Sky+ HD And LG Plasma TV

04/05/2010
DOAADI
Computers & Tech

I recently bought a 50″ LG 50PS3000 true HD TV, and then upgraded to Sky+ HD from my original Sky+ package.

The TV is excellent – what they say about being able to see every blade of grass on football matches (in HD) is true (the state of some of those grounds is shocking – the groundskeepers ought to be ashamed of themselves 😉 ).

One thing I noticed immediately after I’d installed the Sky box was that the newer boxes give a much better picture, even in normal definition. So that’s worth remembering if you get a large/HD TV.

Upgrading the Sky box was extremely quick. I called on a Thursday afternoon to upgrade, was told the box would arrive (for self-install) by the following Tuesday latest… and it arrived at 9am the following morning! That’s excellent service.

Setup was a doddle, just requiring one call to activate the card for HD.

There is one snag, which I only discovered last week. I cannot use Live Rewind or record anything! Sky quickly sent out an engineer (I called Saturday and could have had the engineer Bank Holiday Monday if I’d wanted). It turns out that there is nothing wrong with the box, but this has been a bit of an issue with self-installation.

According to the engineer, the Sky databases have all the information, but the server which sends out the information isn’t working properly. The inital install wipes out the old Sky+ settings from the card, but doesn’t replace them, so you have the receiving package (the “HD” part of the deal) but none of the other bits (the “+” part). Apparently, it doesn’t matter how many times you try to pair the card with the system, the chances are it won’t work. He said that in the past, they took a while to admit (or rather, identify) that there was a fault.

Well, I called Sky about 4 hours after the engineer had gone (you’re supposed to wait up to 24 hours after an update, but it was obvious this wasn’t going to work – the intial HD activation was instantaneous when I called). Sky were very good again: the agent I spoke to didn’t appear to be aware of the problem, but I explained what the engineer had said. She spoke with her manager, who then came on to the line after no more than a minute, and who told me he would escalate it immediately. Another couple of hours later they called back to get some details of my system and are obviously dealing with it now.

I cannot fault Sky on any of this. So they have a problem with a system? It happens. They are dealing with it. Admirably.

Of course, this would be enough for most people to start a website dedicated to how bad Sky are  – probably made worse by convincing themselves that the Irish accent is an Indian one (that’s the usual gripe – call centre not in the UK).

If you have this problem, call Sky on 08442 414141. They are helpful.

One more thing: to make your Sky remote control work with the 50PS3000, you need to use the code 1293 to program it. This code will not work on older Sky remotes (and my Sky+ one was one of those).

Warning: Retards Active In Radford

02/05/2010
DOAADI
ADI
Retards Warning

Any instructors working in Nottingham, especially the Radford area, should watch out for a retard on the loose.

I was on a lesson tonight, driving past the Pricewise supermarket on Radford Boulevard (on the corner of Denman Street), when a wanker standing on the corner threw something with all his might at the windscreen on the car. Fortunately he missed the windscreen and whatever it was bounced off.

I stopped the car and chased him, but he is also obviously a coward. The fat kid he was with – who wasn’t able to run very far – was anxious to point out it wasn’t him who’d done it.

The big retard (who was not a kid) who threw the object was obviously waiting in that spot to do exactly what he did – presumably to impress the fat kid and his little mate. He was trying as hard as possible to cause damage – if the window had been open he could have killed someone.

Test Pass – But Not A Happy One

02/05/2010
DOAADI
ADI, Bad Drivers, Driving Tests

In all the years I’ve been doing this, I have never had a genuine bust up with a pupil. Until now.

I had a pupil pass his test the other day. He’d previously failed (a couple of months ago) for not responding to a car behind him when reversing round a corner. At the time, he was adamant he wasn’t going to take the test again and that he was going to drive anyway (he’d already been caught and banned for this previously). He admitted that it was his own fault he’d failed – the car had stopped, but he then paid no further heed to it and it had decided not to wait anymore.

I asked him if the examiner was OK about it, and he said “I could have smacked him one “. It was impossible to reason with him – he turned out to be one of those people who is as rough as bricks, can’t handle failure, and blames other people.

Basically, he can drive. He drives typically of someone with loads of confidence but no finesse. He could not do a single manoeuvre, and he only took three 1 hour lessons with me to that point (I hate acting as a hire car service, and refuse to do it if I can see it coming).

Anyway, before this test he took no further lessons at all. We were running through the manoeuvres before going to the test centre, and on one of them he was doing it totally wrong. I tried to explain how to do it and he snapped “look, you’re doing my f****** head in, I can’t be doing with this “.

