I'm devastated by this news. An absolute gut punch.

**** cancer.

Here.

Wow, what a kick to the junk. Absolute legend. One of the reasons I became a drummer was to be like him.

I first saw Rush the summer after my fish year at the 1984 Texas Jam in the Cotton Bowl, where they headlined on their Grace Under Pressure Tour. Saw them in concert on 10 subsequent tours, the final one being 2012 for Clockwork Angels.

Peart set the bar for drumming. He refused to fit the typical rock band mold for lyrics and his lyrics were often brilliant. He wrote a few books worth reading as well (I highly recommend Ghost Rider).

Neil Peart was a giant. The world is a better place for him having lived.

I was never a Rush fan, but watched their documentary a couple years ago and came away with a huge respect for them.

I highly recommend that documentary."Beyond The Lighted Stage". It's on NetFlix.

Pour one out for the Analog Kid

Lucky enough to see the original Moving Pictures tour in Houston and bookended it with CA in Houston before the RRHOF announcement and in Austin after the induction ceremony. Saw R40 at the end.

RIP professor.

willie wonka said:

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I was really saddened to hear this. A very private fellow. I like in their documentary when he and Geddy Lee are having lunch and the person comes up and asked Geddy for his autograph and he says, "this guy's in the band too, don't you want his autograph?"

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That was actually Alex and Geddy.

But I am devestaed. Saw them 13 times in person.

Saw them first time in 1983 at Hemisfair Arena in SA. Golden Earring as opener. Saw them 10-12 more times, including 3 on farewell tour. All of their vinyls are on my wall in chronological order.

I was a bit of a fan.

I'm f*****g crushed.

No words to describe this loss, an absolute statesman and the music world will never see another like him. I feel fortunate to have lived during the same time frame on this earth as him.

Damn.

Loved how he was taking his motorcycle between concert stops and seeing the country roads.

RIP Neil.

Losing It (from Subdivisions, '82, lyrics by Neil Peart - RIP)

A dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration

Stiff as wire, lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
Flooding thru her memory
The echoes of old applause

And she limps across the floor
And closes the bedroom door

A writer stares with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face lined
And streaked with his outrage

Thirty years ago how the words would flow
With passion and precision
Now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be

Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee

For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee