Special Scenes from "It Might Get Loud"

The Deluxe edition of the DVD "It Might Get Loud" has some deleted scenes as extras. They are Edge´s very interesting moments.

2010 GRAMMY Nominees CD Announced

The Recording Academy's GRAMMY Recordings has partnered with EMI Music to release the 2010 GRAMMY Nominees CD, the 16th edition of the best-selling series highlighting artists and songs nominated for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. he 20-song collection will be available Jan. 19 and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit the MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation, two charitable organizations established by The Recording Academy.

Tracklist:

Coldplay ("Life in technicolor ii"), U2 ("I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight"), Eric Clapton And Steve Winwood ("Can't find my way home"), The Black Eyed Peas ("I gotta feeling"), Lady Gaga ("Poker face"), Kings of Leon ("Use somebody"), Dave Matthews Band ("You & Me"), Taylor Swif ("You belong with me"), Colbie Caillat ("Fallin' for you"), The Fray ("You found me"), Pink ("Sober"), Kelly Clarkson ("My life would suck without you"), Katy Perry ("Hot N’Cold"), Beyoncé ("Halo"), Adele ("Hometown Glory"), Zac Brown Band ("Chicken fried"), Sugarland ("It happens"), Lady Antebellum ("I run to you"), Rascal Flatts ("Here comes goodbye"), Green Day ("21 guns").
You can pre order the CD, here.

source:www.grammy.com

'Hope For Haiti' Album Debuts At No. 1 on Billboard 200 and topped $3 M

The "Hope For Haiti Now" charity album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 171,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan, becoming the first digital-exclusive set to top the tally in its nearly 54-year history.

Total iTunes downloads of the “Hope For Haiti Now” special, including both full album sales and individual tracks, have now topped $3 million, with all proceeds benefiting Haiti relief funds. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Hope For Haiti also topped this week’s Billboard 200 chart with 170,000 digital copies sold, marking the first time in chart history that a digital-only album debuted at Number One on the charts. iTunes’ $3 million haul accounts for nearly all digital sales of the project.

In a statement, iTunes proclaims that Hope For Haiti Now was the service’s biggest one-day album pre-order in history, and that Hope For Haiti was the first special to lock up the Number One spot on their album, song and TV chart. At press time, the entire album remains Number One on iTunes Album chart.

Hope For Haiti Now featured unique and intimate performances by Madonna, Beyonce with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Dave Matthews and the “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)” collaboration between Jay-Z, Rihanna and U2’s Bono and the Edge. The telethon helped raise over $61 million for Haiti relief.

source:www.billboard.com//www.rollingstone.com

U2 Nominated for Echo Awards 2010

U2 has been nominated for the Echo Awards in the Best International Rock/Pop Group category. In the same categoy they're up against Black Eyed Peas, Depeche Mode, Razorlight, and A-Ha. The awards are scheduled for March 4th in Berlin.

source:www.echopop.de

Killing Bono makes Belfast go back in time

More news about the making of "Killing Bono" based on Neil Mc Cormick´s " I was Bono´s Dopleganger".BBC News reports...

The filming of a new movie linked to the Irish supergroup U2 has taken part of Belfast city centre back by three decades. The feature film, entitled "Killing Bono", is being made in and around the city over the next six weeks. Waring Street and Lower Donegall Street have been dressed to portray a vision of London in the late 1970s. Traffic diversions will be in place on Sunday and Monday but rush hour traffic will not be affected by the filming. The film, which has been described as a "music-based comedy", is set during U2's formative years in north Dublin and London. It is based on the memoirs of Bono's schoolfriend, Neil McCormick, who is now a music critic for the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "Killing Bono" tells the story from the point of view of the rather less successful rival band which he set up with his brother in the late 1970s.(Neil and his brother) The film is directed by the Belfast-born director Nick Hamm and has received funding from Northern Ireland Screen, with help from Invest NI It is hoped the film will be released in the summer of 2010.

And The Belfast Telegraph...



A tour bus pulls up in Belfast's Lower Donegall Street with a big-haired band on board. Screaming teenage girls, in neon brights and leather jackets, greet the denim-clad rockers as they disembark. Nearby a market stallholder in pink pixie boots rubs her hands to fend off the cold.

Visitors to the Cathedral Quarter yesterday could be forgiven for thinking they had stepped back in time to the late 1970s/early 1980s, when new wave groups, red double-deckers, Ford Cortinas and pleated trousers were de rigeur.

Instead, it's a scene from music-comedy Killing Bono, being filmed in the city.

Starring Chronicles Of Narnia's Ben Barnes, the movie is set during U2's formative years in Dublin and London.

Based on the book by Neil McCormick, I Was Bono's Doppelganger, it tells the story of the less-than-successful rival band which he set up with his brother Ivan in the late 1970s.

U2 frontman Bono was a schoolfriend of McCormick's and while the young brothers struggled to find success Bono and his friends went on to achieve superstar status.

Barnes, better known as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles Of Narnia, plays Neil McCormick, and Irish actor Robert Sheehan plays his brother Ivan.

American Krysten Ritter plays McCormick's girlfriend and Belfast actor Marty McCann takes the role of Bono. The film also stars Pete Postlethwaite.

Yesterday much of Lower Donegall Street was sealed off for filming. Heartthrob Barnes was instantly recognisable despite the dodgy wig.

Also sporting flamboyant outfits and Adam Ant hair were local musicians Ciaran Gribbin (Joe Echo) and Paul "Hammy" Hamilton, who have provided the soundtrack for the film.

The pair double up as extras, playing buskers.

