U2 will be performing live today/tonight at the Cannes Film Festival,
to help celebrate the public premiere of U2 3D. And, best of all, you
might be able to watch it online! @U2 reader Doug M. points us to a
live Web cam setup in Cannes by the Independent Film Channel. The IFC
page confirms the U2 performance and lists an expected starting time of
6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT. Note: Web cams are often shut down for live
performances like this, so there's no guarantee we'll get to watch as
it happens. Fingers crossed! Use the link....
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U2 will be performing live today/tonight at the Cannes Film Festival,
to help celebrate the public premiere of U2 3D. And, best of all, you
might be able to watch it online! @U2 reader Doug M. points us to a
live Web cam setup in Cannes by the Independent Film Channel. The IFC
page confirms the U2 performance and lists an expected starting time of
6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT. Note: Web cams are often shut down for live
performances like this, so there's no guarantee we'll get to watch as
it happens. Fingers crossed! Use the link....
ALL-NIGHT PARTY FLOATS CANNES
NY Post
Page Six, by Richard Johnson
May 26, 2007 -- SURVIVORS of the Cannes Film Festival report the best
party of the star-studded, 12-day bacchanal so far was the bash Kid
Rock threw on his yacht that featured a jam with Bono and James Blunt.
Guests including Jessica Simpson, Leo DiCaprio, Mischa Barton, Jude
Law, Snoop Dogg, Minnie Driver, Jay-Z and the cast of “Entourage” went
through over 100 bottles of champagne before the revelry ended at 9
a.m.
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Universal Music Austria has confirmed for U2tour.de that the DVD will
be released in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland on August 31st -- the
Friday before the international release. So, N. America can plan on
getting the DVD on September 4th.
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Universal Music Austria has confirmed for U2tour.de that the DVD will
be released in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland on August 31st -- the
Friday before the international release. So, N. America can plan on
getting the DVD on September 4th.
This is great news. I guess they did plan to re-release all those old VHS's on DVD then. I'm extremely excited for this.
I've faced it, a life wasted, and I'm never going back again.
USA Today's breaking news blog, On Deadline, has a post today with
reaction from Bono to new U.S. funding proposals to fight AIDS in
Africa. No disrespect to that topic, but reading the post went like
this for me:
"...blah-blah-blah ... blah-blah ... a telephone interview from Fez,
Morocco, where he’s recording with his band, U2 ... blah-blah-blah..."
Say what?!? Fez, Morocco, is where U2 shot the "Mysterious Ways" music
video, and this is the first I've heard of them working in a studio
there. Wowser. Cool.
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by Max Abelson
The New York Observer
April 24, 2007
It may not be as grand as Bono’s I.M. Pei–designed duplex across the park,
but U2’s longtime manager, Paul McGuinness, and his wife Kathy have bought a
fifth-floor, six-room apartment at 40 East 62nd.
They paid $3.25 million, according to city deeds, buying from Michael and
Jane DeFlorio. The contract was signed last year, closed in February, and
was recorded in public records this month.
The apartment’s living room and chandeliered dining room run side-by-side on
East 62nd Street, “allowing for fabulous entertaining,” according to the
Brown Harris Stevens listing. The boys in the band will appreciate their
manager’s wine refrigerator in his new kitchen.
But whereas Bono’s apartment in the San Remo has 800-pound, 12-foot-tall
nickel-and-bronze doors (“so precisely balanced that they can be opened and
shut with a fingertip,” according to the journalist Steven Gaines), Mr.
McGuinness’ main entertaining rooms are separated by mere French doors.
As recompense, according to listing broker Lisa Lippman, the manager’s
building is pre–World War I, so it has fancy-sounding antique details like
“original mullioned windows.” Ms. Lippman declined to discuss the buyers or
the sellers, though she mentioned that the apartment had been on and off the
market for over a year, and that a race-car driver had been interested.
“I think his wife liked to be in the Madison Avenue, good-shopping Upper
East Side,” she said about the racer. As for Mr. McGuinness: He has
reportedly kept houses in Dublin and London, plus a villa in the South of
France.
(c) The Observer, 2007
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There's also speculation the visit has been timed to coincide with the Fez
Festival of World Sacred Music (check it out at http://www.fesfestival.com).
Bono is apparently staying in a riad (a traditional Moroccan house or palace
with an internal garden) in Batha, near the Medina. Very 'Mysterious Ways'!
Maybe Edge will break-out the Oud for the next album...
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Hopefully this Morocco business is not just them filiming a video for their cover of "Instant Karma" or something. I really hope this is next album related.
I've faced it, a life wasted, and I'm never going back again.
U2.com has confirmed Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam have set up a studio in
medieval Fez, Morocco, and are writing songs with long-time collaborators
Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno.
While there's no word what the songs are for, we're told the band are
focused and hard at it "writing and recording from morning till night for
the past couple of weeks."
We'll keep you posted as we get more news from Fez...watch this space.
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Our friends at U2tour.de have confirmed that Bono will make an appearance this Thursday,
June 7, at a concert in Rostock, Germany. The show is taking place to bring awareness to the
Make Poverty History campaign during the G-8 Summit.
Fellow activist/musician Bob Geldof and several German artists are also scheduled to appear.
The concert will take place from 2:00 – 8:00 p.m. CET.
Follow this link to watch the concert via live stream:
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Bono will appear on the long-
running ABC news program Nightline on Wednesday night. The topic will
be Africa, and more specifically, Bono's recent turn as guest editor
of the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine. Nightline airs at 11:35
p.m. on ABC stations.
read more at ABCNews.com >>
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You probably know that Bono is the guest editor for the July edition
of Vanity Fair magazine, which is about to hit newsstands. Some of
the articles and features have started appearing on the magazine's
web site:
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U2 mount songwriting sessions in Africa
Bono and co invite special guests to Morocco
June 6, 2007
U2 are writing new songs in Fez, Morocco.
The band have decamped to the African country with long-term
production collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, though the
pair's involvement so far has been strictly about song writing.
"It's the first time we've worked with Brian and Dan in a purely
songwriting capacity," Larry Mullen Jr told U2.com. "So it's very
different, quite experimental and kind of liberating because of that."
However the band are reluctant to say that the new tracks will be on
the band's next album, yet.
"We have no plans for the music yet," explained Bono. "We're just
going to make it until we can't not put it out!"
