U2News: May 10, 2000
Prarit
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NEWS dates:
Australian Rolling Stone features MDH added May 10
Northside People: Charity efforts pulled 'a few heartstrings' for Larry
added May 10
Launch: Happy Birthday, Bono! added May 10
A few birthday mentions added May 10
NY Daily News: Chris Blackwell's New Venture added May 10
Irish Independent: Bono at 40 added May 10
Music365: Bono's Birthday added May 9
New Zealand Herald: Bono mention in Wenders article added May 9
New Zealand Herald: MDH Review added May 9
Report from Dublin (mentions seeing Bono and Adam) added May 9
German U2 Community attempt to raise 2000DM for Bono's birthday added
May 9
Boston Globe: Winterboy, the next U2? added May 9
Wired: U2 mention in Negativland review added May 9
New York Times: Obligatory U2 mention in Negativland review added May 9
NY Daily News: Rushdie likes Pink Floyd added May 9
Irish Times: Renovated Project Arts Centre to Reopen added May 9
Irish Music Newsletter: Bono the Artist added May 8
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Thanks to David Lineage for the following:
I picked up the June 2000 issue of the Australian
"Rolling Stone" magazine, because one of the
headers on the cover was "Bono's New Album".
There is a nice, six page article/interview regarding
"The Million Dollar Hotel" (movie and soundtrack), as
well as great photos of Bono, Milla&Jeremy in a movie
scene, Wenders and Bono&Edge with lambs.
Within the article there is also a section where Bono
talks about the soundtrack songs he was involved in:
The Ground Beneath Her Feet", "Never Let Me Go",
"Falling at Your Feet", "Stateless" and "Dancin' Shoes".
Furthermore, in the album reviews section of the
magazine is a review of the soundtrack.
For anyone looking for the magazine, it features the
Red Hot Chili Peppers on the cover.
--------------
Condensed from The Northside People:
Clontarf mum is sick children's saviour
Hailed as an unsung hero by all who know her, Northsider Janice
Ryan has raised thousands of pounds for the Children's Hospital
in Temple Street.
Meeting world famous pop stars, releasing record breaking songs
and sitting down with the countryís leaders is all in a day's work for
the Clontarf mother of two.
She is tireless in her efforts to provide sick children with comfortable
and modern facilities in a hospital that has become one of busiest in
Europe.
Over 50,000 children -- suffering from cuts and bruises to life ending
diseases -- are admitted every year and conditions at the busy
hospital were once described as 'Dickensean'.
Seven years ago Janice had a different set of priorities on her mind,
however, as her daughter Jade was rushed into the same hospital
suffering from pneumonia.
It was while she nervously waited in the rundown corridors and
witnessed the poor conditions endured by parents of terminally ill
children that she felt she should offer some help.
She suggested to the head sister, Sr Bernadette, that the walls
could do with a lick of paint as they were peeling and contributing to
the grim atmosphere at the hospital.
She took it upon herself to contact Crown Berger who sent over a
truckload of paint in 48 hours, enough to cover two entire wards.
The immediate effect was astounding: the place instantly enjoyed a
breath of fresh air as the wards were given a new lease of life,
literally brightening the days of some of the sickest children in the
country.
Janice thought that such success with relatively little effort was
worthy of a follow up and she engaged an artist to come along and
add some cartoon characters to the walls.
What started off as a nice gesture gradually turned into an
mammoth task for Janice as she took the cause of the hospital onto
her shoulders.
Janice got the [fundraising] ball rolling when she took part in a
charity
day out in Dun Laoghaire as part of the 'Fun Factory' event for kids.
That event raised over £5,000 for the hospital.
A series of smaller events over the years led to a collaboration with
legendary bluesman Don Baker who took a great interest as an
inner city neighbour of the hospital.
Together they released a single entitled 'Little Angel' which finally
turned the public eye towards the plight of the hospital. It was then
that the donations started rolling in.
Through her contacts in the music trade, Janice convinced some of
the top names in Irish music to throw their talents behind a
compilation album which went on the shelves last November
entitled 'Forgotten Angels'.
Boyzone, Enya, Christy Dignam, the Coors, Van Morrison, Phil
Coulter, Brian Kennedy, The Dubliners and U2 added to the track
playlist after being hounded by Janice for their support.
"Getting U2 on board proved an impressive coup as they do not
donate tracks because everyone would want a piece of them for
charity work," explains Janice, "but it seems that Larry Mullen spent
time in the hospital as a sick kid and our efforts pulled a few
heartstrings for him."
