Something for Nothing: A RUSH Fancast

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 c...

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. ...

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...

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 histor...

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...

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 megapho...

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....

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 vid...

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 therushcast@gmail.com and let us know who created the best list, and send us your own list of five deserving R...

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 m...

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...

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 a...

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 sol...

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/adch...

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/adchoice...

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.f...