__._,_.___
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BONO (without EDGE) SINGS IN GERMANY ... AND IN GERMAN
June 07, 2007
The Bono/Edge "Sunday Bloody Sunday" duet never happened Thursday at
the "Deine Stimme gegen Armut" concert in Rostock, Germany -- despite
several signs that it would (Bono brought a guitar, and Edge's guitar
tech, Dallas Schoo, was there). Instead, Bono made several
appearances to sing with other artists:
"Redemption Song" with Youssou N'Dour and Bob Geldof
"You Never Give Me Your Money" with Youssou N'Dour, Bob Geldof, and
Campino (from Die Toten Hosen)
"Get Up Stand Up" with Youssou N'Dour and Bob Geldof
"Mensch" with Herbert Groenemeyer
Bono sang in German on the last song, which you can watch on YouTube.
You can also see some great photo from Matthias M. at U2-Vertigo-
Tour.com. Thx to Matthias and Alexander Z. for info. about the concert.
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Bono, Bob find signs of 'donor fatigue'
Brisbane Times
June 7, 2007
U2 singer Bono has led a trio of rock star activists who pressed US
President George W Bush and other leaders at the G8 summit to do more
for Africa, amid accusations rich nations are failing to meet aid
promises.
Bono had words of praise for the US leader after the meeting yesterday
but said that in general getting money out of the wealthy Group of
Eight countries was like "getting blood out of a stone," a spokesman
for his lobbying organisation said.
Other activist groups and diplomats also said some G8 industrialised
powers did not want to increase aid to Africa.
"Hanging out with good company, aren't I?" said Bush after his meeting
with the U2 singer, who was accompanied by British rock star activist
Bob Geldof and Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour.
The stars also met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chancellor
Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, said the DATA
(Debt/AIDS/Trade/Africa) group which Bono co-founded to lobby against
poverty and AIDS in Africa.
Bush has promised tens of billions of dollars of US money to the
battle against AIDS and Bono said: "People need to know this side of
America: the side that's leading the world on AIDS."
The US president last week urged Congress to set aside $US30 billion
($A35.7 billion) over five years to fight AIDS worldwide.
"I find myself not having to harangue the president," said Bono in a
statement after the encounter.
"But I still did on education and HIV/AIDS. We also discussed the
strategic importance of this stuff for America in the next
presidential race."
Bono, Geldof and N'Dour are lobbying at the Heiligendamm summit to
follow up on promises made to alleviate African debt at the 2005 G8
summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
The eight countries then committed to increase aid by $US50 billion
($A59.5 billion) a year by 2010. Half of that development aid would go
to Africa.
A DATA spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan said the US action was in line with
the commitment made but that others, naming Canada andItaly, were "way
behind on what they need to do".
Another DATA spokesman Oliver Buston said the discussions with most of
the leaders had been "quite strong" but that talks with G8 host
Merkel, in particular, had been "frustrating".
"There seem to be many people blocking progress," Buston said.
Youssou N'Dour was also critical of Germany, even though Berlin has
made aid to Africa one of the top priorities of its G8 presidency.
Germany will give 4 billion euros ($A6.43 billion) over the next eight
years to the global fight against AIDS, its development minister said
in an interview to be published today.
But N'Dour said in an interview with AFP: "This summit won't work if
Germany doesn't set an example."
He also praised Bush and said that talks with Italy's Prodi had been
"very interesting".
"I'm optimistic that we can go a lot further with Italy," he said.
"The US has made a lot of effort," he said.
But N'Dour pointed the finger at Canada as a potential threat to a G8
deal on aid.
"Following our meetings, Italy and Japan aren't going to block (a
deal). We have to wait and see what Canada will do. We're worried
about Canada. It would be terrible if they blocked a G8 agreement,"
N'Dour said.
And he added: "What I'd like to stress to them all, is that it's not
aid, but investment. It's about balance."
A senior official with one of the G8 delegations said that some of the
industrialised powers were suffering from "donor fatigue".
"Some G8 members are tired of the aid promises made to Africa and do
not want to support them," said the official, who spoke to AFP on
condition of anonymity. The official said at least "one or two
countries" were involved but did not name them.
Aid groups have called on the Heiligendamm summit participants to keep
their promises to increase financing for the fight against AIDS and
tuberculosis which killed about 4.9 million people a year around the
world.
A number of organisations and institutions, including the World Bank,
have accused G8 countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the United States - of failing to keep promises made
in Gleneagles in 2005.
Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI also called on the G8 countries to stick
to their promises.
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U2's recent recording sessions in Fez may not be sign of an impending album,
according to Hot Press Magazine.
In a teaser for its 30th birthday issue (due out this Thursday, June 14) the
magazine's website quotes Edge as saying the recent recording sessions in
Fez were for a "project", not necessarily for the new album.
"One of the luxuries we’ve afforded ourselves is not to have to think about
exactly what it will be or how it’ll be finished or when it’ll be released."
And why did the band choose to record in Morocco?
"It was one of those ideas that wouldn’t go away. We were there during a
festival of sacred music in Fez, so we saw some amazing artists. It’s all
stuff that just takes you out of your comfort zone, and we seem to thrive in
that situation, where expectations are really disregarded and you’re there
to explore and discover new things."
Project? Spiderman the Broadway musical...?
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U2 forced to face the music over £100m hotel extension
DUBLIN - A planned £100 million extension to an hotel co-owned by
Bono and the Edge, of the rock band U2, faces opposition after
accusations that it would threaten the heritage of Dublin.
The musicians want to increase the size of the 50-bedroom Clarence
Hotel into a five-star venue with 140 extra rooms and a glass roof in
the shape of a Viking long boat, designed by Lord Foster of Thames
Bank. But in a letter to Dublin city council, published in the
magazine Building Design, Michael Smith, the former chairman of the
heritage group An Taisce, accused Bono and his co-owners of having
a "fetish for glamour." "The days of grateful fawnings over
international –- or in this case intergalactic –- architecture on
Dublin's landmark sites should be over," he wrote.
The 19th-century hotel was bought by U2 in 1992. Adam Clayton and
Larry Mullen, the other band members, later sold their stake. The
hotel has reportedly made a loss of €12 million (£8 million).
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Poll favours Bono over Harper
More Canadians side with rock star in dispute with PM over African aid
By Alan Findlay, National Bureau
Maybe if he said it with a song ...
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's public spat with superband U2's
frontman Bono at this month's G8 meeting hit a sour chord with Canadians.
According to a national survey by Angus-Reid, almost twice as many
people found Bono more believable than Harper in their war of words
over aid to African countries.
During the huddle in Germany, Harper denied the rock star's accusation
that he had blocked an aid deal at the summit of wealthy nations.