Janice is currently involved in getting 'Forgotten Angels 2' off the
ground, expected for release early next year.
--------------
From Launch:
Happy Birthday, Bono!
(5/10/00, 3 p.m. ET) - U2 frontman Bono celebrates a milestone today
(May 10) --
the singer is turning 40 years old. The band continues to work on their
upcoming,
still untitled album, which is still slated for release in September.
At this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, U2
manager Paul
McGuinness told LAUNCH that the record will be a more straightforward,
energetic,
rocking affair than some of their more recent projects, with far less
electronics. In
addition, Bono challenged "anyone to make a better rock record this
year" during
a recent online chat session, and he added, "We have 15 of the best U2
songs
ever written, [which are] very noisy, bursting with vitality and life
force." Expect a
tour behind the album to kick off early next year.
It should come as no surprise that U2 is making a big rock record, since
Bono once
claimed the band is rooted in groups that have had a big impact. "We
always wanted
to be that band," he said. "We saw the Beatles or the Who or the Sex
Pistols or,
you know, whatever it was. We just wanted to be bold."
One thing Bono has never been afraid of is the group's popularity and
commercial
success. He said he grew up in a different climate, and he's happy
things have
changed. "In Europe, it was 'against the law' to be at Number One. To
sell records,
sell a lot of records, was to sell out or something; there was that
attitude. And
thankfully, certainly in the U.K. and, and in Ireland, that attitude's
over, because
it led to a kind of miserablism."
-- Bruce Simon, New York
--------------
From the Chicago Tribune:
U2's Bono, 40
From the Miami Herald:
Rock singer Bono (U2) is 40.
From Yahoo!:
Rock singer Bono (U2) is 40.
From Virtual New York:
U2 frontman Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, in 1960
(age 40).
(Prarit's note: Let's not forget Jordan Hewson who also turns
11 today!)
--------------
From New York Daily News:
CHRIS BLACKWELL - THE LEGENDARY music man who launched
Bob Marley, U2 and Steve Winwood - just tuned in $100 million with
the help of entertainment mogul Frank Biondi.
Biondi, the former Viacom and Seagram honcho who set up investment
fund WaterView Partners last year, is one of a group of blue chip
investors who have agreed to back Blackwell, music insiders said.
Blackwell confirmed the deal and said his other angels are Gateway
chief Ted Waitt, big-time media investment banker Herb Allen's Allen
& Co., and Chase Capital Partners. The cash will be used to pump up
his fledgling movie and film company, Palm Entertainment Properties.
"This allows us to grow faster than the first time," Blackwell said,
referring
to Island, which he launched from a tiny office in Kingston, Jamaica,
back in 1959 and built into a rock and pop powerhouse. "Our goal is to
do what we did with Island Records: create a base for talent."
Fiercely independent and outspoken, Blackwell, 63, left Island three
years
ago after clashing with the label's owner, PolyGram, over artistic
direction.
Soon after he set up Palm, he acquired record label Rykodisc and
produced
several small independent films, including hip-hop movie "Black and
White"
and the comedy "The Cup," about Buddhist monks obsessed with the
World Cup.
For Biondi, the Blackwell deal comes on the heels of a recent investment
in theatrical magazine Stagebill. The showbiz veteran and his partners
have
funded about 50 media and Internet deals since creating WaterView.
--------------
From The Irish Independent:
Bono at 40
At an age when other rock stars would pack it in favour of
other pursuits, U2's front man, who turns the Big Four-O
today, goes from strength to strength reinventing himself.
George Byrne briefly assesses his contribution to rock music
and planet earth
How long to sing this song? - U2, 40
When U2 used the above lyric as the coda to their 1983
album War there were some who felt that the band were
giving themselves a possible cut-off date, albeit with a line
considerably less snappy than Pete Townshend's immortal
``Hope I die before I get old .'' Alas, with typical perversity
the `40' of the title referred to Psalm 40, from whence the
phrase comes , rather than the age at which the band would
lay down their instruments and retire to other pursuits. And
as he celebrates reaching the big Four-O today Bono is
doubtless already preparing another persona to go with the
next U2 album, due in late summer, so he'll be chanting
refrains at us for some time to come.
In one of those bizarre twists of history beloved by
conspiracy theorists, Bono was born four days after a US
spy-plane pilot Gary Powers was shot down over the former
Soviet Union and the world's media was gripped by what
became known as `the U2 incident', the U2 in question then
being the craft under Powers' control. With Bono at the front
the good ship U2 has frequently come under attack from
various quarters but, after almost a quarter-century together,
the quartet are now virtually invulnerable to outside
assaults. Yet even though they're far and away the most
successful band this country has ever produced their singer
retains the capacity to provoke and irritate in equal measure.
