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New Blackberry Loves U2 Ad

That’s what happened to me a few months ago when I was adding yet another one to the pile and my dresser wouldn’t shut completely. Me being somewhat of a neat freak, this bugged me to the point of taking many of them to Goodwill and sorting the rest into piles (travel, concerts, etc.). The pile that was the largest was easily the U2 pile (21 shirts in all).

So, I decided to do what I did a few years ago when I had the same problem: hire someone to craft a quilt of those memories. It’s a practical way to recycle, a space saver (in my drawers, at least), and an easy conversation starter when hosting visitors.

Said quilt arrived in the mail today. Though I didn’t only use concert shirts (or even all the U2 shirts I have), all of the ones shown below have something to do with the band (i.e. in the bottom left corner is my first ONE shirt from volunteering for the campaign). I can’t stop looking at it, remembering all of the good times I had.

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U2, Keeping Me Warm at Night

He writes about the frock on his blog and mentions more possible “surprises to come.”

I can hardly wait!

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Fashion Update: Where Bono’s Cool Jacket Came From

Thanks to this awesome video shot by U2gigs.com, we have an answer.

Your thoughts? Cool? Awkward?

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About that steering wheel microphone…

But something I like about artificial gatherings such as this, are the ‘networking cocktail parties’ where everyone sort of lets their guard down (after a few drinks, at least) and talks about things other than work.

When it’s my turn, the topic almost always shifts to film (because of my screenwriting and/or my podcast) and of course, U2.

And (I do mean) every time, a random person (usually a casual U2 fan, or even a non-fan) has a story about how they/their spouse/their sibling/their 5th grade math teacher met Bono and had a meaningful encounter with him.

Last night it was a sweet woman from another Seattle school whose path I had crossed several months ago at an event, and she recalled the last time U2 played Seattle (April, 2005). It seems her friends were out and about on that bright, sunny day (I remember it well) and they stumbled upon B-man, who was gracious and kind and chatty and all the things you want your rock star heroes to be. And then they all went on with their day.

I wasn’t surprised, nor was I unhappy that she was sharing a lovely memory about my favorite band with me. But I was envious. Okay…maybe even a little jealous.

And I wonder aloud: why is it that someone like me, who has lived and breathed this band in some capacity for more than half my life, has never bumped into any of the four of them, yet has heard from dozens of fans who may or may not care much about U2, yet have experienced an impromptu Bono meet-and-greet? I’m not implying that people like me are entitled to anything extra, or deserve a special ‘moment’ for our loyalty (after all, their concerts have delivered some of the greatest ‘moments’ of my life). I just find it statistically very odd.

Any of my fellow die-hards out there have similar experiences?

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(Not another) Bono story!

This image has been posted in our forum a couple times now (like here), but I don’t remember where it originally came from. It’s a photo from last week’s rehearsals in Barcelona, and the thing I circled looks like a steering wheel hanging down, with a microphone attached.

What the %$#!%#$????????

Anyone have an educated guess what that thing really is, or what it might be?

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What’s with the steering wheel microphone?

Now we play with judo, where you use the force of the opponent to defend yourself. All this sh*t that was comin’ at us – rather than try and pin it down and make sense of it or dodge it, we actually just surfed it, this big tidal wave. That’s what happens when a band starts taking off. You’ve come from a fairly humble background and suddenly you’ve got all this stuff going on in your head and in your life – and we’ve seen what this can do to people – and we thought, ‘No…let’s just surf it. All this stuff that you’re faced with being in a big band, through the media, or whether it’s the economics of it, just let it all be an energy’

And musically, you know, there are some very bogus ideas about what is ‘authentic.’ A lot of people might thing that to be pure you have to, y’know, use a real kit of drums, a Fender guitar, and a cable straight into you know, this whole idea of “This is organic.” And, of course, the irony is that back when Bob Dylan did that it was a heresy ’cause you couldn’t be authentic if you plugged in your guitar. And now, it’s the same thing in a different way. I think we have to get over this idea of what is authentic and not judge things by the obvious measures.”