While 28% of Canadians believed Harper's denial, 48% preferred the
Irish crooner's plaintive tune. The remainder of those polled weren't
sure.
"Even among Tory voters, more side with Bono than Harper," said an
Angus-Reid report on the survey results. "More Conservatives felt Bono
was telling the truth on the African aid deal (43%) than Harper (31%).
And over half of Conservatives (52%) feel Harper is out of sync with
the Canadian people."
Angus-Reid vice-president of public affairs Craig Worden said the
results speak to the strong conservative impression Canadians are
getting of their leader.
"When it comes to the environment, poverty and the like, there's a
strong perception Harper is hard on the soft issues," said Worden.
Bono, on the other hand, has earned more credibility on the issue
through years of campaigning for more humanitarian aid, said Worden.
The dispute was sparked as Harper jilted Bono's wishes to meet with
him at the German gathering.
In contrast, Bono had become chummy with former Grit prime minister
Paul Martin over their common interest in raising African aid. He even
introduced Martin when he won his party's leadership in 2003. That
harmony ultimately fell apart with Bono criticizing Martin for not
living up to a commitment on aid funding.
Angus-Reid telephoned 1,088 people from coast to coast over a two-day
period this week to tap the public's views on the issue of Bono versus
Harper.
SPLIT ON ISSUE
Despite the strong support for Bono's statements, Canadians are
divided on the actual issue at hand. Only 45% of those surveyed
support increasing humanitarian aid, even if it affects domestic
spending, while 49% don't.
The public was equally split (44%) on whether unelected activists
should participate in G8 meetings.
All said and done, more than half (55%) of Canadians felt that G8
summits are a waste of time and money.
The survey's results are considered accurate to within plus or minus
3%, 19 times out of 20.
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U2 AUTOGRAPH GUIDE FINDS A NEW HOME
June 15, 2007
from m2
U2 collectors have used the "U2 Autograph Guide" to help determine the
authenticity of the band's signatures for about six years now. It's
been a while since we've updated the guide, and prospects for future
updates weren't looking good. So we asked around, and the great fans at
U2eastlink.com said they would love to take over the Autograph Guide.
From this point forward, you'll find dozens of authentic band
signatures there, and you can use them to compare with any signatures
you might be thinking about buying for your own collection. Here are
the new links at U2eastlink.com:
Thanks to Xavi and everyone at U2eastlink.com for keeping this material
alive!
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In another case of "Bono made me do it", former hotpress-er and U2
biographer Neil McCormick explains to Jackie Hayden how he ended up
living near Bob The Builder and about the travails of interviewing all
four U2 men on four different continents in the same evening. Photos by
Mark Harrison.
It's all Bono's fault, apparently, that Daily Telegraph music critic
and U2 biographer Neil McCormick now lives in the London suburb of
Crouch End.
As Neil recalls, "Bono once told me that if you can't afford a house
with a big garden then the next best thing is to live beside a park."
Although not yet a world spokesman on housing location, Bono was
spot-on this time, for McCormick's house backs onto extensive parkland
with a four-mile walk through magnificent natural greenery replete with
wildlife. "It's a great place to live and to bring up our three kids,"
he tells me. "One day I was walking along the path and I met this guy
practicing the saxophone under a bridge. Another day I came across this
guy doing tai chi. There's some extraordinary graffiti around too, and
it was also, sadly, once the terrain of a notorious rapist."
The house itself is a Victorian residence about 100 years old and he's
been living here for nearly four years. "Bob The Builder lives nearby
and a lot of the residents look like the cast of Eastenders. It's a bit
off the beaten track, but perfect if you have kids."
His links to U2 from the early days made him an ideal candidate to
write the book U2 By U2, most of which he wrote in the house. "U2 gave
me an office in Dublin to use but it wasn't practical. So I worked in
the attic, which I've turned into an office so that my partner Gloria
can practice her acupuncture in the study. In all, the book took about
two years, and was done mostly by phone. Bono is arguably the most
over-scheduled man on the planet, so it's often hard to get him without
him having to interrupt to tell you 全orry, but I have to go now to see
the president.' Sometimes I spoke to all four in one evening on
different continents. Edge might be in LA, Bono in Africa, Larry in
Dublin and Adam touring the Far East. But U2's story is something I
lived through, and apart from the band I really only needed to resort
to other sources to check dates. Fortunately, U2 have the most
obsessive fans and there's so much material available on various
websites."
Despite his long-established connection to the band, having been a
school colleague in Mount Temple and attended their pre-U2 gigs, his
house is not quite brimful of U2 memorabilia. "I'm actually a really
good culler. Every so often I go through books and CDs and take them
down to a charity shop. But I have about two metres of books about U2
and I have all the records, some lyrics written by Bono and some old
posters, but I'm not that attached to material things. I have a few
guitars that I like, but asked what I'd save in the event of a fire it
would be my family. None of the rest is anywhere as important."
McCormick moved to London in 1983 to pursue a deal for his band after
leaving the womb-like comforts of the hotpress design department.
"hotpress was an amazing learning crucible at the time. But I still
don't know why they took me on. I arrived to meet Niall Stokes for my
interview wearing green trousers which used to be white. I had a
portfolio of drawing but didn't know what the job would entail even if
I got it. I was one of about only 100 punks in Ireland. Niall later
said he hired me because I was so obnoxious, but that I had a passion
for whatever I was into. I found the people in hotpress at the time
were extraordinary and totally committed to music and writing. We would
work until all hours of the night to get the issue to the printers.
It's amazing that such a shambles could produce such great work that
stands up today."
Neil never studied English or literature, but he remembers once been
given a serious bollockin' by Mr Stokes. "As a young punk I had a
typically sneering disregard towards people like Dylan, not least
because he couldn't sing, and I expressed this one day. I was then
given an instructive lesson that taught me that Dylan was actually a
punk long before the term was invented. I realised then that I had to
be able to stand over my opinions and to put more thought into how
those opinions were formed."
When his band failed to score the big deal, McCormick eventually landed
a job with the Daily Telegraph and has settled happily into London
life. "I've lived in London longer than I've lived anywhere else. The
anti-Irishness that might have lingered when I moved here first has
gone. All the culture you could possibly want is available in London,
from the latest movies to rock'n'roll."
On the rock'n'roll front, McCormick's music collection, despite the
culling, amounts to about 2,000 albums. "There's obviously lots of
current stuff as I have to maintain a level of currency, but I still
have the records that formed my musical tastes: Elvis Costello, The
Jam, The Ramones, and, of course, The Beatles who made most of this
possible in the first place. But because my partner Gloria works in the
house, I'm under a little pressure on the volume front and I tend to
listen mostly on headphones."
