Neil Peart -- The Latest News

Kevin J. Anderson is making free preview booklets available. See details here:

Free Preview Booklet of CLOCKWORK ANGELS: The Novel | Kevin J. Anderson�s Blog

Directions for non-U.S. residents.

Info about preview booklet:

For the Book Expo America in New York, ECW Press produced a beautiful sneak preview booklet for Clockwork Angels: The Novel, which includes introductions by myself and by Neil Peart, the first three chapters of the novel, three of Hugh Syme's illustrations, and the lyrics for "Caravan" from the Rush CD Clockwork Angels.

Labels: Clockwork Angels Novelization

Kevin J. Anderson, the author of Clockwork Angels: The Novel, has a blog post about the audiobook version of the novel, which is being read by Neil Peart.

I received the final galley pages of the novel to proofread, while Neil went into the studio to record the audiobook, and I tried to stay one day ahead of him so I could send in corrections and sentence changes before he recorded the words. I received email reports from him every day, telling me Our Hero's progress across the steampunk landscapes of Albion, Poseidon City, Atlantis, and the Seven Cities, his encounters with the Watchmaker, the Anarchist, the Wreckers...all while I was up in Seattle with Brian Herbert brainstorming the intricate plot for MENTATS OF DUNE. My head was in two universes (not counting the real one) but every night I took a few hours before bed to proofread as much as possible, send in more corrections...and we finally got it done.

Neil Peart reads audiobook of CLOCKWORK ANGELS: The Novel | Kevin J. Anderson's Blog

You can order the audio version of the book here:

Labels: Clockwork Angels Novelization

There's a new interview with Neil Peart in Rolling Stone magazine. You can read it here:

QA: Neil Peart On Rush's New LP and Being a 'Bleeding Heart Libertarian' | Music News | Rolling Stone

Labels: Clockwork Angels, interview

Updated: 6/12 at 7:00 p.m.: Added additional purchase options

If you haven't already, go out and purchase the new Rush album, Clockwork Angels.

Here are your options

Amazon:

Clockwork Angels [+digital booklet]

Clockwork Angels (CD)

Clockwork Angels (vinyl)

Other options:

Clockwork Angels (iTunes)

Clockwork Angels (high-def/flac) HDtracks

Here's something you don't see every day on Amazon -- Rush at #1:

Labels: Clockwork Angels

Neil's red, Tama Artstar prototype kit used from 1982 - 1985 on three albums and three tours is up for auction (again).

Click to go to the auction site.

This kit was used to record Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows.

Here's a history of the owners of the kit since Peart:

Jack Hess won it as part of a Neil Peart drumset giveaway in 1987 and stored it in his basement until August 1999. He sold it on eBay for $26,100.

The second owner was Scott Jemm, who displayed them until 2002. He sold them on eBay for $14,621.12.

Robert Telleria, author of Rush: Merely Players, helped the new owner restore the drums and eventually bought the kit himself.

Now the drums are being auctioned on Julien's Live.

Labels: auctions, drums

There's some great footage of Neil Peart working on Clockwork Angels in the studio in this Classic Rock video:

Thanks to Rushisaband for the head's up!

Labels: Clockwork Angels, videos

Neil Peart has won two Modern Drummer 2012 Reader's Poll Awards for:

• Best Prog Drummer
• Best Educational DVD - Taking Center Stage

The full results are available in the July 2012 Modern Drummer, available on newsstands now.

Congrats to Neil and all the other winners!

Thanks to Rushisaband for the head's up!

Labels: awards, Modern Drummer

Neil Peart has written a new essay on his website about his life over the past few months. It's definitely worth reading:

Where Words Fail, Music Speaks

In this inspiring update of "5,923 words and twelve photographs," Neil writes about:

• Accepting the Ronnie James Dio Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Revolver Magazine Golden Gods Awards
• Writing a better acceptance "letter" for the Ronnie James Dio Memorial award, which he sent to Revolver
• Attending the three-day event for the Governor-General's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts
• Walking around Ottawa with his daughter
• Meeting Pete Townshend
• Recording drums for Vertical Horizon's upcoming album
• Seeing the Jack DeJohnette Trio perform, which includes one of my favorite passages because it reminded me of how I've felt after watching gifted Jazz drummers:

"Jack's playing was supremely delicate and subtle, yet interspersed with deceptively complex rhythms and cymbal shadings, and a constant, yet seemingly-effortless pulse. Driving home after with my friend Chris Stankee (also Jack's representative from the Sabian cymbal company), we talked about the rhythmic lilt that lingered, echoing in our minds' ears. It was a Latin kind of syncopation, but the astonishing thing was that it was a rhythmic statement they had never actually played, but only implied in the inner clockwork of their music."

• A story about birds I'd never heard: "In the late nineteenth century, a British drug manufacturer named Eugene Schieffelin got it into his belfry that all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's plays should be introduced to the United States."

Labels: neilpeart.net, News updates, written by NEP