Neil Peart -- The Latest News

The new owners of Neil's Slingerland drum kit have a special Christmas greeting for everyone:

Click to view the Chromey Christmas Card

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Labels: Chromey, slingerland kit

If you live in St. Catharines, Ontario, or the surrounding area, there's a free premiere of the film on Sunday, Dec 20, at 2:30 p.m. Here's the official announcement:

Jack and Holli Kizera are pleased to announce they will host the first public showing of filmmaker Paul Miil's documentary The Big Story of Small Potatoes:  Niagara's Rock Music History 1964-1974 at The Golden Pheasant (244 Ontario St. St. Catharines) on Sunday, December 20th at 2:30pm. Admission is free.

The documentary focuses on the dynamic Niagara music scene from the '60s and early '70s, when the region was known as the "Liverpool of Canada." At the time, Niagara had more bands per capita than any other city across the land. The Big Story of Small Potatoes is an in-depth portrait of the kids who made the music scene happen told from the perspective of many of the same teenagers 40 years later.

"I grew up in the area in the '70s and '80s and I even played in some garage bands, but I never knew that there was such a thriving music industry in the streets of Niagara," said Miil. "These guys toured from the east coast to Thunder Bay...and they were sixteen years old. I mean everyone knew that [Neil] Peart came from here, but none of us knew about the scene that he came from."

Miil stumbled onto the lost Niagara music scene while researching a concept for a documentary on Peart, who went on to fame and fortune with Rush. Upon discovering the scope of the scene, Miil changed the subject of his documentary from the one kid to the many kids who were involved. For further information please go to www.miil.ca.

Labels: Documentary, The Big Story of Small Potatoes

DW posted an article about building the new DW NHL Logo kit for Neil Peart.

DW Builds NHL Logo Kit for Neil Peart's Rendition of the League's Official Theme Song

According to the article:

The set will be seen before each "Hockey Night in Canada" telecast and will also follow around the Stanley cup as it travels from arena to arena. Eventually, the set will wind up in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

Sabian artist rep Chris Stankee, who helped "tech" the sessions for the new Hockey Song, as Lorne Wheaton is on the road, also posted an article:

Neil Peart Records New Hockey Theme

There are some additional photos of the sessions on beyond20khz's Flickr account.

Finally, I found an interesting website that details the long negotiations between Delores Claman, composer of the Hockey Song, and CBC. After the negotiations collapsed and CBC announced a contest for a new song, CTV bought the song. The story is also detailed in this article in MacLean's.

Here's an excerpt from the MacLean's article, written on June 11, 2008:

Why the CBC would let (the Hockey Song) slip away is a puzzle for the ages. After years of trading on the cultural significance of its broadcast, the corporation appeared determined last week to jettison the hymn that called their fans to communion. On Friday, executives breezily announced a $100,000 contest to come up with a new theme, as if 41 years of tradition could be replaced in a summer jingle-off. A barrage of 1,500 calls and emails from angry viewers gave them pause, and on Monday they announced they wished to reopen talks with the help of a mediator. Yet, in words and in actions, CBC managers rejected the notion that the soul of the broadcast could be tied up in a few bars of music. "What Hockey Night in Canada is really about is hockey," Scott Moore, the executive director of CBC Sports, told one reporter. "Everything else is just window dressing."

Thanks to Rushisband.com for the head's up.

Labels: cymbals, Drum Workshop, drums, Hockey Theme, Sabian

Neil Peart has updated his Bubba's Bar 'n' Grill section of his website with Turkey recipes.

Bubba's Big Bird

Cranberry Jelly

Brutus's Turkey Stock

Brutus's Turkey Chili

In addition, there's a pre-order for Bubba's Hockey Jersey (the same one Neil wore while taping the new version of the Hockey Theme for TSN).

Labels: Bubba's Bar N Grill, Bubbawares, neilpeart.net, written by NEP

Neil Peart and DW Drum's John Goode talk about DW shell technology.

SSC - Specialized Shell Configuration Part 1

SSC - Specialized Shell Configuration Part 2

Labels: Drum Workshop, drums, videos

There's a short video on the TSN website that shows Neil Peart recording his new version of "The Hockey Theme" with a new drum kit. This DW kit is white and has logos from all 30 NHL teams.

Watch the video

Story about the recording and the drum kit

Thanks to RushFan19 on The Rush Message board for the head's up.

Labels: Hockey Theme, videos

Neil has posted a Bubba's Book Club update to his website for 5 books.

Bubba's Book Club - Issue 14

Labels: Bubba's Book Club, neilpeart.net, written by NEP