Happy New Year from Cedarwood Rd. Gang!!!

Photo: Edge

'Flash Of Colour'

'Flash of Colour'

'It was a penniless city, dull and grey. But for me, as a kid, it was David Bowie and then Johnny Lydon that gave this flash of colour...'

North Side Story tells the story of U2's earliest days in Dublin. Commissioned from the Hot Press team in Ireland, it covers the formative years from 1978 to 1983, from the first single, 'U23', to the live album, Under A Blood Red Sky. 

Below, in our latest edited extracts, Gavin Friday, recalls Dublin in the 1970's and how The Virgin Prunes grew up with U2.

North Side Story is available with a 2014 U2.com subscription. At 274 pages, this heavyweight book of rare photos, original interviews, diaries, letters and profiles comes with 'North & South Of The River, Wandering In U2's Dublin', a poster-size map charting U2's Dublin. 

'Dublin in 1978 was a grey, dull, miserable place. It was recession all the way. But you don’t think about things like that when you’re a kid. You don’t know that this is heavy – which it was.

As teenagers, the Northside of Dublin was primarily where we hung out. There was this invisible Berlin Wall at O’Connell Street, so Northsiders never really ventured Southside. But punk rock changed that. It created this scene where you’d have to go to show off your clothes or hang out in Advance Records on South King Street. So it was then we started going Southside – and also because gigs were happening over that side of the city.

The way I remember it, there was incredible violence in Dublin at the time. I mean, I chose to dress quite flamboyantly from an early age so the amount of beatings I got was incredible, even going down to the bus, never mind when I was in the city centre. It wasn’t just punk rockers or people like that. It was like this sort of time-bomb waiting to go off, like the younger generation had had enough of this old Ireland. It felt like this wasteland. Gangs of bootboys: they weren’t as stylish as the skinheads in their Dr. Martens and their tight jeans; these were just yobs, you know? I remember going to a U2 gig in the Baggot Inn, and this crowd that called themselves the Black Catholics came and started throwing stuff at the stage. I think Bono jumped down and went for them. But I would usually get the hidings. I can’t fight. Verbally I can set a house on fire, but it was always Bono and Guggi that defended me.

And there was no money. I’m talking about no money. To go in and see gigs there was always a toss up, ‘Will we walk in and see The Ramones and then we’ll have money to get a bottle of beer and a bag of chips – or do you get the bus?’ It was a penniless city, dull and grey but for me, as a kid, it was David Bowie and then Johnny Lydon that gave this flash of colour.  And we joined that club very quickly and then we hung out in town a lot more. 

Trinity College became a  big
 centre for us because Dik Evans, who is The Edge’s brother, was lead guitarist
 in The Virgin Prunes, and he had accommodation there. So that became like our hangout: if you missed the bus home there would be six or seven of us sleeping on the floor in Dik’s room. The Buttery in Trinity was quite a vibrant place for gigs. So Trinity was our HQ along with the Coffee Inn. That was a very big meet and greet place, it’s where everyone gathered, and it would be like six slices of bread and chips between four. That’d fill you up. 

To tell the truth, I was
 a little bit more advanced than the punks who hung out at Advance Records. A good friend of mine – ‘Tommy the bottle of milk’
 we called him – ran the Virgin Prunes fan club. We had a fan club before we even played a gig! His Dad worked in the BNI, which operated the ship route between here and England, so I used to go over on day trips to Liverpool. We’d have a shopping list for all me mates so we’d go over and come back with a load of records as well as getting cool trousers that you couldn’t get in Dublin. 

There was another quirky thing that very few people know about. At one stage, early on, U2 had a residency in this really bad hotel in Sutton Cross, and they had to do a two-hour set, where they were doing some of their new songs and some covers. And Bono used to be bolloxed and sweating and he’d say, ‘Gav, will you go up?’ and I’d do two Ramones songs, or whatever, with U2 backing me. That was the first time I got up on stage.

Now, the first gig The Virgin Prunes played was in a disco in early ‘78, and the backing band was all of U2, plus Dik and me and Guggi. There was no Strongman. No one else. And to camouflage them - I had worked in Dublin Meat Packers  - I covered their heads with this sort of sheep’s carcass netting and put white coats on them: they looked like something from Devo. We played a 22 minute version of ‘Satisfaction’, really slowly, just to provoke everyone. It was after that gig Dik joined us and we got our own bass player and drummer – and that was the real genesis of The Virgin Prunes...'

http://www.u2.com

Best in years, says Gavin after early listen to new U2 album

“I’ve heard the new album and it certainly is a development. U2 turns corners very quickly and what hits you is how fresh it sounds. With Edge involved, there is still plenty of guitar”.

“They asked me what I thought and I told them I really liked it. It’s definitely their most exciting release since Achtung Baby.”

BONO'S pal Gavin Friday has claimed that U2's upcoming album is their "most exciting release since Achtung Baby".

Friday (54) has been given an exclusive listen months ahead of its release. He has been described as a "consultant" by U2 – and he is very much giving a thumbs-up for their 13th album.

"I've heard the new album and it certainly is a development. U2 turns corners very quickly and what hits you is how fresh it sounds. With Edge involved, there is still plenty of guitar," Gavin told the Herald.

"They asked me what I thought and I told them I really liked it. It's definitely their most exciting release since Achtung Baby."

Although the Finglas-born neighbour and life-long friend of Bono came up with the title of early U2 single 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, Gavin revealed he had not made any suggestions for song titles on the new U2 record. "U2 have plenty of their own ideas for song titles," he said. "I'm planning on releasing two albums myself next year, one electronica, the other more guitar-orientated."

A long time supporter of the Dublin Samaritans, Gavin was speaking to launch a new Active Listening seminar next Monday, July 22 at 112 Marlborough Street, Dublin, at 8pm.

The Dublin Samaritans can be contacted on 1850 60 90 90, text 087 260 90 90 or by email at jo@samaritans.org.

http://www.herald.ie

Bono, Adam and Edge at the Premiere of Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour in London

Bono , Adam and The Edge  together with his wife Morleigh and Gavin Friday were at the premiere of Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour at the 02 arena in London.

Adam, Gavin Friday and Bono 

The Edge and his wife, Morleigh

http://www.contactmusic.com

AT HOME WITH BONO

Ali Hewson is naturally curious. It’s what drives her. But it’s disconcerting trying to interview someone who wants to ask all the questions. As we sit in a hotel suite in New York, where Ali and business partner Bryan Meehan are presenting their revamped skincare line, NUDE, she wants to ask all about me. “Oh you moved here to New York did you? Where do you live?” she asks, eyes alert and friendly behind heavy black spectacles, all in a dancing Dublin lilt. The thing is, we are in a hurry. Her husband is coming to pick her up.


That husband, of course, is Bono; the boy who made her laugh when she was twelve and the man with whom she celebrated her thirtieth wedding anniversary this August. His car is imminent, it’s the end of the day, but Ali is charm itself, fluent about the merits of her skincare line and why it has been updated.

“Well, if you are conscious of what you are eating and what you are wearing, you have got to be conscious of what you are putting on your skin every day,” she explains earnestly. “We wanted to make a natural skincare line and, although there were plenty of them around, none were active in anti-ageing or feeding your skin. We wanted to make skincare that was pro-active.”

Her inspiration came from omega oils and probiotics, healthy bacteria found naturally in the skin and the LVMH group was so impressed, it bought a 70% share of NUDE last year. “They were so excited about the formula and re-formulated it with us. So now, this is ‘super NUDE’,” Ali exclaims, proudly passing me bottles. The packaging has also been given an overhaul. “You want to have beautiful things in your bathroom. After all, it’s a luxury to live in a part of the world where you use skin creams.”

