OnMilwaukee.com Summerfest Guide: Rush delivers a knockout show at Marcus

 

In Summerfest Guide Reviews

Rush delivers a knockout show at Summerfest

Rush, pictured in an earlier concert, played Friday night at Summerfest.

By Val Ulicki, Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Published June 28, 2008 at 5:25 a.m.

Tags: rush, summerfest, marcus amphitheater

There was no scantily-clad Annie Leibovitz photo shoot hubbub, nobody got pulled on stage for beating up a woman and not a single person wondered if the lead singer had officially changed his name back to "Puff Geddy" from "P Giddy".

All we had was music.

Three hours of rock from a group who has managed to last 34 years and can still rock out with their hen out (more on that later). Rush doesn't just endure; they thrive, wow, amaze, and time after time show why the term "power trio" should have been coined just for them.

Touring in support of their first new album in 6 years, "Snakes and Arrows," Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, and Geddy Lee drifted back to an older style of Rush. The music was little more edgy, a little harder. Lee's voice was in fantastic form, holding out song after song and allowing him to sing virtually the entire show in the same key as he originally recorded the pieces. I had never heard them perform "Limelight", the opening song, without dropping an octave for the vocals. It was a strong showing for a guy just days shy of his 55th birthday.

From the new album we were shown "The Main Monkey Business," "The Larger Bowl," "Far Cry," "Workin' Them Angels," "Armor and Sword," "Spondrift," "The Way The Wind Blows," and "Hope." It is impressive to witness a classic rock band perform new material without being booed off the stage ("Dude, play "Freebird!").

With more than three decades of material from which to draw, the band also pulled out more rare songs like "Entre Nous," "Natural Science," and "Dreamline." Never ones to short-change the crowd, Rush rounded out the almost 30-song set list with such perennial favorites as "Tom Sawyer," (introduced by "South Park" stars Stan, Kyle, and Cartman, no less), "Free Will," and "YYZ."

I sat next to a man who was seeing Rush for the first time. Several times, he referred to it as a "bucket list" item he could now cross off. He had missed them playing in the early 70's at a high school in Wausau. Nobody knew who they were. Several times during the show, I looked over at him and saw the happiest face. All he could talk about during the first intermission I have ever seen the band take was how the next time Rush came to town he would have to bring his wife.

We both puzzled over the poultry theme running throughout the show. Onstage were three tall rotisserie ovens labeled "Henhouse," each containing several dozen fake chickens, which slowly turned the entire time.

Many of the screen animations featured chickens and chicken-themed skits, too. It was far less distracting than previous shows, which had, among other things, vending machines and washer/dryer pairs. It still left us wondering and occasionally realizing that instead of paying attention to the music we had been staring at prop fowl.

That is all part of Rush. It might help explain why they are one of the only successful and relevant bands from the early 70's who can sell out an arena yet fly under the radar when they are not touring.

As I was walking out, another fan caught a tech's attention when we walked past the soundboard. He said, "Awesome show, man! Awesome sound!" The tech replied, "I know! That kicked ASS!" And that very well sums up the evening...Rush delivered the absolute best show I have seen perform.

OnMilwaukee.com Summerfest Guide: Rush delivers a knockout show at Marcus

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick, written in 1966 and published in 1968. It tells of the moral crisis of Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who stalks androids in a fallout-clouded, partially-deserted future San Francisco.

Along with The Man in the High Castle, this novel is Dick’s most famous. It is one of the defining science fiction works exploring the ethical dimensions of the "android" concept, as a literary device understanding concepts of persecution based on narrow distinctions, such as ethnicity.

Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples loosely adapted the novel into the 1982 film Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. For this reason some post-1982 editions of the book have been published as Blade Runner. The computer game Blade Runner is set in the same universe as the movie but incorporates many more elements from the book.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the electric sheep screen-saver

 

the electric sheep screen-saver

Rush more interested with future than past

 

Rush -- (from left) drummer Neil Peart, guitarist Alex Lifeson and singer/bassist Geddy Lee -- will perform Wednesday at the Post-Gazette Pavilion in support of its latest album, "Snakes & Arrows."
Ethan Miller

By Alan Sculley
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 26, 2008

Most bands that have endured for three or more decades feel compelled to essentially play a greatest-hits set in their concerts. Be it Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard or Journey, these groups will sprinkle in perhaps three or four new songs into a live set at best.

