" ~~~ U2 ~~~ "

'I should shut up and stick to singing'
Sydney Morning Herald
July 9, 2007

by Dylan Welch

THE office of Peter Garrett - former lead singer of Midnight Oil and current
Australian politician - has moved quickly to hose down a joke by Silverchair
frontman Daniel Johns on Sydney radio this morning, suggesting Johns, his
wife, Garrett and U2 singer Bono smoked dope together at a house in Sydney
recently.

Johns, on Triple J to discuss the band's fifth album, <i>Young Modern</i>,
released earlier this year, joked with presenters that when he played a demo
of the album to Garrett and Bono they had been all lying on a bed in a
Sydney house Bono was occupying, and smoking marijuana.

"[Bono] invited me over the house he was staying at in Sydney and asked if
I'd play the demos and it was really one of the most surreal moments of my
life," Johns said after 8am.

"It was me and [John's wife] Natalie [Imbruglia] and Peter Garrett and Bono
laying on Bono's bed smoking joints listening to the Young Modern demo."

News website Crikey said the alleged incident would have occurred in
November last year, when U2 were playing in Sydney.

However, Garrett's office began receiving calls from journalists who had
taken the comments literally, and the office quickly contacted John's
management to establish what had occurred.

His management confirmed Johns had made the comments, and Garrett's office
asked Johns to issue a retraction, which he did later in the morning.

"I made a stupid joke," the singer stated.

"It's just been brought to my attention that some people in the media have
taken my dumb joke seriously so I want to set the record straight. At no
time have I ever 'smoked a joint' with Bono or Peter Garrett.

"They are both well known to be very anti-drugs so that's why I assumed
everybody would know I was joking when I made that comment. Clearly that
wasn't the case and I feel sick that I might have caused embarrassment to
two people who I admire so much.

"I was fortunate enough to once get to play them some of my demo's but I
swear that no joints were involved. I guess I felt a bit like a namedropper
mentioning them on the radio so that's why I added a silly throwaway joke.

"I accept that drug use is no laughing matter and I apologise sincerely for
any confusion or harm I've caused."

When contacted by smh.com.au Mr Garrett's spokeswoman Kate Pasterfield
confirmed the alleged incident had not taken place.

Mr Garrett also clarified whether he had ever smoked marijuana in his life
via Ms Pasterfield.

"I tried a bit of dope in my 20s but I haven't since," Mr Garret said
through Ms Pasterfield.

Johns also said his statement that issues like this were one of the reasons
he was disinclined to participate in interviews.

"I really should just shut up and stick to singing," he wrote.

(c) Sydney Morning Herald, 2007

WEEKEND NEWS ROUNDUP
July 14, 2007


Here's what's been happening in recent days....

* Spinner.com has listed its choices for "Best Benefit
Performances", and U2's Live Aid performance of "Bad" comes in at No.
2. You can click through to see the other choices, too.

http://www.spinner.com/2007/07/04/best-benefit-performances-no-2/

* Actor Robin Williams, who already looks like yer man, says was
channeling Bono for his role in the upcoming movie August Rush. (Thx
SB)

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=42311

* And finally, our @U2 staffer Dan E. has re-launched U2source.com,
an archive of U2 interviews from throughout the band's history.
Listening is easy: click to stream, no downloads, nothing. You'll love
it.

http://www.u2source.com/

Tom Jones is busy recording his new album for S-Curve Records, which
includes both covers and original songs -- one that was apparently
written by Bono and enhanced with some of The Edge's guitar magic.

No word yet on when the album will be released. Stay tuned to @U2 for
updates and follow this link to read more about the album:

http://weblogs.variety.com/thesetlist/2007/07/more-tom-jones-.html



oh and poncier if you run into this

todays ny post

page six

July 19, 2007 -- TOM Brady wearing a Yankee cap and politely holding the door as he and his supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen, strolled into the IMG building at 54th and Seventh

Gisele Bundchen to star in next U2 vid
19 Jul 2007

According to well-placed sources the world’s highest-paid supermodel,
Gisele Bundchen, has agreed to star in the video for the next U2 single
– whenever and whatever that is.

The Brazilian became pals with Bono when she appeared in a series of
adverts for his RED initiative.

Bundchen is no stranger to the acting game having appeared in 2004’s
Taxi, and is being mooted for the upcoming Hollywood makeover of Dan
Brown’s Angels And Demons.