I can’t help but notice Ali’s skin is translucent and quite flawless, so much so, I worry she that she has succumbed to needle intervention until, to my relief, her forehead moves. Instead, I suspect she did a deal with a high SPF factor at an early age because, at 51, she looks a dozen years younger. She wears steep platform shoes and a black dress by House of Dagmar, a small Swedish brand. “I’m not wearing Edun, which is sad,” she sighs.

Inspiration for Edun, her fashion line, “came out of buying for my children and not wanting to buy clothes made by someone else’s children, made with despair.” As an early ethical label, Edun has been a roaring success and now shows at New York Fashion Week. Is Ali ever temped to design herself? “That is not something I have training for, although I do love to watch the process as much as possible.”

Does she have any style icons? “I like to look simple relaxed and uncomplicated. But you would die if you saw the state of my closet: most of my clothes are 20 years old and I hate shopping with a passion.” But she does adore clothes, often buying online. “I love Vivienne Westwood and the
way she hits the female form, though there is nothing uncomplicated, simple and relaxed about her clothes!” As for her enviable figure? “I try not to eat anything out of a packet. Fresh food seems to give more energy but, like most women, my weakness is chocolate.” What exercise does she do? “Mainly yoga. I don’t normally get the chance to do it with an instructor so I have a guide, a little piece of paper.” It’s rather sweet to imagine Ali in her hotel room in eagle pose scored from a cheat sheet.

Ali and Bono – or Paul Hewson – started going out long before U2 was conceived or became successful. Alison Stewart, as she was then, was born in Dublin in 1961 to a father who ran an electrical business and a stay-at-home mother, growing up alongside a younger brother who now lives in Australia. At school, she thought about becoming a pilot, nurse or vet. “I always knew I would see the world.” See it she has; and they are a close bunch, U2, which has been key to their success and stability as a band. “Nearly all our friends come from school, the whole band went to
secondary school together. I think maybe, as fame happened and the band became bigger, it was more important to hold onto friends who really liked you and really knew you.”

 

Bono turns tables on pal Gavin as Electric Picnic off to a hot start

Bono was a surprise addition to the Electric Picnic festival when it kicked off in brilliant sunshine yesterday.

Arriving by helicopter at 6.15pm, the U2 frontman wasn't performing but turned up to catch a set by his long-time friend Gavin Friday on the first day of the music and arts event.

For decades Friday has jetted around the globe as U2's 'special adviser', giving them notes about their live shows.

But last night the roles were reversed as Bono sized up the former Virgin Prune's performance on the main stage just after 7pm.

The only problem with having a superstar pal watching your show is that photographers' lenses were all trained on Bono watching from the mixing desk rather than on the stage.

Edge, Bono and his wife Ali watch their friend Gavin Friday

Playground

Nevertheless, Gavin dedicated his song 'Angel' to Bono and his wife Ali who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this month.

It was Bono's first visit to the Electric Picnic, which is now in its ninth year.

Guggi , ex-Virgin Prune together with Gavin, was present too 

http://www.independent.ie

http://gavinfriday.com/

'U2 1978-1981'

Paul McGuinness was at the Little Museum in Dublin yesterday night, launching an exhibition of rare photos from the earliest days of U2.

The photographs were taken by Dubliner Patrick Brocklebank, who worked as a graphic artist and photographer in the 1970s.

 'Because I was always in town,' recalls Brocklebank, 'And because we were the same age, I’d often see U2 around the place. The show records the energy and ambition of a local band that would later conquer the world.'

At the opening, Paul remembered being introduced to the band by Bill Graham of Hot Press. 'U2 tricked Bill into coming to one of their early rehearsals. They played him a few of their 'own songs' but Bill made them stop and said: 'hang on, all these songs you're playing are by the Ramones'.

'U2 said 'Okay, you're right, but we're going to write some great songs' and that's what they have been doing ever since.'