Rush is the prime exception to that rule, and at no time has that been more apparent than on the group's tour in support of its 2007 studio CD, "Snakes & Arrows."

On the tour, which resumed last month, the band has been playing nine of the 11 songs from "Snakes & Arrows." In a recent phone interview, guitarist Alex Lifeson says two factors allow Rush to showcase so much of the new material live -- the band's satisfaction with "Snakes & Arrows" and the length of the band's set.

"First of all, we felt so strongly about it," Lifeson says of "Snakes & Arrows." "We were very happy with the results of the record. ... In the past, we probably would have done three or four, maybe five, from a new album. But this one, we just couldn't, we wanted to play the whole thing. For us to settle at nine, I thought, was pretty generous. And in doing over three hours, it allows us to get a chunk of the new material in, as well as revisiting older stuff that are maybe fan favorites."

story continues below

Just as importantly, Lifeson says many Rush fans seem to mirror the band in its desire to live in the present and push forward musically.

"I want to think that Rush fans want to hear that anyway. They want to hear the new stuff," he says. "Sure, 'Tom Sawyer' or 'Spirit of the Radio' are great, but they want to see where the band's going and how we can replicate what we do in the studio, still."

Rush, in fact, is proud enough of "Snakes & Arrows" and the shows the band performed last year on the first half of the tour to have recently released a two-CD set culled from two shows in Rotterdam in the Netherlands called "Snakes & Arrows Live." A DVD shot during those same concerts will be released later this year.

Despite the fact that fans will be able to own the "Snakes & Arrows" CD right as this year's tour starts, Lifeson says the band isn't making major changes to the live set.

"We'll change up the show a little bit," he says. "We've changed some video stuff that we did at intermission when we come back onstage. We're trading out a few songs for a few others -- I think four songs."

The members of Rush -- Lifeson, singer/bassist Geddy Lee and drummer Neil Peart -- have good reason to be proud of the "Snakes & Arrows" studio CD. It's one of the band's best efforts, and combines fairly concise rockers like "Far Cry" and "Armor and Sword," which feature strong melodies and sharp guitar riffs, with longer, more adventurous tracks such as "Spindrift" and "The Main Monkey Business."

"Snakes & Arrows" provided a heartening high point for a band that had endured its share of heartache and uncertainty in recent years.

Formed in 1974 in Toronto, the band's future was thrown into question when, in 1997, Peart's 19-year-old daughter, Selena, was killed in a one-car accident near Brighton, Ontario. About a year later, his wife, Jackie, succumbed to cancer.

The band put everything on hold, and Peart (who remarried in 2000) hadn't even picked up his drumsticks for nearly four years when, in fall 2000, the group decided to return to the studio and try to resume its career. There was no guarantee that the group would succeed.

"It was the first record back after that four years off," Lifeson said. "We weren't sure how Neil was going to do. He hadn't been playing for a while. We had sort of been pursuing other things -- when I say we, I mean Geddy and myself. So there were a lot of things up in the air."

The band, though, found a groove and, in 2002, returned with the CD "Vapor Trails." But with "Snakes & Arrows," Lifeson feels the group hit a new peak.

He credited producer Nick Raskulinecz with helping the group to stay in touch with its musical strengths.

"Nick, you know, made us realize that sometimes we try to get too far away from what we do for the feat of repeating ourselves," Lifeson says, citing the group's active rhythm section and vocal harmonies as two signatures that Raskulinecz sought to keep in check. "He pointed out to us that we have to be careful about the sorts of things we try to run away from. He said there are things about Rush that are so Rush-ian, you know, and you have to continue to incorporate them. They're what makes you special.

"It sort of opened our eyes to what our character is as a band. And that made things a lot more exciting."

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Jimmy Page - That's Doctor Jimmy Page to you

That's Doctor Jimmy Page to you

Joe Bosso, Fri 27 Jun, 12:55 am BST

Paging Dr. Page...

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For years he's been hailed as a genius and a rock god, but now Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page can be called something else: doctor.

On June 20, the University of Surrey conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of the University to Jimmy Page for services to the music industry. The guitarist attended the ceremony at Guildford Cathedral. Afterwards, Page signed a guitar which will be given away in a competition at the upcoming GuilFest festival. Surrey's involvement with GuilFest this year celebrates its innovative music programmes that reflect the diversity of contemporary musical practice.

