David Johnston, announced as Canada's next governor general on Thursday, is pledging to be a "stalwart defender" of Canada's heritage, institutions and people.
After weeks of speculation, the Prime Minister's Office said the Canadian legal scholar and president of the University of Waterloo, Ont., has been approved by the Queen and will take over on Oct. 1 after Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean's term ends.
In a statement to reporters from the Senate foyer in Ottawa, Johnston called the appointment a "mark of confidence that touches me profoundly." He also noted his predecessors, from Samuel de Champlain to Jean, have set a "fine example" for him to follow.
I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Johnston, as I graduated two years before he arrived at Waterloo. But I've heard nothing but good things about him. He succeeds Michaëlle Jean in September - and has some big shoes to fill. All the best.
The dominance of synthesizers in Rush's music ended with the release of their 1989 album Presto. With a change of label and producer, the band desired to return to their musical roots. While the synth isn't absent, it's no longer dominating the guitar and bass as it had been since Signals.
While not their most remarkable album, I have fond memories of Presto simply because it was the first one of Rush's that I heard on compact disc (which was, as you would expect, much more dynamic than the LP that I had bought on release day).
Of the three singles from this album, "Superconductor" is my favourite. While technically released as a single in 1990, it was of course recorded and sold in 1989, so I'm claiming a technicality here.
It is, once again, Canada Day: Canada's 143rd birthday. As I write this, I can hear the sound of fireworks at Parliament Hill - which, supposedly, I would be able to see if not for the block of townhouses adjacent to the back yard. As always, downtown Ottawa is closed to traffic and becomes the location of a massive street party. This year is particularly special, as the Queen arrived in Halifax on Tuesday, and was present in Ottawa for the day's festivities.
It has been my tradition every year to post a short history about some Canadian patriotic song. I hope no one minds if I'm a little tongue-in-cheek this year, but while posting a week of Rush hits, I couldn't resist this opportunity.
In 1980, the CBC network asked the producers of the sketch comedy program SCTV to include two minutes of specifically Canadian content. In response, cast members Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis created "The Great White North," a mock talk show in which two dimwitted brothers wore toques, drank beer, ate back bacon, spoke in Canadian slang, and basically parodied every Canadian stereotype there was. Amazingly, the segment became the most popular part of SCTV, and Bob and Doug McKenzie became not merely caricatures, but genuine Canadian cultural icons.
Since the characters became inexplicably popular in the United States, Bob and Doug became cultural ambassadors of a sort, and are probably as responsible as anyhing else for the notion that we Canadians say "Eh?" and "Take off" and "Beauty!" a lot. In addition to SCTV, the Bob and Doug phenomenon spawned a hit comedy record, a cult movie, a set of ads for Pizza Hut, an animated TV series, and, of course, a hit comedy album. The Great White North was like an audio-only version of the TV show, discussing such topics as Doug's ability to make sound effects with his mouth or why donut shops never have enough parking spaces. It even included a hit single: "Take Off," which even broke the top 20 in the U.S. It features Rush's Geddy Lee singing the chorus - because, as he says on the album, "Ten bucks is ten bucks." (Moranis and Lee actually attended public school together as children.)
Rush's synthesizer sound hit its zenith (or its nadir, depending on how you feel about that sort of thing) with their 1985 album Power Windows. While older Rush albums used the synthesizer primarily as a padding instrument, on the lead track "The Big Money" it takes the lead with heavy, bright stabs and sequenced riffs.
"The Big Money"'s video is notable for two things. One, believe it or not, these computer graphics were state of the art (it had only been a few months since Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" broke new ground for digital animation). Two, Geddy's mullet makes him look like a cross between Pippi Longstocking and a poodle. Aren't you glad the 80s are over?
Rush's 1984 album, Grace Under Pressure, continues in the evolution of their sound away from traditional hard rock toward a more synthetic style. For whatever reason, this album has always sounded different to me from other Rush offerings: whether it's because it presents a heavier "wall" of sound, or because its musical influences are a little more diverse, I can't say. It just strikes me as being somewhat outside of the natural evolution of Rush's trademark style.
The recurring theme in many of the tracks on this album is (as the title suggests) how we respond to various types of pressure. Neil Peart's lyrics to "Red Sector A" evoke impressions of an apocalyptic, futuristic wasteland. In fact they were inspired, in part, by Geddy Lee's mother's memories of her internment in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during WWII, and how she believed civilization must have been done in, even as the Allied liberators came for them.
This video is a live version, taken from the Grace Under Pressure tour in 1984.
"Red Sector A" is one of those songs that grew on me over the years. Back in 1984, this was my first impression of Rush, and at the time it really didn't do anything for me. I'm glad I gave it (and them) a fair shake.
Rush's next studio album after Moving Pictures was 1982's Signals. This album went even farther in the synthetic, electronic sound that would define the band's music for the next several years: synth-dominant songs, heavily processed guitar solos, and recurring themes of technology and progress.
The lead track, "Subdivisions," is typical: Alex Lifeson's guitar playing, while indispensable, plays second fiddle to Geddy Lee's synth chording. And, of course, parts of the video were shot in a video arcade at the height of the video game craze.
With Canada Day only three days away, it's time to turn the Summer of Nostalgia (as I always do, for at least one week) over to 100%, government-approved, Canadian Content.
This time, I thought, I would do something different. Who says "100%, government-approved, CanCon" better than - you guessed it - Rush? Seriously, these guys are so Canadian that they dropped a reference to Willowdale into a Tolkienesque fantasy epic, and were declared Canada's "ambassadors of music" in 1979. Rush couldn't be any more Canadian unless you painted them red and white, dipped them in maple syrup, then had Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles drag them behind their horses in the RCMP Musical Ride. (Come to think of it, Ricky tied Alex Lifeson up in duct tape and abducted him, so they're already part of the way there.) On top of that, they're just darn fine musicians and fun to listen to because they refuse to take themselves seriously. (Name another band who will balance the wall of amps on one side of the stage with random props, like coin-operated dryers or chicken rotisseries, on the other.)
And what better way to start a week of Rush than with their most identifiable song - Tom Sawyer? (Once again, embedding disabled. Sorry!)
The 1981 album Moving Pictures was a transitional album for Rush, marking a move away from album-side-length science-fiction or fantasy epics to shorter, more radio-friendly songs. The synthesizer also began to take a more prominent role - the first note you hear on Moving Pictures is "Tom Sawyer"'s distinctive snarl - and would dominate their music throughout the 80s.
Wrapping up this (belated) week of a theme-that's-not-a-theme, it's only fitting on Sunday to end with a song that features the Montreal Jubilation Choir. Have fun.
Next week (well, tomorrow really): It's Canada Day on Thursday, and so it's Certified Canadian Content week. What will I choose? The world waits with bated breath . . .
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