Ciaran said: "The songs range from punk to new romantic to a stadium rock vibe and U2 have also given clearance for an unreleased song of theirs, 'Street Mission,' to be included. It's been freezing standing alround all day but it's a great experience."

Grammy-nominee Ciaran was surprised at how well the main characters could sing.

"Ben and Robert are really good singers and Marty McCann is brilliant as Bono."

Producer Mark Huffman who, like the film's director Nick Hamm, comes from Northern Ireland, said: "We're delighted to be filming in Belfast. This city lends itself better to period pieces and budget restrictions made it easier to film here than in London or Dublin.

"We've got a brilliant cast and director, so we're confident the finished product will be really good."

Filming will continue in and around Belfast for four weeks. Killing Bono, funded by Northern Ireland Screen, will be released later this year.

The film sounds like a lot of fun , can´t wait to see it!!


source:www.news.bbc.co.uk//www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

The 20 Greatest Frontmen in Rock

Spinner posted their selection of The 20 Greatest Frontmen in Rock...

" What is it that makes a man a great rock frontman? A rare mixture of style, swagger and charisma – and having the vocal chops to back it all up certainly doesn't hurt, either. But this isn't a list of the greatest singers of all time here – and things like No. 1 hits or platinum album sales don't even factor. Instead, let's look at those male vocalists who just exude cool every time they take the stage and see if it is possible to pinpoint what sets them apart from the also-rans."

Who do we find in number 17 (though he could have been in a higher rank)?

Bono, of course!

"It is hard to find anyone in music who has so seamlessly adapted to the changing face of the industry as well as U2's leader. In the angst-ridden early '80s, Bono was the dangerous, edgy revolutionary. By the end of that corporate-controlled decade, he had taken up the mantle of the soulful rocker. In the '90s, he morphed into the cool hipster with a conscience. And in the '00s he became a child of the times with a sociopolitical agenda. Bono has managed to not only himself not only vital, but stayed out on the bleeding edge of what it is to be a great frontman."

In number one we find Elvis Presley and number two the great "king of Queen", Freddie Mercury. Others in the list include:

Robert Plant, Ted Nugent, Rob Zombie, Robert Smith, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Dickinson, Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper, Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, Axl Rose, David Lee Roth and Mick Jagger.

source:www.spinner.com

2010: Album but no South America for U2

Last week, Edge spills details on their new album whne he attended the Golden Globes ceremony, where the band was up for a Best Original Song award for “Winter,” their contribution to Afghanistan war drama Brothers.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY asked him some questions:

How’s the new U2 music going?

THE EDGE: We are working on a lot of new songs. Some of them are really, really happy. We’re convinced that we have something really special. It’s like deciding whether we are going to release the album before the tour starts or leave it for a while, we don’t really know yet. Literally, within a day of getting off the road, Bono and I were working on new songs. On a roll.

Are you incorporating any electronic influences?

We try and keep things moving forward. We are experimenting with a lot of different arrangements, and electronic is one of the things we are playing with. But there are other songs that are very traditional, almost folk. In some ways, that’s the thing we haven’t figured out yet, is where this album is going to end up. We’re having fun with the process.

What’s it like being nominated for a Golden Globe?

It’s a great honor to be nominated for the movie [Brothers], because I really believe it is one of the more important movies to come out over the last couple years. Tobey Maguire is also nominated. There are many reasons why this should be awarded. It’s kind of humbling to be the one that is nominated. [Director] Jim Sheridan is a close friend of ours and showed us the script. Then we saw various rough cuts. It was a very intimate relationship we had going with Jim on the creative side of it.

Are you feeling competitive about the award?

I have no expectations today. I don’t think we have a particularly good shot at winning, but you never know. (Note: Winter did not get the award)

Meanwhile Paul Mc Guiness talked to newspaper "El Mercurio" from Chile and almost confirmed that U2 won´t be playing South America in 2010. He said the show is one of the biggest and most expensive in the show biz, which implies that the 3 stages would have to travel by ship in 200 containers; the daily cost of each show is 3 million dolars. However he said they would do the utmost to be there at the beginning of 2011.

source:www.music-mix.ew.com//www.mer.cl

$57 Million for Hope for Haiti Now

The "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, led by George Clooney and Haiti-born rapper Wyclef Jean, has raised more than $57 million for relief to the earthquake-ravaged country, organizers said on Saturday.

They called the $57 million a record for public donations in a disaster relief telethon, and said the figures were still "preliminary" as they exclude donations by corporations and large private donors and sales figures on website iTunes.

Organizers said the "Hope for Haiti Now" album was the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history and was currently No. 1 on iTunes' album chart in 18 countries.

The two-hour telethon featured more than 100 celebrities singing songs, telling tales of loss and survival in Haiti and taking donations by phone. It was broadcast on television networks around the world, online and on mobile carriers.

Singer Alicia Keys kicked off the benefit singing "Prelude to a Kiss." U.S. rapper Jay-Z debuted a song with U2's Bono and The Edge, and R&B artist Beyonce sang her "Halo" with Coldplay's Chris Martin on piano.

Actors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington and Nicole Kidman told stories of Haitians who had survived and heroic tales of rescue efforts.

Proceeds will be split among relief organizations including the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, the U.N. World Food Program, Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation.

The January 12, magnitude-7 quake killed up to 200,000 people, Haitian authorities said, and left up to 3 million people hurt or homeless and clamoring for medical assistance, food and water in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

The album can be downloaded from iTunes.