This was not Page's first trip to the famed institution - on October 25, 1968, Led Zeppelin played their first gig under that name (having ditched the moniker The New Yardbirds) at the University of Surrey.

Although Page is certainly no stranger to picking up platinum albums and music awards, lately he's been the recipient of honors of a different stripe: In 2005 he was awarded an OBE for his charity work with the children of Brazil's slums, and was also made an honorary citizen of Rio De Janeiro.

Revisiting the Black Sunday Hack

 

Oneof the most impressive hacks I've ever read about has to be the Black Sunday kill. Since the original 2001 Slashdot article I read on this is 99.9% quote, I'm going to do the same. I can see why they quoted so extensively; it'd be difficult to improve on the unusually succinct, well written summary provided by Pat from Belch:

One of the original smart cards, entitled 'H' cards for Hughes, had design flaws which were discovered by the hacking community. These flaws enabled the extremely bright hacking community to reverse engineer their design, and to create smart card writers. The writers enabled the hackers to read and write to the smart card, and allowed them to change their subscription model to receive all the channels. Since the technology of satellite television is broadcast only, meaning you cannot send information TO the satellite, the system requires a phone line to communicate with DirecTV. The hackers could re-write their smart cards and receive all the channels, and unplug their phone lines leaving no way for DirecTV to track the abuse. DirecTV had built a mechanism into their system that allowed the updating of these smart cards through the satellite stream. Every receiver was designed to 'apply' these updates when it received them to the cards. DirecTV applied updates that looked for hacked cards, and then attempted to destroy the cards by writing updates that disabled them. The hacking community replied with yet another piece of hardware, an 'unlooper,' that repaired the damage. The hacker community then designed software that trojanized the card, and removed the capability of the receivers to update the card. DirecTV could only send updates to the cards, and then require the updates be present in order to receive video. Each month or so, DirecTV would send an update. 10 or 15 minutes later, the hacking community would update the software to work around the latest fixes. This was the status quo for almost two years. 'H' cards regularly sold on eBay for over $400.00. It was apparent that DirecTV had lost this battle, relegating DirecTV to hunting down Web sites that discussed their product and using their legal team to sue and intimidate them into submission.

Four months ago, however, DirecTV began sending several updates at a time, breaking their pattern. While the hacking community was able to bypass these batches, they did not understand the reasoning behind them. Never before had DirecTV sent 4 and 5 updates at a time, yet alone send these batches every week. Many postulated they were simply trying to annoy the community into submission. The updates contained useless pieces of computer code that were then required to be present on the card in order to receive the transmission. The hacking community accommodated this in their software, applying these updates in their hacking software. Not until the final batch of updates were sent through the stream did the hacking community understand DirecTV. Like a final piece of a puzzle allowing the entire picture, the final updates made all the useless bits of computer code join into a dynamic program, existing on the card itself. This dynamic program changed the entire way the older technology worked. In a masterful, planned, and orchestrated manner, DirecTV had updated the old and ailing technology. The hacking community responded, but cautiously, understanding that this new ability for DirecTV to apply more advanced logic in the receiver was a dangerous new weapon. It was still possible to bypass the protections and receive the programming, but DirecTV had not pulled the trigger of this new weapon.

Last Sunday night, at 8:30 pm est, DirecTV fired their new gun. One week before the Super Bowl, DirecTV launched a series of attacks against the hackers of their product. DirecTV sent programmatic code in the stream, using their new dynamic code ally, that hunted down hacked smart cards and destroyed them. The IRC DirecTV channels overflowed with thousands of people who had lost the ability to watch their stolen TV. The hacking community by and large lost not only their ability to watch TV, but the cards themselves were likely permanently destroyed. Some estimate that in one evening, 100,000 smart cards were destroyed, removing 98% of the hacking communities' ability to steal their signal. To add a little pizzazz to the operation, DirecTV personally "signed" the anti-hacker attack. The first 8 computer bytes of all hacked cards were rewritten to read "GAME OVER".

Nobody knew how the satellite companies had suddenly developed such smarts. Until now. A recent Wired article exposes Christopher Tarnovsky as the mind behind the epic Black Sunday Hack.

Among the countermeasures he says he created was one known among pirates as the "Black Sunday" kill -- an elaborate scheme that destroyed tens of thousands of pirate DirecTV cards a week before Super Bowl Sunday in 2001.