At that point, I said “Fine! You’re doing MY f****** head in. I don’t get paid to put up with that kind of behaviour. Do it your own way. ”

For the whole session, he was not looking over his shoulder before moving off, he pulled across three cars at three successive roundabouts, he was driving too slow (last time, it was too fast). And so on.

But he passed with quite a high number of faults (a couple more would have been a fail). I couldn’t believe he got away with four for not looking over his shoulder! And he got several for driving too slow (adequate progress). I can see how the examiner saw him as a confident driver, and I expect that is what did it, but when I have excellent learners fail for a single mistake when they have otherwise been perfect, it does make me a little angry.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticising the examiner. And I’m glad this guy passed simply because I would have refused to give him any further lessons. But it’s a pass that gives me very little pleasure. I just hope I never get another ungrateful little sod like this ever again.

Splitting My Sides

01/05/2010
DOAADI
ADI, Funny

A little bit of inane trivia – but it just stuck in my mind, so I thought I’d mention it.

Know-it-allI just browsed through a certain website frequented by driving instructors (mainly argumentative types) and saw something which nearly gave me a coronary, I laughed so much!

On all web forums, you get “characters”. You get people who are deliberately antagonistic, others who are extremely misguided, and so on. But the most irritating ones on instructor forums are the know-it-alls – particularly when they clearly do not know it all!, No matter what someone else says, these people will always behave as if that person is not quite right, even if they are.

This particular character is rather patronising, and loves to dissect what others have said word by word. He’s never wrong himself, and if challenged will defend anything he has said with post after post of minutiae to support it. He isn’t aware of how annoying he is to others (though it does come out occasionally after they lose their tempers). He often makes matters worse by adding things like “Bill is right”, which usually stirs things up even more.

This particular argument is about elderly drivers, and should they have to be re-tested or not. The part that made me laugh out loud is was:

[Long dissection of someone else’s post who he has been attacking, and who is  standing up to him so that an argument is brewing]…

As many readers will know, my posts are generally polite and in the interests of acquiring knowledge or validating opinion or giving out knowledge as opposed to the people on here who cannot debate properly and become quite childish in the way they express themselves when others choose to disagree with them.

I would venture to suggest that if more people followed my example, there would be more people prepared to post on here rather than as they do, not want to get involved through fear of ridicule etc. That would enrich the Forum beyond belief because there are many out there with a lot to give. I’m not saying I’m perfect or never make mistakes but look at my posts since I joined and you will see what I mean.

He likes to point out that life – including driving  – isn’t black and white.

To make matters worse, a moderator (and close friend) has defended him, which then geed Mr know-it-all up enough to make a few cutting remarks about the person he’d wound up. He then made some comment about ignoring that person from now on – hardly in keeping with his policy of being…

…generally polite and in the interests of acquiring knowledge or validating opinion or giving out knowledge…

It’s the “acquisition of knowledge and validating of opinion” – by steamrollering everyone else – that causes the arguments that stop people posting on most forums The cause of people not posting is not the argument itself, but the belittling that leads up to that argument by people who are legends in their (and their supporters’) own lunchtimes.

I keep well away from these things, but they make great reading sometimes.

They Only Come Out On Weekends

25/04/2010
DOAADI
Latest Posts

Some people may remember that I used to keep a separate list of people who had behaved incredibly stupidly in front of me (and, mainly, my pupils during lessons) – a sort of name-and-shame. I stopped doing it because it was getting too big. The number of people behaving stupidly appears to be almost the majority of road users these days.

When teaching, I always educate my pupils in the ways of the real world, and not just the 30-40 minute snapshot that is their driving test (I had a pupil a few months ago pass his test in just under 30 minutes). For example:

  • weekend (or “Sunday”) drivers are a real and dangerous phenomenon
  • all Audi drivers are complete lunatics and just have to overtake you
  • boyracers in pratmobiles always behave like… prats
  • all white van drivers are just older boyracers
  • all taxi drivers are specially trained to behave in a manner which would get a normal driver pulled over in seconds, and yet they get away with it

Obviously, there are plenty more. But you get the idea.