Paul recalled the music press and pirate radio stations of the late 1970s and reminisced about early  shows at Dandelion Market and the Project Arts Centre, when, on one occasion, a gang known as the 'Black Catholics' showed up.

'The Black Catholics were dedicated to breaking up other people's gigs. I gained an early and completely undeserved reputation for physical violence by taking one of them out into the street beside the Project.'

Also joining Patrick Brocklebank at the launch were luminaries from the Irish music scene and friends of the band including Gavin Friday, Niall Stokes,  John Stephenson - who ran the Project Arts Centre - and Dave Fanning.Bono was an absentee from the opening as he celebrated his 52nd birthday in the US with his family, including daughter Jordan Hewson -- who was celebrating her 23rd birthday yesterday.

"They sounded pretty raw. Off stage Bono was a bit loose with his tongue, The Edge seemed like an academic, Adam was a lad around town, but one with a purpose, and Larry was just a schoolboy," he said.

Indeed, the young Larry Mullen doesn't appear in some of the photographs because he was busy with schoolwork, with his place taken in the shots by Guggi, then a member of rival band The Virgin Prunes.

"Looking back it wasn't so much U2's music that impressed me. It was U2 as people," said Guggi.

Limited edition prints from the exhibition are on sale at www.littlemuseum.ie.

U2: 1978-81 will run at the Little Museum of Dublin until September 2nd. More here.

Top Pic: @Gpaul1972

UPDATE:  Pics of the opening of the exhibition here.  http://www.independent.ie/

www.u2.com/http://www.independent.ie/http://www.littlemuseum.ie./

Irish Hospice Foundation

The website for the Irish Hospice Foundation crashed last night when Victoria Beckham tweeted a link to the charity after receiving a gift from Bono for baby Harper of a book he did in aid of the charity in 2003.

Victoria Beckham tweeted: “Thanks Bono and Ali for Harper's supercool Peter and the Wolf book!” The fashion designer then gave a link to the book cover and tweeted a link to the Irish Hospice Foundation website to her two and a half million Twitter followers. The Irish Hospice Foundation tweeted the designer “We hope you and David enjoy reading it to Harper.”

Caroline Lynch of the Irish Hospice Foundation confirmed that after the fashion designer tweeted the link and it was retweeted on Twitter, the charity’s website crashed under the high volume of traffic from people trying to get onto the site and find out about the book. “The site went down from the number of people who were trying to get on and make enquiries.” she said.

The book produced in 2003 by Bono and Gavin Friday contains 64 pages of Bono's original paintings and illustrations from his daughters Jordan and Eve. Since 2003, Peter and the Wolf has raised €993,006 for the hospice foundation. The charity is hoping the Beckham tweet will help them to raise the additional €7000 needed to bring them over the €1 million mark.

For details of the book conact: 01 679 31 88 or email fundraising@hospice-foundation.ie to place an order.

- Independent.ie reporters

 http://www.independent.ie

Christmas Celebration

U2 painted their hometown red last night as they threw a Christmas party for staff of the band's management company.Talented comedy rap duo The Rubberbandits and Bono's pal Gavin Friday were among those present at the Principal Management festive get-together. Gavin's dogs Ralph and Stan arrived to the affair wearing Santa hats. The event was hosted at Harry's Cafe Bar on Dublin's Hanover Quay.
The band seemed to be in good spirits as they posed for pictures.Meanwhile, new figures have revealed that the aging Irish rock stars had the highest-earning tour of the year.The band's 360° shows saw them play 44 dates to almost three million people, taking more than €216m at the box office.




Edge´s Christmas greetings:

http://www.independent.ie

"catholic"

Gavin Friday grew up on the same street as Bono, and was part of the ‘Lipton Village’ gang with Bono and their mate Guggi.
Gavin formed the Virgin Prunes with Guggi (and Edge’s brother Dik, among others) in 1977, and has enjoyed a celebrated and eclectic career since - as punk, performance artist, actor, soundtrack composer, and much more.  He also advises U2 on the visual and performance side of their work -  an “aesthetic midwife”, is the phrase he uses.
Gavin’s first solo album in 16 years – ‘catholic’ - was recently released to widespread acclaim. A good moment for U2.com to track him down again. (Here’s part one of our interview, with part two coming in a few days.)


