HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: smills@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (MuffinHead)
Subject: Neil's letter of thanks
Organization: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 19:38:36 GMT

Here's Neil's letter to Modern Drummer magazine. It appeared in the October
'92 issue.

                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   With deep sincerity, I wish to thank all those who voted for "Roll The
Bones" as the "Best Recorded Performance" in this year's Readers Poll. It
is always the greatest honor to be appreciated by other drummers, but I am
especially proud of this recognition for my most recent, and perhaps
hardest-won, piece of work. I put a lot of thought and sweat into that
record, and consequently this appreciation from other drummers means a lot
to me.
   The first time I appeared in the MD Readers Poll--many years ago--I
felt the most intense mixed emotions: a strange combination of exaltation
and unworthiness. No other award would ever equal that first one, as I'm
sure anyone can understand. But still, the thrill of pride doesn't really
fade. Even after 25 years of playing drums--and the good fortune to have
been appreciated for it--I remain humble before all the master drummers of
the past, present, and future. And though I've learned a *little* bit
about drumming, there's still so much more to know. We can all be inspired
by those masters to work toward more knowledge, greater accomplishment,
and true excellence.
   While searching for a capsule definition of "excellence," which is
described by Robert Pirsig as "quality" and by Aristotle as "arete," I
tentatively defined it as "doing something well enough that other people
who do it admire your work," I think that nails it reasonably well--for a
drummer, a bricklayer, or just a life well-lived. And certainly my own
quest for excellence continues. While fully aware of all my faults, in
music and in life, the eternal consolation is: "Hey, at least I'm getting
BETTER!" I happily remain a "work in progress."
   And so, for all these reasons I very much appreciate this honor from
the readers of Modern Drummer. I thank you sincerely, and send you all my
favorite salutation: "Happy Drumming!"
         
                                                        Neil Peart
                                          Toronto, Ontario, Canada

-- 
_____________________________________________________________________________
$ smills@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu $ That's the way it crumbles... cookie-wise.  $
$ MuffinHed@aol.com           $          -Jack Lemmon, "The Apartment"      $
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
From: davidw@cs.UAlberta.CA (Woloschuk David R)
Subject: "RUSH's Birthday"
Summary: 1994 is coming...
Keywords: birthday Rush
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 05:19:20 GMT

You know, by my calendar 1994 is coming up soon.  And, unless I'm
a bit off here, it also happens to be the 20th anniversary of the
band ( considering "RUSH" being released in 1974 ).

Now wouldn't it be kinda cool if the net-ters were to throw some sort of
international birthday bash honoring the bands *first* 20 years?

Just a thought to mull over...

david r! woloschuk

Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
From: d40374w@kaira.hut.fi (Tero Valkonen)
Subject: Chronicles - the video collection
Organization: The rational midnight star
Distribution: alt
Date: 21 Aug 92 22:38:10


I bought the Chronicles video today. Below are my ramblings about it. 

Closer to the heart. Funny, very funny. The guys are uglier than ever,
and their clothes really made my day. The song was as awful as it has
always been. 

The trees. With the exception of the last sentence (I LOVE The trees),
the description of CTTH applies to this, also. 

Limelight. Nice. Neil's playing was shown quite a lot - good. I
wonder whose the dog was and what was it doing in the video. 

Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta. From the ESL video, right? Good
performances. 

Subdivisions. "Now, guys, this is one of my biggest favorites -
don't ruin this by making an awful video.." Well, they didn't. 
The suburbs looked awful, and the nerd in the video looked like
a real - nerd. A very nice video.

Distant early warning. Geddy's son is a beautiful child. I loved
the owls, and the eskimos. And the woman with BLUE hair. I hated
the big "RED ALERT" etc texts that appeared in the screen. Overall,
a nice video. From TTCE video, right? 

Red sector A. From p/g video. Not very good. 

The big money. The bastards had shortened the song! I wonder if
Mr. Big got its name after this video. A nice video. 

Mystic rhythms. The best of all. A truly excellent video. Geddy
looks VERY feminine in the very beginning. I didn't quite like
the skeleton in the end. 

Time stand still. It could have been better. The boys jumping
around all the time - not so nice. Was the woman Aimee Mann (I
assume she was)? She's pretty, and she had a really nice hairdo;
a ponytail and a "real" tail. She was almost unnaturally thin,
though. The end of the video was very nice and humorous, but
I would have preferred a serious video for such a serious song. 

Lock and key. Nice. 

