Something for Nothing: A RUSH Fancast

Leoni Jane Kennedy's acoustic version of Kid Gloves--included on Songs for Neil, Vol.3--is an ambitious take on the fan-favorite song, and she nails every second of it. We talk to Leoni about her love of Rush, being awarded the Freddie Mercury Scholarship, and seeing Geddy and Alex playing at the recent Taylor Hawkins memorial concert in London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liza McLellan is the founder and cellist is the string ensemble the Devah Quartet. She's also the quartet's writer and arranger, who, among many musical achievements, arranged the group's cover of 2112. This week, she joins us to talk about the beginnings of the Devah Quartet, the challenges of arranging rock songs for strings, and the quartet's upcoming performance at A Night For Neil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As vice president of the Overtime Angels, Lance Kasten is no stranger to organizing charity events, but the upcoming A Night For Neil concert is something else entirely. This week, Lance joins us to talk about his charity work with Overtime Angels, organizing A Night for Neil with the Peart family, and who will be appearing at the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we welcome Bradley J. Birzer, Professor of History at Hillsdale College, Michigan, and author of Neil Peart: Cultural Repercussions. In the recently revised edition of Cultural Repercussions, Brad examines the life and career of Neil through the lens of indivuality and philosophy and paints a portrait of an exceptional writer, a dedicated artist, and inspiration to many. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of our favorite guests, Steve Brown of RushFest Scotland, returns to talk about his latest for-charity tribute album, Songs for Neil, Vol. 3. It's another crop of excellent covers by some of the best artists around. You can order Songs for Neil from the RushFest Scotland website, http://www.rushfestscotland.co.uk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2008, filmmaker Ari Gold released Adventures of Power, an inspirational story about a young man who finds his calling as an air drummer. The dramatic comedy has since become a cult classic and features the music of Rush and a cameo by Neil Peart. Ari joins us to talk about the movie and his friendship with Neil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rush superfan and lead singer of the tribute band The Spirit of Rush, Vicki Flier Hudson, recently went to Toronto and Willowdale to visit every band-related sight she could see. Call it a Rush Pilgrimage! Join us this week to hear all about it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been awhile since we've showcased covers of Rush songs, so we decided it's about time we shared some of our recent favorites. And if you have a favorite Rush cover that we haven't featured yet--which means you'll have to listen to Rush Covers parts 1 through 3--that you'd like to send us, please do! We're all ears! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we tackle the R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour live set. Also serving as the tour in support of the covers EP Feedback, R30 finds the band in fine form as they take the stage with the the R30 Overture, a blistering sample of six early songs. Join us as we celebrate Rush's 30th anniversary 18 years too late! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, philosopher Liz Swan returns to discuss our favorite Rush lyrics. You might remember Liz from episode 33, when we talked to her about a piece she wrote for Psychology Today about Neil Peart and how his words shaped her life. She was the first person we thought of to talk lyrics with, and we're thrilled to have her back on the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, composer and educator Iain Carnegie joins us to talk about his favorite Rush song, Chain Lightning. Iain dissects Chain Lightning in a manner befitting his teaching position at the Royal College of Music in London--which is to say you'll learn how the song is arranged, why chord voicings are central to the song's tone, and about something called "the devil's interval." Iain also hosts a great podcast called Politics of Sound, where he interviews Members of Parliament and other well-known political figures about their favorite albums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we speak with Bill Wallace, who founded the Sunlight On Chrome Initiative to raise money for the American Brain Tumor Association. Bill talks about how Neil Peart inspired his love of motorcycling, the beginnings of his fundraising efforts, and how Rush fans everywhere can take part in the Sunlight On Chrome Initiative by doing the most excellent thing you can do on Friday, July 29. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Randy Jackson is the vocalist, guitarist, and main songwriter for the band Zebra. He joins us this week to talk about the beginnings of Zebra, Alex Lifeson's guitar playing, and what it takes to be in a band for decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To celebrate our 150th episode (!), we've invited back Derek Bacharach to act as quizmaster for a few rounds of Rush trivia! Who will emerge victorious--Steve or Gerry? The only way to find out is to listen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've listed our favorite Geddy Lee basslines, Alex Lifeson guitar solos, and Neil Peart drum parts, and now we're tackling our favorite Geddy Lee vocal performances. And to help us out is New Orleans—based singer/songwriter and enormous Rush fan Beth Patterson. Join us, won't you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moving Pictures 40th anniversary box set contained a time capsule of sorts: a full concert from the Moving Pictures tour. Recorded on March 25, 1981, Live In YYZ documents a moment in Rush history that saw the band finally breaking into the mainstream rock world. How does Live In YYZ stack up against Rush's second live album, Exit...Stage Left? Listen and find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've reached the end of our Hold Your Fire revisit, and we have two more special guests. Jared Shofar talks about climbing Tai Shan, and Vicki Flier Hudson tells us about her love of High Water! Join us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's back to our Hold Your Fire revisit this week, and that means we have two more guests! Rush FAQ author Max Mobley helps us out with Mission, and YYNOT bassist Tim Starace gives us a hand with Turn The Page! Join us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We take one more unexpected detour from our Hold Your Fire redux to talk with writer Kevin J. Anderson about the final chapter in the Clockwork Trilogy, Clockwork Destiny! Kevin tells us about plotting the book with Neil Peart, the long road it took to write it, and how it finally came to be. Join us for this interesting conversation! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our revisit of Hold Your Fire continues with discussions of Prime Mover and Lock and Key. And to help us out are returning guests John Take of Rush Graphs and Steve Holmes of House of Drumming! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back with the second installment of our Hold Your Fire revist! With us to discuss Open Secrets and Second Nature are musician Katie Cole and DJ Daniel Paulus. Join us for some great conversation about these two classic songs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We interrupt our scheduled Hold Your Fire Redux for one week to bring you Morgan Woolsey, the specialist at Julien's Auctions who researched and catalogued the upcoming Alex Lifeson sale! Morgan tells us about the months of research that went into writing the catalog descriptions and finding photos and video stills of Alex with his guitars! It's a fascinating discussion! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, it's the first in a series of episodes re-examining 1987's Hold Your Fire--with special guests! Helping us handle Force Ten is friend of the podcast and frequent guest Nathan Santos. And taking on Time Stand Still with us is US Army Band director and arranger Tim Whalen, who's rendition of the song captured the hearts of Rush fans everywhere in the weeks following Neil Peart's passing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moving Pictures 40th Anniversary Box Set was recently released, so we thought, why not unbox the super-deluxe version on the podcast? (Follow us on Instagram and Twitter--@therushcast and @RushFanCast, respectively--to see pictures of all of the goodies inside.) Then we talk to uber Rush Fan Ray Wawrzyniak about the archival research he did for the set! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2008, Rush released Snakes & Arrows Live, with songs pulled from two concerts in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The 27-song set contains an unprecedented amount of new material: nine songs are from the Snakes & Arrows album. So join us as we dive into another great live Rush collection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Singer/songwriter Maiah Wynne returns to guide us through the back half of Envy of None's self-titled debut, including the official favorite song of ours, "Old Strings." If you haven't already, dive into the first part of our discussion, episode 137. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, singer/songwriter Maiah Wynne returns to give us track-by-track insights into the Envy Of None debut album! She is absolutely one of our--and our listeners'--favorite guests, and we go through the first five songs on the album in the first of our two-part conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Durling is the author of a great new book on 8-track cassettes, the much-maligned but incredibly collectible short-lived music format. We talk to Tim about his book be also how the limitations of the 8 track resulted in some truly odd song rearrangements of some of your favorite Rush albums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Way back in episode 114, we talked to listeners about their Rush origin stories: how they first heard about Rush and how they became fans. And this week, we're doing it again! More tales of Rush fandom from our listeners! We hope you enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we continue our discussion of Alex Lifeson's 1996 solo album, Victor. The eclectic nature of the disk continues, with an appearance by Primus' Les Claypool and an excellent reading of a W.H. Auden poem about the album's titular character. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1996, Alex Lifeson released his first and only solo album, the eclectic Victor. Filled with great riffs, programming, and spoken word pieces, Victor is definitely as unique as Alex himself. Join us this week as we take on this unusual album! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toronto's Massey Hall looms large in the world of Rush. Not only is playing the legendary theater an unmistakable sign that a band has made it, it's also where Rush recorded their first live release, All The World's A Stage, over a three-concert run in 1976. Massey Hall devotee David Binks joins us this week to talk about That Night At Massey Hall, his beautiful book celebrating the musical history of the hall with never-before-seen photos of artists who've played there and fan recollections of their favorite concerts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rush-fan community first became aware of Patty PerShayla's talent when she posted a ukulele cover of Closer to the Heart to her YouTube channel. Since then, we've all loved her material, both solo and with her band The Mayhaps, and now she's added her voice to YYNOT's lineup. This week, we talk to Patty about her love of Rush, her own music, and her future with YYNOT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, we had such a great time discussing Rush in Rio that we asked the DVD director and producer Daniel Catullo to give us all the background on this amazing show. Let me tell you, we're so glad we did! Daniel has a ton of behind-the-scenes stories of the Rio show and shares with us the stress of thinking that maybe the should would not go on! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded on final stop of the Vapor Trail Tour at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rush in Rio is a live concert like no other. Raw, loud, and raucous--thanks to the 40,000 rabid Brazilian fans in attendance--Rush in Rio comes the closest to documenting what it felt like to see the band live. Why did we wait so long to discuss this gem? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our friend Curtis Lanclos of the RetroZest podcast joins us to discuss our favorite examples of Rush in pop culture. From a 1977 Marvel comic to TV and movies, we examine how the band slowly bubbled up into the world of popular culture seemingly overnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In early January, drummer, educator, and author Brandon Toews released a twenty-four minute video on Drumeo's YouTube channel in which he played parts of all 175 Rush ever recorded. Called, appropriately, Drumming to All 175 Songs by RUSH, the video has gotten hundreds of thousands of views and nothing but praise from Rush fans everywhere. This week, we talk to Brandon about the genesis of the video, the painstaking process of creating such a tribute, and his love for the genius of Neil Peart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're continuing our tradition of making impossible choices for your entertainment by creating our ultimate Rush setlists! Joining us in our endeavor is Ted Asregadoo of the great Planet LP podcast. Our lists follow the Evening With Rush format, meaning it should run around two hours and forty-five minutes. Wish us well! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there such a thing as a Rush deep cut? To the diehards, no. But we're making lists anyway! And to help us out we have Brian Colburn of the great Playlist Wars podcast! Together, we wrack our brains to come up with five no-so-popular-but-definitely-should-be Rush songs each. Email us at [email protected] and let us know who created the best list, and send us your own list of five deserving Rush deep cuts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Grace Under Pressure Live album is a bit like the forgotten live Rush album. Initially released in the 2006 box set Rush Replay X 3 and then given a stand-alone release in 2009, the CD is the audio-only version of a live video from 1986. How do we think it stacks up against the heavyweights in the live Rush catalogue? You'll have to listen to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following the death of Neil Peart, branding expert Andris Pone wrote a short piece on his LinkedIn page called "He Lived The Lives of 10 Men: Lessons I've Learned From Neil Peart." In it, Andris lays down five ways Neil's life influenced his own. This week, we talk to Andris about his article and how he uses Rush as example to his clients about the value of being true to oneself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rush FAQ author Max Mobley returns to discuss the iconic guitar work of Alex Lifeson. We limit ourselves to only our favorite five Alex guitar solos--which turned out to be a difficult task! Do you realize how many truly fantastic solos Alex has played throughout the years? A lot, that's how many! So tune in to hear us apologize for leaving so many great solos off the list! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Multi-instrumentalist songwriter and producer Ben Mink has won two Grammys, three Juno Awards, a Genie Award, a Gemini Award, and a Leo Award--but Rush fans know him best for playing electric violin on Losing It and co-writing and producing Geddy Lee's solo album, My Favorite Headache. Mink joins us to tell us about his family's passion for music, his earliest gigs, and playing the only violin solo on a Rush album. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gift-giving season is upon us, and that means one thing: Rush stuff! This week we're talking to Something for Nothing alums Ray Wawrzyniak and Mark Irwin, the main contributors to Rush Gigs: Found on the Studio Walls and In Concert Halls. The book features selections of gig posters and ads promoting Rush concerts throughout the decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back this week to discuss the remaining songs on Geddy Lee's 2000 album, My Favorite Headache. This batch of songs sees Geddy weighing in on some heavy topics with aplomb and, as has been par for the course for the album, a deft use of melody and songwriting. If you heard part one, this isn't a spoiler: My Favorite Headache rocks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2000, Geddy Lee released his first and only solo record, My Favorite Headache. Geddy wrote the music with Ben Mink, best known in Rush circles for playing the electric violin on Losing It, but handled the lyrics himself. In this episode, we discuss the first five tracks of My Favorite Headache, and we can confidently saw it doesn't hurt a bit! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's something that we've touched on in many previous episodes: what are our favorite Rush albums? And when we a list like this, we like to bring on a guest to share our pain with. This time, it's Michael Citro of the great Michael's Record Collection podcast. We were guests not too long ago on Michael's show to talk about Signals, so we wanted to return the favor! Drop a comment to tell us what you think of our favorite Rush albums lists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Way back in episode 93, we talked about the amazing live set Different Stages. Soon after, the emails and comments came in: what about a breakdown of the February 20, 1978, Hammersmith Odeon concert that was on disc 3 of Different Stages? So this week, we're doing one better: we're talking about the full Hammersmith concert that was included in the 40th anniversary A Farewell to Kings box set, which includes 4 more songs than the Different Stages disc. Spoiler: it's excellent! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In August of this year, Henderson Brewing Company in Toronto released Rush Canadian Golden Ale. This week we speak with Henderson Brewing Company co-founder and GM Steve Himel about the first phone call with the Rush team, the rounds of beer tasting with Alex and Geddy, and the satisfaction of drinking the first beers to come off the production line. And Steve answers the question of when the beer will be available outside of Canada! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hear it all the time from listeners: we love it when you ask your guests their Rush origin stories. It seems that every Rush fan has a story, so this week, we hear from listeners about when they first heard Rush and how they became a fan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices