Subject: 06/09/94 - The National Midnight Star #979


Date: Wed, 8 Jun 94 19:44:11 -0500
From: junoks@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Julie Oneida)
Subject: my Toronto review, part 1

     PART ONE: The Journey

"The culture shock is just... overwhelming."
                    -Bruce Holtgren

     At about 9pm EST on Thursday the 5th, I headed off for Cincinnati,
courtesy of Greg's infamous Golden Nugget (protected by a two-headed
dragon named Lyra and Deneb). I had just checked out of the dorm and
stashed everything in my summer apartment, ready to begin my three-week
sojourn through four or five states and a province.
     The plan: Greg selflessly takes five hours out to drive me to Bruce's
place, then go home. Joe astle (Kentucky) joins us for the long haul up
to Toronto, where I'll stay with Brian Boyes, and from where my dad will
pick me up and take me to his place in New Jersey. Meanwhile I have to
unsubscribe (sniff), having little if any net access in the process.
     So we head out. Greg and I try t stop in Rushville, IN, but all the
fast food dining rooms are closed. We get to Bruce's at about 1am EDT,
then hang out a while, then Greg has to go home cause he's not done with
school yet.
     The next day, Joe, Bruce, and I hit the road. I soon discovered that
I was travelling with two reporters. They did a commentary on the lack of
traffic in Toledo at 5pm, and on the appearance of Windsor (as we cruised
throug with Rush-n-Roulette 92 blasting). Thus the quote above. Of course I
I then went into US-bashing mode, but we won't get into that.
     Oh yeah, and everything was metric. We came to a stoplight and Bruce
said, "Do I stop on red or do they have metric colors here?" And of course,
Tim Horton's s metric for Dunkin Donuts.
     By 11pm (still EDT) we were at Brian's apartment building. It's the
kind where you have to call up to be let in, and we got the answering
machine. About five minues later we got his roommate, who said Brian
was already on the way down, but meanwhile we hung out in the entryway,
with the people at the security desk eyeing us suspiciously.
       JOE: This is a lot like Chicago.
       BRUCE: Yeah, but if it were Chicago, those guys would have shot
         us by now.
     Anyway, we got in (with my three weeks' worth of luggage in tow),
then they headed off to their hotel in downtown Toronto that Joe's paper
is paying for. The rest is another story.
     There is one thing I've noticed about travelling with reporters.
     It makes you write short paragraphs.

                                   -Juno

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Date: Thu, 9 Jun 94 13:56:47 -0500
From: junoks@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Julie Oneida)
Subject: my Toronto review, part 2

     PART TWO: Saturday, May 7, 1994

"Please God, let there be hockey here next week!"
                    -Alex Lifeson

     First stop, a parking lot.
     Second stop, Speaker's Corner, where I delivered a speech on why
Canada is better than the U.S. I don't know yet if it was aired or not.
     Third stop, Eaton Centre. It's about 3:30pm when we get there, a
little too early for the dinner, so we explore a little (wow, a three-
story mall... Mom would be proud!). Oh yeah, and we took a small side
trip to the World's Largest Bookstore, the one Johnny 5 rampaged through
in Short Circuit 2.
     Soon it was 5 o'clock, and the group met outside Mr. Greenjeans
for Myke Hutchings's party. Some of the P-burgh crowd was there- John,
Dave, and Steve- plus Glen (Letterman on irc) and numerous Canucks. Meg
and Jimmy (our esteemed rush-mgrs) got there late and so had to eat
elsewhere. Anyway, the food was good, and I got a nice cocktail even
though I'm seven months under the drinking age.
     Final destination: Maple Leaf Gardens! There were two radio contests,
and I didn't win either of them :(. Anyway, on with the review!

LOCATION: Similar to Chicago- I had the row on the floor with the aisle in
front of it, but this time I was just about dead center. I was afraid I
wouldn't be able to see a darn thing, but luckily everyone in front of me
was short, except for those few whose heads blocked the drum set. Hmm, I
wonder if Canadians in general are a bit shorter? Maybe because there's
less time during which they can sunbathe and make vitamin D to use the
calcium to get tall? What do you bio majors think?
     Anyway, there is one problem with concerts in hockey arenas: the floor
is COLD!!! Also, I got reprimanded for my candle because of the ammonia
keeping the ice cold... apparently the security guard didn't realize there
were like six flame-throwers on stage, not to mention the fireworks, and the
jerks behind me smoking wacky weed and dropping their roaches through the
cracks on the floor...
     Band manager Ray Danniels walked by several times before the show, but
it wasn't until watching the Juno ceremony the next day that I realized who
it was.

OPENING ACT: I Mother Earth, a five-man band: drummer, guitarist, bassist,
singer, percussionist. The singer's hands, being otherwise unoccupied,
often gravitated toward his groin, rather like a rapper. The percussionist
wandered around aimlessly, and the bassist just lurked in his corner. However,
I thought the music was pretty good, in fact I'm getting their CD free from
some club or other.
     One fun thing: The singer asked all the "real Canadians" in the audience
to yell "GO LEAFS GO!!" If I had actually seen a hockey game before, I would
have yelled too.

