Track 55: "Spirit of the Radio" by Rush

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted/not so coldly charted it's really just a question of your honesty, yeah your honesty

I could have easily thrown this Rush track out there during repeat artist week a few Tracks ago, but I'm glad I didn't. Because after seeing the Rush documentary, "Beyond the Lighted Stage," last week I was so pleasantly reminded about what an insanely awesome band Rush is.

The movie played one night only across the country and I had to go to Kennesaw, GA of all places (the only theater in Atlanta showing it for some reason) to see it. I can unequivocally say this is the best doc I've ever seen about a rock band, utterly fantastic, and it made me fall in love with Rush all over again.

It was a pretty interesting crowd, lots of overweight middle-aged dudes in black Rush tour t-shirts, a smattering of younger folks and a handful of ladies (the chicks don't dig the Rush too much). But the film was such a cool, extremely well-done testament to the greatest cult band of all time.

There were lots of testimonials from famous musicians--Les Claypool, Jack Black, Gene Simmons, and Kirk Hammet--all espousing the musical brilliance of this band. I don't even know what else to say other than watch this trailer for the film:



Unfortunately two of my best Rush-geek friends had prior engagements and were unable to attend. But I did get to see the movie with Creative Circus Advertising Department Head, my former teacher, mentor, and all around cool guy Dan Balser. On the long ride to Kenensaw we got to catch up and share stories of how we got introduced to Rush.

Dan told me he heard "Spirit of the Radio" for the first time on the radio in 1984 and had to pull over and listen to the song because he was so blown away. So track 55 is for you, Dan!

This version is from the "Rush in Rio" concert DVD . And coming soon to a pretentious, under-read music blog near you: my favorite side-project/collaboration songs.



--Music is good.