Red Rocks Rush

One week from today, Rush is playing at Red Rocks near Denver. Would that I could go. Rush has been my favorite band for more than 20 years and I've seen them at least five times now. Dancing rabbits on the sides of the stage in the Presto tour. A man in a chicken suit basting roasted chickens in the Chicken House in the Snakes and Arrows tour. Love the showmanship. Love the music. Love the Power Trio. Heck, once I saw them two nights in a row!

The Rush seeds were planted in me way back in early 1980. I was serving my mission in Argentina and was serving in a town called Quilmes. I distinctly remember being in a chapel in that town on a Preparation Day and my companion telling me that I should listen to Rush when I got home. I was leaving in a few short months and was already thinking about what I was going to do when I got back to the US. Rush was not one of them. "No way," I said. "I don't like the lead singer's voice." Little did I know when I was 21.

A few years after I got home in June 1980, I received a little more "persuasion" from my brother, who made me a tape of some Rush songs he thought I might like. He was already way into them and wanted me to enjoy their music, too. "No way," I said. "I don't like the lead singer's voice." Ok, at 24 I didn't know anything, either.

But out of respect for my brother, I listened to that tape, which included such classics as "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", "Limelight", and "YYZ". I was instantly hooked. I listened to that tape until I knew every song by heart. I still have it, too, though I don't listen to it anymore (do I even have a tape player anymore?). It's stored in a safe place in a low-humidity vault. It represents the inception of my fascination with things Rush...and the lead singer's voice.

Over the years I've collected every Rush cd known to man. I've read some of Neil Peart's books, I've seen the new Rush movie and I've scoured the Internet for Rush rarities. I've become a big Rush fan.

Alas, I will not be in attendance at Red Rocks next week. One of my best friends, Doug (who took the accompanying picture at last week's Rush concert in Salt Lake) WILL be there. Lucky stiff.

He (Doug) and I go way back, too. Before my Rush days. Before my Quilmes days. Way back to the LTM days singing Elton John songs in the mornings before breakfast. Thirty-two years since I first saw his mug. I can even tell you the exact day it was when we met. My brother from a different mother.

We've now gotten our own plan (and I've got Kelly's permission) for seeing Rush's next tour together. We're going to save up money, starting now, and pick somewhere cool on their next tour (like the Gorge Ampitheater, Madison Square Garden, Wembley Stadium or the Sydney Opera House) and we're going to go. Bucket list. We're not getting any younger.

Sydney's a long way away, though. I'd better get to saving.