Instead of being delivered all at once like other measures, the Black Sunday attack code was sent to pirate cards in about five dozen parts over the course of two months, like a tank transported piece by piece to a battlefield to be assembled in the field. "They never expected us to do this," Tarnovsky says.

The kill didn't last long before pirates found a way to jump-start the cards. But it holds an enduring position in pirate lore; for the first time, they could see a cunning mind at work on the other side.

It's fascinating to finally hear the Black Sunday kill described so intimately from the inside. It's a gripping tale of high stakes programming, a life of electronic warfare with millions of dollars at risk on both sides. I've never been a satellite television subscriber, but apparently the war rages on even today -- at least according to the Wikipedia entry on pirate decryption.

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Film shows Beatles "reunited" for Las Vegas show

By Randall Mikkelsen

British musician Paul McCartney performs at the Liverpool Sound concert at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, northern England, June 1, 2008. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

SILVER SPRING, Md (Reuters) - A new Beatles movie depicts surviving band members, widows and their producer reuniting to rise above a reputation for discord and collaborate on a lavish stage show with Cirque de Soleil.

The movie, "All Together Now," shows Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr working with Yoko Ono, George Harrison's widow Olivia and The Beatles' producer Sir George Martin to remix their music for the 21st century with the Las Vegas stage production of "Love."

"I wanted to tell this story about these people who are myths. They're mythic characters," said the film's Canadian director, Adrian Wills. "This was a way for them to sort of deal with their past in a way that was in the present."

The movie had its U.S. debut last week at the Silverdocs documentary film festival and was repeated by audience demand on Monday. Apple Corps Ltd executive Jonathan Clyde said there are only limited plans for more public showings, but a DVD release is in the pipeline.

"Love" is a $180 million show at a specially built theater at the Mirage Hotel. It opened in 2006. The Cirque de Soleil employs dance, acrobatics and fanciful staging to interpret the evolution of Beatles music from exuberant pop through utopian psychedelia, updating the 41-year old Sgt. Pepper's image with a high-tech sheen.

The idea sprang from the friendship of Beatle George Harrison, who died in 2001, and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte. Wills has filmed previous Cirque productions, and "All Together Now" was initially planned as a small-scale promotional film.

But Wills grew up a Beatles fan, and said he knew he was witnessing a rare moment following the band's bitter 1970 breakup. They were creating something new

CAPTURING HISTORY

"It wasn't going to be definitive, but it was a new thing that they were working on, and I think it excited them," Wills said. "We were aware that we were capturing history."

The Beatles, through Apple, and Cirque de Soleil are both known as fierce protectors of their image. "Neither had ever compromised on the creation of something," Clyde said in an interview. "So it was a challenge, and there were moments of great difficulty."

Similarly, Wills faced long odds capturing the Beatles on screen. He said he filmed at a distance with a long lens and put a microphone on whomever he could. He got interviews with Paul and Ringo by first gaining the trust of Ono and Harrison. "We kind of stole the film," he said.

There are brief moments of discord. Ono is shown distressed over "Come Together," with dark-clad dancers gyrating suggestively. It looked "sleazy" for what her husband, John Lennon, had intended as a political song, she complained.

But mostly the film shows McCartney, Starr, Harrison and Ono working closely with Martin and the Cirque, and reliving a time when The Beatles dominated popular culture.

"What the film reveals is that the show, it brought them together again," Clyde said. The past discord, he said, was mostly a myth. "Any differences are so long ago."

The movie shows Martin's son, Giles, working alongside his father to mix The Beatles' individual studio tracks into a new soundtrack for the show. George's son, Dhani, is also shown to be closely involved.

McCartney compares the massive scale of "Love" with how he and Lennon composed the songs decades earlier on scraps of paper. "It's such a little process, and look what's happened to it," he says.

Starr recounts encouraging Cirque's director to go further in interpretation. "Each generation as it grows up finds the Beatles for themselves, and it will go on," he said.

