Search And The Tao of Neil Peart

Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush, is regarded by many as the best rock drummer of all time. On VH1, Pantera's drummer, Vinnie Paul Abbott, called him "God on drums."

We saw Rush at DTE Music Theater on Tuesday night. It's the 5th time I've seen them, and as usual, the drum solo was the best part of the whole show.


So what does this have to do with search? Well, I was flipping through the tour book Wednesday morning, in which Neil wrote a 3-page narrative about the evolution of their latest album, Snakes & Arrows. Near the end of the article, I was pleasantly surprised to find this paragraph:

"One thing I have always done when we decide on a title is check to see if it's been used already. In the old millennium, that would involve a visit to the local record store and a flip through their master list, the Phonolog. These days, of course, it's a perfect job for a search engine."

How cool is that?!? It's as if I've stumbled upon my own personal "six degrees of Neil Peart" - something I do for a living is actually helping a hugely successful rock band to do their job. It just doesn't get any better than that.