After taking half a billion photos yesterday I quietly turn my creative thoughts to musical stuff.
I say quietly because I didn’t make any noise today even though I wanted to. I guess we’re starting with a failure but whatever.
The first musical thought… I am hoping to write and record demos for 10 songs this month. As of half an hour ago I am up to seven songs in progress. They are all just MIDI tracks right now. No lyrics or melodies or guitars or anything. I’m working on it though. A little progress on most days after failing to do anything for about the first week of June.
The other musical thought tonight is a little more abstract. Generally speaking, the world is kinda shit right now. We have pro-nazi assholes and pedophile protecting pieces of shit everywhere we look. We as a society have just devolved into this awful clusterfuck of awful. Through it all there is one thing…
We have this one beacon of positivity. This single shining example of goodness and rightness standing up in the middle of the ocean of bullshit. Rush. They have only played four shows in one city and it has been absolutely magical and magnificent and perfect and wonderful and I never ever want it to end.
Our tickets are for a night that is just over a month away and it feels like we’re going to be waiting for an eternity to be able to join in the magic, but the day is coming and there will be other shows in the meantime in whose social media posted glory we may bask.
Rush. We don’t deserve them but we need them. We need them to help us claw our way out of the cesspool. I can’t freaking wait for Madison Square Garden in late July.
We have one day left. One day before two, count ’em two (2) contractors come to our house to work on climate related issues. I am close to having everything ready for them. I’ll be ready, I promise.
Rush played their second show last night. I again was not in attendance but word on the street is they played ALL of 2112. When I say all I mean all of the suite on side one, not the whole album. They also apparently played The Analog Kid, a song that I often wondered if it was at least partly inspired by people like Eddie Van Halen. I picture Alex Lifeson listening to Van Halen and thinking to himself, I can do that and then hitting record and shredding like a shredding monster. Good stuff.
Did I mention that I am stressed as fuck over home improvement projects? Yup, stressed as fuck.
Why has traffic been so bad over the last two weeks. Every time I commute to the office it just gets worse than the time before. It’s a mess out there, kids.
What else… for the past 24 hours my post-gastric bypassed stomach has been weird. Queasy and achy and weird. They told me stuff like this was going to happen off and on for the rest of my life and sure enough here we are. I’ll survive.
I had a long text conversation with my step son today. Doctor Who cancelled its planned xmas episode and the show runner quit. The show runner has been saying that an xmas episode had been written and would start shooting in September and I guess now we know that was bullshit. They said nothing had been written and now the BBC is taking pitches from production compaines… meaning they have no plan in place for the future. My Doctor Who loving step son and I were both pretty pissed off by the news. He suggested Richard Ayoade should be the next Doctor. That’s a really good idea. I suggested Rupert Grint (if they insist on The Doctor being a white guy) or Jameela Jamil (if they do not insist on The Doctor being a white guy). I still stand by my suggestions, but I kinda wish I had thought of Richard Ayoade too. He’d be perfect.
Okay, my queasy stomach and I are really tired. I think we’re going to go to sleep now. G’night, Rush fans. G’night, Doctor Who fans too. Let’s all join together and try to not stress the fuck out over home improvement projects. Huzzah and shit.
Rush played the Kia Forum in Los Angeles last night (or whatever the place is called these days).
I am so happy. I am so happy. I am so happy.
I said I wasn’t going to watch any clips but I am suspending that rule for this one thing. It’s the first thing that my social media algorithm madness sent my way. Pretty sure it’s the first song in the set. I haven’t watched it yet. I’ll post it here and then watch it.
I am so happy and I can’t wait for July 28th at Madison Square Garden. I cannot wait.
Tonight is the night. Rush returns to the stage in glorious fashion. Weirdly, they are starting this new tour at the same venue in Los Angeles as their final show back in 2015. Back then, Neil Peart wanted to retire. The other guys did not, but they went along and that was that. Then Neil passed away and time went on and eventually Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson started playing together for fun and eventually they brought in Anika Nilles to play drums and Loren Gold to play keyboards and now the tour is kicking off tonight.
