Pete Rose is in the news again, and not for the reasons some
expected in the weeks before the Reds host the All-Star Game.
There are new
allegations that Rose gambled on baseball not just as a manager, but during the
waning years of his playing days.
That has me thinking, and so far Will and the Crane Pool
Forum friends think I’m out in left field, like Rose was as debris rained down
from the Shea Stadium mezzanine in the 1973 playoffs.
I think Major League
Baseball mishandled the Rose situation back in 1989 when he was banned for life
after being accused of gambling on baseball. I don’t think the situation then
or now has helped the game; despite what I’m sure were best intentions.
A few disclaimers are in order. First, hindsight is easy. I’m
in no way an expert in addiction or mental illness. And, I understand fully why
baseball can’t allow people to suspect that players or managers are throwing
games.
Now, go back the late 1980s. Pete Rose had just retired as a
player after breaking Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record, managing the Reds and was a
player writers speculated would be the first unanimous selection to the Hall of
Fame.
And, apparently, while this was going on he was betting
thousands and thousands of dollars on sports, allegedly supporting this habit
by getting involved with unsavory people who enabled and profited from his
activities.We are not condoning this behavior on any level.
And we know the path
that was chosen both by MLB and by Rose in the 25 years since this revelation.
It’s not been pretty – not even a little bit. Rose's combative denials, then partial confessions have not served him well.
What if MLB chose another path? What if, instead of
banishing Pete Rose, MLB pulled him closer?
What if MLB instead took the guy who had been one of
baseball’s brightest stars and gotten him the help he apparently needed?
The volume of Rose’s gambling and the risks he took to
support it suggest compulsive behavior that a person might be powerless to
stop.
Today we look at addictive behavior as a disease. There are
efforts to eliminate the stigma of mental illness. Baseball teams have staffs
to deal with physical issues, but what do they do to care for a player’s mental
wellness?
Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton is a high-profile example of a
player who has tragically struggled with addictions. He’s been suspended –
several times -- but teams also have worked to help him. His addictions have
been recognized and helped, even after unfortunate relapses. Rose’s addictions
got him banned for life.
That leads to another issue. We know why the threat of a
lifetime ban is necessary, but there is a danger in absolutes. There’s a
difference between a guy with a sickness he apparently can’t control and the
Black Sox conspiring with gamblers to throw the World Series. One is a
compulsion and the other is a conspiracy.
Having an absolute punishment – the lifetime ban – probably makes
it less likely for people to get the help they need. We know about “zero
tolerance” policies for weapons in schools, and we’ve heard the stories about elementary
school students getting expelled for bringing plastic butter knives to class. People
in authority need to be able to look at each situation individually.
Today, Rose is banned not for throwing games, but for
gambling on baseball. Today we also have MLB allowing the families of team
owners to also own casinos. Something seems off.
Pete Rose should face consequences for his actions. People aren't absolved of transgressions because they struggle with an addiction, even when they get the help they need.
But I think baseball would have been better served all these years by helping Rose, and by working with a more flexible method of dealing with his struggles.
It seems
fair that he should not be allowed to manage a team again. And, now that he’s
in his mid-70s, I’m not sure that’s an option for him anyway.
He should be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Considering
that writers today won’t enshrine Mike Piazza because of alleged bacne, they’re
not going to elect Rose anyway, at least in his lifetime.
But Rose should be allowed to participate in on-field
celebrations, such as the Reds Hall of Fame days or even the upcoming All-Star
Game.
More importantly, let Pete Rose into the clubhouse to do things like talk
to today’s players about the dangers of addictions and compulsive gambling –
and hopefully direct them to an MLB program that can get them the help they
need if they ever face the demons Rose allowed to conquer him 25 years ago.
Father’s Day weekend usually means a trip to the ballpark,
and this year we hit the road to South Bend, Ind. to see the West Michigan
Whitecaps play the South Bend Cubs.
It’s the first year of the team’s affiliation with the Cubs,
which meant a new name. It was previously called the Silver Hawks, after the
car made by Studebaker, which had a presence in the area.
The stadium name is also relatively new. Four Winds Field
was previously named after Hall-of-Famer Stan Coveleski, who lived in South
Bend for years.
There were some vestiges of the old Silvehawks name.
It’s a nice park and we had a good time despite only finding
lawn seats available and the Whitecaps losing 3-2.