I was driving with a pupil over Trent Bridge this morning, towards West Bridgford. We were in the left lane to turn into West Bridgford town centre. I heard a noise and noticed a green Land Rover Discovery with 4-inch twin prat-pipes fitted (reg no. P968 KCF ) go past at some speed in the outside lane. The lights at the Trent Bridge Inn were on red at the time, but they just changed as we approached – and the Land Rover suddenly cut across from the right lane… over the middle lane… over OUR lane (just in front of us), and into the left filter lane to go down Radcliffe Road. I haven’t a clue how he managed it, as there was traffic queued in all four lanes, but he did. I had to brake for the pupil, otherwise we’d have hit it.

Then, on another lesson today, at the traffic lights on Wilford Lane near Compton Acres heading towards Clifton, a dark FIAT Punto (reg no. N132 DWJ ) simply had to get past a car in front of me as the lanes merged back into one. The car in front braked sharply to avoid a collision. The driver of the Punto inevitably remained in the right hand lane as the road widened into two lanes again. All of this is not worthy of comment, since 80% of drivers behave that way. But as I passed I noticed it was a woman – typical chav, with scraped back hair and staring straight ahead because no one else mattered (also, not that unusual) – but, worryingly, she had a kid in the front seat who must have been about 4 or 5 years old, no child seat, no seat belt I could see (it wouldn’t have mattered anyway with his height), and hanging out of the window waving his arms.

Finally, driving through Hyson Green towards Nottingham this afternoon, I had to brake again for a pupil because a taxi driver decided to do a turn in the road (literally, a 3-point turn) about one car’s length from the traffic lights to head off towards Lenton while the lights were on green.

I wish the Police would do something about this instead of sitting in those bloody vans catching people doing a couple of miles over the limit. Sure, breaking the speed limit is wrong, but there is much worse behaviour that should be dealt with – which contributes to deteriorating standards on our roads. Almost no one uses bloody child seats, and the only time it is ever picked up seems to be on Road Wars or Police, Camera, Action. And anything which is customised to go (and sound) fast, does go fast.

But hey. Get the instructors to sit in on tests and it’ll all be fixed, right?

EDIT 01/05/2010: Last night I was driving along Wilford Lane in rush hour traffic (almost solid). I could see this miniature/pretend sports car behind me (a grey Daihatsu, reg no. AE58 DTX – I say “pretend” because it had pathetic little wheels; it was more like a 2CV with a custom body). At the lights by Compton Acres it accelerated with nowhere to go, and succeeded in just getting in front of me (I had to brake), and just not hitting the car in front (it accelerated to stop him). The spotty moron driving it refused to make any eye contact whatesoever, so he knew what a fool he had made of himself.

Also yesterday, a similar situation occurred at the Colwick/Netherfield lights. A Peugeot 107 (reg no. FL57 PDO), driven by a hatchet-faced little chav, forced its way through with nowhere to go while I was on a lesson with a pupil. She got stuck at the lights outside the Victoria Retail Park and – just like they all do – refuse to make any eye contact. My pupil commented on it, and I explained that you can always tell when they know what they’ve done just by how fixedly they stare ahead.

And on Monday, as I was driving along Radcliffe Road to turn right at the Lings Bar roundabout, a dark green car (reg no. R23 EHD) just pulled out in front of me from Gamston at the Water Sports Centre lights. He had done a U-turn where you are not supposed to do them. From what I could see the driver was quite possibly driving on an “international licence” (and all that that might imply, above and beyond the illegal U-turn and dangerous emerge into traffic).

I have to point out that a lot of this behaviour is simply because the car I drive has L plates on it. My learners do not drive slowly when I take them out on these roads. L plates are an inducement to drive dangerously in many other drivers.

ADIs Getting Desperate For Work?

22/04/2010
DOAADI
ADI

I’ve noticed a few comments on various forums, lately, from people complaining that other ADIs are trying to poach their pupils by undercutting and making “offers” (perhaps another way of saying “making bribes”) to get them to switch.

I can’t say I’ve noticed it myself, but I don’t doubt that it is happening. Mind you – and now that I think about it – I have had enquiries, and I just know the pupil has gone with a cheaper school after phoning around. So maybe that’s part of the same story. But to continue…

You see, there has been a huge influx of ADIs into this job over recent years. I’m not one of those people who automatically assumes that this is a bad thing because it is taking away work which might otherwise have come to me. But I amcertain that the quality of many of those ADIs is questionable – not necessarily just their teaching skills (after all, they may have what it takes in that department), but more probably their motivation and business acumen.

