" ~~~ U2 ~~~ "

Bono donates iPod to encourage an end to poverty

Contact Music, January 28, 2008

U2 rocker Bono has given the Japanese Prime Minister an iPod in a bid to help end poverty in Africa. The singer was attending a meeting with former British prime minister Tony Blair and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates on Saturday (26Jan08) when he handed the gift to Yasuo Fukuda. But the Irish star was modest enough to refrain from adding his band's music to the mp3 device. Fukuda asked Bono whether his any of his tracks were preloaded onto the iPod, a quick-thinking Bono responded, "No, but you can download it," reports the New York Daily News.

(c) Contact Music, 2008
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Bono has a date with Mumbai
Daily News & Analysis
January 29, 2008
By SHRIDEVI KESHAVAN

After Madonna's Mumbai sojourn, the next in the queue seems to be U2
frontman Bono. The legendary rockstar, who has been nominated thrice
for the Nobel Peace Prize thrice, has expressed his desire to come
down to Mumbai.

Bono spoke about his India visit to DJ Suketu, who met him in
Switzerland. Suketu was there to play for the World Economic Forum.
Bono was at the Forum as a social activist and lend his support to the
event.

"My agent Anurag and I were at a coffee shop and we saw someone who
looked like Bono sitting there. It was so difficult to get in touch
with him, so we thought that we'd just say a quick hello. But he
responded to our call, waved past his security guys and met us," said
Suketu.

Apparently, Bono was at the coffee shop preparing for a meeting with
Bill Gates. He has been involved with humanitarian and social issues
for a long time now and expressed his desire to come to India as he
supports the cause of AIDS and is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United
Nations.

"He was saying that India is very much in his scheme of things and
that he hasn't decided on the time because of his tight schedule. He
even went on to say that he would like to perform here (in Mumbai)
with his band (U2)," said Suketu, adding: "Bono loves Indian music and
is quiet interested in Bollywood. I had my laptop with me and I
compiled and presented him a CD with my Bollywood mixes then and there.

"He seemed like a really nice person and was more than happy to chat
up with us. My pulse was high and I had to go get some rest after I
met him because for me he's like God," said Suketu.

© Diligent Media Corporation Ltd., 2008.

Bono Inc. Expands to Art
Wall Street Journal
February 1, 2008
By KELLY CROW

Rock Star Woos Artists For Big Charity Sale; A $7 Million Hirst

Rock star Bono is turning to the booming art world to help his
altruistic brand, (Product) Red, raise much-needed cash and cachet.

On Feb. 14, Sotheby's Red auction in New York will sell as much as $28
million of art donated by Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Banksy and five
dozen other top artists in a sale of a scale not usually seen in art
or charity fund-raisers. Offerings include a 9-foot-tall medicine
cabinet by Mr. Hirst estimated at up to $7 million; a red
balloon-animal sculpture by Jeff Koons estimated at up to $1.2
million; and a new Jasper Johns gray watercolor estimated at up to
$600,000.
[red slideshow]

The sale marks a shift in strategy for Red. Until now, the
two-year-old commercial enterprise has teamed up with companies to
license the Red logo on everyday products like $51.99 sneakers and $28
T-shirts, with between 40% and 50% of the profits going to the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a Swiss foundation
spearheaded six years ago by former United Nations Secretary General
Kofi Annan.

Between March 2006 and March 2007, Red partnered with four companies
that generated $25 million in contributions. Since then, it has added
five new partners and generated $34 million in contributions. (Three
of those partners, Hallmark , Microsoft and Dell, are just now rolling
out their products.) One early partner, American Express, says it has
decided to not issue its Red card outside the United Kingdom.

Red's chief executive, Susan Smith Ellis, says the brand needs
"oxygen" and that the auction is one step in an effort to move
upmarket. The new Red Editions line includes a series of 39 red Zaha
Hadid "Aqua" tables priced at almost $60,000 each at boutiques like
London's Established & Sons. She hopes to line up other collaborations
with art stars like Mr. Hirst who can attract a well-heeled clientele.

"The difficult thing Red faces is that it tried to make charity trendy
for everyone," says Daniel Borochoff, president of the American
Institute of Philanthropy. "And in a down economy, you need
deep-pocketed supporters because the rest are worried about their
mortgages."

So far, Red's contribution to the cause is comparatively small. Over
the past six years, the Global Fund has attracted a total $18.4
billion and committed $10.1 billion for disease-treatment and
-prevention programs in 137 countries, with nearly all the money
donated by governments. Of Red's $59 million in donations, the fund
has made $42 million in AIDS-related grants to Africa.

Last year the major auction houses sold $12 billion of art. Yet
charity art auctions rarely raise more than $5 million apiece, auction
houses say. Sotheby's participated in over 300 charity auctions last
year that collectively raised over $150 million.

For the Red auction, Mr. Hirst says Bono invited him more than a year
ago to bring his family to the south of France for a vacation. During
their visit, the rock singer hired a boat, which the artist initially
considered a "generous" gesture. Then one night Mr. Hirst says Bono
"got me drunk, and at about 5 o'clock in the morning, he asked me if
I'd do this [auction]." Mr. Hirst agreed to donate his own work as
well as compose handwritten letters to induce 50 other artists to give.

Bono says he approached Mr. Hirst to steer the sale in part because
the artist, who last year covered a human skull with roughly $24
million in diamonds, is "not afraid of the big beast of commerce -- he
rides the back of it."

