Rush rocks for Human Rights

JAMES ADAMS From Thursday's Globe and Mail May 29, 2008 at 3:36 AM EDT Canada's most famous rock trio, Rush, played its first concert date in Winnipeg in 25 years last Saturday and to commemorate the end of the quarter-century "drought," lead singer/bassist Geddy Lee announced yesterday that the band is contributing $100,000 toward the construction of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in the Manitoba capital. The money's coming from the ticket sales of last weekend's concert at the MTC Centre where Lee, drummer Neal Peart and guitarist Alex Lifeson performed before an estimated 11,000 fans. Yesterday, too, Lee said the band would be selling special CMHR T-shirts at its upcoming gigs in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver and donating the proceeds to the museum. The message on the T-shirt reads: "My pals Rush and I support the Canadian Museum for Human Rights." Lee, 54, has a personal investment in the museum's mission. His parents, Mary and Morris Weinrib, were Jewish refugees from Poland who survived internment in Bergen-Belsen and Dachau during the Second World War. "Geddy" is, in fact, how Lee's Yiddish-speaking mother pronounced his birth name, which is Gary. In a prepared statement issued yesterday, Lee said he and his bandmates "are proud to be associated" with the CMHR since "Canadians are uniquely positioned to be leaders in championing [the cause of human rights]." Construction of the $265-million human-rights museum is expected to start later this year or in early 2009, with 2011 the likely completion date. The museum is raising $105-million from corporate, foundation and private donors like Rush and now it's within an estimated $10-million of reaching that goal. Campaign chair Gail Asper whose father, the late media magnate Izzy Asper, was the initial driving force behind the museum's creation, said she and her support organization, the Friends of the CMHR, were "thrilled" with the $100,000 donation. "We encourage all Rush fans to buy the T-shirts and wear them proudly."