Not only is it a quiet house, except perhaps when their three-year-old
son lets loose, but it's also remarkably tidy and tastefully decorated.
McCormick denies that this is down to him. "My office is chaotic. I
think I was put up there to keep me out of everybody's way." Apart from
the expected CDs it has shelves at odd angles and bits of paper
blue-tacked to the walls, suggesting that McCormick is no DIY fiend.
"That's true," he confesses. "My dad was a keen DIY man and I made a
very early decision not to follow him down that path and instead
decided to adopt the proper attitude of a poet and an aesthete. That
explains the crooked shelves and the sink with two taps missing."
As for books, he found Cormac McCarthy's The Road "devastating", but
also has fond memories of Hunter S Thompson. "There a was a lot of the
gonzo in hotpress journalism and I loved Fear And Loathing In Las
Vegas. Although I'm an atheist, I worry about what happens to us later,
so I've taken to reading a lot of books about religion, science and
global warming. Over the last while I've been really trying to make my
life carbon neutral, but that has to be balanced by the need to make
money. In one sense, I'm feel like a hamster on a wheel, running to
stand still."
Now where have I heard that before?
Neil McCormick's book U2 By U2 is published by Harper Collins
Jackie Hayden
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Rock band U2 are bidding to develop the tower that will carry their
name on Britain Quay in Dublin's Docklands, in partnership with
Ballymore Properties, The Irish Times has learned.
However, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which owns this
pivotally-located site, has assured the rival bidders that members of
the band "will not have any role or involvement, directly or
indirectly" in assessing bids for the project.
After concerns were raised by other bidders about potential conflicts
of interest, the authority's lawyers, A&L Goodbody, wrote to them last
week saying that "neither U2 nor its representatives have had any role"
in setting ground rules for the contest.
The solicitors' letter said the docklands authority would "enforce a
very strict policy on conflicts of interest" in assessing the four bids
and that it wished to "remind bidders that any conflict of interest or
potential conflict of interest should . . . be disclosed to the
authority".
To "underpin the independence" of the assessment process, the authority
has appointed Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Amanda
Levete, of Future Systems Architects; and Michael O'Doherty, former
principal architect at the Office of Public Works, to advise it.
Apart from Ballymore Properties/U2, the bidders are Mountbrook Homes,
controlled by developer Seán Dunne; the Dutch-based Royal BAM Group;
Treasury Holdings-Sisk; and the Riverside 2 Partnership, a consortium
formed by the Kelly, McCormack, Flynn and Elliot families.
It is understood that the Ballymore/U2 group has engaged international
architects Foster and Partners to design its scheme, while New
York-based Argentinian architect Rafael Viñoly is acting for the
Riverside consortium, and Baghdad-born Zaha Hadid for Treasury-Sisk.
All of the bidders are required to submit "compliant bids" based on the
2003 competition-winning scheme for the U2 tower by Blackrock-based
architects Burdon Dunne Craig Henry. However, they may also submit
"variant bids".
As originally envisaged, the tower was to be 60 metres high. The
docklands authority subsequently decided that the site - at the
confluence of the Grand Canal, the Dodder and the Liffey - could take a
much taller building, so the height has now been raised to 130 metres.
"This site is unique in Dublin and offers an amazing opportunity to
make a really strong architectural statement," said authority chief
executive Paul Maloney.
He stressed that U2's involvement was strictly limited to two
agreements with the authority - one covering "naming rights" and the
other dealing with the provision of studios for the band at the top of
the tower, to replace their former studios on Hanover Quay.
Mr Maloney said the authority was "thrilled" to attract architects of
the calibre of Wilkinson, who has won two Stirling prizes from the
Royal Institute of British Architects, and Levete, who also won a
Stirling prize, as well as O'Doherty, to give an Irish perspective.
The deadline for submitting bids for the project is June 18th.
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U2.com has posted the second in what appears to be a series of articles
based on U2's recording sessions in Morocco in late May and early June.
The article is for subscribers only, but here are a few highlights and
quotes.
* Edge on why they went to Morocco: "The Festival of Sacred Music
was a big lure for us and for Brian who has been very interested in
Arabic music for years. We felt we might meet some interesting
musicians while here – and we certainly have."
* Eno on the uniqueness of Arabic music: "...in a typical pop song
you will have 'A B A B A B C A B B' or something like that but in
Arabic music you might have 'A B C F B G F' or something like that.
Basically it just goes off, and what we've been doing here these past
few days is enjoying things like that more and more, moving away from
the simply cyclic way of writing things."
* Eno on the influence of Arabic music on U2's sessions: "It is not
a question of sounds so much but of different structural decisions
about how things are made."
* Edge is said to be "tuning a mandolin."
* Bono is said to be reading Minds at War, "an anthology of First
World War poetry."
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The words we all want to hear - U2 are writing songs!
The big news is that the band were in Morocco earlier this month, writing songs with their long-time studio collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
Better still they invited U2.Com down to their riad in the mediaeval city of Fez to listen in on the new material.
'We've been coming up with two or three ideas a day I guess,' Larry told us. 'It started in France when they came down to write with us a couple of months back and it will probably continue later in the year.'
Throughout June we'll be posting behind-the-scenes photos and stories from Fez - exclusively for our subscribers.
'We have a lot of pieces.' says Brian Eno. 'My general rule is that I'm only interested in things I have never heard anything like before - and we've got plenty of those!'
Read the first two of our Songwriting in Morocco exclusives here.
best wishes
The U2.Com Team.
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> LOSING THEIR RELIGION: BONO, EDGE WATCH R.E.M. IN DUBLIN
> July 02, 2007
>
>
> Our friend Xavi from Spanish site U2EastLink.com met Bono and Edge
> tonight (Sunday) in Dublin. They were there for an R.E.M. rehearsal gig
> at the Olympia Theatre. Xavi tells us that Michael Stipe thanked Bono
> and Edge early in the show for their continuing support. Xavi's story,
> plus a couple photos, are on U2 East Link at the link below.
