Pavarotti tribute concert held in Petra, Jordan

A special tribute concert, which included Placido Domingo,Jose Carreras,Céline Dion, Andrea Bocelli and Sting, was held Sunday in the ancient site on Petra, Jordan, commemorating the life of the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti.




The tribute is the brainchild of Nicoletta Mantovani, Pavarotti’s widow and HRH Princess Haya, a fellow UN Messenger of Peace and daughter of Jordan’s late King Hussein. “A concert in Petra was a dream once shared by the late King Hussein of Jordan and Luciano,” said Mantovani. “I am so grateful to Her Royal Highness Princess Haya, for making it possible to turn this dream into a reality.”


The proceeds of the concert will support joint projects in Afghanistan by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP). A local charity supporting disabled children in Petra will also benefit from the concert.


For over ten years, until his death in September 2007, Maestro Pavarotti actively supported UNHCR projects in Kosovo, Pakistan, Zambia, and Iraq. For his continuous commitment to refugee causes, Luciano Pavarotti received UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award and was named a UN Messenger of Peace.



The archaeological site in Petra was transformed into a stage for a concert on what would have been Pavarotti’s 73rd birthday.Bono sent a video mesage to Pavarotti’s daughter, during the memorial event to pay tribute to Pavarotti.


“Dear Alice, I’ll tell you who was your dad. He wasn’t just a singer of opera. He was the opera, and a big-hearted friend. He can’t be categorized. He was at the same time expression of good singing, punk rock, winemaker, cheese eater, activist, actor, singer, performer and even a y man”.Bono also spoke of his friendship with Pavarotti, and ended his message with the following: “Pavarotti had to sleep and eat before singing. That’s why any time I went to visit him, I used to came back fattened.”



U2 frontman Bono was also at a memorial event in honour of the singer, and paid warm tribute to him.

Bono and Pav(as he called him)sang many times together, the following vid was part of the "Pavarotti & Friends" show in 2003. A nice version of one of the "Ave Maria", this time with Bono singing it in English.
"Gratia plena" for Luciano!

source:http://u2ol.net/2008/10/bono-pays-homage-as-the-tenors-reunite-for-pavarotti-memorial/

Bono -The Edge in Broadway´s most expensive production in history!

'Spider-Man' musical is costing $40 million. "Spider-Man", directed by ‘The Lion King’s and movie "Across the Universe",Julie Taymor, is currently operating on a budget of $40 million and the show is expected to have a weekly running cost of $1 million.

The U2 singer and guitar ace The Edge have penned all 18 songs for a Broadway musical about the comicbook hero and will release a U2 album based on their musical adaptation of the comic books.

Songs include Bouncing off the Walls, which will accompany the first transformation of Peter Parker into Spider-Man, and Rise Above, a number written for Mary Jane, the female lead.
They have also written numbers for Arachne, the Spider-Woman villain who was a relatively minor character in the comic book series. U2 are not planning to record all the songs. Gohl,the project’s musical supervisor , said the album that the band have just completed is “entirely different”.
Bono last year described the score as “punk rock” and “beautiful opera”. He added: “If we pull off what we’re trying, it will be something the likes of which no one has seen or heard. It should be a hallucinogenic experience for theatre-goers."
“You have the visual energy she brings. The myth of the arachnid and the elasticity of these characters, you can turn theatre upside down.”

Bono and the Edge previously penned GoldenEye, the theme tune to the James Bond film of the same name, which was performed by Tina Turner.

source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

Today John Lennon would have been 68!

To commemorate his lifelong message of peace and love, his widow and longtime creative partner Yoko Ono is exhibiting COME TOGETHER: A LOOK INTO JOHN LENNON’S LIFE THROUGH HIS ARTWORK, an internationally acclaimed, ever-changing exhibit of Lennon’s characteristic drawings, at the Open House Gallery ,New York. The exhibit will benefit City-Meals-On-Wheels, which funds 85 community-based agencies that bring weekend, holiday and emergency meals to homebound elderly New Yorkers who can no longer shop or cook for themselves (100% of all public donations go to the preparation and delivery of meals). Produced by Legacy Fine Art Productions, Come Together is the largest collection of Lennon’s works ever assembled and an exhibit that has travelled across the country and around the world for 15 years.