Before Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry
Mullen Jr. became the globe-gobbling giants of the
mid-to-late 80s their live shows were precariously balanced
between the inspirational and the embarrassing, with
Bono's performance inevitably deciding the outcome and,
more often than not, tipping the scales towards the latter
category. There was no doubting that he was a driven,
compulsively watchable performer even when barking out
ropey covers of the likes of 2-4-6-8 Motorway in the Project
Arts Centre back when they were still called The Hype but
just because someone genuinely believes in what they're
doing it doesn't necessarily follow that it's good. The quirky,
awkward and naive young man who desperately wanted
every audience to love his band frequently encountered
hostility at hometown gigs, yet used it to his own advantage
particularly so when U2 began touring America in 1980.
Confused outsiders have traditionally made the best
Rock'n'Roll frontmen and Bono is no exception. The
youngest son to parents of a mixed marriage, he grew up in
Dublin's Cedarwood Road (which is certainly in Ballymun
but may as well be on a different planet from Ballymun, if
you get my drift) and hung around with a group of
artily-inclined adolescent malcontents who inhabited the
imaginary Lypton Village (most of their teen contemporaries
were more concerned with the magical properties contained
in flagons of Linden Village). Several of these went on to
form one of Ireland's worst ever bands , The Virgin Prunes,
and the influence of former Prunes singer Gavin Friday is
definitely in evidence on Bono's stagework from 1992's Zoo
TV tour onwards.
U2's unique sound (principally down to the innovative guitar
playing of The Edge) coupled with Bono's `Love us! Please!'
attitude and the Christian beliefs of all bar Adam won them
an audience at home and in the UK but also attracted a
certain amount of suspicion and derision. The gushing
emotion of the singer was completely at odds with the
reserved cool deemed mandatory for hip bands in the UK
but this proved a major bonus across the Atlantic, where the
band worked their guts out to build an utterly devoted
following.
Bono's messianic persona really began to manifest itself
from the War tour onwards, when he took to brandishing a
white flag at the climax of the set, this particular phase
reaching its apogee (or nadir, depending on where you
stood) with his plunge into the audience at Live Aid during
an extended and unplanned extension of Bad. Afterwards
the rest of the band, and manager Paul McGuinness, felt that
this excursion had effectively blown it for them but the
millions watching on TV saw things differently and two years
later they found themselves on the cover of Time magazine
following the unprecedented success of their fifth studio
album The Joshua Tree.
Phil Joanou's film of that jaunt Rattle And Hum and the
subsequent Lovetown tour saw the music world divided as
never before on the band. For some reason best known to
himself Bono had developed a voice for his many onstage
announcements which sounded remarkably like John
Wayne, as he railed against apartheid, the IRA and
whatever else came into his head. Added to that, the
deliberate attempt to portray U2 as part of the pantheon of
Rock'n'Roll greats (while dressed like a bunch of Quaker
cowboys) grated enormously as the band became the
po-faced epitome of Conscience Rock, and found
themselves brilliantly parodied by The Joshua Trio.
The turn of the decade saw U2 take stock and return with a
new sound in Achtung Baby and a brace of new personas
for Bono in the shape The Fly and MacPhisto. The latter
owed more than a little to the Weimar Republic cabaret
schtick which Gavin Friday had been dabbling with since the
Prunes mercifully split while The Fly was little more than
Bono dressed in leather and bug-eyed shades and
high-stepping onto the stage in a manner which recalled
Bruce Forsyth's traditional entrance on The Generation
Game. The hi-tech concept of Zoo TV was certainly
innovative as regards the stadium circuit but being asked to
swallow that U2 had gone from stern saviours to ironic
iconoclasts in the space of two years was a bit much. On the
European leg of the tour the set featured a satellite link-up
with the besieged Sarajevo, which was undoubtedly
well-intentioned but seemed to me little more than the
Conscience Rock equivalent of a fifteen-minute drum solo.
Once a preacher ...
On the PopMart tour in 1997 Bono seemed a different beast
entirely, possibly revelling in the fact that this would be their
last global jaunt on such a huge scale. Relaxed, funny and
genuinely moving at times, the Belfast show was one of the
finest stadium shows I've ever seen and Bono was in superb
form. With a young family to raise not to mention a vast
fortune earned Bono certainly doesn't need to flog himself
around the globe to prove a point, to himself or anyone else.