>
> read the full account (en Espanol) at U2 East Link >>
>
> http://www.u2eastlink.com/foro/read.php?1,1000345700,1000345700#msg
> -1000345700
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Comments
May 19, 2007
U2 will be performing live today/tonight at the Cannes Film Festival,
to help celebrate the public premiere of U2 3D. And, best of all, you
might be able to watch it online! @U2 reader Doug M. points us to a
live Web cam setup in Cannes by the Independent Film Channel. The IFC
page confirms the U2 performance and lists an expected starting time of
6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT. Note: Web cams are often shut down for live
performances like this, so there's no guarantee we'll get to watch as
it happens. Fingers crossed! Use the link....
watch the IFC live Web cam >>
http://ifc.com/news/article?aId=19691
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NY Post
Page Six, by Richard Johnson
May 26, 2007 -- SURVIVORS of the Cannes Film Festival report the best
party of the star-studded, 12-day bacchanal so far was the bash Kid
Rock threw on his yacht that featured a jam with Bono and James Blunt.
Guests including Jessica Simpson, Leo DiCaprio, Mischa Barton, Jude
Law, Snoop Dogg, Minnie Driver, Jay-Z and the cast of “Entourage” went
through over 100 bottles of champagne before the revelry ended at 9
a.m.
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be released in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland on August 31st -- the
Friday before the international release. So, N. America can plan on
getting the DVD on September 4th.
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This is great news. I guess they did plan to re-release all those old VHS's on DVD then. I'm extremely excited for this.
Some die just to live.
May 30, 2007
USA Today's breaking news blog, On Deadline, has a post today with
reaction from Bono to new U.S. funding proposals to fight AIDS in
Africa. No disrespect to that topic, but reading the post went like
this for me:
"...blah-blah-blah ... blah-blah ... a telephone interview from Fez,
Morocco, where he’s recording with his band, U2 ... blah-blah-blah..."
Say what?!? Fez, Morocco, is where U2 shot the "Mysterious Ways" music
video, and this is the first I've heard of them working in a studio
there. Wowser. Cool.
read the full blog post at USA Today >>
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/05/bono_sings_the_.html
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The New York Observer
April 24, 2007
It may not be as grand as Bono’s I.M. Pei–designed duplex across the park,
but U2’s longtime manager, Paul McGuinness, and his wife Kathy have bought a
fifth-floor, six-room apartment at 40 East 62nd.
They paid $3.25 million, according to city deeds, buying from Michael and
Jane DeFlorio. The contract was signed last year, closed in February, and
was recorded in public records this month.
The apartment’s living room and chandeliered dining room run side-by-side on
East 62nd Street, “allowing for fabulous entertaining,” according to the
Brown Harris Stevens listing. The boys in the band will appreciate their
manager’s wine refrigerator in his new kitchen.
But whereas Bono’s apartment in the San Remo has 800-pound, 12-foot-tall
nickel-and-bronze doors (“so precisely balanced that they can be opened and
shut with a fingertip,” according to the journalist Steven Gaines), Mr.
McGuinness’ main entertaining rooms are separated by mere French doors.
As recompense, according to listing broker Lisa Lippman, the manager’s
building is pre–World War I, so it has fancy-sounding antique details like
“original mullioned windows.” Ms. Lippman declined to discuss the buyers or
the sellers, though she mentioned that the apartment had been on and off the
market for over a year, and that a race-car driver had been interested.
“I think his wife liked to be in the Madison Avenue, good-shopping Upper
East Side,” she said about the racer. As for Mr. McGuinness: He has
reportedly kept houses in Dublin and London, plus a villa in the South of
France.
(c) The Observer, 2007
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More news from correspondents in Morocco.
According to blog site 'The View from Fez' (http://www.riadzany.blogspot.com) Bono
is in the country to record a music video.
There's also speculation the visit has been timed to coincide with the Fez
Festival of World Sacred Music (check it out at http://www.fesfestival.com).
Bono is apparently staying in a riad (a traditional Moroccan house or palace
with an internal garden) in Batha, near the Medina. Very 'Mysterious Ways'!
Maybe Edge will break-out the Oud for the next album...
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Some die just to live.
It's official!
U2.com has confirmed Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam have set up a studio in
medieval Fez, Morocco, and are writing songs with long-time collaborators
Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno.
While there's no word what the songs are for, we're told the band are
focused and hard at it "writing and recording from morning till night for
the past couple of weeks."
We'll keep you posted as we get more news from Fez...watch this space.
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Our friends at U2tour.de have confirmed that Bono will make an appearance this Thursday,
June 7, at a concert in Rostock, Germany. The show is taking place to bring awareness to the
Make Poverty History campaign during the G-8 Summit.
Fellow activist/musician Bob Geldof and several German artists are also scheduled to appear.
The concert will take place from 2:00 – 8:00 p.m. CET.
Follow this link to watch the concert via live stream:
http://www.aol.de/p8
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June 06, 2007
Bono will appear on the long-
running ABC news program Nightline on Wednesday night. The topic will
be Africa, and more specifically, Bono's recent turn as guest editor
of the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine. Nightline airs at 11:35
p.m. on ABC stations.
read more at ABCNews.com >>
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3247382&page=1
__._,_.___
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June 06, 2007
You probably know that Bono is the guest editor for the July edition
of Vanity Fair magazine, which is about to hit newsstands. Some of
the articles and features have started appearing on the magazine's
web site:
Message 2U, by Bono
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2007/07/bono200707
Video: Behind the Scenes with Bono
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/video/2007/bono_video200707
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Kinda dumb but related!
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
U2 mount songwriting sessions in Africa
Bono and co invite special guests to Morocco
June 6, 2007
U2 are writing new songs in Fez, Morocco.
The band have decamped to the African country with long-term
production collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, though the
pair's involvement so far has been strictly about song writing.
"It's the first time we've worked with Brian and Dan in a purely
songwriting capacity," Larry Mullen Jr told U2.com. "So it's very
different, quite experimental and kind of liberating because of that."
However the band are reluctant to say that the new tracks will be on
the band's next album, yet.
"We have no plans for the music yet," explained Bono. "We're just
going to make it until we can't not put it out!"
__._,_.___
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This just in: Spinner.com reports that The Edge will join Bono for a
rendition of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during today's concert.
You can stream the concert live here:
http://musik.aol.de/G8/?ttp=PRO/?platform=P8Gr&pid=Redirect&dpt=AM
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Bono was a guest on today's Morning Edition program on National Public
Radio (NPR).
In the discussion, he talks about the G-8 Summit, his stint as Guest
Editor for Vanity Fair and even his rose-colored glasses.
Follow the link to download the interview or purchase the transcript:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10830589
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June 07, 2007
The Bono/Edge "Sunday Bloody Sunday" duet never happened Thursday at
the "Deine Stimme gegen Armut" concert in Rostock, Germany -- despite
several signs that it would (Bono brought a guitar, and Edge's guitar
tech, Dallas Schoo, was there). Instead, Bono made several
appearances to sing with other artists:
"Redemption Song" with Youssou N'Dour and Bob Geldof
"You Never Give Me Your Money" with Youssou N'Dour, Bob Geldof, and
Campino (from Die Toten Hosen)
"Get Up Stand Up" with Youssou N'Dour and Bob Geldof
"Mensch" with Herbert Groenemeyer
Bono sang in German on the last song, which you can watch on YouTube.