Fun things:
Stan
There’s a neat statue of Stan Coveleski near the centerfield
gate. Fun facts about Stan include that he was one of 17 pitchers allowed to
keep throwing the spitball after it was made illegal.
He also was known to give
kids free pitching lessons in the field behind his service station.
The Cubs Den
I like how the stadium worked some of the nearby buildings
into the stadium rather than have them leveled. The gift shop is a vacated
synagogue, and the team treats it respectfully, with a plaque detailing the
building’s history and a verse from Exodus on the wall.
The prices seemed a little steep, even by ballpark standards,
but there were some fun things in here, like foam rubber Cub heads.
Star Wars Night
It’s always fun when minor league teams wear special
jerseys, and we were lucky to catch the Cubs on Star Wars Night. There were not
as many people in costume as the Whitecaps seem to attract, but there were enough to feel the Force.
The Cubs wore sweet Boba Fett jerseys. Gift shop had jerseys
with Yoda, Chewbaca, R2-D2 and Darth Vader, which weren’t worn on the field.
The scoreboard replaced the player photos with Star Wars
characters, with the Cubs swapping out for heroes and the villains replacing
the Whitecaps.
Stuff for kids
The Cubs have a whole section in the outfield with giant
Cubs-themed inflatables that dominates left-centerfield, making for a fun
backdrop. There’s a splash pad beyond the lawn seats, and a playground just
beyond that.
There also was a Cubs Performance Zone with batting cages
that looked pretty neat. I liked that each cage was designated using the logo of a South Bend team of the past,
Trains and cars
South Bend’s Union has been closed since 1971, but the
tracks are still there and the beautiful building looms over the wall near
right field. Trains rumbled along the tracks in full view throughout the game.
Right behind the train station was the old Studebaker factory.
Lawn seats
The lawn section was pretty small – and fairly expensive compared to other stadiums, especially considering that you have sit on the grass. But rather than the hill or berm
you get at many places, the Cubs have a terraces to keep up from sliding down
the hill during the game.
The down side of a lawn section is that you get a lot of
disinterested kids, who in good times run in a clump to the location of any
foul ball, even one four sections over. In bad times, you get kids like Noah
and Manny.
Minor grumbles
Not many. Overall, the prices seemed steeper than at other minor league parks. And the team didn't have its Pass-port stamps yet after making the name change. (The stamps have since arrived, and the folks are taking care of fans who left un-stamped. Very nice people working for the Cubs.)
Overall
A good ballpark! I get spoiled by the West Michigan Whitecaps and the stadium experience there. But South Bend was a good destination for a short road trip.
I start with a warning: This post includes spoilers.
The day of the epic R40 Rush concert finally arrived,
wrapping up an insanely busy period that included a conference in Louisville,
four intense work days at Mackinac Island, a visit from a king and queen, an
honors ceremony, a high school graduation and finally an open house with relatives and many, many marching band members.
I arrived in Chicago around 1:30, in time for a late lunch.
Will used to write restaurant reviews and knows lots of cool places to eat. I
know lots of things on the Panera Bread menu. So Will picked our lunch spot, a
neat place in Lincoln Square. We spent the afternoon checking out a store
filled with action figures of the past and catching up. While we communicate frequently by email, it was our first time together since Will's epic birthday surprise just over a year ago. Fiancee Laurie pulled off an amazing feat -- gathering friends and family from across the country in a U.S. Cellular Field skybox to celebrate a milestone birthday. Will has shed his ponytail after five years, and we've both had eventful years. It was a long overdue opportunity to share stories and photos.
We then made our way to the United Center, which also is
home to the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, the latter still competing for the
Stanley Cup.
There are statues of Michael Jordan and Blackhawks heroes, and Jordan
is wearing a Blackhawks jersey – that’s a “sweater” to hockey fans.
From our seats in section 314, we determined that the rest
of the audience leaned toward middle age, but not as old as we thought it would
be, and heavily male, though with more ladies than expected. Perhaps Rush is
suddenly becoming cool!
Billed the R40 tour to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of Neil joining the band, the show is decidedly an effort to look
back at a long and glorious career.
I peeked at a set list online, but Will prefers to be
surprised. I offered only that it read as if Geddy and the gang said, “Dave and
Will, create a set list for the show” then accepted, and said “Well, we’ll make
some changes, but this is pretty good.” Part of the fun for me was knowing what
was coming, and watching Will’s reaction to hearing some long-unplayed
favorites. Note that this is twice in two years that I've been able to keep a big secret.