Tracklist :

1.-Send Me an Angel Alicia Keys 3:43 $0.99
2.-A Message 2010 Coldplay 4:04 $0.99
3.-We Shall Overcome Bruce Springsteen 2:52 $0.99
4.-Time to Love / Bridge Over Troubled Water Stevie Wonder 4:01 $0.99
5.-I’ll Stand By You (feat. the Roots) Shakira 3:55 $0.99
6.-Motherless Child John Legend 4:11 $0.99
7.-Hard Times Come Again No More (feat. the Roots) Mary J. Blige 3:57 $0.99
8.-Breathless Taylor Swift 3:51 $0.99
9.-Lift Me Up Christina Aguilera 3:45 $0.99
10.-Driven to Tears Sting 3:34 $0.99
11.-Halo Beyoncé 3:31 $0.99 View In iTunes
12.-Lean On Me Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock & Keith Urban 3:36 $0.99
13.-Like a Prayer Madonna 3:29 $0.99
14.-Hallelujah (feat. Charlie Sexton) Justin Timberlake 4:15 $0.99
15.-Let It Be (feat. the Roots) Jennifer Hudson 3:53 $0.99
16.-Many Rivers to Cross Emeline Michel 3:01 $0.99
17.-Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) [Live Version] Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge & Rihanna 4:27 $0.99
18.-Alone and Forsaken Dave Matthews & Neil Young 3:30 $0.99
19.-Rivers of Babylon / Yele (Medley) Wyclef Jean 3:55 $0.99
20.-Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) [Version 1.0] Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge & Rihanna 4:20 $0.99

source:www.billboard.biz//www.itunes.apple.com

Hope for Haiti Now: "Not Gonna Leave You Stranded"

Speaking to a global audience of tens of millions, George Clooney, the prime mover behind 'Hope for Haiti Now' described the earthquake that hit the Carribean island on January 12 as 'a tragedy that reaches across all borders, all boundaries...the Haitian people need our help. They need to know they are not alone.'

Jay-Z, U2 and Rihanna got together in London to perform "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" in front of an audience as part of the "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" telethon on Friday night (January 22).

The mid-tempo track featured guitar by The Edge and messages of hope from Jay-Z, Rihanna and Bono. Along with Madonna's "Like a Prayer" and Wyclef Jean's finale, it was one of the most upbeat performance of the night.

"My Port-au-Princes and Haitians gods/ All my princesses/ Our condolences as we fight against this," Jay rapped to open the record. "We right by your side/ While we trying to make sense of this/ Heavenly Father/ Help us see through these problems/ For those that's left/ Welcome them into your garden.

"Let's get involved with 'em," Jay added in the first verse. "Hand in hand with 'em/ Arm and arm with 'em/ Till they get strong again."

"When the sky falls and the earth quakes/ We gonna put this back together/ We won't break," the rap icon promised with a melodic delivery.

In the second verse, Jay touched on Hurricane Katrina: "We learned from the past/ New Orleans was flooded/ So we know we just can't rely on the government."

Rihanna and Bono both lent their vocals to the hook.

"Can't wait until tomorrow," U2's frontman and the pop princess sang, stressing the urgent need for help.

"Haiti, mon amour," Rihanna took over.
"Not gonna leave you stranded, alone," they continued.

The in-studio version of "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" will be available via iTunes on a special album of live performances from the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon. Just like the telethon, relief organizations that will benefit from the special album include Partners in Health, Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF, Yéle Haiti Foundation, United Nations World Food Program and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. All the proceeds will go toward Haiti earthquake relief.

Visit and donate: www.hopeforhaitinow.org
Donate now at 1-877-51-HAITI

source:www.u2.com//www.mtv.com

Hope for Haiti

'Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief' this Friday will feature performances by Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, and Sting in New York City; Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow in Los Angeles; and Coldplay, and a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna in London.

All musical performances will be available through Apple's iTunes Store beginning Saturday, January 23, with all proceeds benefiting Haiti relief funds managed by 'Hope for Haiti Now' charities.

In addition to musical performances, Wyclef Jean in New York City, George Clooney in Los Angeles, and CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti, 'Hope for Haiti Now' will feature more than one hundred of the biggest names in film, television, and music supporting the cause with testimonials and by answering phones during the telethon.

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and United Nations World Food Programme have joined the list of relief organizations that will benefit from 'Hope for Haiti Now,' which also includes Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, and Yele Haiti Foundation. Proceeds from 'Hope for Haiti Now' will be split evenly among each organization's individual funds for Haiti earthquake relief.

The two-hour telethon will air on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT. 'Hope for Haiti Now' will also air on PBS, TNT, Showtime, COMEDY CENTRAL, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, and Canadian networks including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television, and MuchMusic.

The event will be live streamed online across sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com,VH1.com, and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and FloTV. 'Hope for Haiti Now' will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic, and MTV Networks International. 'Hope for Haiti Now' will be the first U.S.-based telethon airing on MTV in China. Facebook and Twitter have signed on as official social media partners to help drive donations and tune-in to the telethon.

The song th­at Jay­ ,Swizz and U­2 recorded h­as a w­o­­rk­ing title o­­f­ “H­aiti Mo­­n Amo­­u­r,” a.k­.a. “Stranded.”


source.www.u2.com///www.beautifullie.com

U2 Song for Haiti

The Edge said in today's Dave Fanning radio show on 2FM that after a conversation on Friday at his house U2 recorded a new song as part of a Haiti charity project being organized by Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz.

"Last night we wrote a song ... Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti. So, Bono came up with the phrase on the phone, and last night we were here, we wrote a song -- finished, recorded, and send it back to them. So, that might be the next thing you hear from us!" said Edge.

Edge and Fanning also spoke about the upcoming album , their 2010 tour plans and the Glastonbury appearance.

Listen online here

source:www.atu2.com//www.2fm.rte.ie

Warwick 'Reverso' Adam Clayton Signature

The famous bass and amps company "Warwick" introuces the Warwick 'Reverso' Adam Clayton Signature. It was premiere at NAMM (Trade Association of the International Music Products Industry) show in Anaheim this week.