As I’ve said many times, and most recently in that post about leisure time, you have to know what you are getting into. If you want to be successful at it, this is not a 9-5/Mon-Fri affair, and you have to be on the boil all the time to avoid running into trees or ditches on straight roads. And that’s where the problems for many begin…

Lazy people want the oft-mentioned £30,000 salary, and many of them definitely fall into the “no qualifications needed” category. In addition, maybe they have kids and can’t do school runs or weekends. Plus, can’t handle the stress. So, if they pass the exams and start trading as ADIs while carrying this sort of baggage, £30,000 is not going to be knocking on Mr Bank Account’s door anytime soon! But it still costs money to be in business, even if you aren’t actually doing any.

Step 1 is to try undercutting. The big schools are charging perhaps £24 an hour, so they go in at £21. It doesn’t work, so next comes £20, £19, and so on. Step 2 is the “special offers” – first 10 lessons for £99, or whatever.

I question ADIs’ business acumen simply because this ploy has never worked, and it never will – and especially now that so many are doing it. Even if it filled up your diary, the amount of work you need once you’ve undercut everyone else is now something like 15 hours more than it would have been if you’d have succeeded at your original price, in order for you to make the same turnover. But the reality is it just doesn’t fill up your diary – it just sends you further down the deadly spiral towards giving it all up.

So, we come to Step 3. Since we already know that the people coming into the job are not necessarily of the highest standard when it comes to business ethics, it stands to reason that some might try to poach work.

I don’t know if everyone is familiar with a 1980s TV show, called Boys From The Blackstuff. There was a character (Yosser Hughes) in that whose line was “Gizza job – I can do that”, and this has since passed into the English language as an accepted and recognised phrase. What we have is a real case of that: people so desperate for work that they will resort to anything.

Undercutting and ridiculous offers are bad enough. I’m quite sure that the majority of ADIs aren’t trying to poach pupils, although I’m also pretty sure that some are – through sheer desperation and lack of morals.

Leisure Time As An ADI?

20/04/2010
DOAADI
ADI, General

A reader has asked how I get any leisure time when my diary is open between 8am and 10pm 7 days a week. Perhaps this explanation will also help others who are wondering about becoming ADIs.

It hinges on the fact that work is never guaranteed or 100% reliable – and this is especially true when you first start.

When I qualified some years ago it was my intention to cast my net as widely as possible to get as much work as possible as quickly as possible. So for the first year I was covering almost all of Nottinghamshire and the south-east side of Derbyshire (including Derby itself). It worked, but I dropped Derbyshire and some of the north Nottinghamshire postcodes because it was getting increasingly difficult to get from one pupil to the next, especially when they were at opposite ends of my geographical range. But this is a partial digression.

The fact is that you can have 50 hours or more in your diary one week (and it does happen) and only about 20 hours the next. It’s just the way it is. The full weeks are just those where everyone wants a lesson at the same time and no one cancels, the quieter ones are where people just don’t book or you get cancellations (colds and flu, exams, holidays, Christmas, and so on). It averages out somewhere in between.

So, looking at the situation on the one hand, you have a wide open diary and people can book anywhere between 8am and 10pm Monday to Friday. More often than not (and with judicious diary management), you can get them to book 10-12 in the morning, 2-4pm, and 6-8pm or times thereabouts. Seven days of 6 hours gives you a 42 hour week, but you are more likely to get a few empty slots and so you’ll end up doing between 30-40 hours. This is on average, mind you. On a good (depending on how you look at it) week, you’ll get people wanting lessons who have to fit in around whoever is already booked, so you might get some early lesson in and book the others at 11-1. Or someone might have booked 7-9pm, which then frees up another 2 hour slot in the afternoon which then gets snapped up. It’s those kinds of weeks which give you the 50+.

On the other hand, though, the weeks where people cancel or just don’t book for some reason give you free time which is paid for by the other weeks.

I also blank out whole days when I feel like it (and before they are booked) and pupils have no trouble shifting around those. For example, I have a day off next week because I just felt like one. And I had one last week, and the week before. It’s just not a problem.

Although my diary is open 8am until 10pm, I have worked as late as 11pm and midnight before (so I could do a Pass Plus session in the dark around midsummer). I also sometimes start as early as 6.30am if a pupil has an early test booked and lives a little way out (done several of those during the winter). I also have a current pupil who originally preferred 7.30am lessons before college, but now does 9am instead.

Now, I am not a morning person – but I will do this simply because if I say ‘no’ then I might lose the work. To be honest, nowadays I could afford to say ‘no’, but the effect on my reputation might be a longer-lasting problem (good or bad), so I just do it. I enjoy it, anyway.

