Rush’s Geddy Lee invites us to pull up a chair in his Toronto study

Autographed baseball “My major obsession is baseball. One of my heroes is Moe Berg, who was a catcher and a linguist—he could speak seven languages—and he spied for the United States before and during W WII. When the American All-Star team toured Japan in 1934, he was sneaking out and taking photographs of strategic locations in Tokyo. I tried to buy the movie rights to his story, but George Clooney beat me to it.”

“Shoeless” Joe Jackson baseball bat “It’s believed that this was still in his possession after he was banned from baseball. The theory is that when he was playing in the industrial leagues, he was going under an assumed name and still had bats left over from Major League Baseball, and this was one of them. You can see where his name has kind of been shaved away a little.”

Wine bottle “Alex [Lifeson, Rush’s guitarist] painted this. There were these pictures of him and me at batting practice with the California Angels, and he took one of those pictures and painted me in an Angels uniform. He titled it A Pitcher of Wine.”

Sexy Stories With a Yiddisha Flavor LP “That was a gift from my friend Ben Mink, who worked on my solo album, My Favorite Headache. We’re always on the search for Yiddish kitsch. I haven’t played it; the cover is entertainment enough.”

Bench “This bench came from [Chicago’s] original Comiskey Park, which was my favorite ballpark. It’s a very historic place—it’s where Joe Jackson used to play. It was torn down to make way for a new ballpark, which is a huge disappointment.”

Cocker spaniel “Ewan is almost 12 years old. When you walk in the door, he greets you with a series of high-pitched squeals. I guess that’s the closest he’s ever come to an orgasm.”

Fender bass “That was the first good bass I ever bought. After I got my Rickenbacker, I wanted to do something unusual to this one. My bass tech at the time found a guy in Detroit to paint it like a ’ 57 Chevy.”

Propaganda statuette “It’s very rare to find Mao as a young man from the early days. They’re all about promoting the Chief, all done to reinforce the revolution and make people feel good about doing what the government wants them to do.”

The Order of Canada medal “It’s like a good-citizenship award. If they’re proud of you—if you behaved well abroad and didn’t bring shame on your country—they give you a pat on the back, and that’s what the Order of Canada is. We were surprised, puzzled, but totally thrilled to get it.”

Musicians of the Millennium medal “Now, that’s a serious award—bestowed upon us by The Harvard Lampoon. They didn’t tell us [why we were inducted]; they just told us we were awesome. It was a comedic moment.”

BY DAVE ALEXANDER PHOTOGRAPH BY SIMON WILLMS

34 APRIL 2009 / GET SMARTER. GO TO SPIN.COM

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Photographed for SPIN in Toronto, February 5, 2009