"The Adam Clayton Reverso is a new design from Warwick that reflects a first-time collaboration between U2’s famous bass player and Warwick. Not only does it look cool, but it was forged from the same sonic template that helped define fellow legends Entwistle and Bruce when they came to Warwick. The reversed Stryker body provides a fresh aesthetic to an iconic axe. The design also ensures excellent ergonomics, whether on a strap or seated. Thanks to the small lower horn, slim neck and neck-through construction, even the highest frets are easily reached."

Considered "an instrument designed to stand out in a crowd" and "aimed at being original", if you love bass guitars or you are interested in techno stuff, click here.

source:www.warwick.de

Open Letter to Bono

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has asked Bono not to perform in Israel this coming summer.

They reminded him of Archbishop Tutu´s words: "the end of apartheid stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure-- in particular the divestment movement of the 1980s…a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to the Israeli occupation.” He concluded that “if apartheid ended, so can this occupation, but the moral force and international pressure will have to be just as determined. The current divestment effort is the first, though certainly not the only, necessary move in that direction.”

They appeal to "heed the wise words of Archbishop Tutu and to honor the Palestinian Call. Your performance in Israel would be tantamount to having performed in Sun City during South Africa’s apartheid era, in violation of the international boycott unanimously endorsed by the oppressed South African majority. We call on you not to entertain Israeli Apartheid!"



A great challenge for Bono and a crossroad for any activist. I wonder if he would answer. To read the complete text: click here.


source:www.pacbi.org

HAITI NEEDS YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW!

Haitian-born rap star Wyclef Jean has urged fans to donate to relief efforts in the wake of the huge earthquake that struck the Caribbean state on Tuesday.

"Your money will help with relief efforts," he wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter. "They need our help - please help if you can."

The former Fugees star has since said he is now on his way to the Caribbean state, via the Dominican Republic.

"Pray for the people of Haiti [and] me please," he posted.

Jean, 37, was made a roving ambassador for Haiti in 2007 and provides humanitarian aid and assistance through his Yele Haiti foundation.

'Unprecedented proportion'

Thousands are feared dead after the 7.0-magnitude quake, which struck south of the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday.

On his website, Jean said Haiti had suffered "a natural disaster of unprecedented proportion... unlike anything the country has ever experienced.

"I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse."

The singer, who gained fame as a member of hip-hop trio The Fugees, was born in Haiti in 1972 but moved with his family to New York when he was nine.

To donate, click here: To see Wyclef´s website, click here.

source:http://news.bbc.co.uk//www.wyclef.com/

ONE in 2009

ONE has sent its members a recap of what 2009 has been for the fighting of worldwide poverty.

2010 is going to be a biggie – the World Cup in South Africa will focus the world’s attention on the continent; climate negotiations will continue and must see greater gains; and in September there will be a make or break UN meeting about poverty and development.

Yikes, it’s going to be an exciting year, but before we kick things off I wanted to say a huge thanks to you for helping make 2009 a very successful year for ONE and the fight against extreme poverty and to share a short video looking at some of our progress and work last year. I hope you enjoy it, and take a second to share it with some of your friends, inviting them to join you in making a difference this year.

ONE.org has also posted a great video where U2 thanks the more than 77,000 people that joined the organization during the 360° Tour.

To watch the entire video, click here.


YOUR VOICE MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE, JOIN ONE NOW!
WWW.ONE.ORG

Killing Bono Has Started

Martin McCann as young Bono

Belfast is awash with U2 lookalikes this week as work begins to transform former HP scribe Neil McCormick’s I Was Bono’s Doppelganger memoir into a big screen blockbuster.

Renamed Killing Bono for the benefit of the American market, it’s being shot in the North to avail of their generous tax breaks for filmmakers.

Playing the youthful Bono is Martin McCann who also has a role in the upcoming sword ‘n’ sorcery epic Clash Of The Titans. Mark Griffin (The Edge) and David Tudor (Adam Clayton) both come from a TV and theatre backround while Sean Doyle (Larry Mullen) is a complete novice who was spotted at last year’s Hot Press Music Show in the RDS.

The cast also includes Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan, Krysten Ritter, Pete Postlethwaite, Peter Serafinowicz, Jason Byrne and Deirdre O’Kane.

David Tudor as young Adam Clayton

source:www.hotpress.com

Bono Emotional over Leonard Cohen

U2 frontman Bono has revealed he cried when he went to a Leonard Cohen show because he was so inspired by the 75-year-old musician's songs.


The U2 frontman found himself in tears when he watched the folk singer in Monte Carlo because he was amazed by his talent.

Bono said: "I had an epiphany last year. I went to see Leonard Cohen in Monte Carlo. At one point I found myself with tears running down my face. I realised that all my favourite songs he wrote in his 50s and 60s. To me, that was a throw down."

After having his creative fires lit by the 'Hallelujah' songwriter, Bono is desperate to start working on U2's next album, rumoured to be entitled 'Songs Of Ascent'.

He added to Q magazine: "We've been listening to material for 'Songs Of Ascent'. We haven't fully decided to press 'go' on that. But we're touring at the end of May and it'd be nice to have some new songs."

source:www.contactmusic.com

U2: Rock'n'roll's answer to the Book of Common Prayer?

Interesting article that has appeared in The Guardian which goes back to the controversy if Bono (or U2) is " true crusader for Christianity" .In L´Osservatore Romano, the Vatican´s newspaper ,the Italian journalist, Gaetano Vallini reviewed the book written by Andrea Morandi, U2.The Name of Love.