And now, the reason for being there in the first place:
          RUSH.

     The intro film was cut in half due to a screw-up with the slide
projectors, but this was not a foreshadowing of the rest of the show. In
fact, it's the only mistake I noticed.
     The guys seemed happier during this show than any other (well, I don't
know about Neil, cause I couldn't see him); in fact Geddy's time smiling was
about equal to his time NOT smiling at most other shows. The first time he
talked, he said something about seeing people he knows, then pointed to
someone and said "I know you!" Whoever it was he kept looking at them during
the first few songs.
     Alex soon took the mike and cried "I'm finally home!" and then the stuff
about hockey. Everyone cheered. One song later, Geddy goes "All you have to
do is mention hockey in this town" and, voila, more cheering.

   The intros:
     "At center stage [Geddy, who had been looking to the side, turns his
head toward the audience and smiles] on the bass guitar... (muddled)...
Don Knotts! Behind me, on the drums, one of the greatest drummers of all
time [/beaucoup/ cheering], voted (???) by Playboy magazine, Karin Carpenter!
Doesn't she look wonderful? And me: you may have seen me on the covers of
trashy novels... the intelligent, witty, clever, fantastically-- modest--
Fabio!!"

     By the time Tom Sawyer rolled around, the comedic atmosphere was so
think that I *knew* Geddy just *had to* say "catch a fish." First chorus, he
didn't, so I'm like, "c'mon, say catch a fish, you have to say catch a fish,"
and here's the second chorus... "catch the witness, catch the wit, catch the
spirit, catch a fish!" and I'm all "YES! YES!" and everyone around is
looking at me funny.

   Cute stuff:
     Of course Geddy's smile is darn cute. And Alex's drumstick-as-a-pick
improvisations, not to mention the guitar-as-a-violin thing! (And boy did
he get some distance on that third drumstick!)
     Cutest of all, however, would be the beginning of Xanadu, when Geddy
put his head on Alex's shoulder for a while. I think one of them said something
to the other, cause as they separated they looked at each other and laughed,
which in itself was almost equally cute.

     All in all, it was truly a fun show. Not as great overall as Pittsburgh,
but a wonderful ending. My only disappointment is that they didn't add to
the encore like a lot of us thought they would. Still, it was well worth
$40 Canadian, especially since it gave me an excuse to bum around Toronto
for a while. ;^)

Coming up next: The First Ever Julie Awards (can't call em Junos;
   that's already taken!)
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Date: Mon, 13 Jun 94 21:07:09 -0500
From: junoks@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Julie Oneida)
Subject: my Toronto review- part three

     PART THREE: The First Ever Julie Awards

"Thank you! Merci! Danke-shoen! Thanks."
                    -Geddy Lee, MSG

Ok, an explanation. These awards exist to compare the concerts I've
been to. There are some standards that I will use for every tour (oh
no, you say, I'm gonna have to put up with this again???) and some
that are just silly... but then, this is Rush we're dealing with,
right? Silliness is a prerequisite!

Ok, here are the nominees- all the shows I've been to:
     San Antono- HemisFair Arena
     Madison Square Garden (first show)
     Indianapolis- Market Square Arena
     Chicago- Rosemont Horizon (second show)
     Pittsburgh- Civic Center Arena
     Toronto- Maple Leaf Gardens

And here are the categories and the winners thereof!

Best sound: San Antonio

Best vocal performance: Indy

Best drum solo: tie, MSG and Pittsurgh

Best opening act: Primus in Chicago

My best view: Pittsburgh

Most energy: Chicago

Most audience participation: tie, Pitt and Toronto

Biggest mistake: San Antonio, the words to "Cold Fire"

Best NMS get-together: Pittsburgh!

Toughest security: Chicago

Nicest security: Pittsburgh

Most unusual audience: San Antonio (see my review, still to come!)

Best thank-you: MSG (see above)

Funniest show: Toronto!!!

Best overall: Pittsburgh.

I would also like to use this last section to mention some things I
forgot to in every other review. First of all, I just LOVE the lighting
for the solo of Limelight, how those 15 white lights, 3 blue, and 7 of
various other colors just converge on Alex.
     For the live album, they sure as heck better use a more recent
recording of Roll the Bones, one with the extra vocals at the end. Sing
my angel of music! (excuse me while I collect my molecules)
     Primus is one of my favorite bands now. It's great how one band can
introduce you to so many others. Things like I Mother Earth, and Til
Tuesday, and Max Webster, I would never have listened to if they didn't
have something to do with Rush, yet they are good on their own. I have yet
to hear Marillion, but you've all got me wanting to! But Candlebox, well,
I like their album, but I won't go see them live again. The guys (notice I
won't say "boyz") did say they want to introduce their fans to other types
of music; well, it's working.

Gosh, I can't believe it's all over. My first Rush tour. I hope I don't go
into withdrawal waiting for the next one!

Back to our regularly scheduled NMS!

    Blessed be,
     Juno (aka Julie Oneida)
:^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)
 "My heart goes out to you..."
     -The Speed of Love
:^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)  :^)

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