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From: rush@syrinx.umd.edu
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Subject: 08/03/94 - The National Midnight Star #1000 *** Special Edition ***
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The National Midnight Star, Number 1000
Wednesday, 3 August 1994
Today's Topics:
Administrivia
we've got mars on the horizon
Mush From the Geezer
Anniv. thoughts
4 years, huh?
Wembley 1988 - Sounds gig review
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From: rush-mgr@syrinx.umd.edu (The RUSH Fans Digest Manager)
Date: Thu Aug 4 13:31:42 EDT 1994
Subject: Administrivia
Hi all, bet you missed me eh? :-)
We just had an operator at work leave, so I've been extremely busy.. that and
I've been waiting for a "surprise", but since it hasn't come yet you'll all
just have to wait (you'll see what I mean in the next week or so).
Anyways, this is the 1000th issue of the nms (let's all rejoice!), and I
decided to combine the very much late 4th anniversary issue; it seemed kind of
appropriate, even though it is very late, along with an interview someone sent
me last week.
As for *my* views on the NMS, this issue represents 2 years that I've now been
manager. It's been enlightening to say the least; I've sure learned how to
read mail headers and decipher email addresses!
- rush-mgr
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Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 18:12:57 -0500
From: Jeremy Todd Strzynski <jtstrzyn@lime.wustl.edu>
Subject: we've got mars on the horizon
that's the secret, if there is any.
i have to agree with Neil on this point. Rush is no secret, nor is how they
approach their music. enthusiam, quality, and above all, intregity, go into
what we who read the National Midnight Star know as Rush. these are qualities
which are found in few bands, which might explain why Rush fans are so
devoted. which in turn might explain why the National Midnight Star has made
it to its fourth year, and why it has grown to levels probably unthought-of
when it was first formed.
i myself have joined fairly recently, a little more than ten months ago, so
i still consider myself a newbie to the NMS. i am also a relative newbie to
Rush, having "gotten into them" shortly after the Presto tour ended, during the
summer of 1990. compared to fans who have been around since before the first
album twenty years ago i am still a child, but i love Rush just the same.
why? primarily for the reasons i listed above. many other bands write and
perform good music, but few make good music for the sake of the music itself,
and few are so willing to make fresh, new music when their past music was so
good. had another band recorded _Moving Pictures_, i doubt we'd have gotten
_Signals_. many other bands will record an album, only to listen to the
critics when determining which direction to go. had any other band recorded
_A Caress Of Steel_, i doubt we'd have gotten _2112_.
there are many things we Rush fans should be thankful of. we should be
thankful that Geddy and Alex were each too lazy to write lyrics. that the trio
forgot how much they hate making live albums, not once, but twice. that they
kept Broon as long as they did, and then sought fresh opinions. that they let
each band member do more than just play an instrument. that when they *do*
play those instruments, they do it *very well*.
i could continue to write about Rush, but it's hard to express my admiration for
the band, and besides, everybody already knows what i'm talking about.
the National Midnight Star deserves every bit of admiration as well. they
work hard to bring us Rush every day, and for the simple reason that they love
Rush too. they have provided an FTP site, from which i've downloaded untold
megs of files. (i'd download Meg, but i don't think she'd like it, and besides,
i have a space quota.) to those who bring us the NMS:
thank you.
i don't know what else i can say that expresses the thanks you deserve.
jeremy
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Date: 14 Nov 93 02:59:17 EST
From: Bruce Holtgren <70724.1622@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Mush From the Geezer
Mush From the Geezer
(or: How Do I Love TNMS? Let Me Spew Ad Nauseum)
Jimmy has foolishly asked that as a "veteran" of this esteemed
publication, I write a "little blurb" for the Special Super-Dooper
4th Anniversary Issue. I'm flattered because I'm not really one of
the founders or anything (I've been around for only half the life
of the digest, in fact). And Jimmy's a great guy, but he's a fool
for asking me to spew my thoughts in such heedless fashion.
Like most anyone, I could fill up a whole issue by myself just
extolling the virtues of this - this Thing We Have Here. But I'll
try to keep this "little blurb" to fewer than 1000 lines. ;)
I'm an old-timer only in the sense that I graduated from high
school the year 2112 was released. (Does that make me the most
elderly subscriber on the list? I'm not sure I even really wanna
know.) So the single most wonderful thing about The National
Midnight Star, to me, is simply that it exists. Not only that, it
thrives, to put it mildly. The fact that it's one of the single
most active digests in all of Netland greatly restores my faith
in humanity, and raises my respect for the Damn Kids of Today.