"The singer has made no secret of his religious beliefs. Raised by a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, he, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr were once members of an evangelical worship group called Shalom. Bono has since distanced himself from organised religion, in favour of a more personal spiritual path ("I'm a need-to-practice-much-more Christian," he said in an interview in 2002 "I'm uncomfortable in churches").

Christians are, apparently, accustomed to seeking spiritual meaning in Bono's lyrics. According to evangelical magazine Christianity Today, "for many Christians of a certain generation, combing through the lyrics of U2 songs (nearly all of them written by Bono) in search of biblical images or references to Jesus Christ and his teachings is almost a sport".

In his Osservatore Romano article, Vallini reviews a new book by an Italian music critic who has taken that sport to the extreme. In U2: The Name of Love, published in Italy last year, Andrea Morandi laboriously extracts Biblical allusions from almost every U2 lyric. "The presence of the Bible in the first few records," Vallini quotes Morandi as saying (in my own rough translation), "was already widely known. But the real discovery was that this presence remained, right up to the most recent CD."

Morandi and Vallini both make a convincing case for seeing Bono as a defender of the faith. Like much of the 1981 album October (made when the band were still practising Christians) Gloria sounds like it's about the singer's search for God: "I try, I try to speak up/But only in you I'm complete." Morandi even hears echoes of Psalm 51 in the lyric, "Oh Lord, if I had anything/anything at all/I'd give it to you". And the track Tomorrow is as much a call to faith as that primary-school favourite Kumbaya: "Open up, open up/To the lamb of God/He's coming back/Jesus come back." Then, of course, there's The Joshua Tree's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking for, a hymn to spiritual yearning if ever there was one.

But what of U2's more recent, less overtly religious, output? For Vallini, it's just as liturgically relevant. His claim that Magnificent, from the band's last album No Line On the Horizon, references the Bible just because its title sounds a bit like the Magnificat (the Song of Mary) feels like an extrapolation too far. But he makes a convincing case for another song on the album, Unknown Caller, being about looking for God ("Restart and reboot yourself/You're free to go/Shout for joy if you get the chance").

source:.guardian.co.uk//www.cartoonstock.com

A Night Out in Dublin with Edge and Bono

It Might Get Loud, the movie featuring Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White, got its first Irish airing last night at the IFC in Dublin – to a hugely positive reaction.

"I thought it was brilliant," Gavin Friday told Hot Press. "I'd been a little bit worried about the way it might shape up, but it works and it works really well. What's great about it is that it's a film about music. When you think of all the crap we're subjected to on television at the moment, and the awful state that the music industry is in, this is totally refreshing.

"This is what it is really all about – or should be. They're talking about musicianship, about creativity. I think it's a wonderful film."

Edge arrived at the Irish premiere with Bono at his side and introduced the film with a speech that was both gracious and funny. Among the people he thanked were the teachers from Mount Temple who encouraged the band in the early days. The school features in the film, with Edge revisiting the notice board on which the historic note was pinned by Larry Mullen. "If he hadn 't done that, I'd probably have ended up in another band – but it wouldn't have been U2," Edge says in the film. "Would I be doing what I am doing now? I don't know. I'd probably be working in a bank or something."

When the movie was over, he was greeted with a sustained and impressively warm ovation from the audience – a mixture of paying customers and guests.




Afterwards, Bono reflected on some of the film's fascinating contrasts – most striking among which was the extent to which Jack White emphasised the limitations of technology, while Edge was at the forefront of innovation. He also recalled the house in Howth, which features in the movie, where he and Ali lived, and where the band rehearsed for the War album. "It was tiny," he said. "What you see there is all there was to it, apart from a small bedroom where Ali and I slept. Paul (McGuinness) wanted us to rehearse in a proper rehearsal space in town, but we were having none of it."


In addition to a large contingent from Principle management, Dave Fanning and his wife Ursula Courtney, Ned O'Hanlon and Ann Louise Kelly, John Kelly, Gavin Friday, Guggi, designer Michael Mortell, Chantal O'Sullivan, Hot Press' Roisin Dwyer, Mairead Whisker, Valentina Magli and Edge's guitar tech Dallas Schoo, who features strongly in the movie, all attended.

"It really is a fascinating contrast in styles and attitudes," says Hot Press editor Niall Stokes. "At the outset it's clear that Edge and Jack White are coming from almost diametrically opposite perspectives on guitar playing and the use of technology. But in the end, when they get down to playing together, all three players discover a commonality in the shared act of making music. There is something wonderfully affirmative in that.

"The film is also beautifully shot and there is great archive footage and photography, which is used very evocatively. I think it's a movie that will appeal to anyone who loves music – but especially, of course, to people who have had that experience of falling in love with the guitar. It Might Get Loud is a great film about the romance of making music."

It Might Get Loud is playing at the IFC in Temple Bar, Dublin.

source:www.hotpress.com//Pics:www.ineedmyfix.com

U2 Nominated for the Irish Meteor Awards

The event will be presented by Irish TV personality Amanda Byram and will take place at RDS, Dublin, on Friday 19 February. That will be the celebration of the 10º anniversary of these awards and Snow Patrol, Westlife, The Script, Florence and the Machine, Paulo Nutini, The Coronas and Pixie Lott will perform.

The nominations for U2 are:

-Best Irish Band: Bell X1, The Coronas, Delorentos, Snow Patrol, U2.

- Best Irish Album: Blue Lights On The Runway - Bell X1, Tony Was An Ex-Con - The Coronas, The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Duckworth Lewis Method, Up To Now - Snow Patrol, No Line On The Horizon - U2

- Best Irish Live Performance: Bell X1, Christy Moore, The Script, Snow Patrol, U2

source: www.meteormusicawards.meteor.ie//www.rte.ie

"It Might Get Loud" for Charity

Hot Press posted the following piece of news:

U2's Edge will introduce a special preview charity screening of Davis Guggenheim's film It Might Get Loud, on Thursday 7th January. All proceeds go to Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin.

