#the first constant

[misscammiedawn]

THEY'RE BACK!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AND THEY LOOK SO HAPPY!!!

Aaaaa!!!

It's really happening?!

It's real!

And Anika did so good! And she has effing Black Lodge pattern on her drum skins???

[misscammiedawn]

Vacation outfits day 1:

Guess who we're seeing tonight!

[misscammiedawn]

I am a healthy and well-adjusted individual.

That's 192 hours of Rush so far in 2026.

...and guess what I'm listening to right now.

Birmingham 1988, our beloved.

[misscammiedawn]

I know it's a cliche to project onto a song by your favorite band, but it really does astonish me that Animate by Rush exists and I get to just listen to it and get identity euphoria from it.

The song is essentially about balancing out the anima and animus in a Jungian archetype of personality...

But it makes overt references to alters and multiple personas inhabiting a single form (Actress/Double in my Role, Sister in my psyche) with the feminine form being described as "Empress of the hidden face" "Mistress of the dark unconscious" and "Daughter of the great enchantress"

Also "Mermaid of the lunar sea" which is a lovely play on the syllables "Loo-nah-see" which can also be used to spell Lunacy. Which... perhaps a little pathologizing and inappropriate to identify with but... I kind of do. I appreciate Neil avoiding the charged word usage.

Like let me say that even if we did not work out the plurality piece until much later, this song spent a lifetime validating my suppressed trans identity for years before we began transitioning.

It was like every time we listened to it a prophecy of the oncoming Dawn was reflected in the lyrics. In a way I don't see myself in the song, we shaped our hope and dream of me from it.

POLARIZE ME SENSITIZE ME CRITICIZE ME CIVILIZE ME COMPENSATE ME ANIMATE ME COMPLICATE ME ELEVATE ME Goddess in my garden Sister in my soul Angel in my armor Actress in my role Daughter of a demon-lover Empress of the hidden face Priestess of the pagan mother Ancient queen of inner space Spirit in my psyche Double in my role Alter in my image Struggle for control Mistress of the dark unconscious Mermaid of the lunar sea Daughter of the great enchantress Sister to the boy inside of me My counterpart — my foolish heart A man must learn to rule his tender part A warming trend — a gentle friend A man must build a fortress to defend A secret face — a touch of grace A man must learn to give a little space A peaceful state — a submissive trait A man must learn to gently dominate

[misscammiedawn]

Cammie tends to front during Rush shows.

Gosh it was such a fun time. Best version of Vital Signs we have ever heard and our dear sweetling burst into sobs during Bravado, Time Stand Still and The Garden. The music video of Neil's motorcycle driving through a forest full of leaves falling with lyric pages on it was a powerful choice.

Hope we'll get to bump into those old men and the awesome lady filling in for The Professor another time.

[misscammiedawn]

Just checked the setlist for the R50 tour.

Both Bravado AND Time Stand Still are being played with a video intro of Neil Peart in tribute to him.

Our two favorite songs of all time are both being played in dedication to the man we lost.

I'm going to be sobbing in the isles come July.

[misscammiedawn]

THEY JUST PLAYED THE FULL VERSION OF 2112!!!

I never ever dreamed of getting to see it performed live in its entirety.

Holy fuck. There are still beautiful things in this world!

[misscammiedawn]

One of my favorite bits of Rush trivia is that in 1980 Rush managed to chart in the UK top 20 with The Spirit of Radio and the BBC put this absolutely tone-deaf monstrosity of a music video together for it:

When a song charts in the UK the weekly round-up show Top of the Pops would let the performers come on the show and "play" their song for a crowd of extras who dance enthusiastically to it. Usually the contract is to have the singer mime to the recording being played.

Famously Kurt Kobain protested this in 1991 by demanding a live microphone.

Live bands tend to not want to gather to just pretend to play music for a group of extras so they tend to send in videos to play. The first ever music video was actually Bohemian Rhapsody with Queen sending in the tape to play for TotP in 1975.

Rush did not record a video to play.

So BBC just put together a bunch of dancing women swaying to Geddy Lee's voice, taking Neil Peart's lyrics at face value. Begin the day with a friendly voice? Better show this woman waking up to the radio playing this groooooovey song! Off on your way hit the open road? Better show them enjoying music in the car!

I cannot stress this enough.

The Spirit of Radio is a song about how the music industry is vapid and soulless to the point of which it takes genuine artistic expression and attempts to squeeze it into the most profitable and corporate product possible.

All this machinery making modern music Can still be open-hearted Not so coldly charted It's really just a question of your honesty Yeah, your honesty One likes to believe in the freedom of music But glittering prizes and endless compromises Shatter the illusion of integrity, yeah

I can think of nothing more embarrassing than proving every sentiment of the song true while trying to showcase it.

Well... other than giving Kobain a hot microphone for her to mumble a hearty 'fuck you' into.