You can also see some great photo from Matthias M. at U2-Vertigo-
Tour.com. Thx to Matthias and Alexander Z. for info. about the concert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=747Ye2YD6E8
http://www.u2-vertigo-tour.com/show1520.html
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Brisbane Times
June 7, 2007
U2 singer Bono has led a trio of rock star activists who pressed US
President George W Bush and other leaders at the G8 summit to do more
for Africa, amid accusations rich nations are failing to meet aid
promises.
Bono had words of praise for the US leader after the meeting yesterday
but said that in general getting money out of the wealthy Group of
Eight countries was like "getting blood out of a stone," a spokesman
for his lobbying organisation said.
Other activist groups and diplomats also said some G8 industrialised
powers did not want to increase aid to Africa.
"Hanging out with good company, aren't I?" said Bush after his meeting
with the U2 singer, who was accompanied by British rock star activist
Bob Geldof and Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour.
The stars also met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chancellor
Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, said the DATA
(Debt/AIDS/Trade/Africa) group which Bono co-founded to lobby against
poverty and AIDS in Africa.
Bush has promised tens of billions of dollars of US money to the
battle against AIDS and Bono said: "People need to know this side of
America: the side that's leading the world on AIDS."
The US president last week urged Congress to set aside $US30 billion
($A35.7 billion) over five years to fight AIDS worldwide.
"I find myself not having to harangue the president," said Bono in a
statement after the encounter.
"But I still did on education and HIV/AIDS. We also discussed the
strategic importance of this stuff for America in the next
presidential race."
Bono, Geldof and N'Dour are lobbying at the Heiligendamm summit to
follow up on promises made to alleviate African debt at the 2005 G8
summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
The eight countries then committed to increase aid by $US50 billion
($A59.5 billion) a year by 2010. Half of that development aid would go
to Africa.
A DATA spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan said the US action was in line with
the commitment made but that others, naming Canada andItaly, were "way
behind on what they need to do".
Another DATA spokesman Oliver Buston said the discussions with most of
the leaders had been "quite strong" but that talks with G8 host
Merkel, in particular, had been "frustrating".
"There seem to be many people blocking progress," Buston said.
Youssou N'Dour was also critical of Germany, even though Berlin has
made aid to Africa one of the top priorities of its G8 presidency.
Germany will give 4 billion euros ($A6.43 billion) over the next eight
years to the global fight against AIDS, its development minister said
in an interview to be published today.
But N'Dour said in an interview with AFP: "This summit won't work if
Germany doesn't set an example."
He also praised Bush and said that talks with Italy's Prodi had been
"very interesting".
"I'm optimistic that we can go a lot further with Italy," he said.
"The US has made a lot of effort," he said.
But N'Dour pointed the finger at Canada as a potential threat to a G8
deal on aid.
"Following our meetings, Italy and Japan aren't going to block (a
deal). We have to wait and see what Canada will do. We're worried
about Canada. It would be terrible if they blocked a G8 agreement,"
N'Dour said.
And he added: "What I'd like to stress to them all, is that it's not
aid, but investment. It's about balance."
A senior official with one of the G8 delegations said that some of the
industrialised powers were suffering from "donor fatigue".
"Some G8 members are tired of the aid promises made to Africa and do
not want to support them," said the official, who spoke to AFP on
condition of anonymity. The official said at least "one or two
countries" were involved but did not name them.
Aid groups have called on the Heiligendamm summit participants to keep
their promises to increase financing for the fight against AIDS and
tuberculosis which killed about 4.9 million people a year around the
world.
A number of organisations and institutions, including the World Bank,
have accused G8 countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the United States - of failing to keep promises made
in Gleneagles in 2005.
Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI also called on the G8 countries to stick
to their promises.
© Brisbane Times, 2007.
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U2's recent recording sessions in Fez may not be sign of an impending album,
according to Hot Press Magazine.
In a teaser for its 30th birthday issue (due out this Thursday, June 14) the
magazine's website quotes Edge as saying the recent recording sessions in
Fez were for a "project", not necessarily for the new album.
"One of the luxuries we’ve afforded ourselves is not to have to think about
exactly what it will be or how it’ll be finished or when it’ll be released."
And why did the band choose to record in Morocco?
"It was one of those ideas that wouldn’t go away. We were there during a
festival of sacred music in Fez, so we saw some amazing artists. It’s all
stuff that just takes you out of your comfort zone, and we seem to thrive in
that situation, where expectations are really disregarded and you’re there
to explore and discover new things."
Project? Spiderman the Broadway musical...?
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June 12, 2007
U2 forced to face the music over £100m hotel extension
DUBLIN - A planned £100 million extension to an hotel co-owned by
Bono and the Edge, of the rock band U2, faces opposition after
accusations that it would threaten the heritage of Dublin.
The musicians want to increase the size of the 50-bedroom Clarence
Hotel into a five-star venue with 140 extra rooms and a glass roof in
the shape of a Viking long boat, designed by Lord Foster of Thames
Bank. But in a letter to Dublin city council, published in the
magazine Building Design, Michael Smith, the former chairman of the
heritage group An Taisce, accused Bono and his co-owners of having
a "fetish for glamour." "The days of grateful fawnings over
international –- or in this case intergalactic –- architecture on
Dublin's landmark sites should be over," he wrote.
The 19th-century hotel was bought by U2 in 1992. Adam Clayton and
Larry Mullen, the other band members, later sold their stake. The
hotel has reportedly made a loss of €12 million (£8 million).
© Times Newspapers Ltd., 2007.
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More Canadians side with rock star in dispute with PM over African aid
By Alan Findlay, National Bureau
Maybe if he said it with a song ...
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's public spat with superband U2's
frontman Bono at this month's G8 meeting hit a sour chord with Canadians.
According to a national survey by Angus-Reid, almost twice as many
people found Bono more believable than Harper in their war of words
over aid to African countries.
During the huddle in Germany, Harper denied the rock star's accusation
that he had blocked an aid deal at the summit of wealthy nations.
While 28% of Canadians believed Harper's denial, 48% preferred the
Irish crooner's plaintive tune. The remainder of those polled weren't
sure.
