2112

Preamble:

The passing of the great Neil Peart inspired YHC to put together a tribute BD to honor one of the best drummers of any era.  For those unfamiliar with his name, Neil was generational talent who was the heart and sole timekeeper of the band Rush who believed in the freedom of music and never made compromises.  He was also genius lyricist, having authored such greats such as 2112 and Limelight to name a couple legendary tracks.  With temps hovering around 19 degrees, it only seemed appropriate to queue-up some tunes to say Farewell to a King from the frozen YYZ tundra.

Warm-O-Rama:

Well equipped to act with insufficient tact, Q led PAX on a mosey up the main road toward the large parking lot for the following warm-ups:

• Mountain Climbers
• Hill Billys
• Weed Pickers
• Toy Soldiers

Q directed PAX to take a long mosey around the field while he set up today’s lighted stage.

The Thang:

Gather all PAX towards the center of the football field for instructions to a new BD called “2112”.  YHC brought a board with a list of exercises that would accompany each song.  Once a song was finished, PAX would move on to the next exercise.  The routine went as follows:

• Starting on the goal-line, bear crawl 21 yards and perform 12 repetitions of the designated exercise.
• Run to the opposite 21 and perform 12 more repetitions before bear crawling to the opposite goal-line.
• On the return, crab walk to the 21 and perform 12 repetitions of the designated exercise.
• Run to the 21 and perform 12 more repetitions before crab walking to the starting goal-line.
• Rinse/repeat, while changing exercises for each song.

Those familiar with Rush know full well that they were non-conformists and never gave in to “the man”.  In fact, they purposely crafted the title track to their “2112” protest album to be 20+ minutes long as a big middle-finger to the record labels who insisted on 4-5 minute songs that were radio-friendly.  Q thought it would be quite amusing to start out hot with said title track to see which PAX had a keen ear for detail.  Alas he opted for the Chronicles version as a head fake, which only included the first two movements of the opus (the full track shall be reserved a future date).  Bear was about to pronounce this as the best workout ever, until he discovered that the first song was only 6 minutes long.

Time to jump to the ground and run like the wind, a willing engine responding with a roar to the following exercises and tracks:

1. Burpees:  2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx
2. Merkins:  Tom Sawyer
3. No Surrenders:  Working Man
4. Jump Squats:  Anthem
5. 4-count American Hammers:  The Spirit of the Radio (Live)
6. Diamond Merkins:  Limelight
7. Donkey Kicks (DNF):  Subdivisions

Impressive work by PAX all around doing their best to Roll The Bones and stay warm, each another’s audience outside the gilded cage.  Q greatly enjoyed some random lyrical trivia involving Shakespeare from Sprocket (shocker) along the way.  Credit to Deadbeat who was truly in the Spirit (of the Radio) by posting in shorts sans gloves.

With T-5 on the clock, Q raised Signals to round up all PAX and head for the flag.  No time for Mary today.  Exit the warrior.

COT:

• Prayers for friends of all PAX dealing with cancer, especially Wide Right who is coping with it on multiple fronts.

Naked-Man Moleskin:

Cancer sucks – period.  Today was a good reminder to live every moment to it’s fullest, because you never know what tomorrow may bring.  Stay healthy, be true to yourself and kind and caring to those around because it can be gone in a moment.

AFLAC out.