What A Rush

A couple of weeks ago, I got to see Rush twice.  Once with a ticket I had purchased (well worth the price to be standing 3rd row dead centre of stage -- biggest complaint was that I had to turn my head to see Alex or Geddy when they stood in their respective stage right and stage left spots), and the other with tickets courtesy of Neil Peart (my friend, Kevin J. Anderson is a friend of Neil's and they had, of course collaborated on the creation of the Clockwork Angels novel tie-in to the new Rush album.

I was delighted to be able to bring one of Kevin and Neil's previous collaborations back to print in the Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound anthology which came out Sept 2012. 

The story Kevin and Neil wrote is called Drumbeats and is one I first read in 1992 when it appeared in the anthology Shock Rock 2, edited by Jeff Gelb.  The story stuck with me all these years, and when I was putting T16: Parnassus Unbound together, I knew I wanted to include that story in the collection.

But back to the concert. It was really cool to see Kevin's novel being sold alongside the tour book.  I had to get a picture of him with it.

Below is a shot of Kevin, Jonathan Flamm and I.

When we were seated (in the section of reserved seats for Neil's guests), the gentleman beside me tapped my arm and, pointing in Kevin's direction, said:  "Excuse me, is that Kevin Anderson?"  He was Don George, Neil's first drum teacher.  We, of course, joked with Don, asking if he thought Neil might ever make it as a drummer.  Don quiped that he thinks the young man shows some promise.  So I had to get a picture of KJA and Don together.

Shortly after, Jonathan, who is an extremely talented graphic designer, sent me the following two images, incorporating me into a couple of Rush albums . . .

Hey Jack, relax, get busy with the facts . . . .

Well, hey now baby, don't you talk so fast . . .

Cooooool!  (I suppose you have to be a Rush fan to find them awesome! Or maybe you have to be ME and a Rush fan to really enjoy them. But heck, this is my blog - let me be self-indulgent)