The Pondering Absurdist

One of the things about having multiple interests in life is that sometimes you find yourself hopping around between those different interests, and the others get set on the back burner for a while. Lately, I have been focused on one of the hobbies that I indulged in earlier in my life and have now taken up again. for many years, since I was in my 20s, I have had an interest in gold prospecting. It is fortuitous that I was born and raised in the state of California, because it is probably one of the best places to have this hobby. Lately I’ve been reading texts written by geologists back in the 1800s about tertiary gravels, the different geologic time zones that led to the deposition of these gravels, and the miners in the 1800s who almost depleted these gravels so the rest of us are left with tiny scraps (I know… exciting, right?). But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about YouTube videos.

As I sat down to eat my dinner tonight, I turned on YouTube on the big screen, expecting to probably watch another gold related video. However, one of my other interests popped its head up and said “hey, look at me.” I ended up watching a relatively short video from a couple of days ago that featured Geddy Lee and Alex Leifson. They were in Cleveland, being interviewed and were asked a few questions. After only a couple of questions it came out that Geddy and Alex have been talking about and planning to go on tour again next year. As a big fan of Rush, I was excited to hear that, after 10 years of no concerts, the two of them have decided to go on the road again. Of course my immediate thought was who are they gonna get to replace Neil? (Sadly, Neil Peart died in 2020 after a battle with brain cancer) Well, that question was answered pretty quickly. Geddy mentioned that he was referred to a female German drummer named Anika Nilles, who had toured with Jeff Beck recently. He and Alex invited her to Canada and gave her a casual audition to see how good she was. They really liked her proficiency and style and offered her the opportunity to tour with them next year. The rest of the time eating my dinner was spent watching multiple videos of Anika Nilles playing the drums.

So, I’m excited to hear that the remaining members of Rush will be touring with a limited number of dates and that some lucky fans will get to hear them live again. The jealousy enters in merely because it would be awesome if I was one of those lucky fans. However, life‘s circumstances will prevent me from seeing them live. I can only hope that sometime in the future I may be able to catch one of those concerts on YouTube.