McCartney looks back with amazement at The Beatles' status as one of the most influential music acts in modern history, and his presence in it. "Now I can say it -- we were a f------ great band," he said.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

The Art Of John Lennon

IMAGINE PEACE

yoko ono

JOHN LENNON: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ARTWORKS
For the first time in their entirety in Liverpool.
Liverpool will celebrate being awarded European Capital of Culture this year with artwork by one of its most famous sons being shown in the capital. The exhibition will feature the Complete Collection of John Lennon’s artwork for the first time in their entirety in Liverpool. The exhibition runs at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo building from 23 May until 2 June, before embarking on a museum tour of Germany.
Jonathan Poole, exhibition organiser, comments:
“It is very exciting to have the Complete Collection of Lennon’s work, and fitting that it should be showcased in his home city, during a year highlighting Liverpool’s cultural position in Europe. I began my career exhibiting works by John Lennon and, personally, I am a huge fan of his works. This exhibition gives people the chance to see a different side of John in terms of his artistry and also his unique personality.”
Although best known as a musician, art was also a huge part of John’s life and he attended the Liverpool School of Art from 1957-1960, before becoming part of one of the most famous bands of all time.
The collection features works by Lennon dating from 1968 until his untimely death in 1980 and features fifteen original drawings. This exhibition has been organised in conjunction with Yoko Ono’s company, Bag One and demonstrates the various styles used by John Lennon to express his imaginative artistic style.
Exhibition details:
The Liverpool Daily Post and Echo offices
Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L69 3EB, UK (Map here).
23 May 2008 - 2 June 2008.
Monday- Friday, midday – 8:00pm.
Admission is free.
Facebook event here.

Land of Milk and Honey by John Lennon

Come Together by John Lennon

United We Stand by John Lennon

Rare Beatles Footage Uncovered for 'Mystery Tour Memories'

Posted Jun 26th 2008 11:00AM by John D. Luerssen
Filed under: News, Movies

Rare footage of the Beatles -- shot on grainy, color, 8 mm film -- has been uncovered. Shot during the Fab Four's 1967 visit to Plymouth, during the making of the 'Magical Mystery Tour,' the film finds John, Paul, George and Ringo on their infamous yellow tour bus and walking the British coastline.
It is believed the footage was captured by vacationers. It will surface as part of a new documentary on the legendary Liverpudlians, which will reportedly be called 'Mystery Tour Memories.'
"They were quite happy to relax and talk to people; the days of 'Beatlemania' were long gone," David Lambert, a film producer for Arthouse Pictures, tells music magazine Uncut. "I think it was George who said 'As long as people don't want to scream at us and pull our hair out and take our clothes off, we are quite happy to sit and talk to them."
A trailer of the film can be seen here.

Is Digital Productivity Dead?

Here’sthe dirty little secret about knowledge workers: the amount of time they spend at work but not working is a lot higher than anyone wants to admit.

Inbetween answering phone calls, checking e-mail, social networking, blogging, Twitter, e-commerce, Google-ing, watching videos and reading the news, many people spend hours being unproductive in terms of actually producing work for their employee.

Accordingto a new study by consulting firm Basex, the average U.S. worker spends as much as 28% of their day doing non-work stuff, which works out to $650-billion of lost productivity a year.

Atface value, 28% is a staggering number. It works out to more than two hours of the work day - and likely doesn’t include going out for lunch. But is today’s knowledge worker unproductive or do knowledge workers operate differently?

Mysense is most knowledge workers are productive; it’s just a different kind of productive. Rather than bearing down for hours and hours, many knowledge workers do short bursts of ultra-productive activity before taking a digital break. At the end of the day, they do what needs to be done.

Forexample, Chris Sacca, who used to head up special initiatives with Google, conceded at a conference recently he only really works one to two hours a day - but those one to two hours are extremely intense and productive.

Theother side of the productivity coin for many knowledge workers is work doesn’t all happen between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. In fact, the line between work and non-work has blurred. if you’re checking e-mail or doing work-related research at 7 a.m. or 10 p.m. or putting in an hour or two of work on the weekend, how does that fit into the productivity equation?

Whilethere’s always room to be more productive and many companies are seeking ways to keep their employees focused, knowledge workers are productive but taking an unconventional approach.

Formore, BusinessWeek has an article on the Basex study, while the New York Times has a story on how some tech companies (Intel, Google, Microsoft and IBM) are working together to make their employees more productive by launching tools such as e-mail filters to deal with digital overload.

Accordingto the NYT, a Google software engineer recently introduced E-Mail Addict, an experimental feature for the company’s e-mail service that lets people cut themselves off from their in-boxes for 15 minutes.

Technorati Tags: Productivity