Cool Neil Peart article in Rolling Stone

Caught this on a blurb from Rush on my facebook page, and found it pretty interesting. I was never into Blue Cheer out of ignorance more than anything else, but I do recall hearing their highly distorted and thrashing version of "Summertime Blues" on late night FM radio way back in my younger days. So, I thought I would post it 1) because it is by Neil Peart, one of my idols, and 2) I have not posted anything else recently. Enjoy!

Adventures of Power

Saw a blurb for this on the Rush facebook link and thought this will be either really corny or really cool. A movie about an air drummer. The trailer is at this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/AdventuresOfPower#p/p. There is a cool video of Power (the air drummer) air drumming along with Neil Peart that I would love to post, but I post enough stuff about Rush already. Below is another one with Power getting a lesson from Terry Bozio. The first minute or so is just too funny, with Power climbing behind Bozio's monster kit and going completely bonkers. Check it out...

Bruce Hornsby and Eric Clapton on Leno

Don't know how many of you have been watching the new Leno show at 10 pm on NBC or not, but I have given there is nothing else on that I feel much like watching. Caught this clip last night and was pleasantly suprised. Bruce Hornsby had always impressed me as an introspective, light pop kinda guy (at least based on what they played of him on the radio), but this song had some serious groove to it. Having Eric Clapton play a few solos didn't hurt either. Enjoy!

Geddy Lee talks about Massey Hall in Toronto

Very cool video of Geddy Lee talking about Massey Hall in Toronto. Covers his first concert he ever saw there and Rush's aspirations to play there (and eventually actually doing so), as well as some great old pics and video clips of all parts of the theater. Very cool...

Holy Botany, Batman!

This story is just too incredible to believe. A woman in Idaho was impaled through her neck by a tree branch and survived, apparently pretty intact. Remembering my dissection of the neck in gross anatomy class, there is a whole boatload of significant anatomic structures that, had they been hit/nicked/punctured, would have certainly killed her or left her with significant disability. Check the link here to the Idaho news station for the story. There is a video within the link at the upper right. The story starts at about 46 seconds into the video clip. Take your anti barf pills before watchin this if you are weak of stomach.

Phil Collins tosses in his sticks...

After many years of playing, Phil Collins has decided to throw in the drum sticks, citing a painful spinal condition that does not allow him to play anymore. He still plans to sing he says, not that I particularly care about the next gooey pop ballad he writes.

I love Phil's work when he took over for Bill Bruford with early Genesis. Up through "Abacab" I thought they were pretty good, then the wheels came off (how anyone thinks "Invisible Touch" is a great song is beyond me). I also liked his playing on Robert Plant's solo album, "Principle of Moments". His first two solo albums were pretty good too. But alas the lure of writing commercial pop hits and Disney movie songs took over.

Here is a clip of him soloing while playing a song called "West Side" from his "Hello, I Must Be Going" solo album. Enjoy!

Beatles Anthology

Quick, what do these 3 people have in common?

Pete Best, Alvin White, Jimmy Nichols

Give up? They were all "drummers" in The Beatles at one time. Pete Best was the original drummer back in the days they played in dive clubs in Hamburg and Liverpool. Alvin White was the drummer that had come for a recording session to replace Pete Best, but somehow Ringo Starr got the job instead. Jimmy Nichols filled in for a short stretch on tour when Ringo had to have his tonsils out in 1964.

All this knowledge and more could have been yours if you caught a great 2 hour special on VH1 last night called The Beatles: Anthology (part 1). Kind of a TV version of the Anthology CD set that came out a while back. It was very interesting and very well done, full of old recordings and old video/TV clips starting with their childhood years and going up to the summer of 1964. Part 2 airs next week at 9 pm, and part 3, I presume, airs on the 9th (the day Beatles Rock Band comes out). If VH1 is true to form, it will be repeated here and there, so check it out if you can.