow audience, so while Alan received enormous acclaim from his peers, he didn't achieve commercial success and died almost penniless. Neil and Alan are the two artists whose passing has hit me hardest.

Agreed, and a positive is to donate to cancer research. I couldn't afford much but felt better for doing it in Neil's memory. Unfortunately, after spending thousands of hours researching cancer and communicating with leading cancer researchers around the world (including currently), I came to the conclusion that there's plenty of funding for cancer research, and the problem is that the money is often not well spent in terms making a real difference in preventing or treating cancer. If donating to cancer research, my suggestion would be to be very selective in making those donations.

Agreed that it would be good to hear from Geddy and Alex, when they’re ready. This loss may take some time for many of us, especially them, to process. It’s a big loss for the world, and made more painful by our knowledge of the tragedy Neil endured two decades ago, his life being cut short, the way in which his life ended, and the wife and young daughter he leaves behind. But we can take some consolation in knowing that, overall, he lived a good and very impactful life, as reflected by the outpouring of love from around the globe in his passing.

Running this place: https://en.wikipedia...tch_Observatory :) As much as I'd have loved to run into him, I can say with certainty that Neil never made it up here. One of the perks of life in Alert is that the station is primarily a military signals intelligence site, so access is severely restricted and you have to have valid security clearance and a work-related reason to come up. With very rare exceptions, we don't get tourists here. Well, now we can officially say that Rush fans include people who have some of the coolest jobs in the world (pun intended), and span the globe extending even to very close to the North Pole! (For those of you who own a globe, I highly recommend locating Alert, Nunavut on the globe - no 2D map will give you a proper sense of where this is.)

You're a long way from me! I'm currently in Alert, Nunavut, the world's northernmost inhabited place, at the very tip of Canada. It's about -32 here right now. :) I'm also a huge fan of Power Windows. It keeps getting better with age, I think I listen to it more than any other album. Wow, what's a Rush Didact doing all the way up there? I imagine that Neil must have visited such places in his many travels.

Good article by someone who wrote a book about Neil: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/a-homeric-life-neil-peart-1952-2020/

Some good articles from Medium: https://medium.com/@GregCampNC/neil-peart-1952-2020-289aa6baffae https://medium.com/@paulbrubaker/as-lyricist-neil-peart-knew-where-our-heads-were-71be48bba84 https://medium.com/@mikegoldberg/coping-with-the-loss-of-neil-peart-7bb50dc1b93e