Jan 7: Remembering 'the Professor'

Through the year we will be marking anniversaries of events: some joyful and some immensely sad. The loss of this musician was particularly hard to take....

It's been six years today since the passing of the master musician and lyricist Neil Peart of the band Rush. 

I count myself extremely lucky to have seen him perform many times since 1982. He always gave 100% and the musicality of his drumming was beyond parallel. I've seen many great drummers play live, and he was the best.

Here's one of my favourite Rush songs, which we will also return to later in the year because of its theme of alienation in the suburbs, or subdivisions:

He was a part of my life for over 40 years, and Rush have to be one of the bands that I have played the most whether on LP, CD or streamed on Spotify. 

I was privileged to see Rush play live 7 or 8 times I think from 1982 onwards, to the final live gig I attended in Sheffield on the Time Machine tour in 2012 - I will always regret not seeing them on the Clockwork Angels tour now.... 

One of my favourite non-Rush videos is when Peart laid down a drum track for his friend Matt Scannell from the Australian band Vertical Horizon. 

The enjoyment of Matt as his friend and hero plays drums for him is infectious, and the drum track is awesome.... There are so many Rush tracks I could embed here... but check this out next...



And then check out Red Barchetta live from that Time Machine tour that I saw.

Along with his music, he was a great traveller - particularly on motorbikes but also on bicycles and he wrote about his travels in a series of books, most of which I have. These were excellent travelogues and observations of people, although he was a very private person. He also wrote lengthy pieces for Rush tour programmes - some of which I still have in my collection of tour memorabilia.

In October 2025, we had an interesting announcement from Geddy and Alex...

I'll not be partaking of this particular musical moment.

Here's a well conceived tribute video from Hudson Music... gives a flavour of his legacy and drum technique.

And check out his website.

Neil was partial to ending the day with a glass of the Macallan. But have you seen the price of it? 

I'll raise a glass of something more affordable to Neil tonight, as I have done each year since his passing.

Rest in peace Professor.