Overall - a bit above average. I paid 110 FIM for it, which is
about US$26. I wonder how much this video costs in the States. 
--
Tero Valkonen
d40374w@kaira.hut.fi
Organization: Freshman, Physics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 09:24:35 -0400 
From: Shawn Clayton Knight <knightster+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Rush & Terry Brown

Rush Terry Brown / Roll The Bones:
>Geddy, Neil, and Alex are has-beens.  And yes, I've listened
>to their recent frivolous wank and drivel thoroughly.
>It just don't cut it!

No, YOU just don't get it!

-shawn

"Everybody's got to deviate from the norm"
-Rush, "Vital Signs"
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: non-elevation
From: tbeaudoin@vax1.umkc.edu
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 16:54:43 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri - Kansas City

> -shawn
> 
> "Everybody's got to deviate from the norm"
> -Rush, "Vital Signs"

	Speaking of VITAL SIGNS, i'm sure everyone's caught the subtle 
coolness of the end of that song, when Geddy sings "everybody's got to 
EVELATE from the norm .."

Thomas Beaudoin
History Teacher
Lee's Summit High School
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush,alt.music.the.police
From: boarjas@elof.iit.edu (Jason Boardman)
Subject: DRUM/PERCUSSION MAILING LIST
Organization: Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 23:49:23 GMT


ATTENTION ALL DRUMMERS, PERCUSSIONISTS, OR THOSE
INTERESTED IN THAT SORT.
-------------------------------------------------

About a month ago I started the Drum/Percussion 
mailing list (an email distribution list/discussion
group).  If you would like to become a subscriber,
please send me a message with SUBSCRIBE as the
subject and include your _email_ address in the body
of the letter.  Send subscription requests to:
drum-request@elof.iit.edu

We look forward to seeing you there!

Jason Boardman 
drum-request@elof.iit.edu
From: edwards1777@iscsvax.uni.edu (Randy Edwards)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Contents of discussions
Date: 18 Aug 92 09:38:38 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

>>I wondered why Rush was making more accessible, poppish, music. 
>>...So now they're writing things which won't confuse their audience, 
>>just 'cause they're worn out
>>
>>That didn't make sense to me. Then I read this newsgroup. Take, for
>>example:
>>
>>> What do the three spheres on the _Hold Your Fire_ cover represent?
>>
>>Duh! They look neat, and there are three guys in the band. Have you ever 
>>heard of graphic design?
>>
>>>> Is there a "Gangster of Boats" trilogy?
>>>
>>> No songs other than "Where's My Thing?" are labelled as being part of
>>> this trilogy.
>>>
>>>> But why is "Where's My Thing" labelled as Part IV of the trilogy?
>>>
>>
>>Just think for a second. What sort of answer could possibly satisfy a
>>person who asks this gristle-brained question? Something like:
>>
>>"Neil has a PhD in terminological theory and he's just developed a way to
>>have a four-part trilogy. It'll be appearing in the journals soon."
>>
>>It's obviously ... A JOKE.
>>
>>In sum, after seeing the general intellectual level of the posts to this
>>newsgroup, I can understand why Rush albums are now simpler than they 
>>once were.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>Tom
> 
> Applause!!!!!!
> 
> Come on folks, RUSH makes music.  And granted, it is some of the greatest music
> and lyrics that I've ever heard.  But does that mean that every single lyrical
> sentence, phrase and word, each album cover and every comment the band has ever
> made holds some obscure, or otherwise hidden or encrypted meaning put there for
> the multitude to puzzle over and blithely discuss in some banal newsgroup?
> 
> Gimme a break! Rush trivia is interesting, info on tours and upcomming albums
> is great, discussion of lyics is good (if it doesn't get out into left field),
> but so many of the articles in this newsgroup are just plain idiotic and a 
> waste of bandwidth that I find myself skipping over them and eventually hitting
> 'c' to catch up because I'm fed up.
> 
> My appologies to those of you who post intelligent articles to this group.
> 
> Flames directed to /dev/null.
> 
> Tim
> 

    Bravo, you two have just said what I have been thinking and feeling about
this newsgroup since shortly after it was started.  Hopefully many of the less
'purposeful' post-ers will take heed to your comments and bring the level of
intelligence back to what it should be for people who are able to appreciate
Ruch!

Randy

Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
From: mbehrens@aunext3.amd.com (mikael behrens x54752)
Subject: lyrics
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Austin, Texas
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 19:50:13 GMT

Hey, could someone email me the lyrics to "Fountain of Lamneth?"

I've been trying to figure all of 'em out for quite some time now.

