It’s been pretty tense around the world lately so I thought I’d lighten up the mood a bit. So, what’s on my mind today? Well… Rush, actually. The rock band, that is!

Rush is one of my all-time favorite bands and I’ve seen them 5 times. They’re going back on tour this summer with a new drummer and I’m sad I’ll miss it as ticket prices have gone out the lunch! Though as much as I’m a fan of them, or any group for that matter, I was never a fanatic. I appreciate music from a distance, and that gives me a lot of freedom.

I remember the second time I saw Rush. It was the summer of 1990 at Irvine Meadows in CA (first time was in ‘88). Another band I really admired, Mr. Big, opened for them. Alex and Geddy even came out to do backing vocals with them on their song, Addicted to that Rush. So cool!

But the interesting part was this… a friend of mine won backstage pre-show passes to this gig from a radio show and decided to tag me along. So we went and were there 3 hours before the show started. Backstage! It was a party and you get to hang with the entire crew for a few hours. This was before smartphones so people actually interacted instead of taking selfies. I saw my friend chatting with Alex Lifeson from a distance. But me? Well, I was busy helping myself to some fancy vittles on the buffet. Then, I remember some dude with long blond hair approaching me as I dropped a hunk of rib eye on my plate. And since I’m a nice guy, lol, I decided to put my plate down for a sec to shake his hand. Then, he introduced himself… I’m Pat Torpey. Nice guy. He probably won passes too, I thought.