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Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

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Grapes Under Pressure 3 charity fundraiser with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson kicks off today

Sat, Sep 27, 2014@12:56PM | comments

UPDATE - 10/23@9:40AM: There's a HUGE gallery of over 250 photos from the event posted online here (thanks John at Cygnus-X1.net).

UPDATE - 10/1@3:43PM: There were several great photos of Alex and Geddy from the day's events posted on Twitter over the last few days using the hashtag #GUP3.

UPDATE - 9/27@3:32PM: Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati is at today's event and tweeted out this photo of himself with Alex and Geddy.

Grapes for Humanity is an organization that helps to raise funds to benefit humanitarian causes around the world with the assistance of the international wine community, and Geddy Lee is a member of the board of directors. In recent years he and Alex Lifeson have conducted a number of charity auctions and events to raise money for the organization as part of an initiative that they cleverly call Grapes Under Pressure. This weekend Geddy and Alex will host their 3rd Grapes Under Pressure event as described on the Grapes For Humanity website:

Building on the phenomenal success and tremendous response from their first two extravaganzas, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson team up again for the third installment of their "not so annual" Excellent Harvest Adventure. Geddy and Alex will welcome you aboard our private train from Toronto's Union Station as we enjoy breakfast enroute to Stratus Vineyards. Stratus, a 62-acre beautifully modern winery near Niagara-on-the-Lake, combines science with tradition and relies on the centuries-old method of "assemblage" to produce wines of amazing depth and complexity while maintaining a reputation of being one of the world's most sustainable wineries. A champagne reception awaits you upon arrival at Stratus. As you tour this stunning property, guests can try their hand at picking grapes and learn about cutting-edge winemaking techniques while drinking and tasting the "The Best of Niagara" from a variety of local producers of wine, beer and food products. Award-winning Chef Michael Steh of The Chase will prepare a gourmet vintners lunch as special guest winemaker, JL Groulx, leads us through his handcrafted Stratus vintage selections. Participate in the excitement of a silent auction as well as other special surprises before the late afternoon train ride back to Toronto. ...

Back in April, Grapes for Humanity auctioned off a 2-day trip to Toronto including today's Grapes Under Pressure 3 event as described in this post. The first 2 Grapes Under Pressure events took place in 2009 and 2011 respectively and helped raise thousands of dollars for charity. Photos and a recap of Grapes Under Pressure 2 can be seen in this post and also here. In addition to today's event, according to Rush.com, phase 2 of Grapes Under Pressure 3 will kick off next week with a huge online auction:

... Next week, Geddy & Alex will launch phase two of GUP3 which will boast the largest ever single auction of Rush signed & vintage paraphernalia including vintage instruments, vinyl test pressings, touring gear, rare autographed items and more.

In the meantime, we leave you with the first awesome item on the list: Geddy Lee's shoes worn on the R30 tour.

See them here @geddyimages and watch his instagram to see more items unveiled as we lead up to next Friday when you will be able to start bidding...!

In other news, Geddy Lee has an Instagram page now! Thanks to Asif K for the heads up.

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