dream & vapour

I hear this, and it transports me back to a Schmenge Brothers concert at Massey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_XSPO4FJjE

We're talkin' alpine/downhill skiing here, obviously. After all, who wears a helmet for the superior form of skiing--cross country? Ready, Steady, Go by Paul Oakenfold Shame by Stabbing Westward Rise by The Cult I'm Not Trading by Sunna Lazy Afternoon of the Jaguar by Turing Machine Intro by The xx Tidal Wave by The Laurels The Walker (Roman Flügel Remix) by Dark Sky (suitable for deep powder) Never Awake and Running Wild by Drenge On the Loose by Saga If you're doing the black diamonds: Trouble by Lindsey Buckingham Bored by Death Angel Swerve City by Deftones The Trees (ESL version) by Rush Feed the Trees by Belly D.O.A. by Van Halen We Die Young by Alice in Chains Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter After the Snow by Modern English

One thing is quite apparent here: David Lynch was directing your dream.

Wait. You were able to audition the new Rush album, but didn't have your Pro Tools or Logic Pro neural interface plugged-in to capture it? Oy gevalt. Next time . . . next time.

This refers to item 13 from the article: . . . Mario Prudenti (a waiter acquaintance of Dixon’s, carrying the portrait of US President Calvin Coolidge) . . . That was another one which led me to think, "One of us (me or the article's author) is on perception-altering drugs, and I'm pretty sure it ain't me." Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. So much for editorial diligence. The painting to which the author presumably refers is A Friend in Need (1903) by Cassius Coolidge (from his series of paintings featuring dogs playing poker). Oy vey.

I too read the following line from the article, and thought, "Huh, what?!": That image was superimposed against a shot of the Toronto skyline – the skeletal structure in the background is the then-under construction CN Tower, soon to be the world’s tallest building. That skeletal structure is a rail yard light tower, similar to the one seen in the center of this old CN rail yard photo, looking towards Bathurst (what is now the new Railway Lands development: https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/ser1465/s1465_fl0751_it0022.jpg The only way the under-construction CN Tower might appear in the AFTK cover artwork is if Syme painted it to look like a smokestack. But even then, the taper doesn't match that of the CN Tower. Which makes me wonder, is this a misquote/mistake in the article(?).

In this category, Runaway by Jefferson Starship is the, um . . . runaway winner (or loser, depending upon your perspective).

I agree on these pronunciations. "A great mind thinks alike!" But seriously, one can't help but feel sorry for those learning English from a non-native starting point. The British Isles was a place where all of its inhabitants, and their neighboring lands, met to create one heck of an amalgamation: Old Norse, Latin, Brittonic, Old French . . . the list goes on and on.

Yep. You're absolutely correct. Now we're left with the lightly irritating knowledge that the 'radio edit' version of this has been put up on the official channel. C'mon! It's Rush fans primarily seeking this out. No shortcuts required.

The 'full version' includes a b&w intro title roll (And now . . . the exclusive full length version of . . .), as well as a b&w credit roll at the end (Directed by Robert F. Quartley for Champagne Pictures; Computer Animation by Greenlight, New York -- Toronto; yada, yada, yada). These b&w rolls were not included with The Big Money from the Chronicles video collection, as the credits there were placed at the end of the tape. This version would have presumably been intended for play on Night Flight, or similar programming. Other than that, the version linked above via YouTube is available in much, much better resolution. (I have always assumed the Time 80:08 graphic visible at the ~3:28 mark was a nod from the graphic animation dudes to the Intel 8008 chip, which gave birth to the age of personal computers. Thanks Austin 'Gus' Roche!)

I thought those were played on a bell tree by NP. The opening chime tones are a glockenspiel. In fact, when played live in later years, Neil would emulate the opening chimes using a glockenspiel sample on his MalletKat unit. However, on the album version, at about the 17 second mark, a horse of a different color rides onto the scene. This could be a chromatic bell tree. But it has an almost detuned effect to it, so I have assumed it was the OB-X using a similar sounding patch. I may be wrong. If so, I shall have to don the horsehair shirt for a prescribed period.

It isn't a matter of recollection. Synth settings are logged, so that once you're taking the show on the road (and years down the road), there isn't a dependence upon recollection. One might spend hours and hours tweaking knobs and settings until you attain that a-ha! moment. "That's it! This is the sound I seek." Then you write down all the settings. (And, if your dealing only with manual sliders knobs, you can snap photos.) Remember, we're taking about Geddy Lee--obsessive individual. Our guys always want to present the live audience with a performance as near to the recorded version as possible. This aspect of Geddy's musical life seems a huge, soft pitch waiting for a good swing. He's fielded endless questions regarding his bass playing and equipment, but not a lot of the gearhead variety delving into his synth work. Such detailed minutiae could nest wonderfully into a memoir appendix. (Yeah, not gonna happen.) Or, a published, downloadable file. Yeah!

I can get a reasonable approximation of this on my OB-X synth, so I always guessed that's what it was. But it does almost sound like something else with how distinct and percussive it is. Watching some P/G footage, he appears to turn to his PPG Wave to make this sound when playing it live on that tour (although his OB-Xa is tied up with playing the choir patch). The sound is also a lot more drawn out and synthy compared to the original recording. Yes, on the OB-X. You aim for a celesta patch, which takes on a music box/toy piano tonality in higher octaves. Plink around, then drag that index finger up and down the white keys. Perhaps a Synth/Synth Settings appendix would be a champion idea for the memoir. You don't suppose the editor would dismissively chortle at the idea, do you?

