"The point of the journey is not to arrive.
Anything can happen."
from "Prime Mover" written by Neil Peart
Neil Peart came into my life at many different times.
In the fall of 1984, my dad got two promotional tickets to a Rush concert. He asked who I wanted to go with. There was a kid who I went to elementary school with a couple of years before. Ed and I used to hang out at his house after school to play video games while listening to his older brother's albums - Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Rush. There was always this element of excitement and danger because his brother had threatened to beat the crap out of Ed if he touched any of his records.
My parents made me take piano lessons, so the only music I really knew was Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.
Ed made me a mix-tape with the whole 2112 album on one side. So Rush was the pretty much the first real rock band that I listened to.
I hadn't seen Ed since elementary school, but I called him up anyway cause he was such a huge Rush fan and I asked if he wanted to go. Of course he said yes.
My dad dropped the both of us in front of Maple Leaf Gardens and told us he'd pick us up at the same spot after the concert ended. We Rushed inside, two 13-year-old kids in a crowd of really old people. They must have all been like 20-years old or something.
Everyone booed the opening act, so we did as well. Some band nobody heard of. Red Ryder.
Nobody in that arena had any idea that in a few years, the guy singing on stage would write "Life is a Highway" and become one of Canada's most well-known musicians.
Rush comes on stage and Alex Lifeson plays the opening notes of "Spirit of Radio". The audience goes nuts! Power chords and drums kick in and then a sea of a thousand arms go up, all playing air-drums in perfect unison with Neil Peart's rapid-fire rounds on the toms and snare.
I'd never seen anything so perfectly synchronized and orchestrated on such a large scale like that in my life. Ed and I looked at each other wide-eyed. AWESOME!
Forty years later, Ed and I are still best friends. A bond forged by Rush and air-drumming to Neil Peart's rhythms.
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A few years ago, our group of friends got into a video game called Rock Band. You know, with the plastic guitars with buttons instead of strings, and the round plastic pads that you beat on with real drumsticks.
I got addicted to beating on those round plastic pads.
I play music so I know that Rock Band guitars are nothing like playing a real guitar. But I was very impressed with how the Rock Band drumkit so closely mimicked a real drumset; how it teaches you the kind of four-limb independence (ok three-limbs in the video game) that you need to play the drums in real life.
I went to a music store and sat behind a set of drums to see how my video game skills measured up in the real world.
It didn't sound too bad. Not good either. But not terrible.
So I bought the drum kit and took it home.
I didn't want to take lessons, so I just watched a ton of YouTube videos and who better to give you tips on how to play drums and inspire you than Neil Peart?
I must have watched every single drum video he made. All that Rush music that I listened to as a kid suddenly took on a new dimension because I now understood, really UNDERSTOOD, just how complex the stuff he was doing was behind those two other guys.
Stuff like polyrhythms, each limb playing in a different time signature, incorporating tribal rhythms into his playing, mixing electronic drums and MIDI triggers with an acoustic kit.
Around that time, the
Best Drummer In The World was stretching himself and learning how to drum using Traditional Grip, with the left hand holding the stick with an underhand grip to play the snare. Mainly jazz and big band drummers use this grip.
The culmination of all of this was that he was hosting a Buddy Rich tribute concert in New York City. This was back in 2008.
A friend from work who is also a drummer and The-Biggest-Neil-Peart-Fan I know, managed to also get Neda and I tickets to see the show, so we flew there especially for that.
Neil had invited a whole bunch of drummers to play at the tribute. Mainly jazz and big band players, of course, since it was a Buddy Rich tribute. I was so new to drumming I didn't recognize any of them except for Chad Smith who played a couple of Red Hot Chili Peppers tunes.
When Neil took the stage, he played a few Big Band songs, then he started talking about his journey of learning a new style of playing drums. That really connected with me because I had just started playing drums and here was The Master himself also on that same path. Just light years ahead of me...
And then he went into this monster drum solo that made everyone's jaw drop in amazement.
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I didn't know Neil Peart rode motorcycles until after Neda and I got our licenses.
We had just started getting into extended motorcycle traveling and we were devouring anything in the media that was related. We watched Long Way Round and bought the book. Knowing that I was a big Rush fan, Neda also told me that Neil Peart wrote about his long motorcycle ride after his daughter and wife died.
While reading Ghost Rider, I was surprised to find out that he too rode a BMW GS.
Around that time, I got Neda into Rush and she also became a huge fan. Mainly because Neil also rode motorcycles. So she's actually more of a Neil fan than a Rush fan. We went to see a few concerts over the years, she was quite excited to see the Buddy Rich tribute in NYC.
And then a few years later, Neda and I would also embark on this long motorcycle trip, our first steps following almost the same route that Neil documented in his book: Eastern Canada up to Alaska, and then down to Mexico and Belize.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Neil Peart directly influenced our decision to Quit our Jobs, Sell our Home and Go Riding, but his tunes were definitely playing in the background.
Neil's lyrics at the beginning of this post are pretty well-known. You see it quoted in prefaces to books, inspirational memes, blog posts, etc.
These days, whenever I listen to "Prime Mover" and I hear the words,
"The point of the journey is not to arrive", it does remind me a little bit of our grand motorcycle trip. But not nearly as much as the next line that follows. The next line that almost nobody ever includes in their inspirational quotes and meme gifs:
"Anything can happen."
Oh, that sense of wonder and anticipation! The adventure and excitement of the unknown. Perhaps even a touch of nervous trepidation.
*THAT* sums up our trip for me. Totally.
When I hear that part, it feels like Neil wrote it for us. Those two lines together.
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I've been on a Rush kick the last couple of days.
I'm saddened to hear about Neil's passing.
But I look around at the people that I love, the drum set sitting in the corner of the room, the motorcycle in the garage, and I'm joyous and thankful that he had the time to leave us with such a large legacy of music and words. It's permeated my life in such a personal way as to make me think that he was speaking directly to me.
And I know I'm not alone in feeling this way.
RIP Neil.
Thank you for providing me with the soundtrack for my life.
