As always, questions, additions, comments and corrections welcome.

Programming Changes

• KTVP-LD 23.x Phoenix (HC2 LPTV Holdings Inc.) has dropped channels 23.3 through 23.6, leaving ONTV4U infomercials on channel 23.1 and unidentified infomercials on channel 23.2. KTVP-LD has also been identified as the future Phoenix home of Cheddar News.
• KPDF-CD 41.x (22) Phoenix (HC2 Station Group Inc.) has added ONTV4U infomercials on channel 41.5 and unidentified infomercials on channel 41.6. It is the same programming found on channels 23.1 and 23.2, respectively.

As always, questions, additions, comments and corrections welcome.

New Licenses

• K04QP-D 4.x Casas Adobes (KVOA License LLC) was granted a license to cover its modified construction permit. Technical specifications: Ch 4; TL 32° 14' 57" N, 111° 7' 0" W (Tucson Mtns.); ERP 1.7 kW (non-directional); HAAT 606 m.
• KHDF-CD 19.x Las Vegas NV (HC2 Network Inc.) has requested a license to cover its move to a different tower at the main site on Black Mountain with a reduction of power. Technical specifications: Ch 19; TL 36° 0' 27" N, 115° 0' 27" W (Black Mtn. main site); ERP 7.5 kW directional (0.25° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 339 m.

Edited, and likely to continue to be edited, to tweak phrasing and add more links to articles.

The news was so unexpected. I was waiting at home to pick my wife up from the Metro station and go to dinner, and just decided to peek at Facebook for repack news. I saw a post from Scott Fybush saying he wasn't sure why Q107 in Toronto hadn't gone all Rush. That could only be bad news. I went to RushIsABand as I often do, and there it was.

I don't know that I'm ready to live in a world without Neil Peart. I know that he was retired and we likely weren't going to hear more music from him, but it was enough to know that he was out there, hopefully enjoying life in his well-deserved retirement. Living in the same world as him was enough.

My wife doesn't really get my relationship to Rush, unfortunately. My father is a Rush fan. I probably heard Rush in the womb before I was born. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to Rush in the house in New Jersey before my family moved to Virginia when I was 6. My first concert was Rush. My dad had Rush pictures and lyrics from some of his favorite songs like "Witch Hunt" and "Bravado" on the wall in the house. I spent my college years listening to Rush on a loop, essentially. I turned "Xanadu" into a unit of time that was 12 minutes in length. (My first year of college, it took 1 and a half Xanadus to leave my dorm room, get to the dining hall to pick up food, and come back and continue working on RabbitEars.) I used to wear a Rush wristband every day, until my last one broke. Rush lyrics are at the bottom of most of the pages of this website and in the signature sections of most of my message board accounts. Rush has never not been there in one form or another.

I had always wanted to be a drummer because of Neil Peart and Rush. I never became one, but I still drum my fingers along to things, in the car or on my laptop's palm rest. But he wasn't just the drummer, he was the lyricist. And quite the lyricist he was. I knew the word "alienation" a lot younger than most people would because Neil used it in "Limelight." He was not afraid to use the right word, even if it was a bigger word than one might expect to find in rock music. He wasn't afraid to put deep messages into Rush's songs.

The fact of the matter is that I felt like Rush spoke about me at times. I never really cared what other people thought, and wouldn't be where I am if I had. So did they. After their Caress of Steel album was poorly received, they were told to make a more radio friendly album; they responded, instead, by releasing the 2112 album, which had the 20 minute long "2112" as the first track, having decided they would prefer to fail genuinely than cater to the preferences of the label. Their music was full of messages that resonated. My favorite song is "Witch Hunt," about how people can be so easily whipped up into a frenzy over things they don't understand, even when there's nothing inherently bad about those things. I love "Subdivisions," about how people feel they need to fit in and how hard it is for people who don't. As you read about them, you'll find so many others identify with songs like "Subdivisions" or "Everyday Glory" or many others.

But beyond that, they are good people. I'm currently reading my sister's Christmas gift to me, Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth, The Official Touring History. There's so much commentary from so many about how nice they were to people around them. And, of course, you're seeing it now in the outpouring in social media. I've seen multiple postcards on Twitter from people who had written Neil, and Neil found the time to write them back. People who got through to the shy guy who had no problem performing before thousands but couldn't handle receiving a compliment spoke of a wonderfully kind and gracious person. I fully believe it.