This topic brings to mind something from back in the days of dial-up modem sounds, in primordial times when one wouldn't be too surprised by the sight of an Archaeopteryx flying in through the cave threshold: The National Midnight Star. This was an email distributed newsletter to which one could subscribe, administered by a guy at the University of Maryland. It ran throughout most of the 90's. Someone has taken the time and care to archive much of it here: https://www.pelstudio.com/tnms/index.html Then there was also the newsgroup alt.music.rush.

Trick question. 'Champion' and 'power ballad' are incongruous terms. Once a band has started down the schmaltzy path of power balladry, they've surrendered all hope of ever taking on the mantle of 'champion'.

Road & wave--an enveloping totality: https://goo.gl/maps/FeZSw6Fntab3Ni9U8

Here's a link to the FLAC format of Counterparts. This is the 2015 version, remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Roads, as part of the Rush 40th anniversary vinyl re-releases: https://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/35620 Notes from Rhino Records: https://www.rhino.com/article/coming-soon-rush-counterparts-test-for-echo-on-vinyl

The cars being auctioned comprise most of his 'collector' cars, but not all cars he owned. For instance, he had a Porsche 911 Speedster, 2001 BMW Z8 and a 2010 Aston Martin DBS. Many people have heard the story of Carroll Shelby taping a $100 bill to the passenger-side visor of a 427 Cobra. He would tell the passenger, "If you can grab that bill once I floor this thing, you get to keep it." And of course, nobody could power their hands up to the visor with that monstrous acceleration. I leave you with this curvaceous version of sex on wheels:

Jess nails the correct response at the end of the guitar solo--Woooo! One of the many elements which makes this song fantastic is the dynamic transition from the chorus leading into the guitar solo. Neil pounds the bass and two 16" crashes on every beat in 4/4. And then, whoosh!, that step into open space. Breathe. We're in 3/4 time, almost giving a half-time impression, as Neil now provides that open feel with only bass and ride. But he doesn't stay there long, as he introduces some snare, and before you know it, he's playing some triplets on the toms. Then going strong, really driving that third beat. Glorious. Then transitioning back into 4/4 for the chorus. As Jess says, Wooo! Incredible ensemble work. It's interesting (on an oblique point, here) that an opera singer would conduct an analysis of this song, as Neil had stated it was critical to monitor Geddy's vocal phrasing while providing the pace in Limelight. Does Geddy sound rushed? Pull back. Does it sound as if he's being stranded too long on a note? Pick it up at bit. Another group who are typically very good on detecting the time signatures? Dancers. It's a prerequisite for the job, apparently. I would sometimes challenge a past acquaintance (who went on to perform with the Paul Taylor Dance Ensemble) to identify a song's time signature. After about ten seconds of listening, he'd be able to correctly say, "7/8!" or "9/8!". Most impressive. He clearly had an impeccable sense of time. And he did some great comedic impressions too, but that's beside the point.

The fact that Mary lived a full 95 years, despite all the world threw at her, bears witness to how much chutzpah propelled her through this often chaotic realm. It might have helped if her son decided to become a doctor, or something respectable, but what can you do? Hopefully Geddy steps into the breach to take up hamantashen duties.

"I think we're getting into a weird area here." "I'm just afraid that you're going to burn in Hell for all this." "Mike, I really appreciate you're doing this, but . . . it is just for the money, isn't it? It's not just so you can wear these little outfits?" Some classic lines delivered by Bill playing Jeff (Michael Dorsey's roommate) in Tootsie. Inspired casting choice. And of course there's Charles Durning's (playing Les) line, "Bulls are bulls, and roosters don't try to lay eggs!" Not that I would ever drop that line into a conversation. Certainly not.

Since this is the place where the cool cats who rightly dig the F#11 chord--strange, beautiful music, as that Satriani fellow might say--hang out, here's another way (or two) you can pull that sensation into the Tom Sawyer outro. But using the E11 chord, rather than (or in addition to) the F#11 chord. Play the simple arpeggiation of the F# power chord (2,4,4), then strum a DMb5 (x,5,6,7,7,x), then back to the F# arpeggio, then let this beauty ring out . . . an E11 (0,5,6,7,5,5). You may want to mute that low E. Other variants you may want to sample might be (x,7,6,7,5,5), (x,x,0,1,0,2--which would be a D6b5 maybe) and (x,x,0,1,3,2--another version of DMb5). These, and other exciting destinations, can be found right on your fretboard. Have fun, and protect those ears!

I know these videos of which you write. The iVideosongs videos. They're clearly popular on YouTube, as the Limelight (for instance) video has over one million views. It would have been quite nice to have such tools at my disposal when I was learning guitar. These kids got it made today. (Well, the ones who learn to play an actual instrument.) It's his video for Tom Sawyer in which he forthrightly states he doesn't know the name of a chord. It's the second chord played in the song, an E7sus4. Back in the day, when I'd be hanging out with friends--or at the local mom & pop guitar store--sharing how to play the song, I might get asked the question, "What chord is that?" And my response would be, "Beats the hell outta me, but that's what it is!" The vast majority of guitarists probably have no idea what the name of a beyond-the-mundane chord they're playing might be. And unless you're a session guitarist who's expected to quickly read changes on a chart you've just been handed, it's not critical. After one has played guitar long enough, you develop that sense of, "If I put my fingers like this, it should sound good. And if I'm lucky, it'll sound exquisite." After all, in music, creativity trumps knowledge of structural orthodoxy.