Canada's #1 Export

Now that it's safe for Rush fans to come out of the closet, what with the appearance of the band on The Colbert Report, their featured role in the comedy I Love You, Man, and their recent documentary, Beyond The Lighted Stage taking an Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, I'm going to go ahead and risk alienating some readers by letting you know that I, for many years, have kept somewhat hidden my love for Rush.

There. I'm out! I feel so free!

They are awesome, "The Synthesizer Years" notwithstanding. How awesome? Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of South Park, created the opening video to their last tour. Sure, all their stuff doesn't work for me, and I have accused them of being (as they note in the film) "pretentious," but for three guys to make this much incredible music is just stunning. I get that they're a musician's band, and they're not for everyone. Those who appreciate them tend to do so to a psychotic degree while those who hate them do so with equal fervency, but they've been with me for a long time. When I fell asleep and rolled my Toyota Celica on I-5 in San Diego one early morning as a teenager, it was Rush playing from the cassette deck when I awoke upside down. (Seatbelts Save Lives, Kids!)

I understand that the band (as pointed out in I Love You, Man, as well as in the recent documentary) are not exactly a favorite among the ladies, unless those ladies are 11-years-old and pure musical geniuses. I only today saw this, so if it's old to you, apologies. Here's an 11-year old girl playing the highly complex Rush composition YYZ - by herself - on keyboards.



For the uninitiated, YYZ has worldwide appeal, as evidenced by this inspirational footage of a crowd of 60,000 Brazilians actually SINGING to an INSTRUMENTAL.

(For the non-Canadian and non-Rush fan, YYZ is the airport code for Toronto.)

Why no one has ever licensed any Rush tunes for commercial use is a mystery to me. Perhaps the heady lyrics and "pretentiousness" have hindered advertisers. I'm working on a little spec spot that I hope might change that.

Bringing Things to Make You Sing

Remember when the "M" in MTV stood for music? That responsibility is now YouTube's. Here are a bunch of live performances of songs I should have on my player.

• One of the prettiest, most unintelligible songs Pearl Jam ever did. But in Copenhagen, the crowd knows every word.
• In another life, Sananda Maitreya was known as Terence Trent D'Arby, and the man was phenomenal.
• Jack Johnson performs at Tower Records, which is no place to escape the sing-along groupies.
• Before he was a fat clown self-parody recycling his own songs for another dead blonde, Elton John had a funky side.
• Speaking of Elton John, some San Diego based guy named Jimmy Lewis nails Amoreena for a small crowd.
• Just three nights ago, someone in the crowd at the Greek Theater in LA captured Alison Krause and Robert Plant performing Battle of Evermore in the first of their two sold-out nights. (Good review here.)
• I feel bad for bands like Marcy Playground, who will never equal their debut success, captured here in Germany.
• Chances are that the modern Western music you listen to is rooted in and indebted to the music of Son House*, among others. Here is House performing John The Revelator a capella.

Yes, I did this once before.

* Trivia Note: If you visit my URL Where's My Jetpack?, you can find the picture of Mr. House (above) in the window.