I listened to Geddy Lee read his memoir called My Effin’ Life.
One summer when I was in middle school, everyone was talking about Rush, and in particular, the song Tom Sawyer. My pal and neighbor Allan Kistler gave me a cassette of Moving Pictures. I cannot remember my initial impression, other than it sounded… alien to me. I did not have much context for rock music. Rush quickly became my favorite band. They were the first band I discovered organically, and whose recording I identified with as “my kind of music,” along with Cheap Trick.
I bought a cassette of their live album Exit Stage Left. They were touring to support that album, and somehow, I managed to get tickets to see them at the Capital Center outside of Washington, D.C. My dad and I shared a love of virtuoso drumming, especially Buddy Rich. Neil Peart was an easy sell for dad.
Hugh Welton was a fellow drummer at school that I was friendly with. As I remember the story, Hugh was going to see this show with Mark B., another drummer in our neighborhood. Mark reneged on his word, and Hugh was distraught. In his desperation, Hugh wrote to Neil Peart and asked if he could help him get tickets, as the show was sold out at this point. A few weeks later, he received a hand written post card from Neil that said “I’m sorry to hear this happened. I don’t have tickets, but maybe this postcard will help?”
We were speechless. The photo on the front of the card shows Neil playing his drums on a river, a reference to Tom Sawyer. I think, on some level, this connection with such a colossal celebrity must have factored into my reaching out to Steve Vai many years later.
I felt bad for Hugh, and I invited him to go with my mom, dad and myself. That set up one of the greatest friendships of my young life. It was my first ever rock concert. I have this memory of walking through the halls of the Capital Center, and as we walked to our seats, the darkness erupted with lights and smoke and The Spirit of Radio. My jaw dropped – I was so happy to be there.
Hugh and I attended many concerts together after that (including several more Rush shows), and spent many a weekend listening to music and partying with our friends. Hugh was very kind to me, and we made many discoveries in our adolescent years together.
I spent many hours playing drums along with Exit Stage Left, and Moving Pictures. I learned a great deal about drumming from those recordings, and I think they set my up for my work with Bazooka Joe after college. But even as Rush was very influential during my formative drumming years, I was not really a super fan in the sense that I knew very much about them.
I loved the first half of My Effin’ Life. I enjoyed hearing Geddy tell his stories. It is well written. I teared up several times (his account of his parents’ trials in the concentration camps, meeting Neil for the first time, etc.). He made me laugh out loud several times, too.
I found the second half of the book to be somewhat tiresome, and lacking the care taken with the first half. Geddy shifts his tone toward that last part of the book, and it lost the depth generously provided in the first half. I suspect he’s guarding his privacy around the later Rush years, as they are closer to the present moment. I would have liked to learn more about his collections, non-Rush things, and non-musical obsessions. Perhaps those are covered in his bass guitars book, which I doubt I will read. I think this is the last Rush book I’ll put my eyes into.
I’m sure die hard Rush fans probably love the second half of the book. I do not know the albums/tours covered. I found myself wondering “How much more of this do I have to listen to?” Did Mr. Lee’s editorial budget only apply to the first half of the book? Elvis Costello’s Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink also felt too long to me, and both men lost my attention in their telling. Yet, I persevered and made it to the end, where there are previously unreleased solo demos, which is a neat thing to include.
I was shocked to learn about the amount of drugs Rush consumed. I had the impression that they might sip a Canadian beer from time to time. I hopped into some of the newer albums on my streaming service, as Geddy talked through how they came into existence. None of them did much for me, sadly. Clockwork Angels, for example, is Geddy’s favorite record, as I heard him mention in an interview. I gave it a spin, and I should probably give it several listens before forming my opinion. And yet. I do not want to do several more listens.
This book certainly is a gift to the true Rush fan. I appreciate learning about what Rush were doing leading up to and during the years 1980-85. Moving Pictures remains one of my favorite all time records. And Rush hold a special place in my musical background – enough so for me to bother with this post.