U2.com:The world has changed dramatically since you were young. Where does music fit today, for you? 
I formed the Virgin Prunes as a 17-year-old from Dublin in the 1970s. Music was this incredible escape route, a way to express myself and to get out of a place I thought was going nowhere. The punk movement gave me the energy and license to form a band. I was making it up as I went along. Thirty-odd years later, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve become more of a musician than just a performer, but, at root, it’s what I do, it’s my life. I have no choice.

U2.com:Does music have the same power as it used to? 
It can make a difference. There’s so much you can do and say and create. But I look around now, and see our country in ribbons, and I’m mystified that bands aren’t annoyed or angry or even writing about it. It seems like young people are treating music as a commodity, whereas for our generation it was a lifeline; it was blood. I was interviewed on a TV chat show recently, and they showed a clip of the Virgin Prunes from 1979. And the anger and the rage were phenomenal.

U2.com: But there’s a time to mature, presumably. 
Yep. People say to me, “What you did in the Virgin Prunes was so anarchic, so expressive, so of a moment, and now look at you, making this album...” But this album is beautiful: it’s mature, and if you’re 51, you can’t be running around with make-up on, screaming.
How old is rock and roll? 55? 60? It was built on Elvis shaking his hips, the Beatles screaming, the Pistols spitting... But now, it’s a grown man. And the poignancy lies in its wisdom and its poetry. Look at U2 -  probably the most potent song for me in the last couple of years is ‘Moment of Surrender’. That came from the pen of a grown man. A 25-year-old couldn’t write that.

U2.com:How would the young Gavin Friday react to ‘catholic’? 
It’s melodramatic enough, so he’d probably like it. I was a big fan of Bowie, Roxy Music and then punk, but I always liked Leonard Cohen as a kid; I liked the melancholy. When I heard Bowie on the radio, or Roxy Music, or later the Smiths, I’d think, “I’m not alone; someone else has been there.” And the poignancy of such kinsmanship is huge.

U2.com: Bowie developed personas. Were the names you gave each other in the Lipton Village an attempt to do something similar? Did they turn out to be more than just nicknames? 
There was something to it, yes. I mean, we were only kids - 13 or 14 when we started giving each other names - and of course, most gangs of kids give each other nicknames. My real name is Fionan, you know, and my brothers call me ‘Finna’. But I was christened Gavin Friday by Bono and Guggi, because of my personality, my physicality... So the names came from something to do with our essence.
I’m not trying to big it up or put it down, but there was intuition there. A real intuition. And we held to it. When we were 17, we had these crazy ambitions - we’ll make films, we’ll do this, we’ll do that - and still, if I go out for a pint with Bono and Guggi, we’re making plans. We still have that thing that we want to keep doing.

U2.com: You’ve said that ‘catholic’ is about “waking from a deep sleep, letting go and coming to terms with loss”. What were you awakening from? 
I was at Island Records for 12 years, but by the end of the 1990s they were taking down the posters of Bob Marley and Tom Waits and putting up the Sugababes. I was dropped. At the same time, I turned 40, my marriage broke up, and I got a serious illness... But then my father died, and it was then that I started waking up. I started writing again, but more from a personal point of view.
When I turned 50, Bono and Hal Willner organised a gig in Carnegie Hall in tribute of my work... I was on stage singing my own songs again, and that was it: I wanted it more than anything.

U2.com:From Lipton Village to Carnegie Hall! 
I was completely blown out by that night. It was unbelievable who was on the stage.