The electric guitar isn’t so much an instrument, more of a calling in this affectionate triple-portrait of rock royalty: Led Zeppelin’s legendary Jimmy Page, U2’s very own sculptor in sound The Edge, and fiercely modern traditionalist Jack White of The White Stripes.

The IFI also unveiled its brand new luxury cinema screen and upgraded public areas and launches its new programme for the coming year. Sarah Glennie, IFI Director said “We are thrilled to announce the completion of our major 2009 redevelopment. Cinema 3 in particular has allowed us to broaden the range and depth of our programme. I’m delighted to be able to announce a full and varied programme for 2010 incorporating festivals, seasons, new collaborations, programming strands and a range of special events.”

These new initiatives for 2010 will run alongside the IFI’s already full and diverse programme of new releases from Ireland and around the world, established monthly strands from the Archive, Ireland on Sunday and IFI Stranger Than Fiction Presents..., as well as extensive IFI Irish Film Archive and IFI Education national activities.

source:www.hotpress.com/

Bono´s Controversial Words

A few days ago, Bono wrote his usual column for the New York Times. While most of the subjects he wrote about have been highly praised and taken into account, there was one that was obviously not left behind (pardon my pun!). Of course I´m talking about the one where he writes about the rights of intellectual property, downloading and the rest: Intellectual Property Developers. he called it.
Many voices raised in favour and against the issue. For example, Kris Novoselic (Nirvana´s bassit and activist for Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Actions Committee) wrote an article called : Why I Agree with Bono for the Seattle Weekly while Walter Naeslund (who calls himself Advertising Agency Entrepreneur, Professional Speaker, and Hopeless Optimist) in his blog wrote a self implicit article Why Bono is an Idiot (This Time) which has a highly repercusion in the Net especially in Twitter . Today Naeslund wrote another article Why Bono is not REALLY an Idiot, But Would Perhaps Need To Think a Little Harder . The controversy that follows confirms, in a way, the power of these Internet tools and makes us think of Bono´s words on creativity and property rights.

Disclaimer: This image has been edited using special effects.

source:blogs.seattleweekly.com//http://walternaeslund.com/

Edge Talks to Neil

Neil Mc Cormick has posted an interview with Edge in his Culture blog in The Telegraph.

The documentary feature film ‘It Might Get Loud’ opens in the UK this Friday, January 8th , about a meeting between three iconic guitarists of different rock generations: the legendary Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, garage blues primitivist Jack White of The White Stripes and U2’s professorial effects master The Edge. My interview with Jimmy Page ran in the Telegraph last week but while researching it I spoke to The Edge, who called from LA just before Christmas. Here, for U2 and guitar fans, is that conversation in full, in which Edge discusses the past and future of the guitar, U2’s new album, why they might play new songs at Glastonbury, the fate of Spiderman and the Edge’s previously unremarked resemblance to a Hollywood sex symbol.

It´s not often that you might find yourself on stage with some of the greatest guitarists in the world, so what did you learn from the experience?

What did I learn? Even though all guitar players are reaching for the ideal guitar tone, I was struck by how different they sounded, and in the hands of other people with different set of ears to put a sound together, its such a different result, and it just showed me how the instrument is so versatile. A trumpet sounds pretty much like a trumpet, and that’s true of a lot instruments, pianos sound like pianos, but there’s something about the guitar, the range of possibilities is much broader. And I really felt our differences influences and points of view were really contained within our sound and choice of sound and ways of playing.

Indeed, the way the different personalities express themselves through their instrument is something that comes across very clearly in the film. Yet while the individual journeys that bring you to that shared stage are fascinating, when you do all get together, there’s no great musical explosion, just a lot of tentative twiddling, really.

That was the other thing I learned: how useful drummers and bass players and singers are! Put three guitarist together in a room and what you get is lots of guitars. Also I was thinking about what would I play out of my stuff for these guys, and I realised what I do isn’t really designed to be heard solo. Its not like I sit down and write a guitar piece and that becomes a song. I actually rely on what Adam and Larry are doing to complete the picture. The Streets Have No Name doesn’t make any sense out of context, it just becomes this very Philip Glass like set of motifs, and the meaning is really in the changes in the bass and drums. So that was actually a nice realisation, I’m one of those guitar players who’s really integrated into his band. I’m not like Jimmy or Jack, who can play solo guitar that would stand up on its own.

Do you often play with other guitarists?

No, I try and avoid it at all costs. Jamming is really the most awful, excruciating experience for me, I really don’t enjoy it. First of all, that’s not how I work as a guitar player. I compose using the instrument, I don’t really sit down and play for the sake of playing stuff. So the idea of jamming – endless, directionless noodling around some nondescript chord progression – I really find very boring. Obviously a great song is fun to play, but U2 were never really in that phase of The Beatles in Hamburg or Van Morrison in showbands or Dylan in the folk clubs, of knowing and learning a big collection of classics. We never did that, and at the time we were forming as a band there really wasn’t a large collection of songs that we felt like learning. It was actually a moment where the past was being thrown out the window, so its very much part of our DNA as a band not to be too reverential, as a general rule, and to try and look forward all the time. Invention being what we value most highly as opposed to emulation – which is what a lot of musicians feel is important, being able to play like the greats.

So what did meeting Jimmy Page mean to you, because at the time of U2’s origins, at the beginning of punk, Led Zeppelin and the so called dinosaur rock bands were almost seen as the enemy, something to be rebelled against.