Some diplomacy was required to bring together traditional art-world
rivals. Bono and Mr. Hirst asked Sotheby's and the Gagosian Gallery to
market the sale together and conduct it on Valentine's Day. To do
that, the auction house had to push back a major auction of
contemporary art in London so that it wouldn't compete for bidders at
the Red sale in New York, even though rival Christie's is proceeding
with its London sale next week as planned. Gagosian and Sotheby's
funneled their invitations through a third-party mailing house because
neither wanted to share its client roster. The pair will split as much
as 10% of the auction's sales to cover administrative costs; the
remainder goes to the Global Fund.

Sotheby's and Gagosian are using the sale to showcase some of their
artists who haven't typically been seen in a New York evening sale,
such as Bernar Venet and an art team called Gelitin. Sotheby's is
privately brokering some sales of Mr. Venet's steel sculptures, and
Gagosian recently showed Gelitin in its London gallery.

Participating artists were allowed to suggest prices for their donated
works, but not every artist approached for the sale signed on. Bono
says Chris Ofili declined. (A spokesman for Mr. Ofili says the artist
had committed to another upcoming benefit.) Last week several pieces
by African artists were added as a gift from collector Jean Pignozzi;
only one African native, Yinka Shonibare, had been included in the
sale's original lineup.

Artist Antony Gormley in London says he is "inundated" by requests to
give art to fund-raisers. He accepted this time because he wanted to
help Africa and he hoped the auction would be "the art world's answer
to Live Aid." For Christmas, Bono sent a red iPod nano to Mr. Gormley
and each of the other participating artists. "I was very touched,"
says Mr. Gormley. His sculpture of a man, "Insider IX/Weeds II," is
expected to sell for up to $250,000.

Some see Red's high-end focus as proof that its business model needs
tweaking. "Red's success has been up and down, and the next round will
only get more complicated," says Russ Meyer, a chief strategy officer
who tracks Red for the branding firm Landor Associates.

Bono calls his start-up's performance "incredible" when compared with
sales of other products with nonprofit tie-ins. The Lance Armstrong
Foundation says it took nearly four years to sell $70 million of
yellow "Live Strong" wristbands at $1 a pop, and it has taken 25 years
for Newman's Own Foundation to pull in more than $200 million.

Unlike these nonprofits, Red faces market pressure to show growth. Red
charges an undisclosed licensing fee to companies to pay for its
16-person staff and London and New York offices. For the most part,
Red has relied largely on the marketing budgets of its partner
companies, which spent about $50 million in Red's first year, Ms.
Smith Ellis says. (Red's own annual marketing budget is under $1 million.)

Artist Marc Quinn in London says he has been following Red's
trajectory from afar, and agreed to donate "Red Sphinx," a
white-bronze sculpture of Kate Moss in a heart-shaped yoga pose with
red lips. It is estimated to sell for as much as $350,000. "Maybe this
will convince other companies to give away more than a few cents at a
time" to charity, he says. "I mean, we're giving away the whole thing."

© Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

February 5, 2008
Posted by: Tassoula

The Boston Herald reports that Converse is releasing new
limited-edition (RED) shoes designed by 100 different artists to
celebrate their hundredth year.

Who is one of their chosen designers? None other than The Edge.

No word yet on what the sneakers look like or when they'll be in
stores. Stay tuned to @U2 for details as they become available.

February 16, 2008
posted by: m2

If you missed Bono's appearance on Good Morning America today, no
worries. Our friends at U2exit.com have the clip online. It's an
interview with Bono and Damien Hirst which was done prior to
Thursday's wildly successful Product (RED) art auction in New York.
Use the link...

watch the video at U2exit.com >>

http://www.u2exit.com/2008/02/bono_on_good_morning_america_-_video.php

U2 Hits The Studio In Dublin
February 19, 2008
Billboard
By JONATHAN COHEN

U2 has hit the studio in Dublin to continue work on its next studio
album with longtime collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. "We're
going to try and break new sonic ground and deliver a masterpiece,"
Lanois tells Billboard.com. "The sleeves are rolled up. Bono is all
charged up with a lyrical angle."

As previously reported, U2, Eno and Lanois have spent time working on
new material on three prior occasions in France and Morocco, and
Lanois confirms the results are prolific.

"There's so much material," he says, referring to speculation that the
sessions could yield two new albums. "When you get Eno and I and those
guys in the room, before lunch there's like eight things."

"We've had some exciting beginnings via jam sessions," he continues.
"Now we will pick our favorite beginnings and say, 'OK, that's a
lovely springboard. Now what are we trying to say?' The springboards
are sometimes melodic, sometimes riff-based, but I can assure you they
are exciting."

There's no date yet for the project, which will be the follow-up to
2004's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

In other U2 news, the group has contributed to a new charity single,
"The Ballad of Ronnie Drew," proceeds from which will benefit the
cancer-stricken Irish artist of the same name. The track will be
available in Ireland only as a download beginning Friday (Feb. 22) and
week later on CD.

In addition to U2, "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" features appearances by
the Pogues' Shane MacGowan, the Frames' Glen Hansard, Sinead O'Connor,
Andrea Corr, Damien Dempsey, Ronan Keating, Chris de Burgh, Gavin
Friday and members of the Dubliners.

© 2008, Nielsen Business Media, Inc.



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