RUSH - TIME STAND STILL AMC 25 - 11/3/16 New York City

Hot on the heels of the Rush documentary "Beyond the Lighted Stage" comes ,... hew waittaminnit has it really been six years already ?!!!

Anyways what I was trying to say was I certainly have no complaints about another quality Rush doc and this one is completely different from the previous one.

"Time Stand Still" focuses on the R40 tour of which the band had heavily hinted would be their last Full On tour but this unique film is also a love letter from the fans and crew about the ride we all took together and hammered home the fact that this was Indeed the Final Tour, I found this dichotomy rather heartwarming and heartbreaking simultaneously.

I was also fortunate to attend a one night only viewing of the film thanks to my bro Frank (A.O.F.) who procured us a pair of tickets.

The mini marquee outside of theater 18 letting patrons know where the heck to go. 

Said marquee, was not displaying this info before the film so kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it ?!!!

I snapped the "marquee" photo after the film.

Pre-film, Fathom Entertainment who specialize in hosting these one night only DVD pre-release concert events were wise (as they are wont to do) to display advertisements for future Rush Releases (Time Stand Still Blu-Ray, Rush 2112 40th anniversary bundles,"Masters of Resonance" documentary (DW Drums) and Rush movie house friendly quizzes etc. as opposed to upcoming hollywood feature films).

Those in attendance were also treated to a wonderful animated Neil Peart short (see below) and a 26 minute reel of band and peer interviews ("A Salute to Kings") of which I still have not been able to locate as an "extra" on my home viewing release. My wise friend Frank commented during this segment "I don't think this is going to be on the Blu-Ray" and I replied "it has to be" after all these were insightful and often hysterical interviews, but then Ray Daniels espoused "please enjoy the film everyone". 

Kinda puts you in a private club huh ? well no complaints here.

Incidentally Gene Simmons (KISS) was hysterical in the film (my opinion).

Post-film and two happy and very pleased Rush campers.

It had been a long 36 year ride as Rush fans for ourselves as well which shall continue because "RUSH AINT OVER YET"

And of course prior to the screening and only eight blocks down the road.

We had GYRO ll

Alice Cooper - Super Duper Alice Cooper Screening 4/30/14 Village East, New York City

I wonder if when Dusty Springfield sang "Son of a Preacher Man" she had Alice Cooper in mind, the answer is inevitably no but he really is the son of a preacher man. Alice is a true American Hero and his alter ego Vincent Furnier is quite the genius who was thrown into this all unplanned, it just sort of happened. You see what I did there ? well whatever. And Planned it was once the band got a radar fix.

Banger Films is back with a Doc about Alice and myself being a huge fan of the Rush Documentary "Beyond The Lighted Stage" (By Banger Films) AND of course ALICE COOPER I did have high hopes for this film and was not disappointed. Ample time is spent on the early (pre Love It To Death) years and whereas I am almost always a "Get On With It" Documentary viewer in this case I was enthralled with back stories and I do know the bands history.

Moving forward after this Is Super Duper Alice Cooper Superstar and I always love to hear stories from this period of his career, our poor hero Alice is spiraling downwards in his Larger than "Lifestyle" but he is also feted by everyone including the old school Hollywood Elite (Jack Benny, George Burns, Groucho Marx etc) and is the only Rock Star to ever hold a Friars Club membership.

Also possibly forgotten over the years is how Huge of a Star Alice was in the 70s. Lots of unreleased footage graces this film including a short excerpt from a segment on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and a promo Video EP clip of Alice in "From The Inside" performing "Inmates (We're All Crazy)" Really sticks out in the memory.

Just a Great treat to view this amongst an intimate crowd in a Beautiful Movie Theater. Maybe 40 or 50 of us in a Huge Room, Great Audio as well and it was quite odd to hear "Dead Babies" coming through these speakers which most likely are more sympathetic to Bing Crosbys crooning.

Also the choice of the song "Alma Mater" for the end titles really pleased me greatly it being a favorite of mine and a fitting end song.

I had to take a screen shot, took a few but this one came out the clearest.

The Beautiful Chandelier/Candelabra at Village East Theater.

Twas a Miserable Rainy day in Manhattan all day.

And just a three block walk over to the right was Ottos Tacos which I have been wanting to try for almost a year, Absolutely Delicious. I ordered the Steak Carne Asada Taco, A Chicken Taco, A Carnitas Taco and Masa Fries. I made a mistake while ordering so got one extra Taco but Hey, I have been waiting a year, I am not going to send it back.

SUPER DUPER ALICE COOPER WEBSITE

RUSH - Clockwork Angels DVD Screening 11/18/13 AMC 25 Theater - Times Square, New York City

On the eve of the DVD release of the "Clockwork Angels Tour" Fandango Tickets gave us an opportunity to attend a screening at select theaters across the country of the concert film. I arrived one minute late due to technical difficulties retrieving my ticket from the AMC ticket machine and the screening had already begun at seven p.m. sharp with no coming attractions. 

