(from www.rushisaband.com)

When I was stuck in Olympia WA last week, the saving grace of our stay was our gracious host Kirk Leonnard and his girlfriend Amy, and their guest room devoted to their Xbox 360, and more specifically, Rock Band. It was there that Kirty South and I found solace, singing and plucking our depression away to the likes of the Beastie Boys, The Marshall Tucker Band and Black Sabbath. We also discussed woman-repellent music including Canadian arena rock champions, Rush. Oh! If only we had access to the tracks that will be made available tomorrow. We would have driven poor Amy completely bonkers.

From B|W|R Public Relations:

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today additional Rush tracks will be available at the Rock Band™ Music Store catalog of downloadable content. On July 8th, air drummers and guitarists will rejoice when direct from the Rush Masters Vault the exclusive Rock Band versions of “Closer To The Heart” and “Working Man (Vault Edition)” (featuring never released alternative guitar solo) are made available for $1.99 per track (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft). Rush now have 5 songs available for Rock Band including cover versions of “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight” and “Working Man,” almost a full-set by prog rock standards!

Also available are two amazing tracks from six-time Grammy® winning, multi-platinum funk rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers. “Snow ((Hey Oh))” and “Tell Me Baby” from their critically acclaimed ninth studio double album Stadium Arcadium will be available for $1.99 per track (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox LIVE Marketplace).

Release date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace)
Thursday, July 10, 2008 (PLAYSTATION®Store)

Tracks:
From the RUSH Masters Vault:
“Closer To The Heart”
” Man (Vault Edition)”

Hot Chili Peppers
” ((Hey Oh))”
“Tell Me Baby”

(All tracks utilize the original master recordings)

Price: 1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox LIVE Marketplace) per track
Locations: LIVE Marketplace and PLAYSTATION®Network

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Apart from housing a shithead college for shithead students and Sierra Nevada Brewery, Chico, California, boasts a thriving (if not nationally recognized) music scene. Many of the players in this scene contribute to a summer School of Rock-style band camp named The Collective Sound. last year they decided to start putting together a documentary of the goings-on of the staff and the campers, aged 12-18. Watching it will give you that warm on the insides feeling.

Then I implore to buy your kid, roommate, boyfriend or co-workers the fabulous new video game Rock Band. The tap-tap of the drum pads, the squelching of wrong notes on the guitar and getting to hear the same songs over and over and over again (not to mention the “singing”, which I have fortunately yet to be subjected to), ranks on the scale of annoying somewhere between a leaf blower and having a pine sliver shoved up your dick hole.

Guitar Hero 3 was released october 27, 2007. if stores have any left today, i am purchasing the game that makes me feel like i’m a bad ass on guitar, when i clearly can only play e minor (or can i still?) so here’s to the next round of songs that you will be hearing at every college party for the next year or two….
* “Paint It Black” (by The Rolling Stones)
* “Cherub Rock” (by Smashing Pumpkins)
* “Sabotage” (by Beastie Boys)
* “The Metal” (by Tenacious D)
* “My Name is Jonas” (by Weezer)
* “Knights of Cydonia” (by Muse)
* “Rock And Roll All Nite” (as made famous by Kiss)
* “School’s Out” (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
* “Slow Ride” (as made famous by Foghat)
* “Cult of Personality” (by Living Colour)
* “Barracuda” (as made famous by Heart)
—-this post is for slow people like myself when sometimes shit just slips over your head that you care about

or now that i think about it, maybe the reason i haven’t heard anything about guitar hero 3 is because next month rock band is coming out. and there’s 45 songs… what to buy???

dilemmas for this gamer girl.