Shannon’s Perspective:

“The way out is the way in.”

This is not the usual lyric that jumps out at me for this song, but this time it did.  I’m guessing that’s because it so closely resembles one of my mantras for Ketamine treatments, the only way out is through.  Sometimes in life the only option we have is to just keep moving forward.

I know this song was picked for a memory reference so, as with most things Rush related, I will let Larry speak in more detail about that.  Just know that I am happy to have been able to do so many of these things together.

Larry’s Pick: Secret Touch; Beyond The Lighted Stage Documentary

Question - How many of your favorite bands had a documentary that was released to theaters? Or multiple documentaries?

I was super geeked out to watch this because of Neil - more specifically what more I could learn about him. Because he is a a super private guy, and I can understand and respect that. But any more nuggets I could learn about the man behind the genius lyrics would be fantastic and only educate me more.

As info, Alex and Geddy are such outgoing individuals - they would always do the fan meet and greets which was great, and they handle fame better than most.

But most importantly I wanted to see how they handled the tragic death of Neil's only child (his daughter) and then less than a year later, the loss of his wife.

However weird it may seem, I can recall the exact moment I heard on QFM 96 that they had some tragic news coming from the great white north (Canada) concerning Rush. I was driving from our Morse Road Campus where Bath & Body Works was currently (in the basement of DC3), to the new building on Broad Street that was to become the new BBW home (DC7 - I was part of the building start-up team). When you hear a headline like that you immediately think it was one of the guys from the band.

For a period of about five years starting in 1997, everyone around the world thought Rush was done. Everyone understood why, and was ok with it - I think we were all glad to just have what we had. 

But the Test For Echo album (probably one of my least favorite) was not to be the last one in the Rush catalogue. In 2002 Vapor Trails was released, which features this song. The album itself deals a lot with the loss of loved ones, the devastation you feel and the journey back toward life.

Later on, and mostly as presented to fans in this documentary, we learned Neil took a 55,000 mile solo motorcycle ride trying to work through such a heavy double dose of grief. In the documentary while they are discussing this, this is the song that is playing.

Living in Pickerington, Ohio, I was right down the road from the AMA Museum. So when they announced that Neil was loaning them not only his motorcycle from that journey, but also one of his kits, I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I mean - this was literally ten minutes from my house.

So I'll share those pics (hat tip to Jon) and encourage you to find and watch the documentary.

Rest In Peace, Neil Peart - 09/12/1952 - 01/07/2020

30th Anniversary

Our Story - Shannon's Perspective

Our Story - Larry's Perspective

Ghost of a Chance (Rush) and why?