Later in the article, Bono gives us this gem:

“Another liberation of what we’re doing is not having to apologize for any of it.” Bono explains, “This thing about the typical shy guy in rock…” He laughs, looking down at his lap, whispering, ‘Oh, I’m this shy guy. I don’t know how I got in this really loud kind of band and it’s all a bit much for me and I don’t know how I got signed to this major label…’ I think we’ve gotten to the point now where it’s just, ‘Give us a break,’ you know. ‘F*** off. ‘ If you’re shy, there’s a lot of things you’re gonna be doing, but you’re probably not gonna be the lead singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band. You’d be a potter or something. I mean, all of us are more comfortable or less comfortable with fame, that’s just part of it. But you join a band to see how far you can take it.”

Any guesses so far as to the year? Here’s one last one that might give it away:

“It’s gonna be extraordinary,” he gushes. “Nothing like you’ve ever seen. Put simply, we’re taking a supermarket on the road with us. It’s really fun. I shouldn’t say too much, but…we found this thing in Hong Kong that we’re using, these large jumbotron screens, but they’ve moved the pixels like four or five inches, so, like, a screen that would be in Times Square….We got quite excited by this. It’s hard to describe, but it’s not so much about images as colors and feelings. We’ve found this extraordinary palette, it’ll be huge, like 150 feet by 50 feet….It’s hard for me to not talk about it, but I guess I shouldn’t give it all away.”

Yup you guessed correctly – 1997. The article was in Raygun magazine.

Even though 12 years have passed, there are a few interesting ironies: first, it seems like Bono and the band have been doing nothing *but* apologizing for Pop and Popmart to an extent, so I’m not sure just how liberating the Pop era really was for them. Second is that Bono was just as excited about the U2 360 tour during the press junkets for No Line on the Horizon’s release as he was about describing PopMart.

Speaking of PopMart, there is something more in common with U2360 than just playing in stadiums with a huge stage. You can *still* find tickets at regular price for almost every North American show on Ticketmaster. This tour has not sold out. To me, I’m dumbfounded that a limited-engagement U2 tour has not sold out in the States. For some smaller markets, like Raleigh and Tampa, you can *STILL* pull four tickets together – yup, that’s right…FOUR! And for both Tampa and Raleigh, it’s not just the $250 range tickets that can still be pulled. I was able to pull four together in the $95 range too.

I know that Matt brought up the sluggish album sales in OTR, but to also see some sluggishness in concert tickets too – the market is soft. And, at least for concert tickets, no one can claim that the sales figures are down because someone ripped off the music. I hope that for these smaller markets, the stadiums aren’t as empty as they were for PopMart.

Anyway, it’s fun to catch up on my magazines…even if I am 12 years behind in reading some of ‘em!

By the way – if you want to follow my (mis)adventures of avoiding U2360 tour news and gossip, I’m tweeting about my experiences. I hope to stay as not-in-the-know until my September show at Gillette Stadium. I’m sort of failing, thanks to people “sharing” spoilers with me forgetting that I don’t want to know…but people are getting better at not letting me in on the news. (Thanks to those who are helping me on this journey.) I’ll write an @U2 article about the whole experience in late September.

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Name That Year

Neil McCormick, longtime friend of the band, longtime music writer, author of the Killing Bono: I Was Bono’s Doppelganger book, and ghost/co-writer of U2 by U2, read the article and wrote a lengthy reply on his personal web site: Bono – a case for the defence.

There is only one Bono. And I’ve got a question for Word and all the other Bono critics who seem to be so offended by his existence. What does it say about them, that the rock star they would put on trial is the one who is making the most effort to do some good in the world?

You go, Neil. Bono’s certainly not immune to criticism, but at least he’s trying to do something.

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From ‘Killing Bono’ to Defending Bono

Click here to learn more and good luck!

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Attention Seattle Fans: June 16 is U2esday on The Mountain

Kudos go to Babson College professor Julian Lange for recongnizing Bono for having “that certain something”:

Bono is illustrative of the broadening role in society for entrepreneurs. Through his organization, ONE, he has helped to persuade governments to forgive $100 billion worth of debt. Like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, he has used his expertise, his fame, and his contacts to make some truly impressive gains.

BTW: Steve Jobs made it onto three lists, and Bill Gates tied Wendy Kopp for two lists a piece. But Lange was the only one of the six experts who put Bono on his list Quel dommage!

Read who else is on the lists here.

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Bono’s je ne sais quoi