Rush concert has personal meaning to teacher
Outside the AAC on Monday night, technology teacher Ray Cooper awaits the start of the Rush concert.
May 20, 2015
Rush is one of the most influential rock bands in history and Monday night at American Airlines Center, they performed what could be their last concert in Dallas as part of their R40 Tour. For technology teacher Ray Cooper, a long time fan of the band, the show had something of a personal meaning as his 7-year-old son is named after the band.
“My wife and I had a deal. If the baby was a boy, I’d get to name him and if it was a girl she’d get to name him,” Cooper said. “I wanted something musical, something cool, something that other people would kind of get, but at the same time, I don’t care if they get it. Then my wife’s friend said ‘what about Rush?’ and I didn’t even think about it because there was no way [my wife would let me]!”
His wife Tammy Cooper, an English teacher at Sloan Creek agreed to the name which may not be that surprising considering the couple’s connection to the band.
“My first Rush concert was the Feedback Tour with my wife,” Cooper recounts. “I used to have posters all over my wall. I’d have all these little cut outs everywhere. For me it’s got the deep nostalgia. Rush, I have that nostalgia with, but I really didn’t start listening to them dedicatedly until after around 2003-2004.”
Although he didn’t get to go to the concert, Rush Cooper did get a souvenir hat from the band’s Monday performance at the AAC.
With his wife and son at home Monday night, Cooper joined the crowd at the AAC to enjoy a three hour performance that highlighted prominent staples of the band’s catalog.
“They featured every era of Rush and went backwards from the most recent to their older music,” Cooper recounts. “They had the red jumpsuit [men] moving set like off the Moving Pictures album.”
The set reflected their album covers and the era of the songs in a unique way, allowing the band to glide through each transition of album and era. The band broke the three hour performance up with a quirky video of well known actors such as Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Jay Baruchel lip syncing and performing skits with lead singer Geddy Lee dressed in hilarious costumes.
“I’ve been to four rush concerts,” Cooper said. “And I think [Monday] night was their last really big concert.”
That may mean Rush Thomas Cooper may never get to see the band Rush perform, but he like’s the unique nature of his name.
“He’ll say ‘I’m named after my daddy’s favorite band’!” Cooper says. “He doesn’t get into the music, but he likes the idea.”