Before meeting Jimmy, I listened back to some Zeppelin stuff and realise it has stood the test of time. It has the hallmark of timeless music, it hasn’t dated, while so much from that era really did date and in fact has completely vanished. It was really dynamic, the visceral power of it was pretty thrilling still, and it brought me back to when I was 14 or 15. That was a nice realisation. And also meeting the man and realising we had so much in common, and actually we are kind of brothers in arms rather than antagonists in terms of musical philosophy.

So what did you find that you had in common?

I think what has come through, after all the dust has settled on the music of that era, is that everybody assumed that what was important was improvising and having a dexterity with the instrument, so that Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, the gunslingers of the time, were highly revered, but it turns out it was actually always about composition, always about idea and themes and stuff that you actually had to write. And that where I think Jimmy Page scored, is that his guitar playing was a lot more composed than any of the others of that era and much better for that. And although it’s probably uncool to admit it – and I don’t know if he would ever admit it – but even his solos were really well composed and thought out. I don’t think he was just a guy who would sit down and play the first thing that came into his head, like a Gary Moore, Jeff Beck or Eric. I think he really had the chance to figure things out. It’s the discipline of the work. Its really sharp, really hard, not fuzzy. That was one of the realisations for me.

If you were to listen to a collection of the best selling singles of the last year, the guitar is almost noticeable by its absence. When it comes to pop music, its all about synths and electronically treated sound, so even where there is a guitar, its not necessarily recognisable, or the featured instrument. What do you think is the future of the guitar?

I don’t think it’s in jeopardy. It seems pretty bright. There’s always somebody on the horizon who seems to be really able to make the instrument their own, and find ways to use it that haven’t been heard before. The biggest band in America right now, in terms of profile and records is The Kings Of Leon, and before them it was The Killers, so there seems to be still a huge interest in guitar music. I’m looking forward to the next Arcade Fire album, and I think Nick Zinner from Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a guitar player who’s really done some interesting things. Ok, the electronica movement seems to be very much in vogue at the moment, probably MGMT kick started that, then you’ve got Justice and the Bloody Beetroots and all that hard dance stuff, but the guitar is managing to hold on, its one of the essential ingredients in contemporary music, like drums. Them Crooked Vultures is also quite cool. I’m not sure it’s on the level of classic but it’s a very interesting guitar record.

It’s been a strange year for U2. You had the biggest tour in the world and sold about four million of your album No Line On The Horizon, but it never really caught fire the way other U2 albums have. Indeed, its perceived as a flop.

Yeah, there is that smell in the air. We allowed ourselves to think about having a big hit record when in fact it’s a very interesting record but it’s quite a dark record, it’s not really radio friendly. Even ‘Get On Your Boots’, which is high octane, its not a slam dunk of a hit song. I think everyone just got caught up in the plan as opposed to sitting back and thinking about the record we’d made. But I feel OK about it. Often U2 are accused of being more successful than we deserve, in this case I think this record is less successful than it deserved. I think its got some of the best songs we’ve ever written. ‘Moments Of Surrender’ is right up there, and ‘Unknown Caller’.

What about the new album, the long rumoured ‘Songs Of Ascent’, which is supposed to be based around more low key material from the Horizon sessions.

Well that’s what I’m working on this week, actually. I’m songwriting. In fact, I wrote something this morning just before getting on the phone with you, it sounds great. So on that level we’re pushing forward, we’re not taking it easy, but we won’t really know til the new year what we’ll be able to achieve. There’s a certain sort of practical window of opportunity to release the record that we are operating within. If the material isn’t ready for the early new year we’ll probably have to put it on hold. But I’m looking forward to the idea of playing some of the songs live before they’re released. That would be my consolation prize if we don’t get the album done. We’ve never done it, we’ve always talked to all of our producers about the idea, but I think it would give the tour a little frisson which I think it needs. If you have two or three new songs no one’s heard before thrown in from time to time, I think that would be very exciting, for us as well, to try them and see how they get on.

So we can expect to hear new U2 songs at Glastonbury.

Glastonbury is going to be fun. I’ve never been.

I think Adam is the only member of U2 whose been to Glastonbury. He went with the Waterboys in the Eighties

We’re busy men! We’re often actually doing U2 tours when Glastonbury is on, or working on a project, so its not so strange that we’ve not been. But what is interesting is the way people talk about it, its got this semi-religious aspect. Bono and I were talking about our last record, one of the sub plots is pilgrimage, and in some ways that’s exactly what Glastonbury is. So we’re going to make our pilgrimage.

And what about Spiderman, the musical you have been working on with Bono, which seems to have run into a few funding problems?

It’s in this hiatus and were just waiting for word on the fundraising to get the production back on track. All the songs are pretty much written, we’ve got a bunch of lyrics to finish off, but all the music is pretty much there, and its all sounding really convincing. It’s a great script, great director, great choreographer. It will happen.

So 2010 is shaping up to be another busy year for U2

And they’re shooting the film of your book (Killing Bono). That’s great news. I was talking to the director about who should play me, and I think we agreed on Brad Pitt.

by Neil Mc Cormick

source:http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Simon Xmas Busk Dublin feat Bono, Glen Hansard, Damien Rice, Mundy and more

First professional video of the Christmas Busking at Graffon Street Dublin.




Bono: saved by Rice and the audience when he didn´t remember the words of "One"?? That´s what happens when a great song becomes part of the collective conscious.

Bono: Is it Once or One? LOL!!

An Unforgettable Christmas for many people who were there ,hopefully they´ve made a lot of money too!!!

source:www.youtube.com

Ten for the Next Ten

Bono´s first column of 2010 as Op-Ed Guest Columnist in The New York Times.