The forthcoming album should provide sufficient stimulus to
occupy him but he just can't sit still, being photographed
with the Pope to support the eradication of Third World debt,
paddying it up with Chris Evans on TFI Friday and scripting
a movie, the godawful Million Dollar Hotel. At least he can
still have a laugh, given that his reaction to the movie's
atrocious reviews was the suggestion that maybe people
needed to see it twice to get what it was really about. Nice
one!
Ultimately, Bono has packed a hell of a lot into his 40 years
on the planet, and the fact that he's still capable of doing
things which cause people to groan ``Ah Jayzes, give it a
rest!'' is testament to a sense of mischief missing from the
current generation of MOR muppets who wouldn't be where
they are had U2 not broken the mental stranglehold which
the Irish music industry was in until the 1980s.
Oh, and I'd like to wish a belated happy birthday to Adam
Clayton, who turned 40 back in March. But then, he's not the
singer is he?
--------------
From Music365 This Day in Music:
1960, Paul Hewson (Bono), vocals, guitar, U2
(1984 UK Number Three single 'Pride, In The
Name Of Love', plus over 25 other UK Top 40
singles, 1987 UK world-wide Number One
album 'The Joshua Tree')
--------------
Condensed from the New Zealand Herald:
German director Wim Wenders has used the aforementioned
guitarist as his soundtrack guy (to his increasingly tedious
features) for years. And he still has quite some rock'n'roll
cachet (his next flick Million Dollar Hotel is based on a script
by U2's Bono).
--------------
From the New Zealand Herald:
Various - Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack
06.04.2000 -
Herald rating: ***
Island
Review: Russell Baillie
Like the soundtrack-that-wasn't Passengers, this is U2
and friends in side-project mode. Though band singer Bono
has quite a bit riding on it - he scripted the Wim Wenders-
directed, Milla Jovovich-starring film as well as featuring on
three new U2 tracks here and appearing on three others
fronting the "MDH band," a studio outfit centred around
producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and trumpeter
John Hassell.
Credits aside, there's not a lot of difference between the
brooding U2 offerings - the swirling opener The Ground
Beneath Her Feet (setting Salman Rushdie's words to
music) or the equally dreamy Stateless and The First Time
- and the grandly languid atmospheres elsewhere.
But it's an unsatisfying collection. Ethereal, certainly, but
mannered and with little, er, edge. And it can get a little
strange too, like when Bono does his Nina Simone
impression on Dancin' Shoes or when Jovovich painfully
warbles a highly fast-forwardable version of Lou Reed's
Satellite of Love.
Still, fans of arthouse U2 might find Million Dollar Hotel
worth checking into. And there's always that movie,
one day.
--------------
Thanks (as always!) to Derek McAllister for the following:
Over the past two days alot of the Irish and British Tabloids
are running stories on Bono reaching 40, today the Irish Star
has a 2 page pullout about his past 40 years etc. The Sun
has a great picture of Bono, Ali and a Sun reporter presenting
him with flowers and a birthday card at last nights art
exhibition by Guggi.
I work on Barrow Street, it is a run down old street and I only
found out yesterday that the Factory recording studio is on the
same street in fact the studio is a one minute walk from where
I work. I just popped over there during lunch and Bono and
Adam were sitting outside in the car park sunning themselves
(topless!). I did not bother my arse going over to them as they
looked relaxed and just having a chat. I am going to get a
birthday card tomorrow and drop it over there tomorrow. As far
as I know they are recording between HQ (Hanover Quay) and
the Factory, both studios are within a half a mile of each other.
--------------
The German U2 community as also had a fundraiser
for Bono's birthday. The funds currently total 1874DM,
and they hope to break 2000DM.
They are also asking people donating to write a message
to Bono on a 2cmX5cm note -- these notes will be
assembled into a large card that will be given to Bono on
his birthday.
Email Christine Piefke at cpi...@bfs.de or see
http://www.u2news.de for information on donating.
--------------
Condensed from The Boston Globe:
Boy of winter
Winterboy, a.k.a. Alan Winter, has been in the music business
long enough to have a lot of guitars stolen and a lot of guitars in
hock. Some might give up in the face of such adversity. Most would
give up after a musical epiphany leads them to believe they should
become the next U2. But not Winter, who, after - yes! - a second
epiphany during a Martin Sexton show, morphed into Winterboy,
his musical alter ego. It seems to be panning out. Winterboy
continues his Tuesday-night residency at the Kendall Cafe tonight
with special guest Mary Lou Lord. More opens. At 9 p.m.