So now, turning the attention back where it belongs… to me, we’ll be seeing the tour when it hits New York in late July. Boston wasn’t included in the initial tour announcement so we went with the closest city that was, and that was New York. I’ve seen Rush in New York a few times. If it weren’t for the fucking Yankees and the fucking Rangers and the fucking Mets and the fucking Islanders New York might be my favorite non-Boston city.
So the tour starts tonight but I still have nearly two months to wait before I can join in the fun. So what do I do? They have already stated that there will be multiple set lists so there’s a chance that even if I do get spoiled on that front there might still be surprises. I think I will try to avoid any foreknowledge though. Should I also avoid video clips online? I’ve only heard one song performed by this new lineup. They played Finding My Way at the Juno awards and it was freakin’ bliss. I don’t think I will be able to avoid all videos online, but I’ll probably try to avoid most… if I can… I don’t know.
Basically my point of view on this new Rush tour boils down to jealousy. I really wish we were in L.A. tonight. I’ve seen Rush 25 times. It would be pretty cool if 26 were tonight. I’ll happily wait my turn, but wouldn’t it be cool if around 7pm Pacific time or so… you know how it is.
Break a leg, Rush, both new members and old members.
I posted the video of Rush playing at the Juno Awards Ceremony the other night. Being the guitar nerd that I am, while 99% of me was consumed with bliss over seeing Rush again, 1% of me was noticing that Alex Lifeson was playing a Les Paul that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with before.
It looked like a vintage burst. Something made between 1958 and 1960. It was faded from sunburst to yellow the way a lot of ‘58’s and ‘59’s are. I assumed it was the real deal, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alex play a real burst before. I know Geddy Lee owns (owned?) one, but Alex usually plays newer models. Even back in the 70’s, before vintage Les Pauls became too enormously expensive, he played 70’s models.
So as I was watching the video I was wondering whether the guitar was a reissue or the real thing. There was something about it though… something familiar…
Holy shit, was he playing Greeny? Possibly the most famous of all Les Pauls? Arguably the finest example of the finest electric guitars ever made? Was he playing Peter Green’s Les Paul? The one Peter Green played in Fleetwood Mac and sold to Gary Moore for whatever Gary happend to have in his wallet at the time? The one that Moore sold to pay medical bills (at least that’s what I heard) and then years later a collector sold to Kirk Hammett of Metallica? The one with the out of phase neck pick up that inspired guitarists world ‘round to install their neck pick ups upside down to try to replicate?
Gary Moore, Peter Green, Kirk Hammett, all playing Greeny
So was Alex Lifeson playing Greeny?
I can’t find a good picture of the spots near the bridge pick up where the paint is warn away, but you can see it in some of the low res pics I’ve seen and in the video. The worn spots are there. You can see in these pics that it has the mismatched knobs and the neck pickup is upside down. The visual things are there.
The question then is, is this the real guitar or is it a replica? If it is a replica the question then is, is it the $50,000 replica that Gibson released in a very limited run a few years ago, or is it the $20,000 version that they released in a slightly less limited run, or is it the mass produced Gibson USA version that sold for… I can’t remember… was it $6,000? $8,000? Something like that.
There are stories out there reporting Alex and Kirk Hammett hanging out together. I know Kirk is a fan of Alex and Rush and I think I’ve read that Alex is a fan of Kirk and Metallica (I know I’ve read about Geddy Lee being a Metallica fan).
I hope it’s the real thing. My guitar nerd brain also hopes that Hammett sells it to Lifeson and he takes it on the road with him and I get to see him play it when we see Rush in New York in July. That would be awesome. If I had to guess though… it’s probably a reissue.
I hope it’s the real thing though. That would be so cool.
Last night was the Juno Awards ceremony. That’s the Canadian version of the Grammy’s. The show included this one ditty from this little Toronto based rock and roll combo…
They are back! For really reals, Rush is back!
Maybe an odd choice of song, but it was the first song on their first album so it was sort of fitting that the first public appearance with their two new people, Anika Nilles on drums and Loren Gold on keyboards, was that same first song… though if they were going to go with literal first songs they should have gone with their cover of Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away, which was their first single. But I digress. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson on stage again. We’re going to see them in New York in a couple of months and I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT!