The film began with the Watchmaker intro film and then onto "Caravan" as I thought to myself but "Subdivisions" was the opening number, I quickly surmised they were screening set 2 of the show which took place after intermission at the actual performances and made sense as the second portion of the concert and promised "tour documentary" would be a 2 hour experience all its own and give the attendees something to look forward to as we would be getting the complete DVDs on the very next day. I have read conflicting reports concerning the sound quality at these screenings but that is down to each theaters acoustics and speaker systems (more on that below). AMC 25 has a superb audio system and crystal clear projection system at least in theater 17, to get a little technical here there were High Highs and Low Lows and the decibel levels were just right, no audience members yelling "Louder Please" in this crowd.

The photos here were taken off the "movie screen" with an iPhone 4 (flash off), and here's a nice pic of Geddy. AMC 25 was nicely filled to about half capacity with the audience in rapt attention, we cheered at the end of most songs and laughed during the watchmaker films (the intro film opened the show and "Office of the Watchmaker" closed the concert portion) and at the appropriate moments in the tour documentary which was shown afterwards as a nice extra. There was certainly a friendly buzz and excitement in the air as will be common in a room full of RUSH fans and the adoration we all have for our favorite Canadian trio made for the most comfortable viewing experience.

There is currently an unrelated film called "Rush" out and whomever programmed the marquee for theater 17 dropped the ball on this one, I doubt if most even noticed and being the good natured goofballs (no offense to the serious minded fans) that make up a large portion of the RUSH community we would only find this humorous, I certainly did.

I was the last one out of the theater as I wanted this photo op, well here it is. Some theater seats and projector glow.

Earlier in this post I had mentioned the individuality of in-house audio and projection systems inherent to each movie house and room and this goes without saying. I did not notice if this was played back in 5.1 surround yet I am sure it was, the audience was too busy enjoying the intense performance and were not there for a "Dolby" demonstration. Some years back I attended a screening of the T. Rex concert film "Born To Boogie" which had been remastered into 5.1 and after its conclusion Producer Tony Visconti was on hand for a Q & A and began by stressing that "If you get a chance you must hear this in five one, I think what we just got was two one", this was completely good natured and most endearing but just goes to show that all theaters are not equal.

I think that these one-off DVD screenings are a great opportunity to see this footage for those of us without a private screening room in our homes and I applaud whomever came up with the idea. It has always struck me that these would be great events to sell the actual DVD at but most are premiered before release date and that might tip the "soundscan" video sales chart ever so slightly. Virgin Megastore did set up a merchandise table of CDs/DVDs and the "RIO" DVD at the screening for "RUSH IN RIO" in 2003 but that was in agreement with Atlantic Records. The WEA (Warner Elektra Atlantic) rep came to my job at around 7 that night and handed me a promo copy of the DVD, I was so grateful and said "Thank you so much" to which he replied "you never ask for anything".

Upon arrival in Times Square off the D train and headed for AMC 25. 

I think Mickey is going through that young woman's purse.

Elmo and Cookie Monster lament that they missed the Clockwork Angels screening, too bad they had to work, the watchmaker is also a taskmaster.

Filmed off the screen.

RUSH OFFICIAL WEBSITE

RUSH IS A BAND BLOG

RUSH - A Jew, A Slav & A Canuck Walk Into A Bar - Beyond The Lighted Stage DVD

It was with great Relish and high expectations that I personally (and individually) sat down with before my first viewing of the long overdue and justly deserved Rockumentary concerning the peoples band from the Great White North (none other than our favorite canadian power trio) RUSH. Upon first viewing I was highly entertained and paid very close attention to detail as vintage clips and interviews never before seen flashed before my eyes (a photo of Neil Peart with Peter Criss in Cat makeup 1975! Etcetera!!!) and almost instantly knew that the film makers approached this as a labor of love placing me firmly amongst the RUSH fan that was in for quite the ride.

Whilst meandering a bit much on the early years of the band (as music bio's tend to do) this is still an almost perfect documentary with a winning formula of variety and execution, What was first tried in the wonderful QUEEN-The Magic Years video films and then perfected by the likes of The Beatles (Anthology) and The Who (Amazing Journey) is an MTV style/short attention span singsong editing formula leaving little room for the chaffe but working extremely well in music and movie documentaries where certain portions of a career must be strung together very briefly with a sense of continuity as told in interview and performance clips. Being an Uber-fan I learned very little new information but seeing my heroes praises sung and respected in an honest and non judgmental arena was extremely fulfilling.

A commercial ran (thrice?) during the broadcast advertising the DVD release and to my utter surprise and delight I was overjoyed to see that its coming out TOMORROW !!! More on that in a few hours - 6/29/10 3:41 a.m.



Arrived at Best Buy (Bay Parkway) only to find zero copies of the DVD in the section so approached a staff member to ask him to check their database for a new release music DVD to which the lad replied "Rush?" immediately. I was directed to a new release display where there was 1 copy left of the DVD/t-shirt bundle pack and 2 copies of the DVD, I am curious how many they ordered and was quite surprised that they had run out of stock and on a weekday as well. Got my t-shirt (and in my size) so I cannot complain at all. - 6/29/10 3:14 p.m.