(OK, I'll stop already with the geezer act.)
On November 9, 1989, two momentous historic events occurred. The
most important was the appearance of Issue No. 1 of what would
come to be known as The National Midnight Star. The other had
something to do with some wall coming down in Germany.
A little more than two years later, when I found, downloaded, and
read my very first issue of The Star - No. 278, for those keeping
score - it was truly one of the most memorably wonderful moments
in my recent life. (And the first time I laid eyes on the FAQ, it
was an epiphany.) All these years, I'd been wandering virtually
alone, thinking myself some sort of crazed freak for loving Rush
so much when hardly anyone else seemed to even know they were
still recording. But since finding TNMS, I've been reassured that
it is *not* so sick to love a band this much. OK, so I'm still a
crazed freak - but hey, it's at least reassuring to know there
are hundreds, perhaps thousands, even worse off than I am. :)
(Just as a token of how much I've continued to underestimate the
frenzy, I was recently going to post a suggestion that we give
the 2112th subscriber some sort of a prize. Silly me - that
milestone was apparently reached several weeks ago. I should've
known ... um, so what are we gonna do for TNMS #1000?)
The National Midnight Star has to be the single best periodical,
of any kind, that I've ever subscribed to. As a journalist, I'm
fascinated with the sociology of it alone, aside from the fact
that it's just plain FUN. I fantasize about the idea of writing
an article - or, hell, why not a *book?* - detailing the history
of TNMS, replete with some of my favorite posts and interviews of
the ringleaders - but alas, who has the time? Maybe I'm still in
awe of the format, being a relative newcomer to cyberspace
generally, but it really does continue to be a highlight of my
day when I read the latest edition of TNMS - provided I can keep
up, of course, which has been a bit, ah, difficult of late. And I
get cranky if no digests come for three or four days - a sure
sign of hopeless addiction.
Actually, to be brutally honest about it, I think about 90% of
everything posted to TNMS is boring, and much of it is even out-
and-out bullshit, or worse. Another 5% is at best mildly amusing
or interesting, but nothing I'd order my life around. But the
key, of course, is that the 5% of it that I consider good-to-
great is priceless enough to make the other 95% easily worth all
the time and trouble and stock-separating. And the *real* wonder
of it, furthermore, is that the 5% that's great is *unique for
every subscriber*. While I'm yawning through the latest
dissection of a new bass tab, someone else, somewhere, is wetting
their pants with excitement. While I'm glued to the screen
fascinated over a new nuance to What Neil Might Have Meant in a
15-year-old lyric, other folks are doubtless hitting the space
bar in disgust. It's a classic case of different-strokes-for-
different-folks combining to create a whole greater than the sum
of its parts. It's a beauty way to go, eh?
I've learned that you never know where a priceless bit of info,
brilliant observation or hilarious comment will pop up next, so I
try, sometimes not so successfully, to read every post of every
digest. As a subscriber, one of my few regrets (aside from one
post I made - no, make that two - er, maybe three or four ...)
has been that I never started collecting what I consider to be
Gems: those once-every-10-or-20 digest beauties that make your
whole friggin' week. (Or, as in the case of the immortal #666, an
entire *issue* is brilliant.) I'd have at least enough Gem Posts
by now to fill several digests - and all I can say is thanks,
everyone, for all the great times. I know you'll keep 'em coming.
The *VERY* best stuff in TNMS - according to my own unique set of
priorities, of course; your mileage *will* vary - is the info on
concert dates, which we'll all marvel at and benefit from again
very soon now. (Some of you new people are gonna be flat-out
amazed.) More effectively than any other means I've discovered,
TNMS provides a priceless public service by solving a difficult
problem as old as rock music itself: Just where *are* these guys
gonna be playing, and *when*? Thanks to The National Midnight
Star, my years-long passion for Rush has not only been raised to
ever-new heights, but I was able to see them four times on their
last tour, when otherwise I would have seen them, at best, once.
And then there are the interviews, and the reviews and other
articles, and the stupid-but-funny arcane trivia ...
OK, enough. Those are my random thoughts on the 4th birthday of
the now venerable National Midnight Star. May it outlive us all.
My continuing thanks and everlasting awe to all those who make
TNMS what it is - with special regards to Meg Jahnke, Jimmy Lang,
David Arnold, and Dan Delany. You're doing something very special
here. Keep it burning bright.
Bruce Holtgren
70724.1622@compuserve.com
P.S.: Anyone interested in a good, solid read on the early
history of TNMS is encouraged to check out the first anniversary
issue - #98, possibly continued to #99. (Double-digit digests?
