So in perusing the Rush Is A Band blog this morning, I found a link to a lengthy posting by Richard S. Foster, the author of the short story "A Nice Morning Drive."Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart based the classic Rush song Red Barchetta (one of my top five favorite Rush songs), on this story, written for Road & Track in 1973. The song is found on 1980's Rush masterpiece, Moving Pictures.
It seems that Neil and Foster had never met - until recently on the current Rush tour, which winds its way to Portland this Saturday.
The story of how the two hooked up, the passion they share for motorcycles, and the long road trip they took last week on the East Coast is fascinating. Not only is it cool to get a perspective on Peart and Rush from someone who is just discovering the band, it's also an enviable first hand look at a day spent on the road one on one with the reclusive Peart.
This is the stuff dreams are made of. What Rush fan would not want to spend an extended stretch with any one of them, pretty much with totally exclusive access?!
Foster posted his entry here, with a number of photos (one of which I stole for this posting), and Neil also wrote about it on his Web site - here until he updates the news page. Rush fans, enjoy.
1 comment:
That's a really cool post, Isorski.
I read Foster's story a number of years back. It is not bad, but not really that great either. Peart really took the ideas to a neat place, well beyond what Foster was able to do with it. The music along with the words is what launches the whole concept into orbit.
As I understand it, the message of the original story is very quirky. The subtext appears to be a negative commentary on what Foster (and apparently many auto enthusiasts) felt were excessively restrictive car safety regulations (probably brought on by Ralph Nader in the 60s).
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