2/12: Fly By Night/In The Mood - Live At Massey Hall, Toronto (1976)

Turns out I'm not the world's biggest Rush fan after all.

Valentine’s Day is this week, and so in honor of the holiday, I’m highlighting a bunch of love songs in the Rush catalogue. Next up: this early era medley of “Fly By Night” and “In The Mood.”

I’m at a work conference this week, and tonight was our Super Bowl watch party. All in all it was a fun time, if you like loud parties (which I can handle in moderation) and stiff drinks (which these days I can handle in even more moderate moderation).

Anyway, during the party I got to chatting with some folks from Toronto, and during our conversation I made the offhand joke, “Maybe you guys can put me in touch with Alex Lifeson, because he just isn’t returning my calls anymore.”

The guys stared at me blankly. They didn’t get it, or pretended not to. “Who’s Alex Lifeson?”

I laughed uncomfortably. “The guitarist for Rush?”

Blink. “Oh.”

Huh. Maybe they really did have no idea who Alex was.

So I apologized with another laugh. “After a few drinks,” I added, “I can no longer keep up my veneer of respectability. I regret to inform you that you’re speaking with the world’s biggest Rush fan.”

At which point the gentleman standing next to us, who had been silently watching the both the game and my growing embarrassment throughout our conversation, leaned over into our space, looked me dead in the eye, and said, “No they aren’t.”

Obviously that was a challenge. This new gentleman and I got to talking, and as it turns out he grew up on the same street as Lifeson and belongs to the same golf club as him now. And he shared the story that, when he used to walk home from elementary school, he would always hear some loud band practicing in their parents’ garage across the street. That band was, of course, Rush. And so began a lifelong love of the band—he really was there from the beginning.

Anyway I know this anecdote has nothing to do with today’s song, which is a medley of “Fly By Night” and “In The Mood,” the unexpected combination of which gives the former a somewhat tomcat-ish quality. But the incident just happened, and I had to share. What a delight to know that we Rush fans can always find each other, no matter what!