"IF we have overindulged in anything these past several days, it is neither holiday ham nor American football; it is Top 10 lists. We have been stuffed full of them. Even in these self-restrained pages, it has been impossible to avoid the end-of-the-decade accountings of the 10 best such-and-suches and the 10 worst fill-in-the-blanks.

And so, in the spirit of rock star excess, I offer yet another.

The main difference, if it matters, is that this list looks forward, not backward. So here, then, are 10 ideas that might make the next 10 years more interesting, healthy or civil. Some are trivial, some fundamental. They have little in common with one another except that I am seized by each, and moved by its potential to change our world.

Return of the Automobile as a Sexual Object

How is it that the country that made us all fall in love with the automobile has failed, with only a few exceptions, to produce a single family sedan with the style and humor and grace of the cars produced in the ’40s’50s and ’60s? ...

Intellectual Property Developers


Caution! The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files. The immutable laws of bandwidth tell us we’re just a few years away from being able to download an entire season of “24” in 24 seconds. Many will expect to get it free. ..

An Equal Right to Pollute (and the Polluter-Pays Principle)

In the recent climate talks in Copenhagen, it was no surprise that developing countries objected to taking their feet off the pedal of their own carbon-paced growth; after all, they played little part in building the congested eight-lane highway of a problem that the world faces now...

A Person (Dr. William Li) and a Word (Angiogenesis)

Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels grow. This is good — except when it’s very bad, as in the case of cancerous tumors. Blood vessels are their supply lines. Dr. William Li of the Angiogenesis Foundation has called research in this realm the “first medical revolution of the 21st century"and he should know. (I shouldn’t, given my lack of a medical pedigree, but I learned about it the from my bandmate the Edge, who supports Dr. Li’s foundation.)...

Matter Doesn’t Matter


God, it appears, is a Trekkie. (God help us.)

Dr. Anton Zeilinger, an Austrian physicist, is becoming a rock star of science for his work in quantum teleportation, which I know very little about but which I think I may have achieved backstage one night in Berlin in the early 1990s. At any rate, it seems to have something to do with teleporting properties or bits of information, not physical objects; even though Dr. Zeilinger plays down the possibility of a “Star Trek” moment, his breakthroughs are catching the attention of the nonscientific world for their metaphysical implications. His own version of E=mc2 ends in a cosmic punch line: that when it comes to the origin of the universe, information matters more than matter.

Could it be that God is a nerd?


Festival of Abraham


Here’s something that could never have happened in the Naughts but will maybe be possible in the Tweens or Teens — if there’s a breakthrough in the Mideast peace process. The idea is an arts festival that celebrates the origin of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Every year it could be held in a different location; Jerusalem would obviously be the best place to start.

In Ireland, at the height of the “Troubles,” it was said that the only solution for rabid sectarianism was to let 1,000 punk-rock bands bloom: music helped create a free space for dialogue (of a high-volume variety). So no politicians allowed. Artists only.

People Power and the Upside-Down Pyramid

A lot of us have seen or lived the organizational chart of the last century, in which power and influence (whether possessed by church, state or corporation) are concentrated in the uppermost point of the pyramid and pressure is exerted downward. But in this new century, and especially in some parts of the developing world, the pyramid is being inverted. Much has been written about the profits to be made at the bottom of the pyramid; less has been said about the political power there. Increasingly, the masses are sitting at the top, and their weight, via cellphones, the Web and the civil society and democracy these technologies can promote, is being felt by those who have traditionally held power. Today, the weight bears down harder when the few are corrupt or fail to deliver on the promises that earned them authority in the first place...

Taking the Fight to Rotavirus

The thing is, they exist, these vaccines. They’re not a mere hope, like an AIDS vaccine. And one of the brightest bits of news in 2009 is that rotavirus vaccines have been shown to work not only in nations with low child mortality, but in the poorest countries, where diarrhea (not a killer in our house) caused by rotavirus infections takes the lives of 500,000 children a year. The World Health Organization just this summer issued a strong recommendation that rotavirus vaccinations be part of every nation’s immunization program. From this vantage point, I like the look of the next decade.

Viva la (Nonviolent) Revolución

“As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life work,” President Obama said in his Nobel acceptance speech, “I am living testimony to the moral force of nonviolence.”...

The start of the decade ought to be a time for a little bit of hope — not the wispy stuff, but battle-hardened hope, forged in the grim, purposeful spirit of the times. So I’ll place my hopes on the possibility — however remote at the moment — that the regimes in North Korea, Myanmar and elsewhere are taking note of the trouble an aroused citizenry can give to tyrants, and that people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi.

The World Cup Kicks Off the African Decade

It’s getting easier to describe to Americans the impact of the World Cup — especially the impact it will have in Africa, where the tournament is to be held this summer. A few years ago, Ivory Coast was splitting apart and in the midst of civil war when its national team qualified for the 2006 jamboree. The response was so ecstatic that the war was largely put on hold as something more important than deathly combat took place, i.e. a soccer match. The team became a symbol of how the different tribes could — and did — get on after the tournament was over.

This time round, for the 2010 World Cup, naysayers thought South Africa could not build the stadiums in time. Those critics should be red-faced now. South Africa’s impressive preparations underline the changes on the continent, where over the last few years, 5 percent economic growth was the average. Signs point to a further decade of growth to come. Canny investors will put more capital there. This in turn has the potential to shore up fragile young democracies across the continent.

It would be fitting if Nelson Mandela, who has done more than anyone for Africa’s rising, would kick off the opening ceremonies. If he shows up, the world will weep with joy..."

To read the complete column, click here.

source:www.nytimes.com