Tuesday, April 14, 2009

GEDDY LEE: JEWISH ATHIEST

Geddy Lee has been doing a lot of press lately, I guess around the Rush Snakes & Arrows Live DVD and the new Rush compilation, Retrospective 3. It's weird -- they've been considered unhip for so long, now people are starting to appreciate them a bit. The fact that they appear in the film I Love You, Man has given them some odd cache. Anyway, there's an interesting interview with Geddy in HEEB magazine, where he discusses his mother's liberation from a Nazi concentration camp, and being a "Jewish athiest." Check it out.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Unhip? Thier music is timeless. In 400 years, 2112 will be in the same category as Bach. (Forgive my brashness, but get your head out of your Zeitgeist @ss!!! What is good is always good. Rush is just great. Who cares what is popular?

The whole Geddy / Jewish / Holocaust connection just makes me cry like a baby. I just cant help it. Just the way I feel and I can't help it.

B. Ives said...

Hi, Panda, don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that I don't like Rush - a quick search of No Expiration will prove that not to be the case. In fact, if you check out the rest of the blog, you'll realize that I don't care at all what is, and isn't, "hip." Or popular. Rush was my first concert, and I've caught them at least once every tour since 1985. I'm merely pointing out that the mainstream press seems to finally be coming around to Rush, which is interesting, as the band has been around for nearly 40 years now. It's like in the mid-'90s, when the press stopped fawning over obscure indie acts and all of the sudden everyone was celebrating how much fun the KISS reunion was, after years of critical beatdowns. On your other point, I'm sure even the most jaded hipster feels empathy for Geddy Lee and his family, and anyone else whose family has been touchd by the Holocaust.

Unknown said...

I read your original article from a weblink without seeing your site banner above, so the criticism was way out of context and shouldn't have bee directed at you at all. I am a victim of the tiny laptop screen.

Your blog's aim is awesome. Timeless Music. You are also far more eloquent than I.

The mindless masses do infact represent the view I am critical of. It just proves the point of your site.

There is so much good newer music out there, but you can't find it at major retailers or on payolla radio. You have to search the web. The product being pushed on us is so manufactured.

(I was a semi-professional vocalist at one time, having to perform all kinds of mediocre songs for the management.)

I have privately reviewed 1000's of songs from different genres (rock, pop, country, folk, classical, etc.) with my own mathmatical system. I judge on melody (most important), emotional / intellectual connection, then other musical factors. You should be able to remember the melody to a song weeks and years after you have heard it. This is why Classic Rock is so "classic". Being subjective, even songs I don't like are sometimes rated highly.
This project has taken me over 3000 hours so far. I hope to post it online at some point.

Rush sets the bar very high. They have made 19 albums, and most of them score 850/1000 or higher. Several are in the 900's. Of the other artists I've reviewed, only Led Zeppelin has that type of rating over a big catalog. Rush's catalog is much larger. Even if I didn't like Rush (which I do), according to the math, they are incredible.

(If this post is too long, feel free to edit it down or reject it.)

Unknown said...

I Love this performance of freewill, it shows they are appreciated. I freakin love Geddy Lee. Freewill is so a brilliant song so brillant Peart is an amazing writer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYzGMxGq9rM

B. Ives said...

thanks for posting that Alicia, great performance of a great song. Was that from the benefit concert that they did with the Stones a few years back?