NEWS

Another blast from the past, literally… look at that windblown photo.

Notes From The Field With Michael Shrieve – 12/02/12

Neil Peart gives acknowledgement to the genius of Ayn Rand in the liner notes to the album 2112. Here is a brief biography of this influential writer.

Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 2, 1905. At age six she taught herself to read. At the age of nine, she decided to make fiction writing her career. During her high school years, she was eyewitness to both the Kerensky Revolution, which she supported, and—in 1917—the Bolshevik Revolution, which she denounced from the outset.

In late 1925 she obtained permission to leave Russia for a visit to relatives in the US. She was determined never to return. She arrived in New York in February 1926. She obtained an extension to her visa, and then left for Hollywood to pursue a career as a screenwriter. On her second day there, Cecil B. DeMille saw her standing at the gate of his studio, offered her a ride to the set of his movie The King of Kings, and gave her a job, first as an extra, then as a script reader. During the next week at the studio, she met an actor, Frank O’Connor, whom she married in 1929; they were married until his death fifty years later.

She began writing The Fountainhead in 1935 (taking a break in 1937 to write Anthem). In the character of the architect Howard Roark, she presented for the first time the kind of hero whose depiction was the chief goal of her writing: the ideal man, man as “he could be and ought to be.” The Fountainhead was rejected by twelve publishers but finally being accepted. When published in 1943, it made history by becoming a best-seller through word of mouth two years later.

In 1951 she moved back to New York City and devoted herself full time to the completion of Atlas Shrugged. Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was her greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatized her unique philosophy in a story that integrated ethics, metaphysics, politics, economics and sex. Thereafter, she wrote and lectured on her philosophy—Objectivism, which she characterized as “a philosophy for living on earth.” Ayn Rand died on March 6, 1982, in her New York City apartment.

Hundreds of thousands of copies of her work are sold each year, so far totaling more than 25 million. Visit www.aynrand.org.

On December 18, 2012, RUSH will release their first ever iBook for 2112. The iBook will consist of unpublished pictures, black and white ink art and pencil sketches for every comic book cell, and preview music for the newly remastered Mastered for iTunes (mFit) audio of 2112 with 3 bonus live tracks.

Originally released in 1976, 2112 was the creative and commercial breakthrough album. With lyrics written by Neil Peart, 2112 kicks off with the ambitious seven-suite title track (originally side one), set in a futuristic world run by the “Priests of the Temples of Syrinx” who regulate “every single facet of every life,” which includes books, music, work and play. “2112” conveys the story of humanity’s instinctual, inner need for one’s free will.

iBook content includes:

• 40-page comic book by story artist Tom Hodges (“Star Wars -The Clone Wars,” The Simpson’s “Treehouse of Horrors #17″)

• Unpublished pictures

• Black and white ink art and pencil sketches for every comic book cell

• Preview of the remastered audio of 2112

• Expanded artwork, liner notes, lyrics and unreleased photos

• Brand new liner notes by David Fricke, Rolling Stone