"Even among Tory voters, more side with Bono than Harper," said an
Angus-Reid report on the survey results. "More Conservatives felt Bono
was telling the truth on the African aid deal (43%) than Harper (31%).
And over half of Conservatives (52%) feel Harper is out of sync with
the Canadian people."
Angus-Reid vice-president of public affairs Craig Worden said the
results speak to the strong conservative impression Canadians are
getting of their leader.
"When it comes to the environment, poverty and the like, there's a
strong perception Harper is hard on the soft issues," said Worden.
Bono, on the other hand, has earned more credibility on the issue
through years of campaigning for more humanitarian aid, said Worden.
The dispute was sparked as Harper jilted Bono's wishes to meet with
him at the German gathering.
In contrast, Bono had become chummy with former Grit prime minister
Paul Martin over their common interest in raising African aid. He even
introduced Martin when he won his party's leadership in 2003. That
harmony ultimately fell apart with Bono criticizing Martin for not
living up to a commitment on aid funding.
Angus-Reid telephoned 1,088 people from coast to coast over a two-day
period this week to tap the public's views on the issue of Bono versus
Harper.
SPLIT ON ISSUE
Despite the strong support for Bono's statements, Canadians are
divided on the actual issue at hand. Only 45% of those surveyed
support increasing humanitarian aid, even if it affects domestic
spending, while 49% don't.
The public was equally split (44%) on whether unelected activists
should participate in G8 meetings.
All said and done, more than half (55%) of Canadians felt that G8
summits are a waste of time and money.
The survey's results are considered accurate to within plus or minus
3%, 19 times out of 20.
© Canoe Inc., 2007.
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June 15, 2007
from m2
U2 collectors have used the "U2 Autograph Guide" to help determine the
authenticity of the band's signatures for about six years now. It's
been a while since we've updated the guide, and prospects for future
updates weren't looking good. So we asked around, and the great fans at
U2eastlink.com said they would love to take over the Autograph Guide.
From this point forward, you'll find dozens of authentic band
signatures there, and you can use them to compare with any signatures
you might be thinking about buying for your own collection. Here are
the new links at U2eastlink.com:
U2Graphs - English
http://www.u2eastlink.com/collector/firmas/indexe.php
U2Graphs - Spanish
http://www.u2eastlink.com/collector/firmas/
Thanks to Xavi and everyone at U2eastlink.com for keeping this material
alive!
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21 Jun 2007
In another case of "Bono made me do it", former hotpress-er and U2
biographer Neil McCormick explains to Jackie Hayden how he ended up
living near Bob The Builder and about the travails of interviewing all
four U2 men on four different continents in the same evening. Photos by
Mark Harrison.
It's all Bono's fault, apparently, that Daily Telegraph music critic
and U2 biographer Neil McCormick now lives in the London suburb of
Crouch End.
As Neil recalls, "Bono once told me that if you can't afford a house
with a big garden then the next best thing is to live beside a park."
Although not yet a world spokesman on housing location, Bono was
spot-on this time, for McCormick's house backs onto extensive parkland
with a four-mile walk through magnificent natural greenery replete with
wildlife. "It's a great place to live and to bring up our three kids,"
he tells me. "One day I was walking along the path and I met this guy
practicing the saxophone under a bridge. Another day I came across this
guy doing tai chi. There's some extraordinary graffiti around too, and
it was also, sadly, once the terrain of a notorious rapist."
The house itself is a Victorian residence about 100 years old and he's
been living here for nearly four years. "Bob The Builder lives nearby
and a lot of the residents look like the cast of Eastenders. It's a bit
off the beaten track, but perfect if you have kids."
His links to U2 from the early days made him an ideal candidate to
write the book U2 By U2, most of which he wrote in the house. "U2 gave
me an office in Dublin to use but it wasn't practical. So I worked in
the attic, which I've turned into an office so that my partner Gloria
can practice her acupuncture in the study. In all, the book took about
two years, and was done mostly by phone. Bono is arguably the most
over-scheduled man on the planet, so it's often hard to get him without
him having to interrupt to tell you 全orry, but I have to go now to see
the president.' Sometimes I spoke to all four in one evening on
different continents. Edge might be in LA, Bono in Africa, Larry in
Dublin and Adam touring the Far East. But U2's story is something I
lived through, and apart from the band I really only needed to resort
to other sources to check dates. Fortunately, U2 have the most
obsessive fans and there's so much material available on various
websites."
Despite his long-established connection to the band, having been a
school colleague in Mount Temple and attended their pre-U2 gigs, his
house is not quite brimful of U2 memorabilia. "I'm actually a really
good culler. Every so often I go through books and CDs and take them
down to a charity shop. But I have about two metres of books about U2
and I have all the records, some lyrics written by Bono and some old
posters, but I'm not that attached to material things. I have a few
guitars that I like, but asked what I'd save in the event of a fire it
would be my family. None of the rest is anywhere as important."
McCormick moved to London in 1983 to pursue a deal for his band after
leaving the womb-like comforts of the hotpress design department.
"hotpress was an amazing learning crucible at the time. But I still
don't know why they took me on. I arrived to meet Niall Stokes for my
interview wearing green trousers which used to be white. I had a
portfolio of drawing but didn't know what the job would entail even if
I got it. I was one of about only 100 punks in Ireland. Niall later
said he hired me because I was so obnoxious, but that I had a passion
for whatever I was into. I found the people in hotpress at the time
were extraordinary and totally committed to music and writing. We would
work until all hours of the night to get the issue to the printers.
It's amazing that such a shambles could produce such great work that
stands up today."
Neil never studied English or literature, but he remembers once been
given a serious bollockin' by Mr Stokes. "As a young punk I had a
typically sneering disregard towards people like Dylan, not least
because he couldn't sing, and I expressed this one day. I was then
given an instructive lesson that taught me that Dylan was actually a
punk long before the term was invented. I realised then that I had to
be able to stand over my opinions and to put more thought into how
those opinions were formed."
When his band failed to score the big deal, McCormick eventually landed
a job with the Daily Telegraph and has settled happily into London
life. "I've lived in London longer than I've lived anywhere else. The
anti-Irishness that might have lingered when I moved here first has
gone. All the culture you could possibly want is available in London,
from the latest movies to rock'n'roll."
On the rock'n'roll front, McCormick's music collection, despite the
culling, amounts to about 2,000 albums. "There's obviously lots of
current stuff as I have to maintain a level of currency, but I still
have the records that formed my musical tastes: Elvis Costello, The
Jam, The Ramones, and, of course, The Beatles who made most of this
possible in the first place. But because my partner Gloria works in the
house, I'm under a little pressure on the volume front and I tend to
listen mostly on headphones."
Not only is it a quiet house, except perhaps when their three-year-old
son lets loose, but it's also remarkably tidy and tastefully decorated.
McCormick denies that this is down to him. "My office is chaotic. I
think I was put up there to keep me out of everybody's way." Apart from
the expected CDs it has shelves at odd angles and bits of paper
blue-tacked to the walls, suggesting that McCormick is no DIY fiend.
"That's true," he confesses. "My dad was a keen DIY man and I made a
very early decision not to follow him down that path and instead
decided to adopt the proper attitude of a poet and an aesthete. That
explains the crooked shelves and the sink with two taps missing."
As for books, he found Cormac McCarthy's The Road "devastating", but
also has fond memories of Hunter S Thompson. "There a was a lot of the
gonzo in hotpress journalism and I loved Fear And Loathing In Las
Vegas. Although I'm an atheist, I worry about what happens to us later,
so I've taken to reading a lot of books about religion, science and
global warming. Over the last while I've been really trying to make my
life carbon neutral, but that has to be balanced by the need to make
money. In one sense, I'm feel like a hamster on a wheel, running to
stand still."
Now where have I heard that before?
Neil McCormick's book U2 By U2 is published by Harper Collins
Jackie Hayden
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May 28, 2007 Monday
U2 bid to develop tower named after them
Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Rock band U2 are bidding to develop the tower that will carry their
name on Britain Quay in Dublin's Docklands, in partnership with
Ballymore Properties, The Irish Times has learned.
However, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which owns this
pivotally-located site, has assured the rival bidders that members of
the band "will not have any role or involvement, directly or
indirectly" in assessing bids for the project.
After concerns were raised by other bidders about potential conflicts
of interest, the authority's lawyers, A&L Goodbody, wrote to them last
week saying that "neither U2 nor its representatives have had any role"
in setting ground rules for the contest.
The solicitors' letter said the docklands authority would "enforce a
very strict policy on conflicts of interest" in assessing the four bids
and that it wished to "remind bidders that any conflict of interest or
potential conflict of interest should . . . be disclosed to the
authority".
To "underpin the independence" of the assessment process, the authority
has appointed Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Amanda
Levete, of Future Systems Architects; and Michael O'Doherty, former
principal architect at the Office of Public Works, to advise it.
Apart from Ballymore Properties/U2, the bidders are Mountbrook Homes,
controlled by developer Seán Dunne; the Dutch-based Royal BAM Group;
Treasury Holdings-Sisk; and the Riverside 2 Partnership, a consortium
formed by the Kelly, McCormack, Flynn and Elliot families.
It is understood that the Ballymore/U2 group has engaged international
architects Foster and Partners to design its scheme, while New
York-based Argentinian architect Rafael Viñoly is acting for the
Riverside consortium, and Baghdad-born Zaha Hadid for Treasury-Sisk.
All of the bidders are required to submit "compliant bids" based on the
2003 competition-winning scheme for the U2 tower by Blackrock-based
architects Burdon Dunne Craig Henry. However, they may also submit
"variant bids".
As originally envisaged, the tower was to be 60 metres high. The
docklands authority subsequently decided that the site - at the
confluence of the Grand Canal, the Dodder and the Liffey - could take a
much taller building, so the height has now been raised to 130 metres.
"This site is unique in Dublin and offers an amazing opportunity to
make a really strong architectural statement," said authority chief
executive Paul Maloney.
He stressed that U2's involvement was strictly limited to two
agreements with the authority - one covering "naming rights" and the
other dealing with the provision of studios for the band at the top of
the tower, to replace their former studios on Hanover Quay.
Mr Maloney said the authority was "thrilled" to attract architects of
the calibre of Wilkinson, who has won two Stirling prizes from the
Royal Institute of British Architects, and Levete, who also won a
Stirling prize, as well as O'Doherty, to give an Irish perspective.
The deadline for submitting bids for the project is June 18th.
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June 24, 2007
U2.com has posted the second in what appears to be a series of articles
based on U2's recording sessions in Morocco in late May and early June.
The article is for subscribers only, but here are a few highlights and
quotes.
* Edge on why they went to Morocco: "The Festival of Sacred Music
was a big lure for us and for Brian who has been very interested in
Arabic music for years. We felt we might meet some interesting
musicians while here – and we certainly have."
* Eno on the uniqueness of Arabic music: "...in a typical pop song
you will have 'A B A B A B C A B B' or something like that but in
Arabic music you might have 'A B C F B G F' or something like that.
Basically it just goes off, and what we've been doing here these past
few days is enjoying things like that more and more, moving away from
the simply cyclic way of writing things."
* Eno on the influence of Arabic music on U2's sessions: "It is not
a question of sounds so much but of different structural decisions
about how things are made."
* Edge is said to be "tuning a mandolin."
* Bono is said to be reading Minds at War, "an anthology of First
World War poetry."
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The words we all want to hear - U2 are writing songs!
The big news is that the band were in Morocco earlier this month, writing songs with their long-time studio collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
Better still they invited U2.Com down to their riad in the mediaeval city of Fez to listen in on the new material.
'We've been coming up with two or three ideas a day I guess,' Larry told us. 'It started in France when they came down to write with us a couple of months back and it will probably continue later in the year.'
Throughout June we'll be posting behind-the-scenes photos and stories from Fez - exclusively for our subscribers.
'We have a lot of pieces.' says Brian Eno. 'My general rule is that I'm only interested in things I have never heard anything like before - and we've got plenty of those!'
Read the first two of our Songwriting in Morocco exclusives here.
best wishes
The U2.Com Team.
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> July 02, 2007
>
>
> Our friend Xavi from Spanish site U2EastLink.com met Bono and Edge
> tonight (Sunday) in Dublin. They were there for an R.E.M. rehearsal gig
> at the Olympia Theatre. Xavi tells us that Michael Stipe thanked Bono
> and Edge early in the show for their continuing support. Xavi's story,
> plus a couple photos, are on U2 East Link at the link below.
>
> read the full account (en Espanol) at U2 East Link >>
>
> http://www.u2eastlink.com/foro/read.php?1,1000345700,1000345700#msg
> -1000345700
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listed as "TBC" (to be confirmed).
http://www.u2.com/news/index.php?mode=full&news_id=2138
Amazon.com says it'll be released September 11th, which would make
sense. (Thx Ryan)
http://www.amazon.com/U2-PopMart-Live-Mexico-Limited/dp/B000QUCQFQ/u201/
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