You know you are at a Rush concert when the line for the men's room is out the door and down the hall, and there is no line for the ladies' room.
And Will was indeed surprised when the band ripped into “The Anarchist”
from Clockwork Angels as the curtain raised, a curious choice to be sure.
The show was a trip back in time, starting with three songs
from the most-recent release and the stage filled with some of the steam punk
props form the Clockwork Angels tour.
The band proceeded to work backwards through its catalog,
from Clockwork Angels though the debut album, and even a snippet of a pre-Rush
song at the very end.
But as the band played, guys in red jumpsuits – like the
movers on the cover of Moving Pictures – began disassembling the props,
replacing them with a wall of Marshall amps on Alex’s side and white washing
machines on Geddy’s stage right. On past tours, Geddy’s sounds were pumped
directly through the PA, so he filled his side of the stage with various
appliances, including revolving dessert trays.
The second half curtain rose to reveal a wall of amps on
both sides and Neil’s old drum kit with chimes, and bells.
Geddy and Alex also pulled out older instruments as the set
list worked backwards, including the double-necked guitars and bass for “Xanadu.”
And there were concert effects of the past to go with songs
of the period, like the lasers shooting across the United Center during “YYZ,” which
was greeted by Will yelling, “Hey, it’s “XYZ!” More than 30 years later, we are still bitter.
As the band proceeded to play older songs, the movers
started removing amps. By the end of the show, Geddy was reduced to one amp set
on two chairs and Alex with one stack – and the screen behind the stage showing
a high school gym, showing where it all started.
Highlights
The set list was amazing, with the band dusting off
favorites that have not been played in decades, including “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Hemispheres
Book II Prelude,” “Cygnus X-1,” “Lakeside Park” and “What You’re Doing.”
The video screens were a big help, showing close-ups of the
musicians and also videos from the past.
Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson is photographing the tour,
and even from the upper bowl we could pick out the 6-foot, 10-inch “Big Unit”
at the edge of the stage snapping away.
The intermission included outtakes from previous tour
videos, ending with the South Park “Lil Rush” into to “Tom Sawyer,” which the
band used to start the second half.
Speaking of “Tom Sawyer,” the guy sitting behind us was
funny. He was a little older, and needed help from a kid when he wanted to post
a concert photo on Instagram. But he went nuts as the first notes of “Tom
Sawyer” burst through the PA, loudly singing both the lyrics AND the keyboard
parts – “Wooo-woo-woo-woooo—woooooo.” He also knew all Geddy's song intros from
the live albums.
Was this annoying? Yeah, a little. But he was clearly a huge
fan having a great time. And he somehow
convinced his wife to come to the show with him. Enjoy the show and rock on, my loud friend!
Printed tickets are convenient, but I miss real ticket stubs!
Geddy noted that it's still hockey season in Chicago, with the Blackhawks battling the Tampa Lightening. And one of the red-jumpsuited movers came out in a Hawks jersey for one of the prop changes. That's cool because when I saw Rush at the Nassau Coliseum for the Permanent Waves tour, Geddy and Alex came out for encores wearing Islanders jerseys, noting that the team was in the Stanley Cup finals. A year later on the Moving Pictures tour, Geddy again noted that the band was performing on eve of a Stanley Cup victory.
So, if the Hawks win, Geddy and the boys get some of the credit.
Minor grumble
One minor beef: The band worked backwards through its
catalog, but skipped songs from Test for Echo, Presto and Hold Your Fire, and
Power Windows. Since Will and I earlier in the week ranked Presto and Hold Your Fire at No. 2 on our R40 Countdown, we were bumming that we didn’t get to hear
songs from those discs. It’s easy to look back and think they could maybe trim two
of the Clockwork Angels songs and one of the Snakes and Arrows songs and work
in some things from the omitted.
But that’s minor. And as Will pointed out, Rush could add
three hours to the show and would still not be able to play all the songs we
want to hear. That the burden of being spectacular.
All in all, a wonderful concert experience. It included a
great band with great songs with a great show – all experienced with a great
friend.
And Will jumps in:
I told
Dave ahead of time that there were two things that Rush usually does at a show,
besides kick all form of butt:
1) They
play something old I'd never heard live before.