This job is not a 9-5 Monday to Friday affair. If you become an ADI and do it like that then you can expect to earn a little pocket money at best, but not a living – I think this is one reason why so many instructors are suffering. They just don’t give the customers what they want, so the customer finds someone who does.

So that’s basically it. Once you are established you can nudge pupils to fit in around your own availability – but you will always have to be flexible because sometimes they can’t be. If you stick rigidly to set hours you will always end up losing some work that you’d otherwise get (two of mine have recently said “my last instructor couldn’t do weekends” – so he (x2) lost them, and I got them!) I also see instructors boasting about how they tell the pupils when they can have lessons and have fixed slots in their diaries – all well and good until a pupil comes to you who finishes work at 3.45pm and so doesn’t fit into your 2-4 or 3-5 slot; but like I say, I get plenty like that. Some weeks you’ll be snowed under, others you’ll have free time.

The free time isn’t regular or predictable – not in large chunks, anyway – but it is there. You can book weeks off for annual holidays if you plan lessons and tests well ahead, but you must never let a pupil down (and you must realise you get no income at all for those weeks)

The big question is whether you want a job like this. And only you can decide if you do!

Older Drivers

16/04/2010
DOAADI
ADI, News

Further to my recent post about the RAC’s call for larger lettering for older drivers, there is another story on a similar topic on the BBC website (I think it is just a different take on the same report).

This time, the claim is that older drivers are safer than young ones. The BBC article opens:

Elderly motorists should not be forced to retake the driving test as they are often safer than young drivers, a report by the RAC Foundation has found.

This has to rate as one of the most superficial and misleading statements of all time.

The RAC Foundation’s Stephen Glaister said:

Despite the myths, older drivers are no less safe than other age groups.

But then the article continues:

The foundation added that re-testing could break equality legislation.

This is the crux of it: political correctness and equality. Again.

I’m going to see if I can find it, but that report is actually quite a lot older than you’d think. I saw it sometime last year – or rather, the research paper with the raw data – and it is absolutely clear than reaction times get longer as people get older. So clear, indeed, that it is a simple fact.

Not every old person is going to be as bad as the worst one on the road, or as good as the best one in the age group. But the average (and the fact that the average is a fact) surely demands that lives are more important than ridiculous ideas of equality.

If someone can’t drive safely then they are not equal. If they can drive safely (enough) then they are. It’s as simple as that.

Equality is about allowing people to drive if they meet the base criteria. Not – as some seem to believe – that you should be allowed to drive no matter what.

If you  look at this link, for example (it’s American), the abstract says:

Older drivers have higher rates of crashes per mile driven compared with most other drivers, and these crashes result in greater morbidity and mortality. Various aspects of cognition, particularly visual attention, have been linked with crash risk among older individuals. The current study was designed to specify those cognitive variables associated with specific on-road driving behaviors in a sample of older, nonclinic-referred individuals.

Not quite what the RAC is saying, is it? Quite the opposite, in fact – and it’s only from 2002.

The British Medical Journal has another article (also 2002), and in its abstract it says:

Driver crash involvement rates per capita decreased with age, but fatal involvement rates per capita increased starting at age 70. The same pattern existed for involvement rates per licensed driver. For both all crashes and fatal crashes, involvement rates per mile driven increased appreciably at age 70.

What this is saying is that as people get older they get better and have fewer accidents, but at a certain point (age 70 is identified) fatal accidents increase. Looking at all accidents, at age 70 they also increased appreciably. So older drivers do have more fatal and non-fatal accidents.

Volcanic Ash Halts Flights

15/04/2010
DOAADI
Latest Posts

I first heard this on the news this morning on my way to a lesson and didn’t think much of it. After all, it is common during the British summer to go out early and find the car covered in crap which – if it isn’t from those bloody sparrows sitting on the phone wire above – is frequently dust whipped up out of the Sahara and precipitated with the morning dew.

But it appears that the cloud of volcanic ash blowing towards us from Iceland, following an eruption which has caused a few problems over there, too, is a much more serious problem than you might think. I love the name of the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier, by the way. I simply must listen to the news on TV tonight and see how they get out of that one.

Apparently, the ash can damage aircraft engines (it is acidic and abrasive).

It is so severe that all flights in Northern Europe have been cancelled. There are apparently no planes flying in British airspace at all today.

What was really funny was a soundbite Smooth Radio played – an American woman was complaining that the airports ought to have a contingency for Acts Of God!

They have. They ground flights.

