22
spr ing 2013 | st. Lawrence Universit y Magazine
Several seemingly disparate threads started coming together
in
Dana Professor of Economics
Steven Horwitz's life in 1980.
He had been seriously dipping into the works of Ayn Rand due
to his increasing interest in the Libertarian movement, he had
been listening to "progressive" rock music for some time, and
the Canadian band Rush finally began getting serious radio
airplay.
So, was it the Libertarian-laced themes of Rush songs or the
music that grabbed him? "It's seamless," Horwitz says. "It's the
message, yes, but also the ambitiousness of the music. I was
someone who liked to think big thoughts, and here was a rock
band who thought big."
He first got to see Rush live two years later – twice, to be ex-
act, with a two-night stand in his hometown of Detroit in 1982.
Thirty-one years later, he estimates he’s seen the band 25 to
30
times. He hasn't missed an opening night of a tour since
1996,
when he met up in Albany with eight other fans, all of
whom knew one another only through an Internet mailing list
and discussion group for the band's followers. They’ve become
close friends, and Horwitz has become friends with other die-
hard fans as well.
"
That's a gift that Rush has given me," he says. "I don't go
along with the notion that the Internet isolates people. It has
the power to really bring people together."
A free-market economist, Horwitz has managed to combine
his professional life with his fandom through two published
scholarly articles, and he says he has a book in his head that he
may get around to writing at some point. Mainly, he says, he
loves the music the band creates and admires the way they've
navigated the music business.
"
They are role models, even though I don't really like that
term," Horwitz says. "They show how to do what you love, with
integrity, and be successful."
Steve Horwi t z : Die-Hard Rush Fan