# Free Alex Lifeson! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382 "2004-01-02T22:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/1 "2004-01-02T22:22:39Z")
[www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/02/rush.arrest.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/02/rush.arrest.ap/index.html) I feel a strange, perverse sense of … is it pride? That my all time favorite guitar virtuoso has, at the age of 50, the gumption to brawl with the cops? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/2 "2004-01-02T23:51:23Z")
…with purchase of guitarist of same or lesser value… ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/3 "2004-01-03T00:03:05Z")
Amazing that a member of a famous rock band took 30 years to get in trouble with the police! ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/4 "2004-01-03T04:55:27Z")
Wow, That is not good. I like Lifeson alot but it sounds like he could be in serious trouble. Slee ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/5 "2004-01-03T08:12:20Z")
Howyadoin, [http://www.nbc-2.com/News/stories/040201-lifeson-2.shtml](http://www.nbc-2.com/News/stories/040201-lifeson-2.shtml) The video footage is priceless… when you load it (needs Real Player, hopefully you’ve neutered your version to ditch the spyware), fast forward it a bit, there’s a minute or two of the camera just staring at the door, it’s raw footage with some nausea-cam stuff. Alex got his nose broken, so the front of his shirt is covered in blood. All things considered, he handled the interview pretty well. There’s some dweeb jumping around behind him waving a “Free Alex” sign at the camera. Unreal stuff. I wonder if this will affect his ownership of the Orbit Room, a Toronto bar, seeing as how the charges are, as they say, “alcohol-related”. The story as presented by the police is pretty heavy; Tasers had to be used on Alex and his son, Alex is claimed to have pushed a female cop down a flight of stairs and spit blood on another cop. Pretty effed-up way to start the New Year, eh? -Rav, spinning a “Kid Gloves” > [@](#): > > Anger got bare knuckles, anger play the fool “Red Lenses” > [@](#): > > I see red, and it hurts my head “By-tor and the Snow Dog” > [@](#): > > Square for battle, let the fray begin. …triple-play, baby… ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/6 "2004-01-03T18:54:28Z")
At last Rush has enough dirt to build a _Behind the Music_ around. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/7 "2004-01-03T19:11:04Z")
Why is it a felony to fight back when it’s a very real possibility that the cops will hurt you once they get their hands on you? Same think as running from the cops. It’s the instinct for self-preservation that is a driving force, not necessarily willful lawlessness. Seriously, if you’re a criminal and the cops are chasing you, why should you just sit there and wait for them to take away your freedom, deserved or not? Having said that, though, brawling with the cops is stupid and never ends well. I know I’m “wrong” about this, it’s just that I feel like since the cops are heavily armed and trained to kill, it may be self-defense, not assault. I dislike cops and other authority figures intensely, so my opinion is tainted by that. Sorry. Carry on.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/8 "2004-01-03T20:52:42Z")
An Arky, I hear ya. Now I don’t “dislike” cops as a whole, but there certainly are a few bad apples in the bunch, and it’s a very real possibility that the ones Alex got stuck with were assholes. Of course, I’m going to withhold judgment until I hear more. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/9 "2004-01-03T20:56:18Z")
Yeah, me too. I’m certainly open to the idea that Alex & co. were just being drunk assholes, too. But you know what I’d like to see? Cops or their mouthpieces should have to take the oath…“I solemnly swear to tell the truth, etc.” before they make public statements. Same goes for lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-alex-lifeson/222382/10 "2004-01-03T23:52:51Z")
Wow… I’m surprised. Perhaps I shouldn’t be (I remind myself constantly that I don’t REALLY know the celebs I admire), but I am. Alex always SEEMED like a very nice, very together guy- not like a troublemaker. It’s certainly possible that I just misjudged him, that he’s not who I thought he was. It’s also possible that he just had a few drinks too many and acted out of character. It’s also possible that the cops were out of line. I can’t know at this point. But if Alex WAS involved in a drunken brawl, well, I’m very disappounted.