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The evolution of Rush's live shows can be narrowed down to one thing. Chicken. The band - who has been touring together with the same lineup since 1975 - has loosened up so much in the past five or 10 years, that you might have walked away hungry after watching one of the band's live shows on the Snakes & Arrows tour.

The band - consisting of Geddy Lee (on bass, keyboards and vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitars and mandolin) and Neil Peart (drums and percussion) - who are now all in their 50's - played at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Mother's Day (as well as two shows at the Nokia Theatre the week before). They not only sounded as tight together as ever, but they showed the most personality and humor than they ever had before. During the concert, the band starred in several ongoing skits where Lee's character 'Harry Satchel' spends an inordinate amount of time and energy looking for chicken. Along the way, he encounters Lifeson as multiple characters - complete with appropriate accents, costumes and sometimes fake teeth - and actor Jerry Stiller (in drag). Its a far cry from their past performances where they were glued to their positions, barely spoke and took their live shows very seriously. They still take the shows seriously; they just seem to have more fun doing them.

Like they have for the last three or four tours, they play alone now without an opening act. Their past opening acts were sometimes entertaining (Steve Morse Band & Primus, for example) and sometimes weren't (Fastway?). Prior to their coming onto the stage, you not only get to hear a recording of their 1976 epic track 2112 done by an orchestra, but then you see the first skit, which features Lifeson, by far the goofiest of the three members. In it, he hears a noise and when scared, he tries to get comfort from bedmate Peart (the most serious member). It turns out the noise is being caused by Lee's loud Scottish character who blames the racket on the actual Lee, playing himself, who is there also.

Never before had the band displayed this much willingness to be goofy. Fans have gotten to see their sense of humor only sporadically with Lee's participation in the 1981 novelty song 'Take Off' by Bob and Doug Mackenzie (SCTV characters played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis) and Lifeson and Lee singing and playing the Canadian National Anthem with Terrence and Phillip - the offensive, fart-joke happy characters from the South Park series and movie. (Both SCTV and South Park continue their connection to the band and appear in the Rush show now). Another sly example of their humor is naming a Rush song 'Limbo" and acknowledging that one particular instrumental is "Part IV of the Gangster of Boats Trilogy."

The band played almost a three hour show at Verizon Wireless, which was broken into two parts - the first part of mainly older material and the second part which was longer, dedicated to more of the new Snakes & Arrows album and it featured a couple of individual solos. The first half had the songs 'Ghost of a Chance,' 'Digital Man,' and 'Mission,' which are songs brought back into the setlist rotation since their initial recording (in 1991, 1982 and 1987 respectively). Also among the songs is the longtime concert staple 'Freewill' and 'Between the Wheels,' which is another long-lost track recorded in the 80's and trotted out again. ('Wheels' is from the 'Grace Under Pressure' album from 1984, which is one of the band's darkest records to date - musically and lyrically. The theme of that album is generally bleak, lonely and futuristic, but one of the tracks 'Red Sector A' is also a thinly veiled nod to Lee's family - who had survived being in the Dachau concentration camp during World War II. After realizing its double-meaning, listening to the lyrics becomes a more haunting experience).

During the short intermission, the sketches are on full display with Lee's Scottish 'Harry Satchel' looking for - and eventually finding - some chicken. Only after Lee leaves at the break do you then fully realize what is on his side of the stage. Three rotisserie chicken ovens - that are fully functional. A guy in a chef's hat comes out a couple of times after the break and butters the fowl - which brings your attention more toward the prop and makes it funnier.

After the break, the band energetically powers through many of the songs on Snakes & Arrows, including 'Far Cry,' 'Workin' Them Angels,' 'Armor and Sword,' 'Spindrift' and 'When the Wind Blows.' They also play the cut 'Witch Hunt' which hasn't been in the rotation regularly since the 80's and the hoppin' instrumental 'Malignant Narcissism' - which in itself is another nod to South Park. After that song, Peart plays his signature drum solo - which is a rare art for most rock bands nowadays. Like usual, Peart incorporates all of his acoustic drums and cymbals, as well as his electric drums, MIDI-pads and triggered horn blasts into the 10 minute solo. In the final section of it, he plays along with the Buddy Rich track 'Cotton Tail,' a swing tune with a complex horn part. Peart has including a swing section in his solo ever since he got inspired by Rich's music in the 90's and recorded an album of swing music as a dedication to him.

No show of Rush's would be complete without them playing the popular track 'Tom Sawyer,' which is sometimes introduced in interesting ways. This one has the kids of South Park attempting to play it themselves as 'L'il Rush' (with Cartman as Lee - complete with long hair). Needless to say, they fail and they let the real guys do it.