We have yet another contractor coming today. The arrival window we booked opens at 8:00am. They texted us at 7:00am saying they were on their way. We assumed that meant that… ya know… they were on their way. Well its 8:02am now and they still haven’t arrived. So I guess they weren’t actually on the way.
Today is a monumentally huge day for the entertainment industry. Well… for my personal entertainment industry preferences. Alex Lifeson of Rush is releasing a new album today with his other band, Envy of None. Now while I will say that that sort of gothy/synthy/poppy vibe Envy of None gives off is not generally my personal bag, I did enjoy the first record and I have been enjoying the first three songs they snuck out from the second record even more. They are winning me over.
Along with that, there is a new Throwing Muses album out today. Technically there are two new Throwing Muses albums today, but only one is going to streaming services. I’m going to have to actually go somewhere and find a copy of the other one. Moonlight Concessions is the one you can stream. The singles they gave us ahead of time are seriously working for me. I haven’t started listening to the full album yet but I am really excited to give it a spin.
Even more important, Kristin Hersh sent out an email to her mailing list today (which I’ve been subscribed to for about as long as email lists have been a thing) and it lists some new tour dates. They are all in Europe, which is great for folks in Europe but not very helpful for me. There was some good news for those of us who live in the nazi states of america. Just read the last line on this screen shot from the email…
US DATES COMING SOON!!! Robert is excited. Robert’s wife is probably going to be slightly less excited, but my finger are crossed that she’ll be okay with going to another show with me.
On top of the musical gifts we get today, there is also a new episode of Yellowjackets where they actually talk about DATs. Digital Audio Tapes. I never owned a DAT player but somewhere around here I do have a couple of DAT tapes because I spent some time in a recording studio in 1993. There is also a new episode of Severance. I think that show might be losing me a little. I have found my attention drifting while watching the last two episodes. I am just thinking that we’re so deep into the black box that we’re never going to find out exactly what’s going on and maybe I am just trying to subconsciously protect myself from disappointment. I don’t know. The show is still good but I am getting worried.
The contractor is here. He rang the door bell at about 8:10 or so. Right when he was supposed to. That’s good news. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll be finished before I start work.
Speaking of music, I started noodling out an idea for something for the Record Every Month challenge. I am thinking of continuing along with the acoustic 12-string stuff I was doing last month. I also got my 6-string acoustic guitar back from my singer, who borrowed it 10000 years ago. Right on queue, today’s That Pedal Show episode is talking about 12-string guitars and the guys are bitching about how difficult they are to play. Just like me!
Right then. Time to go and get ready to start my work day. Happy Friday, everyone. Enjoy the new music.
ADDENDUM: The Envy of None record was originally supposed to come out today, March 14, 2025. It did not though. The new release date is March 28, 2025. Bummer, dude.
There is a Rush 50th anniversary boxed set scheduled for release next week. I wonder if that’s why they pushed the EoN release? Who knows.
Here are a few of the random things going through my pea brain on this Wednesday evening.
I haven’t shaved in nine days. If I don’t shave tomorrow you will hear me screaming from hundreds if not thousands of miles away as I tear the flesh from my face because I can’t stand the itch anymore.
What is it about that cats that makes them go from sitting calmly on the chair with each other one second to savagely trying to maul each other the next second? Is it me? Did I do something to cause the armageddon? The cat-mageddon if you will?
I really hope that Washington, DC gets hit with a massive, catastrophic blizzard on Monday (January 20th). Not the whole city, just the national mall. Really, just one end of the national mall. The end with the capital building. Like, a strategically placed blizzard. Yeah, that would be nice.
March 14th is going to be a big musical day for me. There’s a new album by Envy of None coming out that day. There’s only one member of Rush releasing music these days, Alex Lifeson, and Envy of None is his new band. Rush, of course, being one of two bands that, musically speaking, drastically turned my musical world upside down. The other band that, musically speaking, drastically turned my musical world upside down? Throwing Muses. Guess what? Throwing Muses is also releasing a new album on March 14th. Holy Shit Snacks!
Inside the Red Head's Head 