And it's not just me who feels such affection for these guys that most of us have never met. If you really want a sense of it, go watch the video of the beginning of the ceremony for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was something that Rush fans pushed for many years, and even other bands wondered why Rush hadn't made it in yet.

When I heard the news, for as many people quoted songs like Tom Sawyer, Closer to the Heart, The Spirit of Radio, Afterimage (about the sudden loss of a friend the group worked with), or The Garden (the last song on the last album), the first song I personally wanted to hear was Natural Science. I thought it was an odd choice for the moment, but when I was finally able to listen to it, I made the choice to have the lyrics before me as I listened, and I decided my subconscious made the right call. From the end of the song:

"Wave after wave
Will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide
Will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on as it was..."

It will be okay.

====

Lawrence Gowan of Styx performed part of Limelight last night. It's beautiful.

Proposal for a statue at Lakeside Park
Editorial on the memorial
Tribute to Peart overdue says mayor

Selected reading:
Geddy Lee
Donna Halper
Chris Stankee
Lesley Choyce
Mike Goldberg
National Post
The Guardian
Buffalo News
LA Times
Space.com
National Review
Billboard
Mike Portnoy on Facebook
Mike Portnoy
Fantoons
Philip Wilding
Diogenes Communications
NPR
Stephen Humphries
The American Conservative
Las Vegas Review-Journal
John Ivison
The New Yorker
The Globe and Mail
Scott Blitstein
Inc.com
Rolling Stone
Toronto Sun
The Star
Kenny Aronoff
Scott Travis
Patrick Lyons
Alexander Kunz
ECW Press
Kevin J. Anderson on Facebook
Velvet Thunder
The Week
Styx' Todd Sucherman
Prince George Citizen
Washington Post
Houston Press
The Chronicle Herald
Matt Crossman
A Fox News Sports Report Script - YouTube
Triumph's Gil Moore
New York Times
Hudson Music
Eric Garcia
CBR
Global News - Winnipeg
Vinay Menon
Sonic Perspectives
NoLa.com
Ultimate Classic Rock
Newsweek
Godsmack's Sully Erna
MusicTap
Ross Halfin
Marty Morin
The Music Express
Max Mobley
Sound and Vision
Herald Extra
The Post-Journal
Charleston Gazette-Mail
VICE
Buffalo Rising
A Journal of Musical Things
Doane Perry on Facebook - "This was always my first question when I saw him. “Any pain?” I asked. “No pain”, came the reply. "
Kevin J. Anderson Photo
Pop Matters
Cato Institute
Inside the Setlist
SPIN - 5 Most Powerful Song Lyrics - I actually agree with four of five.
Chicago Sun-Times
Melita Hoffman
AIER
Casey Neill
Andrew Berthoff
Tor.com

Junkdrummer TV (on YouTube)
Gonzalo Lira (on YouTube)
Rush on South Park, Family Guy, Trailer Park Boys

A recommended playlist of songs that weren't top hits for those who want to hear some more obscure highlights:
Natural Science
Witch Hunt
Vital Signs
Afterimage
Marathon
Bravado
Resist
The Pass
Presto
Working Them Angels
Good News First
Headlong Flight
The Garden

I'm sure this is the update everyone was waiting for--I've added three more Rush quotes to the rotation at the bottom of the pages.

For those who want to see the full set, here they are.

"Bright antennae bristle with the energy..." - Rush "The Spirit of Radio"
"Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand..." - Rush "Witch Hunt"
"If I could wave my magic wand, I'd make everything alright..." - Rush "Presto"
"Everybody got to deviate from the norm..." - Rush "Vital Signs"
"In a world where I feel so small, I can't stop thinking big!" - Rush "Caravan"
"Cruising in primetime, soaking up the cathode rays...!" - Rush "Between the Wheels"
"Art as expression, not as market campaigns, will still capture our imagination." - Rush "Natural Science"
"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice!" - Rush "Freewill"
"He picks up scraps of conversation, radio and radiation..." - Rush "Digital Man"
"And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them..." - Rush "The Weapon"
"The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect..." - Rush "The Garden"
"Clockwork angels, the people raise their hands... as if to fly..." - Rush "Clockwork Angels"
"Invisible airwaves crackle with life..." - Rush "The Spirit of Radio"