2) They
play something I'd never heard before, period.
Mission
accomplished:
1) “Jacob's
Ladder” (a wish fulfilled, thanks boys), all of” Xanadu”(thanks again), a large
chunk of “Cygnus X-1,” “Lakeside Park.”
2) “What
You're Doing.”
I, too,
loved the retro sets and lights. I half expected Alex and Geddy to come out in
kimonos for 2112, like the Foos did at the RRHOF ceremony, but, well, you can't
have everything.
I, too,
was similarly disappointed about the skipping of certain things. Skipping Test
for Echo was no surprise, because, as I assume, Neil just absolutely refuses to
play anything from it. Skipping Presto was a disappointment, however. (I also
would've preferred “Dreamline” instead of “Roll the Bones.”)
The
second half of the show more than made up for the first half. After “Spirit of
the Radio,” the boys served up a big steaming plate of progressive: It was
basically an hour-long chunk of 10-minute songs broken up by only the obvious “Closer
to the Heart.” I ate it all up and was asking for seconds.
In thinking about it more, the disappointment of no Presto was two-fold, not only for not hearing one of those songs again but also I was hoping for the rabbit to re-emerge from a top hat one last time. Hey, if you're doing retro staging, that had to have been one of their most famous pieces. It then could have stuck around and "rocked out" to “Subdivisions.”
Here's a video with the rocking rabbits in the background!
Unlike
Dave and the unknown poster below (ahem), I didn't like the roll-back set list,
although I understand why they did it that way (for the set), and it was a good
choice, but, as Dave noted, I like to be surprised, and as soon as I realized
what they were doing, I was able to start guessing most of what was coming,
which wasn't as much fun. The only times I was truly surprised was “Hemispheres”
and “Lakeside Park.” (I was surprised for “The Anarchist,” too, but only
because I couldn't imagine that as a lead song. It was more a WTH surprise than
an OMG surprise.)
It wasn't
my favorite Rush concert, but it was awesome, like a hundred million hot dogs,
sir.
Here's the R40 Countdown Will and I compiled as we waited patiently for the show.
Less than a week from the epic R40 concert in Chicago, and Will and I wrap up our countdown with an entry that will surprise no one.
No. 1: Moving Pictures
Released in 1981
Highlights: Every. Single. Song.
Least glorious moments: None.
Cool Neil Peart lyrical moment:
“They say there are strangers, who
threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness to dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore
shelves
That those who know what’s best for
us
Must rise and save us from
ourselves”
-- "Witch Hunt"
Moving Pictures isn’t just the best
Rush album. It actually might be the best album ever.
This is perfection on vinyl – and cardboard,
because the album cover is brilliant, too.
Even Rolling Stone magazine, which
hates all things good, had to begrudgingly rank Moving Pictures among its best
albums of all time.
Moving Pictures was released in
February 1981, my junior year in high school. I embraced it about as hard as a
high school kid can embrace anything, carrying me through all the joys and
sorrows a 17-year-old can muster.
Much of the music from the 1980s sounds dated. That’s not a bad thing if you, like me, love all things 1980s. But all
the songs on Moving Pictures still sound fresh and exciting. They are timeless.
We are going to have to go through
each of the seven brilliant tracks.
Here's a live version of "Tom Sawyer" with the classic "South Park" intro.
“Tom Sawyer”
“Tom Sawyer” is “the music of the
universe” according to an episode of Chuck, with the song serving a central
role in the plot.
In the spring of my junior year, I
boldly ran for treasurer of the General Organization, the not-so-cleverly named
version of our student council. This was a strategic move, as I knew I was not
popular enough to be president or vice president, but knew enough of the
popular kids to think I might get enough sympathy votes to snag a lower office.
Everybody wants to run for president, but who wants to be treasurer?
I designed a populist campaign
around the idea of allowing local bands to perform concerts after school.
Naturally, I used “Tom Sawyer” lyrics for my campaign posters.
“What you say about his company is
what you say about society
Catch the mist – catch the myth –
catch the mystery – catch the drift”
I came in second out of three
candidates, but gained office midyear when the very nice girl who won left
early for college. Serving on the council with me was the sister of the
acting Baldwin brothers, who also was very nice.