The band's final song is another show staple, the instrumental 'YYZ,' which for years had appeared earlier in the show, but was now pushed into the encore. The track is so known by other musicians, that drummers, bassists and guitarists all try to learn it (either for real or on the game Guitar Hero, where it's now immortalized.) One of those musicians is Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who lived out a dream when Lifeson and Lee appeared onstage at a Foo Fighters show in Toronto in March and he played 'YYZ' with them. Hawkins and bandmate Dave Grohl - also a drummer - were so excited about it afterward that Hawkins bearhugged Lee after the song and Grohl talked - no wait, yelled - about that appearance for the rest of the Foo Fighters show.

If you haven't seen a live Rush show and have any interest in seeing a rockin' good time with three great veteran musicians, then catch Rush in concert on the next tour. In the meantime, you can listen to the studio record 'Snakes & Arrows' or the live version 'Snakes & Arrows Live' which are both available in stores or on iTunes. When you listen to the album, get some chicken. That might enhance the experience.

On a somber note, the band's original drummer John Rutsey, who had only played on Rush's first album in 1974, died on the same day as the Irvine show. He was 55.

Don't miss Rush at their second show at the new Nokia Theatre tonight at 8. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster or at the box office.
This is their second leg of their tour supporting the Atlantic Records studio album Snakes & Arrows, which came out last year and their live record Snakes & Arrows Live, which came out a week or two ago.

They are a great band to see live and Snakes & Arrows - produced by Nick Raskulinecz - is fantastic.

Tune in later for some of my interview with guitarist Alex Lifeson...

The great live band The Mornings is playing on Saturday night at the Mint at 10:30. The Mint is at 6010 W. Pico Blvd in LA. Excellent live show and they're playing with several cool groups.

As a teaser, here is a video to check out. Also look at www.myspace.com/themornings for more info.

If you want to hear a great live act, Larry Bagby and his band are playing at the Fox and the Hound Pub - 11100 Ventura Blvd in Studio City - on Sunday at around 8pm. He's outstanding - especially live - and his music blends a little country with a little rock and a little folk. The pub is cool too - very English. Bangers and Mash. Excellent.

If you want to hear Larry a little before you go see him go here or here

I didn't watch the last season of America's Got Talent and I don't even know when it was on. (last summer?) But, I just discovered the winner and the runner-up on youtube and both are phenomenal performers.
Terry Fator - who is a ventriloquist whose dummies do brilliant singing impressions of the likes of Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Cher, Kermit the Frog and others - narrowly beat out Cas Haley - a reggae-influenced singer/songwriter.
The show is similar to American Idol but apparently the judges don't see or hear the contestants at all before they perform for the first time. Judges Sharon Osborne and David Hasselhoff both admitted they had sarcastically thought to themselves 'a ventriloquist...great' before they saw Fator, who wiped them out with his first song. They also were taken aback with the beach-bum-looking Haley, who killed with the Police song 'Walking on the Moon.'

Since the show ended, Fator got a gig in Vegas and Haley has a new CD with his band Woodbelly - who will have a CD release at the Avalon club in Hollywood on March 22.

You can find performances of both of them on youtube.com and here and go to Contestants

By the way, Hasselhoff is still cheesy with his 'hey, I'm super cool' wink/points to the camera. A mild cheddar mixed with some provolone.

Several surprising veterans won Grammys last night including Herbie Hancock for Album of the Year and Bruce Springsteen - who won three awards.
Who remembers the 1983 Grammys where Hancock performed his song 'Rockit' on stage with animantronic mannequin legs kicking wildly to the beats. He won for that tune too. Hanock's album 'Possibilities' is also great - and sort of a precursor to his new one "River - The Joni Letters"
Speaking of river, Springsteen - whose new record 'Magic' is fantastic by the way - won in the Best Rock Vocal Performance and and Best Rock Song for the track 'Radio Nowhere' and in the Best Instrumental Rock Performance category with the song 'Once Upon a Time in the West'. Springsteen beats out some tough competition in that last category with the other nods going to guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai; the bands Metallica and Rush - who lost again in a rare Grammy showing. Last time they were nominated was in 1991.

Barack Obama also won a Grammy ...to join Hilary Clinton. She has one too.

The promotion department at KRTH-FM wins the Out of Touch Award this week. The oldies station on weekday mornings has a little call-in game named Generation Gap, which kids under 18 are invited to play with help from an adult. Morning jock Gary Bryan names two groups, one real one from the KRTH playlist and one bogus one, and he gives prizes to anyone who guesses correctly two out of three times. As a carpool driver, I can verify that the game is very popular with young listeners.
Now here's the thing that wins the Out of Touch distinction. Sometimes the contest prizes are suitable and much appreciated, but lately the station has been awarding tickets to live shows by the Doodlebops and the Wiggles, two acts that a fan outgrows around age 5. Anybody old enough to dial a cellular phone from the backseat and play the game is already past the age of caring about the prize.
I'd award a gold star, however, to the young ladies and gents who remain poised when learning of their winnings.