Meanwhile, having eulogised about Joe Strummer in Julien Temple’s The
Future Is Unwritten, Bono has contributed to the updated DVD version of
The Life And Times Of Allen Ginsberg.

“Visionary, radical, spiritual seeker, renowned poet, founding member
of a major literary movement, champion of human rights, Buddhist,
political activist and teacher - Allen Ginsberg's remarkable life
challenged the very soul of America,” he says alongside similarly
gushing praise from the likes of Patti Smith, Beck and Paul McCartney.

The Hot Press Newsdesk

Newsday.com
July 31, 2007
Jan Stuart

The Rolling Stones and U2 will be storming movie theaters this fall in
concert films that aim to please the eye as much as the ear.

When the Stones played New York's Beacon Theater last fall, Martin
Scorsese brought in a small army of Oscar-winning and nominated
cinematographers to capture the event for his film "Shine A Light."
Robert Richardson, cinematographer for Scorsese's "The Aviator,"
supervised a formidable camera team that includes John Toll
("Braveheart"), Andrew Lesnie ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy),
Stuart Dryburgh ("The Piano"), Robert Elswit ("Good Night and Good
Luck"), Emmanuel Lubezki ("Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate
Events") and Ellen Kuras ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind").

Scorsese is a seasoned hand at music documentaries, most notably for
The Band's memorable 1978 farewell, "The Last Waltz" and "No Direction
Home: Bob Dylan." Soorsese's editor on the Bob Dylan film, David
Tedeschi, will do cutting honors on "Shine a Light," which Paramount
has scheduled for a Sept. 21 release.

Audiences will be able to reach out and touch Bono's hand in "U2 3D,"
an IMAX 3-D chronicle of the band's Vertigo tour of Latin America. A
56-minute preview of the 80-minute film was shown to great acclaim at
the past Cannes Film Festival. Culled from seven different concerts in
early 2006 by directors Catherine Owen and Mark Pellington, "U2 3D"
will feature 15 songs. A firm autumn release date is pending.

© Newsday, 2007.

Clutch414 wrote:

U2 sucks!

and you are as sharp as a marble.


ABC News Nightline
August 3, 2007

The Edge Talks About U2, Philanthropy and His Biggest Musical
Influences

By Nicholas Rozon

Back in 1976, the Edge (then known simply as David Evans) teamed up
with a few boys from Dublin to form the Larry Mullen Band. Never
heard of them? That's because the name only lasted a few seconds.

They soon re-emerged as Feedback, which spun into the Hype, but it
wasn't until the quartet decided on U2 -- a name they agreed they
hated least -- that the group solidified and began their meteoric
rise to the top of the charts.

Years later, the Edge is a guitarist and songwriter for what is
undisputedly one of the biggest rock bands in the world, and one that
has gone far beyond the world of rock to make a serious impact on
global events.

"For a growing number of rock 'n' roll fans, U2 have become the band
that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters," declared
Rolling Stone in 1985, when they were already one of the world's most
popular acts.

Punk Rock Passion

So what songs and artists does this legend listen to the most? For
the Edge, it's a variety, ranging from songs by patriarchs of rock
like Bob Dylan and the Beatles, to less mainstream acts like the
Rebirth Brass Band. But each one is connected to some time or place
in his life.

In 1975, the Edge was just 14 years old. He was a year away from
meeting his future band mates and had yet to record such hits
as "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
For" and "With or Without You."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, a New Jersey girl named
Patti Smith busted the world of punk rock wide open. Her debut album,
Horses, redefined the genre by fusing rock 'n' roll and punk rock
with spoken poetry. The album experienced only modest commercial
success but its impact on the rock world was tremendous.

More than 30 years later, the opening track, Smith's cover of the Van
Morrison song "Gloria," remains on the Edge's playlist -- a song he
says was one of U2's earliest muses.

"That changed everything for me at the time because we were starting
to play as a band," said the Edge. "The ideas...we're a band who
loves to mix it up with the sexual, the spiritual, whatever, the
political, and there in that song she did that so incredibly."

Rock 'n' Roll Roots

Within a few years U2 encountered international acclaim. They had
become well known for their powerful live performances and in 1983
won the BRIT Award for best live act. But four studio albums had come
and gone and the group had yet to have a No.1 record outside of the
U.K.