I’m not sure if credit for the one
little victory of sorts goes to Neil Peart, or to Pye Dubois, the Max Webster
lyricist who collaborated with Peart and likely never had to work again.
“Red Barchetta”
The lyrics were inspired by the
short story “A Nice Morning Drive”by Richard S. Foster.
Set in a future when cars are banned, our protagonist goes for a ride in a
brilliant red Barchetta preserved by his uncle and encounters the authorities,
whom he eludes after a high-speed chase.
Neil tells it better, of course. But
all high-school boys love the idea of rebelling against the authorities.
“YYZ”
This is a tale of heartache, which
is pretty neat for an instrumental.
I wrote concert and album reviews
for the Berner Beacon, our school paper. It was, perhaps, the only thing I did
that was cool.
The sporadic publishing schedule
meant that an issue included both my glowing album review of Moving Pictures
and an equally glowing review of the tour stop at the Nassau Coliseum.
Now, like any good Rush-obsessed
fan, I was aware that YYZ was the three-letter airport code for the airport in
the band’s native Toronto. I also knew that the opening notes of the song were
those letters in Morse code. I even knew that, being Canadians, the guys in
Rush pronounced the letter Z “zed.”
In those days, we wrote
our stories on a typewriter and turned them over to the editors who turned them
over to someone else to typeset. This was a dangerous thing, as I learned.
The morning the papers
were delivered, I rushed to the stack to see both my reviews in print and bask
in the praise.
Then I read the copy.
Someone – the editor, the
typesetter, who knows – either decided I didn’t know what I was talking about
or wasn’t paying much attention and changed “YYZ” to “XYZ.” They did this in
both reviews.
Not even the retired Pye
Dubois would have been able to find the words to describe the sorrow and
humiliation of that day. Because, for the rest of the day, people stopped me in
the corridor to inform me that the name of the song was “YYZ,” not “XYZ.”
I know, friends. I know. I
will get over this someday – but not any time soon.
“Limelight”
“Limelight” is a top-five
Rush song and has always been a favorite. But I didn’t quite understand the
full meaning of the lyrics until I read "Roadshow," one of Neil’s travel books, where he
writes about riding his motorcycle between shows.
Throughout the book, Peart
tells about how he is uncomfortable meeting fans, leaving that role to Alex and
Geddy. He’s uneasy with the trappings of rock stardom, which is fine.
“Cast in this unlikely
role, ill-equipped to act with insufficient tact. One must put up
barriers to keep oneself intact.”
And:
“Living in a fisheye lens,
caught in the camera eye. I have no heart to lie. I can’t pretend a stranger is
a long-awaited friend.”
So if you run into Neil,
don’t tell him how “Time Stand Still” changed your life and ask for an
autograph. Just say “Thank you for the music” and move on.
“The Camera Eye”
This is a Rush song about
New York. Do I need to say more?
“The Camera Eye” – the
phrase doesn’t appear in the song – actually compares the homeland and London.
Clocking in at nearly 11 minutes, it was the last of the long Rush songs. And
all of it is glorious.
“Witch Hunt”
I had a really cool
creative writing teacher who allowed us to bring in a song that we thought had
great lyrics and play it in class.
If you’ve read this far,
you knew I was going to use this opportunity before a captive audience to
extoll the virtues of Rush. I settled upon “Witch Hunt,” with its soaring
keyboards and haunting lyrics about prejudice and fear.
I remember beaming as one
classmate said, “That was pretty cool, Dave.” Any opportunity to spread appreciation for Rush.
“Vital Signs”
Moving Pictures ends with
the fairly experimental, “Vital Signs” which merges reggae and electronica to
create a Rush classic.
The lyrics are unusual by
Neil standards. But he ends with the phrases “Everybody got to deviate from the
norm” and “Everybody got to elevate from the norm.” When you are a teenage boy
who feels like an outcast much of the time, this is a rallying cry.
The album cover
I have a wonderful job
that allows me to meet many incredible people and visit amazing places. One special
day, I was allowed to tag along when my boss visited Toronto.
Now, there were many
fascinating things that occurred on that day, including sitting in the far back
seat of an SUV wedged between the general consuls of two countries. These are
the kinds of things the uncool kid in high school would have a difficult time
believing could ever happen to him 30 years on.
Our agenda that day
included a meeting with the premier of Ontario. As I sat in
her outer office, it occurred to me that I was not just sitting in a beautiful
and historic Canadian building. I was sitting in the Ontario Legislative
Building.