U2.com: U2 were there, but didn’t play as U2? 
When Bono first suggested the Carnegie night, I said, “OK. But there’s one thing: if the four of you are playing, you’re not playing as U2, and you’re not playing any U2 songs.” It was quite liberating for them all. I never saw a happier Larry Mullen in my life than when he was playing T-Rex.

U2.com:Have you helped to save U2 from themselves? 
Yeah, I have. And they’ve helped me, too. We’re mates. We’ve been doing this since day one. I’d knock on the door of number 10 Cedar Wood and Bono would say, “Listen to this. It’s a new song we just wrote.” And I’d say, “That chorus isn’t good enough!” And he’d say, “Ah, maybe you have a point...”
So it started as kids, you know? “You’re set’s too long! Why are you doing a Ramones cover? Do your own song!”

U2.com: And still you knock on their door to lend an ear? 
When you make an album, it’s like going into a cave. You’re living, breathing, eating it. Two months later, you’re like a rabbit in the headlights... So that’s when I’ll walk in on U2 and say, “What’s that? What’s this?”
I question. I kickstart. There is no bullshit. We speak the same language. I’ve known those four people for 35 years. I can smell them. And by the way, they’re the same with me. I was once at the end of my tether, recording Shag Tobacco, and Edge and Bono walked in and said, “Look! You’ve got a single there...” I said, “No I don’t!” Well, it ended up being ‘Angel’, one of my most popular songs, but I couldn’t see it at the time.

(Part Two of the interview coming shortly)


www.u2.com

Gavin Friday "catholic"

Bono´s (and the band´s )long time friend, Gavin Friday, has just released a new album, called "catholic". It`s his first release after a hiatus of 16 years (his last album was 1995 "Shag Tobacco").
Friday has spent the last decade and a half recording film scores (The Boxer, In America, Get Rich Or Die Trying), collaborating with the likes of Scott Walker and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and hanging out with his old mates in U2 on their 360 world tour. He’s gone through some serious personal turmoil since we last saw his name atop an album cover—health issues, the death of his father, and the end of his marriage—and catholic bears all of that hurt in brave and unexpected ways. Operatic in both scope and execution, the album has all the pomp and melancholy of a royal wedding: cellos and violins careen gorgeously, electric guitars soar and dive, and Friday’s voice—a deep, sensual/sinister purr that douses every word with more sex, smoke, and danger than your average Dublin tavern—croons and growls more evocatively than ever before.

“Able” starts us off with a propulsive beat and anthemic synth textures, building to a soaring, keyboard heavy chorus with lines like “I want to be able to hold my own” carrying some extra emotional weight. Echoing Adam ‘N’ Eve’s “Falling Off The Edge of the World”, “Land On The Moon” features a duet with Amy Odell over a lush, hushed bed of acoustic guitars and soft piano chords. Producer Ken Thomas lends a sinister, chilly ‘80s synth-pop vibe to “A Song That Hurts”, featuring the long-awaited return of Friday’s wrenching falsetto and enough haunting background vocals to give you shivers. “The Only One” builds to a majestic swell with its mild electronic beat and dramatic string arrangement, while “Blame” (an ode to Gavin’s late father) relishes gloomily in its mournful cello arrangement, resembling the soundtrack to a long abandoned ghost town saloon.

“The Sun & The Moon & The Stars” feels like a long-lost Cocteau Twins outtake, while the simultaneously sorrowful and uplifting “It’s All Ahead Of You” rises out of a gorgeous chamber melody into a life affirming chorus of blasting trumpets and boisterous violins. Though “Perfume” resurrects the glam rock swagger of past Gavin Friday records, we close out with the one-two funereal punch of “Where’d Ya Go? Gone” and “Lord I’m Coming”, the latter a riveting orchestral hymn of symphonic grandeur that rises into a grandiloquent climax of buzzy synths and sweeping strings.