Apparently the link to this soundbite is on their website, but I can’t find it – and when I tried to play the Sky News feed they have on there it kept cutting out after a few seconds. So the website is as reliable as the actual Smooth Radio broadcast.

EDIT 16/04/2010: According to The Mail the dispruption could last six months, but it also reckons we could be in for some colourful sunsets (and crappy cars).

Rush Touring

14/04/2010
DOAADI
Music

EDIT: UK TOUR ANNOUNCED ON 19/11/2010

My heart missed a beat… but it is only a North American Tour. However, Rush’s website says that they’re working on a new studio album, and that means a World Tour is quite possibly on the way.

This is from the News section:

Tickets for Rush go on sale in select markets beginning April 16th at www.livenation.com

(Toronto – Thursday, April 8th 2010) – Rush – Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart – is without question one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, equally famed for both its virtuoso musicianship and provocative songwriting.Announced today, The Time Machine Tour is an evening with Rush, where they will perform their classics, give a taste of the future – and for the first time ever – feature the Moving Pictures album live in its entirety.

The band is currently working on their 20th studio album with producer Nick Raskulinecz (co-producer from 2007’s Snakes & Arrows) and in addition to their classics plan to showcase a few new tunes live this summer.

“We were off for a year and a half, and now it’s just pouring. Everything is totally crazy and there’s not a minute left in the day. We’ve got these half-dozen songs, and we’ll probably go in the studio and work on a couple of them and see how it goes, perhaps release something – and I say perhaps – and then we plan on being on the road,” says guitarist, Alex Lifeson.

This summer’s Live Nation promoted tour will visit approximately 40 cities throughout North America beginning June 29th in Albuquerque, NM and finishing October 2nd in West Palm Beach, FL with stops along the way in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Holmdel, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, and more along the way (complete tour itinerary follows).

Rush has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and garnered untold legions of devoted and admiring fans. According to the RIAA, Rush’s sales statistics place RUSH third after The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.

Released in 1981, Moving Pictures was their most successful album, certified 4x Platinum and features some of Rush’s most well known songs and perennial radio favourites Tom Sawyer, Limelight and the Grammy-nominated instrumental YYZ.

“Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage” a documentary created by filmmakers Scot McFadyen & Sam Dunn (whose filmography also includes: “Iron Maiden; Flight 666,’ “Metal, A Headbangers Journey” and “Global Metal”) will premiere at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th followed by the Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival on April 29th. The band was also recently showcased in the comedy “I Love You Man” where they play themselves in a concert scene featuring actors Paul Rudd and Jason Segal as ubra-fans, a performance which has exposed the band to a whole new generation.

Inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this past March alongside Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and the Guess Who, Rush has also been nominated for multiple Grammy awards and won a number of Juno Awards. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and bestowed the Order of Canada in 1997. Consistently celebrated and respected worldwide, Rush is the most successful Canadian rock band of all time and they remain one of the biggest grossing arena rock bands ever.

Tickets for Rush Time Machine Tour will go on sale beginning April 16th in San Francisco, Uncasville, Saratoga Springs, Denver, Chicago, Wantagh, Seattle and Holmdel at Livenation.com. Tickets for performances in Milwaukee, Sarnia and Syracuse go on sale April 17th, check local listings for ticket information. Citi® cardmembers will have access to pre-sale tickets through Citi’s Private Pass® Program beginning April 13th in select markets. For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

For complete tour and ticket information, visit:

www.rush.com & www.livenation.com

Quite amazing, isn’t it, that Rush are third in the all-time list of bands with the most consecutive gold and platinum albums.

Anyway, I’ll have to start saving so I can do the whole UK thing again (that Glasgow trip nearly killed me last time).

EDIT 25/04/2010: I’m getting a few hits from people querying whether Rush are touring the UK. At the moment their website only gives details of North American venues and there is no suggestion that it is a World Tour.

EDIT 20/05/2010: Still getting hits asking if Rush are touring the UK. Another thing to consider is that they usually only tour when they have released an album. As the press release says, they’re working on one… so a world tour must be on the way, but I would guess it will be in 2011 or later.

New Rush Single - From Clockwork Angels Album

New Rush Single – From Clockwork Angels Album

 

 

EDIT 10/06/2010: You can buy a CD single of two new tracks from the forthcoming album. Available as mp3 downloads from Amazon – but I’ve got mine on order from the Rush Backstage Club . If you go to the Official Rush Site you can hear clips of the tracks in the background – they sound good. The album will be called Clockwork Angels.