How quaint!) Even apart from the technical background and pre-
history tales, it's cute to see people marveling over the fact
that the thing had lasted a whole year, and that it had over 500
(*wow!*) subscribers. My, how time flies.
P.P.S.: My sincere apologies for burning so much bandwidth - but
I could rave for hours, I tell you. Special apologies to all for
whom this post didn't make their top 5%. I'd guess that would be
about 95% of you. :)
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Subject: Anniv. thoughts
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 09:52:02 -0500
From: David Arnold <davida>
November, 1993
Well, the NMS has pretty much grown up! It's been four years, heading
strongly into a fifth. I'm still having trouble believing how far it's
gone; from a ~10 person shared .mailrc (re-sent to all list-members when
a new person was added), to a simple mail reflector (which generated up
to 40 messages+ per day near the end), to a home-grown digest system, to
a "real" digest system, then offering anonymous ftp, and now gopher service!
Talk about a project snowballing!
Remember back in the "old days" of the late 80's, when Rush fans were as
much of a bane on rec.music.misc as Kate Bush fans were a couple of years
earlier? When most posts were greeted with a torrent of "who cares, get
off, you post too much on this stupid band" kinds of posts. Many fought
valiantly, but to little avail; people were firm in their opinions on
both sides. Finally, to be able to carry on a conversation without being
"shouted down" we began to retreat to the little mailing list we'd created.
Of course, we still had to rely on the net-at-large for the "real" info;
tour dates, facts (and rumours), etc.
How far we've gone, now that we're one of the best sources of Rush infor-
mation available on the Internet. We have a user base of ~2500 people,
we have several contacts with various organizations including radio stations,
tour promoters, local arenas, and most recently, a tap into SRO Productions
itself! We get the latest-n-greatest info, we have a strong world-wide
network to gather it, and possibly one of the most vocal fan groups to
distribute it. 1/2 :-) We are customized for the Internet user, with
anonymous ftp and gopher access in addition to mail, with close to 50MB
of information, interviews, past tour books, pictures, tabulature ... the
list goes on and on.
I can only hope that it continues to go on, and keep growing to boot. Just
think of the day we reach the 3000 person mark, or the 5000 person mark.
And to think I was surprised when we broke 200 & 500! With any luck, we
will be able to continue the service of the NMS as long as the band is
around to talk about, and even beyond. The hardware still works, we still
have a few KB of disk left, so onto the next year/album/tour!!!
David Arnold
Ex-rush-mgr & Member of the Board
davida@syrinx.umd.edu
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From: "Daniel L. McDonald" <danmcd@cs.arizona.edu>
Subject: 4 years, huh?
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1993 23:53:39 -0700 (MST)
Damn, I remember having an entry in the "Name the Digest" contest. My
submission was "Temple Paper" which took (if I remember, I didn't grab the
results issue) a distant third behind TMNS and "The 'GET A LIFE' Digest". I
did snag a few old issues though, to see when I was still an undergrad known
to the net as danmcd@eecs.umich.edu.
The back issues go to the summer of 1990, when I was stuck in an
Internet-free IBM job. This was my welcome back post...
=====================(Cut up to and including here.)======================
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 14:05:29 -0400
From: DANIEL LAURENCE MC DONALD <danmcd@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
Subject: Welcome back, etc.
Hey, I'm back on the Rush mailling list! The priests of the temples of IBM
Rochester wouldn't let any of us have Internet access, so I had no news over
the summer.
After reading Monday's digest...
Chris Klausmeier <mixcom!cyaa01@uwm.edu> writes...
>Don't be too sure of that, we HAVE a Rush hour here in Milwaukee, Wisc.
>It's on at like midnight on Saturdays, on LZR (Laser) 103. And yes,
>until a year ago or so, we had a "Get the Led Out". As a matter of fact,
>WLZR could stand for Wisconsin's Led Zeppelin Radio, they sure play
>enough of it. The Rush hour is pretty good though, they play a lot of
>obscure songs. In general, we seem to have it pretty good here, Rush
>radio-wise. They're pretty popular here, and a good variety is played.
I agree Chris. Although I go to U. of Michigan, I was raised in Milwaukee,
and the Milwaukee area has always been very kind to Rush. I remember
hearing Grace Under Pressure a week before it came out, compliments of
Tim the Rock-n-Roll animal on 93QFM. (I guess he''s back on QFM again, also!)
By-tor <UCSKRT@UWPLATT.EDU> writes...
> Neil's sounds I've always liked, especially when he branched into the
>electronic realm for odd tones and when he brought in African drums and bongos
>around Power Windows time. Anyone notice a change from the Tama kit he was so
>fond of to the Ludwig he's got now? He seems to really like the switch, but I
>don't make much of a distinction.