After the release of their fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, in
1984, the band began exploring blues, country and gospel music. Their
relationships with rock legends such as Van Morrison, Keith Richards
and Bob Dylan had inspired them to explore the roots of rock 'n'
roll.

During the recording sessions of U2's fifth album, The Joshua Tree,
the Edge found inspiration in the form of another debut record -- the
Band's Music from Big Pink released in 1968. The album's hit
single, "The Weight," made famous by the classic film Easy Rider,
particularly stood out for the Edge.

"We were first exploring American music and hearing their work,
really delving into it -- it was mind blowing for me," he said. "And
that I will always associate with a particular summer up in the hills
in Dublin."

The Joshua Tree was a monumental hit. It was a No. 1 record around
the globe and went on to become a multiplatinum album, selling over
10 million units worldwide. Suffice to say, the record solidified
U2's position as both creative and commercial juggernauts.

Success

Success carried the Edge to nearly every point on the globe. In 20
years of traveling he has accumulated an extraordinary wealth of
stories, from nearly having the group's only set of guitars stolen
within their first few hours in New York in December 1980, to dancing
on top of the bar with Bono in pre-Katrina New Orleans.

"I'd always had amazing times there," he said of New Orleans. "And I
remember with Bono one night ending up in some tiny little club in an
area of the city I'd never been to, dancing on the bar to this little
five-piece funk outfit that didn't have any guitars. It was all
brass, drums and whatever. And we were just completely blown away --
that music which was so amazing was totally unknown to us. It was
like -- it was like discovering, you know, jazz for the first time or
something."

New Orleans definitely left its mark, and now the Edge's playlist is
peppered with many of the bands he first encountered around the town
with his band mates.

"The Dirty Dozen and the Little Rascals...Joyful music like 'Do
Whatcha Wanna' by the Rebirth Brass Band is just this killer groove
and just this amazing, joyful feeling," he said. "All these brass
bands that are playing music which has incredible sense of rhythm and
joy, all the things I look for in great rock 'n' roll."

Music Rising

Now the Edge and other heavyweights of the music industry have
started a charity effort to rebuild the musical community left
devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The primary goal of the charity,
called "Music Rising," is to get these musicians back to work.

"We're using music as a way to try and get these areas kind of to --
to give them a leg up," he said. "And music is a great way to do that
because it's really the spirit of that city and that part of
America."

The charity is not the only thing that has tied the Edge with New
Orleans. U2's performance with Green Day of "The Saints are Coming"
at the reopening of the Superdome in September 2006 is now one of the
more remarkable moments in the histories of both the band and the
city. Regardless of the performance, though, the Edge claims the song
would have earned a spot on the playlist on its own merit.

"'The Saints are Coming' was one of my favorite songs as a 16-year-
old -- maybe 17 when that came out," he said. "This was very exciting
to hear this band, the Skids, and their first album."

Reflecting back on his time in Louisiana, the Edge said that New
Orleans music is a very unique aspect of the culture in that it
continues to help victims of Katrina "celebrate being alive after
everything that had happened."

"There's a strong case to be made that there on the streets of New
Orleans was the beginning of that integration of African and Western
music which begat jazz, begat R&B, begat rock 'n' roll," said the
Edge. "So, you know, I wouldn't be here...if it wasn't for this very
unique part of America and these little flukes of history and
circumstance. And it's still all there. That's the amazing thing."

© ABC News, 2007.

August 8, 2007


The 2007 MTV Video Music Awards nominations were announced last night
in Las Vegas.

U2 received a nod for "Most Earth Shattering Collaboration" for their
work with Green Day on "The Saints are Coming" and Bono was nominated
in the "Quadruple Threat of the Year" category.

Tune in September 9 to see who will go home with the moon men.

To read the full list of nominees, click here:

http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2007/nominees.jhtml

U2 3D ... DELAYED?
August 10, 2007

U2 3D will be presented next month at the Giant Screen Cinema
Association conference in Vancouver next month, but what's newsworthy
is that the movie's listing on the conference Web site shows "Early
2008" as the film's release date. All previous reports about the film
indicated a Fall 2007 release, as does the original movie trailer. When
asked to confirm the delay, Jon Shapiro of 3ality Digital told us via
e-mail: "A release date is TBD, as nothing is firm as of yet. An
announcement will be forthcoming."

___________________