The Rush community suffered a terrible blow last week with the untimely passing of longtime Rush friend and photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, so it was very timely that we all were able to come together to celebrate a spontaneous National Rush Holiday this past Wednesday, February 1st - 2.1.12 - to lift our spirits a bit. The Interwebs were all abuzz on Wednesday with fans proclaiming their love of Rush and wishing everyone a Happy 2.1.12 Day, and several rock news sites covered the event. UltimateClassicRock.com acknowledged the day with this article; metal Historian Jeff Wagner penned an article for NoiseCreep.com in celebration of Rush Day; the Cleveland Plain Dealer declared It's 2-1-12, or National Rush Day: Some of your friends and family will shortly lose their minds; the OC Weekly posted a story titled Rush Fans, Rejoice: Today is 2112; GeeksOfDoom.com declared that It's 2-1-12 So Crank Up '2112' For Rush Day!; the Cards That Never Were blog created a set of 2.1.12 baseball cards; Reverb Music compiled a list of the 11 best songs for 2.1.12 in an article titled These Go To Eleven: The 11 best Rush songs for 2.1.12; and MediaPost's Cory Treffiletti wrote an article where he talked Rush, '2112,' And My Missed Mobile Interaction. To help facilitate the celebration, the folks at RushCon teamed up with the Rush Radio website to sponsor a 2112 listening party Wednesday evening at 9:12PM - 2/1/12 21:12. In a weird but completely unplanned (I assume) coincidence, on Wednesday evening's episode of American Idol contestant David Weed attempted to sing Rush's Tom Sawyer for his audition. David gave it his best effort but the judges weren't impressed and he was dismissed. They also played Tom Sawyer as he walked out of the audition. It was the first (and likely the last) time any Rush had ever been heard or even mentioned on American Idol. You can watch David's audition on YouTube at this link. The theme of this week's updates is definitely 2112 since that album (and number) seemed to be popping up everywhere over the past week, and not only in relation to 2.1.12 Day.

UPDATE - 2/2@8:42AM: MediaPost: Rush, '2112,' And My Missed Mobile Interaction.

UPDATE - 2/1@10:09PM: UltimateClassicRock.com: Fans Celebrate Rush Day on 2.1.12.

UPDATE - 2/1@5:36PM: NoiseCreep: Rush Day 2-1-12: Metal Historian Jeff Wagner on the Canadian Legends.

Neil Peart has penned a tribute to his late friend Andrew MacNaughtan at NeilPeart.net. MacNaughtan passed away suddenly this past week of a heart attack in Los Angeles.

... apart from the personal memories, it is his own art that will endure. Not long before his untimely passing, Andrew published a book of fine-art photographs titled Grace, based on his travels in East Africa. (Like a fair portion of his work in recent years, it was done to benefit others-Andrew contributed generously to worthy causes like the Casey House hospice and Art Gives Hope.)

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UPDATE - 1/28@10:42AM: Here's a CBC video news story on Andrew MacNaughtan's death (thanks RushFanForever). And photographer John Vinson sent me a couple of photographs he took of Andrew at work at the Red Rocks show in 2010 which you can check out by clicking on the thumbnails.

Rush finished up recording their upcoming Clockwork Angels album late last year and are currently in the process of mixing the album as described by Neil Peart in his most recent news update at NeilPeart.net:

... While Alex and Geddy were finishing the writing and arranging in one smaller room of the studio, over in the big room I was working with The Mighty Booujzhe, recording my drum parts. As we prepare to start mixing in the New Year, it is too early to say anything about the results. (I once described mixing as "the end of waiting," while Geddy calls it, "the death of hope.") About the process, though, I can't resist spilling a little. ...