Thanks
From: picker@garfield.ucsd.edu (Dan Picker)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: what to do with rtbrap.snd?
Date: 12 Aug 92 18:57:50 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.171441.9927@Csli.Stanford.EDU> mmarx@csli.stanford.edu  
(Matthew Marx) writes:
> It may be obvious, but what do you *do* with the rtbrap.snd file
> available from the syrinx.umd.edu ftp site? Do you have to open it
> with some special program? Or is it a BinHex self-extracting file (I
> ftp-ed it ASCII). Help me out!
> 
> 
> -- 
> Matt Marx: mmarx@csli.stanford.edu                  Lee/Lifeson '92
> The Chinese say that when you die, you will "go to meet Marx." Hmmm.


Its not compressed and can be ftp'ed as an ASCII file.  The problem is you need  
a program that can play back sound files.  The format of "rtbrap.snd" is as
follows:

    * Channels     : 1
    * Format       : 16-bit linear
    * Sample Frames: 708729
    * Sampling Rate: 22050
    * Total Time   : 00:00:32.14
    * Data Size    : 1417458

I have a NeXT, which has within its "sound kit" an extended UNIX command that  
can play back sound files of varying types.  I would think it shouldn't be that  
hard to find a NeXT in a University.  However, I'm sure that programs must  
exist for Macs and Suns that can play back sound files.  Try some anonymous ftp  
servers.  Sorry I can't give you any more information than this.  Good Luck!!!

-Dan Picker  
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
From: jclarke@bnr.ca (John Clarke)
Subject: Re: The B-Man is back?
Followup-To: alt.music.rush
Reply-To: jclarke@bnr.ca (John Clarke)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 20:01:17 GMT

I sure hope that "The B-Man" isn't writing another Rush book.
His last effort was the worst piece of writing I have ever
had the misfortune to spend money on.  

The book should have been sub-titled "Twenty different reasons
why three guys in a band finally stopped telling me to get lost".

Not only was the book about "The B-Man" instead of Rush, but the writing
was so excruciatingly awful that I almost couldn't bear to read it.
Why not just include all the song lyrics the way they were written,
instead of trying to twist them into every paragraph?  Good lord,
this book is just awful.

Just my opinion,

john

p.s. does anyone have anything good to say about the book?
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
From: d40374w@kaira.hut.fi (Tero Valkonen)
Subject: Re: Rush & Terry Brown
Organization: The rational midnight star
	<1992Aug17.185351.19633@Csli.Stanford.EDU>
	<D40374W.92Aug18234233@kaira.hut.fi>
	<1992Aug19.171307.4075@Csli.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 19 Aug 92 22:57:01

In article <1992Aug19.171307.4075@Csli.Stanford.EDU> mmarx@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Matthew Marx) writes:

   >My personal Rush favorites are Caress of steel, 2112, A farewell
   >to kings, Hemispheres, Moving pictures, Signals, Grace under 
   >pressure and Power windows. To me, the first two albums are too

   You make my point. It's somewhat interesting to read which albums you
   like and dislike and why. *This* is not the "old stuff good, new stuff
   bad" drivel I'm talking about. BTW, interesting that you like some of
   the more recent albums.

Well, I wasn't very specific about why I like the abovementioned Rush
albums so much. But just in case anyone's interested, here is some
meaningless rambling.. 
Caress of steel. Well, all the songs are simply good. There are
some real classic pieces in here, especially Alex' guitar solo
in No one at the bridge, and the whole song Panacea. 
2112. Lessons sucks, but all the other tracks are incredible. I
love the lyrics of A passage to Bangkok. ;-) This album is lyrically
quite good, although Twilight zone is merely "funny". 
A farewell to kings. The acoustic guitar is a really beautiful start
to the album, but I don't really consider the title track a very good
one. But then comes Xanadu, a real classic. After that, three poor
fillers and - Cygnus X-1! Only Xanadu is lyrically good, and Cygnus
X-1 is mere drivel when it comes to lyrics. 
Hemispheres. Hemispheres is probably the best 20-or-so-minutes-long
song. It rocks, it's beautiful and it works. Circumstances isn't
that good, but The trees is a real nice song, and a classic. And
then there's La villa, one of the best Rush songs ever. Lyrically
this album is among the worst. 
Moving pictures. Tom Sawyer! Red Barcetta! Yyz! Limelight! Vital
signs! Talk about ENERGETIC ROCK! The camera eye is ok, and Witch
hunt is quite good. Vital signs is one of the finest, lyrically. 
Signals. Subdivisions and Losing it are among the best Rush tunes
both lyrically and musically, and Analog is superb also. But the
rest of the album isn't very good. Countdown and New world man
are absolutely horrible, and Countdown's lyrics are mere crap. 
Grace under pressure. The body electric is a weak song, but all
the rest are excellent. Lyrically probably the best album. Lots
of classics in here; The enemy within, Red lenses, Kid gloves,
Between the wheels.. 
Power windows. I tend to skip Big money. But I love to listen
to all the other tracks. Middletown dreams and Emotion detector
are my biggest favorites. Lyrically this album is very very good.