233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., Cambridge, 617-661-0993.
--------------
Condensed from Wired:
Of course, the evening couldn't be considered
complete without a nod to the single that got
Negativland in a heap of trouble in 1990-95: Their
send-up of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm
Looking For," replete with Top 40 pitchman Casey
Kasem's apoplectic off-air tantrums.
--------------
Condensed from the New York Times:
In 1991 [Negativland] ran afoul of U2 and Island
Records when it released a single called "U2" that
used U2's logo on the package and a distorted
sample from a U2 song; it was forced to withdraw
the single. Now, Negativland sells lapel buttons
that read, "Copyright Infringement Is Your Best
Entertainment Value."
--------------
Condensed from New York Daily News:
But Rushdie told us he still got a lift from Pink Floyd.
"I'm an old guy," the 52-year-old said modestly, even
though he has written a song with U2's Bono. "Of
course," Rushdie added with a smile, "I never inhaled."
--------------
Condensed from The Irish Times:
Radical renovation for artists' centre
by Robert O'Byrne
After two years of work at a price tag of £3.5 million, Dublin's Project
Arts Centre will show off its renovated space for the first time this
week.
The centre's artistic director, Ms Kathy McArdle, insists that behind
its
dazzling new facade of glass, steel and concrete painted electric blue,
the place's old spirit remains. "The Project," she says, "is a
subversive,
innovative, radical place where artists can make challenging work."
The Project Arts Centre first started 34 years ago as a voluntary,
artist-led co-operative founded by four visual artists - John Behan,
Michael Kane, John Kelly and Charles Cullen - and Colm O Briain,
who later became director of the Arts Council.
From the very start, the centre had a reputation for iconoclastic
innovation and for offering alternatives to mainstream cultural
activity.
Having been housed in various locations around the city, in 1974 the
Project found a permanent home in a former printing works at 39 East
Essex Street.
The centre's roll-call of names from the past includes actors who have
found international fame such as Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne,
directors Neil Jordan and Peter Sheridan, U2 and Rough Magic
Theatre Company.
The Project officially reopens on June 10th with a show of work by
nine international artists.
--------------
From Irish Music Newsletter:
Gerry Callan, Editor
BONO THE ARTIST
Leading Irish painter Guggi (Derek Rowan) has expressed his opinion this
week that U2 frontman Bono (Paul Hewson) may still not have found his
true
vocation -- that of a painter. The charismatic Dublin rock star has been
feted for his humanitarian efforts in recent times while his music has
touched millions, but Guggi (a school friend from times past) believes
that Bono could easily have become one of the country's best known
painters had he chosen a different direction. He said, "We painted an
awful lot and when it came to certain things within painting he was as
good as I was and in some ways he was better. There's no doubt he could
have developed as a fine painter had he chosen to do that. I think his
real passion was always music but he certainly does have a real gift for
painting and I wish he did it more. Perhaps he will sometime." Guggi is
godfather to Bono and Ali's son Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q Hewson,
with
the name Guggi being given to him in recognition of the fact that it was
Guggi that originally christened him Bono all those years ago.
--------------
Click HERE for earlier stories.
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Releases:
Johnny Cash 3-CD set, "Love, God, and Murder". The CD titled "God"
has liner notes written by Bono. May 23, 2000
Next Propaganda Official Fan Magazine: Release, TBA, expected before
release of new album. Magazine will be accompanied by lU2
"Hasta La Vista Baby!" CD. The Tracklist is as follows:
UK fan club only 14-trk live CD in unique card P/S incl Pop
Muzik, Mofo, I Will Follow, Gone, New Year's Day, Staring At
The Sun, Bullet The Blue Sky, Please, Where The Streets
Have No Name, Lemon - Perfecto Mix, Discotheque, With Or
Without You, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me & One all
recorded live in Mexico 3rd December 1997 HASTACD1
New U2 album (title unknown) -- expected to be September 2000.
All information on this album can be found at
http://www.youtwo.net/newalbuminfo.html
Concerts/Live Events/Appearances:
Bono, "Video Killed The Radio Star," VH1 documentary premieres on
Monday, May 8 at 10:00 PM ET/PT and concludes on Thursday, May 11
MTV Europe U2 Weekend: May 13-14
Confirmed: U2 at Prarit's house, August 31, 2000
Net Events:
U2 will be showing POPMart online for free on June 8, 2000.
See http://www.U2.burst.com for more information
--------------
Fan Club/WIRE/U2 nutzoid meetings:
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U2News: http://www.YouTwo.net
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