Topics: Boring Weather Talk, Meeting Will Smith, MySpace Graveyard, Great Vacations, Harrowing Tales of Dangerous Driving, Abandoned Amusement Parks, Autograph Seekers are Idiots, Toy Story 3 Review, Rush Documentary Rules.

Playlist: Defiance, Ohio, Dignan Porch, Red Collar, Rubik, The Gentle Guest

Play Now: http://www.usedwigs.com/pod/podcast76.mp3

iTunes: Download, Listen and Subscribe

Website: www.usedwigsradio.com

Rush was the second concert I ever attended so the band and that particular show hold a nice cozy place in my heart. The event also spawned a favorite embarrassing moment from my always-awkward, music-obsessed youth. I was a freshman in high school on this momentous rock occasion and was very very excited to see another live show (The Who at JFK Stadium in Philly was my first show, seventh grade, sober the entire show, I swear).

My mom and dad took me, my brother DJ and my buddy Don to see the Canadian rock gods at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. My parents dropped us off at the show and went out to dinner. We were beyond pumped and got to our seats about an hour before the show. I remembering drinking lots of soda, staring at all the older long-haired Rush fans and smelling a smokey, weedy substance (with which I was not familiar). It was sensory overload and I was loving it.

This was the Signals tour for Geddy and the boys, I know this because Don and I bought matching three-quarter sleeve  “Signals” concert T-shirts with the dog-sniffing-hydrant artwork. Yes, they looked insanely cool. That’s also when my love affair with merch tables began. We were proud of our shirts and put them on immediately.

The pride did not subside because we both decided to wear them to school the next day. Awesome move, lady killers.

It was “Walk-a-thon” day at school and all the students plodded along the boardwalk for a few hours to raise money for some cause. Of course Don and I walked together, side by side with a cocksure swagger that could only come from acquiring and wearing our killer matching “Hey fellas, we went to a rock show in the big city and you did not!” concert tees.

We thought we ruled pretty hard until a popular girl walked by and causally asked, “Why are you two wearing matching shirts?”

Before we could respond and defend our ass-kicking attire, she laughed and pointed and laughed again as she rejoined her group of friends, who also partook in the deafening laugh parade.

Don and I looked at each other and said nothing and kept walking. About five minutes later, Don simply said, “Man, she was pretty hot.” I agreed. Nothing more was said. Rush pride was slightly wounded but nowhere near defeated.

Back to the show. Rush live completely floored me, I couldn’t grasp how three guys could perform such amazing music that actually sounded better, more alive and electric, than the recorded versions. I stood on my feet in awe from the opening chords of Spirit of The Radio until the very last encore (Closer to The Heart, I believe). My favorite memory was watching my brother sneak down to the third row, stand on his seat and wildly air-drum for the entire concert. He was a maniac, completely taken over by the emotional feedback on timeless wavelengths, no doubt.

DJ was and still is a very big fan and when I listen to the band, I’m always transported back to our small shared bedroom with giant Rush, Yes and Led Zep posters plastered on every inch of the walls. Two kids kicking back, reading the lyrics of 2112 and flipping vinyl and loading cassettes for hours on end. I also think about how cool my parents were taking us to the show and trusting their little miscreants to behave. It was just one of many cool moves my parents notched up over the years.

While my musical taste quickly changed over to punk and hardcore, I never ever stopped loving Rush. Even during some of their classic missteps: Best Worst Video: “Time Stands Still” by Rush and Aimee Mann.

And I never understand why the ladies ignored this band. Baffling…

- Thanks to greg for the heads up on this film, I’ll be there opening night.

These rock-n-roll heavy-hitters are true music geeks who spin an eclectic mix of old and new rock, punk, folk and hip hop all infused with a rebel edge. Tom and Serj also book a lot of though provoking guests on the show and chat about music, culture and current events that concern the common man and the activist alike, never preachy, always delivered with a good sense of humor.

The latest podcast has killer tracks from Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, Refused, Johnny Cash, PJ Harvey, C.W. McCall, Steve Earle, the Ike Reilly Assassination, and Rush… yep, I said “Rush”… awesome.

Website: www.axisofjustice.org/category/podcast/

iTunes: Play & Subscribe

Back in 1987 Rush entrusted  the video for their song “Time Stands Still” to a guy who was not afraid to use a green screen, spinning Canadians and one or two special effects. I love this song a lot and LOVE the video’s dizzying absurdity even more.

Highlights:

• Neil Pert in tanktop
• Oddly incongruous wilderness background stock  footage
• Geddy rocking the “Mom doing housework with her hair in a bun” look
• Angel-voiced Aimee Mann clearly not amused by her role in the video (debut 00:41), slight smile (01:01)
• Alex Lifeson gleefully spinning in circles like a dim child. (01:15)
• Choreographed double-spins by Alex and Geddy (01:22 and 01:30)
• Aimee leaving her camera duties to go in control room for no apparent reason (02:01)
• Wait, she might have hurt her arm (02:16)
• The epic “multiple Rush’s coming at ya ” shot (03:27) (favorite of Video Toaster wizards) that ends with Alex and Geddy hopping in step. Nailed it!
• Followed by Aimee Mann completely bored and snoozing (03:35) “Guys, c’mon this is just ridiculous…”
• Alex Lifeson does  fabulous dances with just his chin (03:48)
• Another HUGE choreographed Alex and Geddy 360 spin with spot-on precision (10s all around!) to bring it into the homestretch (04:12)
• Aimee smiles and shrinks and floats away (05:06), leaving Canada for good and never ever speaking with Rush again

More:

• Unearthed Videos
• Best Rock Video Ever: “Burnin’ For You” by Blue Oyster Cult
• Unintentionally Gay Music Videos

Ever dig a band so much you have a hard time describing just how amazing they are? That’s how it is with this guy and Propagandhi. I’m almost speechless (lucky you), so we’ll let the record label give you taste:

Legendary and unrepentant residents of humankind’s ideological peanut-gallery, Propagandhi does not disappoint with Supporting Caste – a collection of boundless power and depth that is a 50 000 watt forward-thinking tip-of-the-hat to the giants—Voivod, Rush, SNFU, Sacrifice, Razor, Guilt Parade – that have gone before them.

Based on the two songs I’ve heard (“Supporting Caste” and “Human(e) Meat”), you’re in for another maelstrom of insanely tight, brutal and surprisingly melodic rock that pounds you repeatedly with hard-to-digest stories about human cruelty and Big-Brotherish oppression delivered by a bunch of well-read Canadian activist-types who possess a wicked sense of humor and hardcore dedication to their various causes.

They also still believe in the power of the guitar solo. Sweet.

Lastly, the artwork for the record is top-notch. This one features Kent Monkman’s The Triumph of Mischief.

Pre-Order and Download Two New Songs: www.propagandhi.com

Philly Show: March 14th at The Troc with Paint It Black and Witch Hunt.

Remember Friday Night Videos? You’d watch it back in the 80s after a six-hour D & D marathon waiting all night for “Subdivisions” by Rush? Sweet. Well since I don’t go out much on Friday nights, I figured I’d bring the show back, but will a lot less crap. Actually no crap. This will be much closer to 120 Minutes, with me as your unseen cyberhost, less handsome than Dave Kendall but a bit more fit than Matt Pinfield. You game? Here we go.

Let’s Go Back to Rockville!

A bunch of top-notch bands (new and old) are coming together for the big R.E.M. Tribute/Benefit concert in March. Let’s check out some of the bands on this impressive bill:

“Neverland” by The dB’s

“Sooner or Later” by The Feelies

“Not Too Soon” – Throwing Muses

“It’s Too Late” – Bob Mould

“Finally” – Glen Hansard

“Sitting Still” – R.E.M.

“Tidal Wave” by Apples in Stereo

Calexico – All Systems Red

“Never Believe” – Elf Power

“From the director of Superbad…” No shit. Greg Mottola found insane success with his first teenage romp (with heart, mind you, miles and miles of heart!), so taking a page from the Hollywood Comedy Manual, he decided to pretty much make the same film once again.

Mottola’s pre-production to do list:

• Get Michael Cera. Not available? Get another awkward yet relatable dork.
• Get hot young actress who will inexplicable fall for the dork.
• Get that guy from SNL, you know, what’s his name… Got him! Cool. And Loren Michaels will throw in the girl too? Very Cool.
• Get that creepy kid kid from that Apatow show, you know, what’s his name…
• Quickly, very quickly, throw a script together.

Tada! I’m sure it will deliver a few chuckles, amusement parks are inherently funny. Can’t quite figure out what Ryan Reynolds is doing in this though, small part (think he’s Canadian, they don’t turn down anything).

Music: Big points for Rush (and air drumming), points deducted for “Blister in The Sun,” no one need to hear that song again.

Release Date: 7 March 2009

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvEVV2BJw08[/youtube]