   #include <pointlessJoke.h>
   >d40374w@kaira.hut.fi
		  ^^^
   Anything like Pizza Hut?

Hahah. Nah. Besides, Pizza Hut junk sucks. I rather eat real food.


--
Tero Valkonen
d40374w@kaira.hut.fi
From: mbehrens@aunext3.amd.com (mikael behrens x54752)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: lyrics
Date: 17 Aug 92 13:16:46 GMT
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Austin, Texas

Thanks for the lyrics and the quick responses.
Mikael
From: jmukher@lonestar.utsa.edu (Joy . Mukherjee)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: Chronicles - the video collection
Date: 22 Aug 92 04:51:20 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio

In article <D40374W.92Aug21223810@kaira.hut.fi> d40374w@kaira.hut.fi (Tero Valkonen) writes:

>The big money. The bastards had shortened the song! I wonder if
>Mr. Big got its name after this video. A nice video.

Mr. Big got the name from a Free song.

>around all the time - not so nice. Was the woman Aimee Mann (I
>assume she was)? She's pretty, and she had a really nice hairdo;

Yes it was Aimee Mann from Til' Tuesday.

>Overall - a bit above average. I paid 110 FIM for it, which is
>about US$26. I wonder how much this video costs in the States.

I got it for $16.95.
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
From: jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (J.B. Nicholson-Owens)
Subject: Membership in the Rush fan club (was: Re: Tourbooks)
Reply-To: jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 18:11:07 GMT

SESPC374@ysub.ysu.edu (Michael J. Walp) writes:

>The membership is for life[...]

It's a small point, but I thought that the deal was you're a member as
long as you buy at least one club-priced item annually.  Is it now for
life (or hopefully until you write them and say you want out)?

-- 
-- Jeff (jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)
-- No NeXTmail please
From: KAMCHAR@ibm.cl.msu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: non-elevation
Date: 21 Aug 92 01:46:23 GMT
Organization: Kamchatka Charlie

John Michael Santore writes:
>Thomas Beaudoin writes:
>>	Speaking of VITAL SIGNS, i'm sure everyone's caught the subtle 
>>coolness of the end of that song, when Geddy sings "everybody's got to 
>>EVELATE from the norm .."
> 
>I've noticed this a LONG time ago, but I never found any justification
>for it.  Claiming that Ged 'deviated from the norm' and deliberately
>misprounced Elevate is a little too far fetched to me.  No one seems to
>every have anything to say whenever I I bring it up either.  I find it
>hard to believe its accidental, specially since he says EVELATE live,
>but I can't find any real valid reason, unless Ged screwed up and
>accidentally made a spoonerism (Like when you say 'yuck foo' or
>something like that) like that, and just reproduced it live for
>consistency.... and why didn't they catch it on the album then.  Well if
>anyone has a valid reason (preferably confirmed) I would like to hear
>it.  
>
     I think it's deliberate.  Consider that it came at the end of the song,
and not somewhere in the middle.  Also that this isn't the only time such a
mis-statement showed up on a record--consider Red Lenses' "Worried about the
overfed, the under read."
     The "Elevate from the norm" comment is just another of their "Go after
what you want, in due time you'll get it" statements strewn around throughout
the career.  Nothing more, nothing less.

later

KAMCHATKA CHARLIE          KAMCHAR@ibm.cl.msu.edu
From: garyf@xserver.uts.amdahl.com (Gary Faulkner)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: Rush and homework
Date: 14 Aug 92 14:08:51 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation

In article <1992Aug10.194756.1@vax1.umkc.edu>, tbeaudoin@vax1.umkc.edu writes:
|> 
|> 	How many of you have ever used a Rush lyric or song to complete
|> a school assignment???   
|> 
|> 
|> Thomas Beaudoin

When I was in 8th grade, I used side one of 2112 as the basis for a short 
story I had to write for a class on Science Fiction and Fantasy.  

I got an A.

