‘Holy’ Prog Rock
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Television’s religious calendar just gets busier and busier. Five years after “The O.C.” popularized “Chrismukkah,” and 11 years after “Seinfeld” brought fans “Festivus,” music channel VH1 Classic has invented another semi-Jewish pseudo-holiday.
“Rush Hashanah,” not to be confused with the Jewish New Year, will kick off on the cable network September 29 (the evening that marks the beginning of the High Holy Days), offering viewers an extended tribute to the Canadian band Rush, the millions-selling rock group behind such platinum albums as “2112” and “All the World’s a Stage.” The group’s singer and bassist, Geddy Lee, born Gary Lee Weinrib, is the son of Holocaust survivors from Poland.
The 24-hour “Rush Hashanah” broadcast will feature Lee and his band mates in old videos and concert footage. Kicking off at 7 p.m., it starts on what reasonably could be called Erev Rush Hashanah.
The idea for the tribute was a “mix between our people and Rush,” VH1 publicist Nyle Washington said. “The lead singer is Jewish, so it made perfect sense.”
Washington acknowledged that observant Jews won’t be able to tune in to “Rush Hashanah” because of its timing — “We do realize that,” she said — but the idea has already met with approval from other quarters. Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed the broadcast “a victory for both Canadian prog rock and awesomely clever puns,” while fans on rushisaband.com, a blog devoted to the group, greeted the tribute with “mazel tovs” and a suggestion that the band’s next concert DVD be named “Lechaim.”
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
