Rest in Peace, Professor. Neil Peart passes from brain cancer at age 67.

[Cuchulainn]

This one hurts. Rush has been my favorite band since I was in my early teens.

I knew I would have to say goodbye to its members at some point, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

Sixty-seven isn't old by today's standards.

CANCER SUCKS.

[DungeonmasterCal]

It really does. Rush had a profound impact on my musical tastes when I was younger.

[CapeCodRPGer]

RIP Neil. A true legend.

In tribute

NSFW Language.

[Marc Radle]

This one does suck.

He was an amazing musician, a hell of an intellect, and a fantastic writer.

The world lost someone truly special today :(

[Lord Fyre]

Marc Radle wrote:

This one does suck.

He was an amazing musician, a hell of an intellect, and a fantastic writer.

The world lost someone truly special today :(

Exit the Warrior ...

[John Napier 698]

R.I.P. Neil.

[Aaron Bitman]

Dang! I have to surf the web more! I didn't know until today!

I remember back in the early 1990s, when I was in college, I came to regard Rush as one of my two favorite bands (the other being Metallica). Back then, our internet connection at home stunk and I relied on our connection at college to get information about things like my favorite bands. When I was about to finish college, I printed out a Rush FAQ file from 1993, thinking I wouldn't get access to such things. I know, such a thought seems laughable now. But I still have that old printout after all these decades. Here's an excerpt:

FAQ file wrote:

This file contains questions that seem to crop up frequently in The National Midnight Star and alt.music.rush.

<snip>

These rumors have been popping up for quite some time now. Here are some of the ones that have been shown to be wrong over the years by the activities of the band:

- Alex is dying of cancer
- Neil is dying of cancer
- Geddy is dying of cancer
- Geddy has throat cancer; he's not dying, but can never sing again
- Geddy is going blind from stage lights.

As of March 4 1993, the "Neil has cancer" and "Neil has AIDS" rumors have been "officially" stated to be just that: rumors with no basis in fact.

I don't see it in that file now, but I'm sure I read plenty of false rumors about Neil having BRAIN cancer, specifically. So when I first read this today, my knee-jerk reaction was "No! It's not true! It's another rumor!" But this time, it IS true. That's disturbing, actually.

It may be getting a bit off the subject, but I notice something else in that file:

FAQ file wrote:

How is "Peart" pronounced?

It rhymes with "near," according to Neil on the "Rush - Profiled!" CD...

<snip>

...the "Profiled!" CD contains a recording of Neil saying "Hi, this is Neil Peart of Rush." That also agrees with the way Geddy pronounced "Peart" when introducing Neil's solo during RTB shows.

And yet, today, I hear even apparent fans pronounce it to rhyme with "hurt".