-- 
Gary Faulkner -- My views are no more Amdahl's than Amdahl's views are mine.

     Brought to you by the letter 'G'.
From: SESPC374@ysub.ysu.edu (Michael J. Walp)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: Membership in the Rush fan club (was: Re: Tourbooks)
Date: 13 Aug 92 20:28:23 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State University

In article <Bsxp6y.5y1@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (J.B. Nicholson-Owens) writes:
 
>>The membership is for life[...]
>
>It's a small point, but I thought that the deal was you're a member as
>long as you buy at least one club-priced item annually.  Is it now for
>life (or hopefully until you write them and say you want out)?
>
>--
>-- Jeff (jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)
>-- No NeXTmail please
The fan club membership, at least from what it says on the paper/framable(SIC)
membership parchment that they give you says lifetime.  I don't know otherwise.
I haven't bought anything since I joined ( about 1.5 to 2 years ago ) and they
still send me price lists and newsletters, tour date announcements, etc.
I will be posting the address on Monday (8-17) for anybody that wants it.  I
should have worded my other post a little differently, sorry.  Have Fun All!
                                              Mike...
 
Michael J. Walp
Youngstown State University
Student Programming Consultant
Secretary, ACM Student Chapter
 
INTERNET ADDRESSES : father-time@unix1.cc.ysu.edu
                     mjwalp@ysumax.macs.ysu.edu
                     asafcm01@ysub.ysu.edu for ACM business.
From: KAMCHAR@ibm.cl.msu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: Why No More Big Concept Albums
Date: 13 Aug 92 22:28:38 GMT
Organization: Kamchatka Charlie

In article <1992Aug11.175616.46481@cs.cmu.edu> tp0x+@cs.cmu.edu (Thomas Price)
writes:
>I wondered why Rush was making more accessible, poppish, music. My good
>friend Jimmer Endres (who tells me that he's posted his retranslation of
>the japanese version of Spirit of Radio to this newsgroup, although I haven't
>gotten to it yet, having only read the first seventy or so messages
>available to me and not quite catching up to the current ones yet) has
>mentioned that hes read an interview in which Neil or Geddy claim that they
>were all sick of people "not getting the point" -- sick and tired of writing,
>say, 2112, and then having to explain it endlessly. So now they're writing
>things which won't confuse their audience, just 'cause they're worn out.

     Actually, I remember reading somewhere that the band decided to write
shorter songs so they would be able to get radio time, as by the time they were
recording PW the radio stations were becoming tighter about the times of the
songs, and they didn't want to be considered a dinosaur group.  Also it
happened to coincide with their moving away from their "story" songs (2112,
Cygnus X-1 vol. 2, By-Tor etc.), so it was a logical move.  As it happened, the
boys found out that writing 5-minute songs was a greater challenge at first
(for them) than writing 20 minute epics.

>That didn't make sense to me. Then I read this newsgroup. Take, for
>example:
>
>> What do the three spheres on the _Hold Your Fire_ cover represent?
>
>Duh! They look neat, and there are three guys in the band. Have you ever 
>heard of graphic design?

     I didn't recoginse this until I had gathered a collection of their stuff
and noticed the fascination with 3's myself.  Not everything is (or should be)
obvious, and not everyone picks up on everything right away.

>...
>In sum, after seeing the general intellectual level of the posts to this
>newsgroup, I can understand why Rush albums are now simpler than they 
>once were.
     Hey!  This is just a newsgroup, not The Usenet Church Of The Rush Trinity!
 Give us fans some slack, please.   B+)

Kamchatka Charlie          KAMCHAR@ibm.cl.msu.edu
Still around, just had my computer access dramatically reduced this summer so I
decided to stay off the net for now.
Reviews coming soon--Hemispheres first album reviewed, then in order from 2112
up to RTB.  Should I be kicked out of my email address access, the reviews will
STILL continue, with disclaimer.
---
OB-alt.rush/alt.tasteless/a.s.a.r/talk.rape: After reading some of the more
bizarre atrocities visited upon Bosnian women by the Serbians, the Rush line
"They shoot without shame" takes on a whole new meaning, n'est ce que pas?
From: jlang@nic.cerf.net (Jimmy Lang)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: NMS alive at last!
Date: 13 Aug 92 23:59:46 GMT
Organization: CERFnet


Yay!  Well, hopefully we can keep the volume going.  Anybody know what's
going on with the boys lately?  Got any tall tales? Recent sightings?

-Jimmy

-- 
-Jimmy
jlang@cerf.net