I'm a drummer, and I can tell some distinction. The Ludwigs have heavier bass
drum (or he's miking them differently) and the toms sound slightly mellower.
The reason you might not notice too much is because the cymbals are still
Avedis Zildjian, and his snare drum is still that old Slingerland Artist model.
DANM, it's good to be in the company of so many Rush fans again.
_____________________________________________________________________
Daniel L. McDonald | Internet: danmcd@zip.eecs.umich.edu |
University of Michigan| Bitnet: danmcd@umichub.BITNET |
Computer Science, '91 | USnail: 1705 Hill St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104|
______________________|_____________________________________________|
"rising falling at force ten
we twist the world and ride the wind..." - Rush
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Weird. That last line still ring true today, folks. No, no, not the cool
quote from Force 10, but the last line before the signature.
Thanks for four years of TNMS, folks!
--
Dan McDonald |Internet: danmcd@cs.arizona.edu, UUCP: ..!uunet!arizona!danmcd
U. of Arizona |BITNET: danmcd%cs.arizona.edu@arizona.BITNET
Computer Science| "Rise from the ashes -
2nd year Grad. | A blaze of everyday glory." - Rush
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From: farquharson@snmsn1.montrouge.sinet.slb.com
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 10:49:28 GMT+0100
Subject: Wembley 1988 - Sounds gig review
Hi,
I've transcribed a concert review of one of the dates at Wembley Arena
(London) during the 1988 HYF tour which was published in the (late)
'Sounds' music paper. OK it's old news but someone may be interested.
It's up to you what you do with it. I also have some UK magazine articles
from about the PoW/HYF era which I could transcribe if there is enough
interest.
Keep up the good work......
Kevin
TO SYRINX AND BACK
RUSH
Wembley Arena
AT TEN quid a ticket, a support-free scientifically measured, two hour Rush
show doesn't come cheap. But to balance this cost, it does come with a
variety of attention-grabbing features. For one, you get two drum kits, Neil
Peart revolving a turntable to select kit A or B at will - this certainly
impressed me until I remembered the days when The Glitter Band gave you two
drum kits and two drummers and change from a two bob bit.
To compensate for one of the least charismatic bands known to man, you also
get a gargantum array of lights and lasers and a screen bombarding you with
the brew of surreal imagery and computer graphics beloved of the progressively
inclined rock concern. Over and above these sideshows you get three men
turning in a surprisingly adroit, fat-free show.
The set ranges over Rush's long history, developing lyrical imagery from the
straight ahead rockspeak favoured early on throught the sci-fi-tinged,
hi-tech sword and sorcery of their gloriously silly middle period to the
weight of scientific allusions they favour today, playing the majority of
their current 'Hold Your Fire' album.
I'm no Rush expert, having last purchased a Rush album as long ago as '2112',
but theres no denying the precise pop power of 'Spirit of Radio', a rabble
rouser delivered just before encore time. It's here that Rush excel wheeling
out a wilfully parodic condensation of '2112''s conceptual first side.
Geddy may have lost the chipmunk vocal frequencies that once enlived the one
about "the priests of the temple of Syrinx", but this precocious stab of
speed metal is still quite a wheeze, as is 'La Villa Strangiato'.
Such a light-hearted treatment of such grandiose works shows a winning sense
of perspective at work. Not bad at all.
ROY WILKINSON
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To submit material to The National Midnight Star, send mail to:
rush@syrinx.umd.edu
For administrative matters (subscription, unsubscription, changes, and
questions), send mail to:
rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu or
rush-mgr@syrinx.umd.edu
There is now anonymous ftp access available on Syrinx. The network
address to ftp to is:
syrinx.umd.edu or 129.2.8.114
When you've connected, userid is "anonymous", password is <your userid>.
Once you've successfully logged on, change directory (cd) to 'rush'.
There is also a mail server available (for those unable or unwilling to
ftp). For more info, send email with the subject line of HELP to:
server@ingr.com
These requests are processed nightly. Use a subject line of MESSAGE to
send a note to the server keeper or to deposit a file into the archive.
Gopher access is now available on syrinx!
Use this command to access the gopher:
gopher syrinx.umd.edu 2112
The contents of The National Midnight Star are solely the opinions and
comments of the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the authors' management, or the mailing list management.
Copyright (C) 1994 by The Rush Fans Mailing List
Editor, The National Midnight Star
(Rush Fans Mailing List)
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End of The National Midnight Star Number 1000
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