Though the touch of long-time collaborator Maurice Seezer goes sorely missed, Gavin Friday and new right-hand man Herbie Macken have crafted a consistently elegant, intricately arranged, and stunningly beautiful album well worth the long wait. Often threatening to melt your heart, catholic is a continually rewarding piece of work—a towering achievement of classical grandiosity and modern elusiveness. Leave it up to a sly, mildly-reclusive Irishman to deliver one of 2011’s unexpected master works.

Gavin was interviewed by Mojo for July´s edition.Click on picture to enlarge.

An album worths listening with great melodies and sung with deep voice and enchanting rhythms. 

“Did you know that best is yet to come”, he asks in one of his songs, by listening to his new album we may think the best is here to stay.

http://ology.com//http://gavinfriday.com/

The Edge's stage setup revealed

Are you a U2 fan, a guitar aficionado or a wanna be guitarist? Have you ever thought how on earth Edge conveys this or that sound? The mystery is now revealed...

Dallas Schoo, Edge´s assistant,provided musicradar.com   with an extensive, comprehensive list of The Edge's live setup on the 360° Tour. From guitars and amps right down to strings, slides and straps, it's all detailed for the first time.The article has a very interesting chat with Schoo and loads of info about Edge´s gear .For those who love technical stuff, it´s a must-read!!!

Gibson re-created every scratch and dent on a copy of Edge's '75 Les Paul.

source:www.musicradar.com

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Gavin Friday"

Parts of the documentary on Gavin Friday´s life and career that was broadcast in RTE last week.

Bono and Gavin Friday tell stories for boys

The Irish Independent has published more news on the documentary that will be broadcast tonight in RTE One at 10.15pm (Irish time).


U2 SINGER Bono has told how he turned to painting canvasses with childhood friends Gavin Friday and Guggi to escape fame when he first became a superstar.

A new documentary about his best friend Gavin Friday follows the extraordinary friendship between a group of northside Dublin boys that has endured for five decades.

Bono tells how his boyhood pals, Gavin and artist Guggi Rowan, brought him back down to earth when his fame began to explode around the world in 1983.

He said: "I remember being on the road in America and you go through that self-consciousness that fame gives you.

"People know who you are and you get a bit weird. Guggi and Gavin called me out on that and said, 'You're very boring at the moment'. I would go, 'Yeah, yeah -- you're right'.

"We started to paint together. It was also to encourage Guggi, who we knew had not found a way to make the canvasses really matter."

The bond between the boyhood friends is traced back in the RTE documentary 'Ladies And Gentlemen, Gavin Friday'.

Bono, Friday and Guggi all lived on the Cedarwood Road in Glasnevin. The three became friends at the around the age of 10.

"When I started out hanging out with them, I found kindred spirits and there was a special bond between me and Guggi and Bono", said Gavin.

They were joined by Guggi's brother, Strongman, The Edge and his brother Richard Evans, Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and David Watson.

Gavin, who was born Fionan Hanvey, was a painfully shy child, whose charismatic personality only came alive on stage as the frontman of glam-rock band, The Virgin Prunes.

He recently celebrated his 50th birthday with a star-studded concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.

    * 'Ladies And Gentlemen, Gavin Friday' is on RTE One tonight at 10.15pm.

- Lynne Kelleher (Irish Independent)

Talking about Gavin...

Rubyworks are delighted to announce the signing of singer, composer and artiste Gavin Friday to the label.
Gavin has been working on songs for a new studio album since 2008; co-writing with Cork based keyboard player Herbie Macken. The pair first collaborated for the Patrick McCabe play ‘The Revenant’ for the Druid Theatre Company in 2007.
Recording for the new album started last summer in Dublin, with producer Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, Moby, M83) at the controls. The record was mixed and completed in the UK in earlier this year; and is currently being scheduled for a late summer release. It will be Gavin’s first solo album since 1995’s ‘Shag Tobacco’.

Gavin is in the process of putting together a new live band with a view to returning to the concert stage later in 2010.
This is great news for the ones who like this creative artist!!! Good luck with the new entrerprise!!

source:www.gavinfriday.com

source:/www.independent.ie/