The exhibit features hand-signed pieces and limited edition prints, as well as serigraphs, lithographs, copper etchings and aqua tints, all of which are available for sale. Lennon’s inspiring and emotional sketches are also in the permanent collections of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the John Lennon Museum in Japan. For further information on Come Together go to http://www.johnlennonartwork.com/.

source: http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com

Having fun with U2 (part 3)

What's the difference between God and Bono? God doesn't walk around Dublin thinking he is Bono.

What kind of lawyers praise U2? Pro Bono lawyers.

Q: What's the best thing about you?

BONO: My nose.

ADAM: The way I might look at you.

LARRY: My dog.

EDGE: I don't snore.

Q:And what's the worst thing about you?

BONO: My nose.

LARRY: I'm black and white.

EDGE: I'm so single-minded on some things that I find it hard to keep other things together. When I'm really concentrating on an album or tour or something, a lot of other things in my life get shelved.

ADAM: I'm very bad in the mornings, grumpy. I don't say very much.

Q:: And how long does it take you to come to?

ADAM: About a litre of coffee and two hours.

If you were an animal, which animal would you be?

ADAM: A giraffe. Why? 'Cos then you'd meet other giraffes.

EDGE: One of the big cats, so I could just s-t-r-e-t-c-h out in the sun, a panther or a cheetah.

BONO: A wildebeest. You'd have to have a sense of humour with a name like that.

LARRY: Aaah! A fly. Because Bono wrote about a fly and what's good enough for Bono is good enough for me.

"If you are really good friends with The Edge, you can just call him The"- Adam

WHILE BONO IS BEING BUSY IN NEW YORK WHAT ARE THE REST DOING??

Well, The Edge participated in the movie/documentary "It Might Get Loud" and now he explains how his guitar sounds in a BBC programme called "The Story of the Guitar".

The Edge introduces his iconic guitar, the Gibson Explorer he has had with him most of his career, and explains how the band craft songs from the sounds he finds.

In the second video he tells us how his guitars sound differently in songs like "Mysterious Ways" and "The Fly" and explains a bit how the U2 characteristic sound may be born.He also
introduces the rack of instruments used in an average U2 gig; 21 in only one gig!!!! He also confesses he prefers "oldies" rather than new guitars (many of his guitars belong to the late 50´s or early 60´s to the 70's)

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/guitars/video/edge/2/

BONO COLLECTS AWARD FOR RONNIE DREW

Bono collected an honour in New York on Friday 3rd Oct - on behalf of RONNIE DREW, the late lead singer of Irish folk band THE DUBLINERS. Drew - who died in August at the age of 73 - is posthumously being handed the Spirit of Ireland Award by the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan.

Bono once said of Drew, "Ronnie is like the King of Ireland and we are his subjects."

Bono and Edge wrote "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" with Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead) and Simon Carmody.The ballad is a tribute to Ronnie Drew , former singer of the Irish folk band, The Dubliners .All the revenues from the sales went to the “Irish Cancer Society”. The song is a beautiful ballad that started as song that Ronnie would sing and ended as a tribute to his figure.

Bob Geldof, Damien Dempsey, Gavin Friday, Sinead O'Connor, Paul Brady, Paddy Casey, Mick Pyro, Mundy, Chris de Burgh, Ronan Keating, Eleanor Shanley, Mary Coughlan, Christy Moore, Andrea Corr, Shane McGowan, Jerry Fish, The Dubliners ,The Chieftains participated in that show.

source:contacmusic.com

Random U2 Quote

"Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality"

Adam Clayton