Had we arrived at the main entrance,
and not a side entrance closer to the street, I would have seen the three distinctive
arches and short steps.
Yes, I was in the very building on
the cover of Moving Pictures.
While there were many interesting
things on the walls, I could not find the framed paintings of the Starman logo
or the dogs playing poker.
It’s all well and good that I didn’t
realize this right away. Because I’m not sure the others in my travel party
would have appreciated my demand that we all re-create the album cover.
So there we are, with Rush albums
ranked from the least glorious to Moving Pictures.
What did we learn from this
exercise?
First, there is something special
about a band with longevity, especially when you become a fan fairly early in
its career. Rush was with me from high school to college to jobs to a marriage
to kids and friends to new jobs and homes and growing older.
Second, Rush is really, really good. The bulk of the music
stands the test of time. It was a challenge ranking the albums, especially in
the middle. There are great songs and great memories associated with all of
them.
And Will jumps in:
No. 1: Moving Pictures
Released in 1981
Well, I couldn't have said that any better ... but I'm going to try.
No, just kidding. After all that, what's left to
say?
I have a few things, and I'll do them in bullet
form:
* "Red Barchetta" was THE song that
got me into Rush, period. Loved the story, loved the sound. That said, it isn't
my favorite song on the album. "Witch Hunt" is.
* Six of the seven songs made my top 1,000, the
highest ratio of any album with that many songs on it. The only albums that had
more songs make my list were the double album Quadrophenia, by The Who, and
Ten, by Pearl Jam, which has more songs than Moving Pictures does. The only
song from Moving Pictures that didn't make my list is "Limelight." It
was an early favorite, one of the many things I played to death back in the
Eighties ... which is why I probably don't like it as much any more. I just got
tired of it, unlike, say, "Tom Sawyer," which I played to death but
probably never will get tired of hearing.
* Moving Pictures is not my favorite album of
all time by any group. (Quadrophenia is.) I didn't do an album ranking, but
Moving Pictures has to be in my top 5, maybe No. 3. The only albums I know for
sure I'd rank ahead of it are Quadrophenia and Duke, by Genesis. I'd probably
also rank Lifehouse ahead of it if it existed as a Who album in 1971 the way
Pete Townshend finally assembled it in 1999 as a solo effort. (Most of
Lifehouse ended up on Who's Next. You might have heard something off that album
once or twice ... or 10,000 times.)
* I've cited Bill James before, and because he's
my favorite author, I'm going to close by citing him again: In his New
Historical Baseball Abstract, James writes about how Satchel Paige is a victim
of revisionist history (or attempts to make other players look better). He says
it's become common to write things like Paige wasn't even the best pitcher on
the Monarchs, let alone the best pitcher in Negro League history if not all of
baseball history. James doesn't buy it, and the reason is that Paige is the
reference point in any such discussion. Everyone has to compare with Paige,
because ... well, he IS the greatest. The same thing with Walter Johnson and
his fastball. As James points out, Johnson was the reference, because his
fastball WAS the best.
You see this with music. It's become hip and
cool to make lists of albums where Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The
Beatles isn't listed No. 1. Heck, you often will see that it isn't even the No.
1 Beatles album. Someone will rank Revolver or Rubber Soul ahead of Sgt.
Peppers, saying that those albums laid the groundwork for Sgt. Peppers and hold
up better than Sgt. Peppers does: "Revolver is the best album, not even
barring Sgt. Peppers." It's the same thing as with Satch or The Big Train.
Sgt. Peppers IS the best Beatles album--and, by extension, the greatest album
of all time--again, because it's the reference point.
That's where we are with Rush and Moving
Pictures. Moving Pictures IS Rush's greatest album, period. The difference
between Moving Pictures and Sgt. Peppers is that NO ONE tries to argue that
another Rush album is better than Moving Pictures. Sure, people might have
different favorites--my brother the other day told me he'd put Signals in his
top slot--but if we're talking quality, the vote is unanimous.
So, that's all I have to say. I'd like to thank
Dave for including me in this exercise. It was fun, and I'm looking forward to
Good Ol' No. Pete Rose--14, as in this will be my 14th Rush concert. If it's my
final one, because the boys aren't going to tour any more, I leave with no
regrets. And here is the rest of your Rush R40 Countdown:
