Beneath, Between and Behind

OK, our good imaginary friend Brando has, between doing yeoman's work tending to his Lovely Pregnant Becky and drinking in Vegas, posting inspiring  work in a Top 22 Life Songs.  And we (counting all my aliases)have been dutifully, joyfully, and annoyingly commenting at length. Cuz they can't stop me on the Interwebz!!  Ghost Melon!!!!

But, as hinted and expected and warned, The B posted his top numbers tonight, and his final, penultimate song was Tom Sawyer.  And I left a plenty long comment on his other fine choices, but this really takes a full post, so I'm taking advantage to use up some of my own blog space....

I figger I'm a bit older than Brando; my track record with those Canuckinoid Proggers goes back, really, to Permanent Waves.  I first saw them on that tour at the Clamshell in Madison, and bought a t-shirt (subsequently taking a punch from some dickweed in a mall who exclaimed they 'sucked donkey dick'.  Not only do I still wonder about the self-loathing of someone who punches a stranger for the shirt they wear, but I also wish I had had the presence of mind to ask him when , exactly, Rush had sucked HIS dick?)

And even after I was gone from those hometown years, the strength of that Moving Pictures album drew me back to Madison on the next tour - even taking a DATE - the woman who would become my wife - for her first ever large scale concert (she grew up in a small rural area) and she was not only completely befuddled by the noise and lights, it was more people in a smaller space than she had ever imagined possible.  Amazingly, it was confusing enough that years later she agreed to become my wife.  Rush has THAT much power, indeed.  My dorm neighbor borrowed the Moving Pictures album and played it incessantly, irritating everybody in the dorm; he had the habit of putting the album on drunk, on repeat, and passing out with his door locked.   On max volume.  When I finally got it back, it looked like badgers had chewed on both the cover and the vinyl.

I have to confess that I  was not as stalwart as Brando, alas.  During intervening years, the music scene in Milwaukee commanded greater attention, and I decided Rush was pretty much passe.  Zelmo even gave me shit for buying a Rush retrospective on CD during this interval.  Cobag.

But the world turns;  it comes around.  And after Rush themselves weathered the storms of life, they regrouped to release Vapor Trails, an aggressive revisiting of the power trio concept and a triumphant, rebellious shout against adversity.  We welcomed the opportunity to revisit a piece of our history buying tix for a couple of guys in my office too.  Then they did a thirty year anniversary tour, which was a total party.

Like Brando, Rush has often been the soundtrack to parts of my life.  Although at any given time, other music may seem more prevalent, it has always had a place in my rack of sounds and a corner of my head, and has always been able to soothe me  and invigorate me and provide a bulwark against the savage.

Like Brando, I respect these three Northern Music Geeks for their willingness to just do what they want, regardless of the fashion and trends.  It seems there's a fair number of other people who do too; they've always played against the industry.  But they don't care much; there's the underlying love of music and what they do.  And the love of their band mates helps-a band that has weathered 30+ years of music industry shit and ego override is truly a special thing.  But the love; I've always known that these guys would just go on playing the same stuff whether they were making albums or not - whether the crowds were 30 or 30,000.

My tolerant spouse and I are, once again, going to enjoy this special thing, and the special things it means to us, at Summerfest yet again this year.  It's frankly fucking amazing that our relationship has lasted all  these years; and the ability of Rush to also maintain their relationship -hell, not just maintain it, but to GROW and strengthen - is a fuckin miracle of sorts and I relish the ability and opportunity to celebrate both  miracles at once.

Thanks for your post, Brando. You, indeed, rock in all meanings of the term. 

And heartfelt thanks to  Dirk Lerxst and Pratt