Irish Times: No further talk of compromise as U2 defends its studio.
The day before, at the completion of the first day of submissions, U2’s public relations company issued a statement which said U2 would “definitely consider moving to somewhere in the vicinity should a suitable property be offered as an alternative”. However, the planning hearing yesterday continued to hear submissions from U2’s legal team and other objectors to the proposed demolition of buildings overlooking the water.
We can’t get particularly excited about U2’s Super Bowl appearance, because 1. we don’t like American Football and, 2. We won’t get to see the game. The boys appeared at a press conference to plug their gig. Sports Illustrated writer Don Banks went and impressed his colleagues. He’s a fan: When Bono took a football and struck his own version of the Heisman pose, calling it the Hewson pose, my years of allegiance to the band paid off handsomely. As reporters around me struggled to discern the obscure reference, I casually informed them that Bono’s real name is Paul Hewson, thus the Hewson pose. (I could have added that The Edge was born David Evans, but, hey, why show off?)
Bono compared music to football: “It’s a strange thing, if you’re in a rock band and you play these venues, every night you win. It’s an odd thing to go into a crowd at the Super Bowl and realize that half of the crowd is going to go home in tears. [ thx, Lewis ]
USA Today has it all in video.
We’re not too proud to gloat: U2log.com has (finally!) won the “Best Weblog About Music” Award at The 2002 Bloggies. A thousand thank-yous to all of you who clomped over to the site and voted for us; we’ll do our best to live up to your praise. (And a thousand congratulations to my fellow staffers, and, of course, da big boss). Onwards to the 2003 Awards!
U2 have been nominated in the “Favorite Rock Act” category for the MTV Asia
Awards, alongside Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. The awards show will be held in Singapore on 2 Feb 2002, at the Singapore
Indoor Stadium. It will be hosted by Ronan Keating and Mandy Moore.
[ update 2pm: Four objections to the plans were lodged by U2, represented by solicitor Mr Christopher McGarry. Mr Harry Crosbie, who owns two adjoining studio warehouses, was also at the hearing today. THE DDDA stated the studios ‘are not worth saving’, yet have agreed to leave Harry Crosbie’s home intact.]
U2 fan Fintan Kennedy will be presenting the petition to save U2’s Hanover Studios from Demolition to An Bord Plean
[ update 29/1, U2tours.com reports a spokesperson for Interscope Records has denied these rumours ]
U2tours.com comes up with a surprising rumour: “A source working at a well-known U.S. university tells U2tours.com that Clear Channel Entertainment is in negotiations for U2 to play a series of live concerts in the U.S. in February. We’re told the plans are for about 12 shows across the country at college arenas, with dates planned in between the Super Bowl performance on Feb. 3rd and the Grammy Awards on Feb. 27th.”
Bloody ‘ell. What was that bit about ‘leaving the audience a bit hungry’ again? Well, to compensate… Womanfish.com has a nice cuppa… a gig in good aul’ Blighty lined up for us: London, August 12, 1993. And while you’re downloading mp3s to your heart’s content… please vote for U2log.com.
U2.com are featuring an interview with visual alchemist Catherine Owens, whose work on the Elevation tour was her third collaboration with the band. We learn that it was Adam Clayton’s idea to put the audience ‘in’ the stage.
A catalogue of Catherine Owens’ work can be obtained from Amazon.co.uk. Here’s a review of her ’99 exhibition at Hugh Lane.
YourBlueRoom.com have an article that looks at the work of U2’s lighting design team from a technical angle.
Bill Clinton name checks Bono in his Richard Dimbleby Lecture (14 December 2001). “Last year we had this phenomenal global effort to reduce the debt of the poorest countries in the world, with everybody from the Pope to Bono to Jesse Helms for it. Usually when everybody’s for something, there’s something wrong with it; in this case there wasn’t. “
Clinton’s full speech considers what is happening in the war against terrorism, and calls for a long-term strategy to address underlying problems in the countries involved.
The Richard Dimbleby lecture series was established in memory of broadcaster. Richard Dimbleby, who was the voice of the BBC on countless occasions, including the Queen’s Coronation and the Spanish Civil War.
Oh, how we here at U2log.com envy the journalistic standards of the UK tabloid press. Voici this article at The Sun‘s website, showing “Bono” and “Ali” romping in NYC’s Central Park with their baby (ahem. SINGULAR baby. Just the one). “Close” examination of the photos yields humorous results.
Former VJ, now web entrepreneur Adam Curry mentions U2 briefly on his weblog. He writes about the failure of a recent on line chat with Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander and his bride to be.
KPN, who hosted the chat, say the event was targeted by a DoS-attack, but Curry claims they should have been prepared for it.
He states: “We’ve done 65,000 simultaneous users in a chat with Bono at u2.com and even though Bono isn’t [yet] a royal, even that was tough so I can only imagine the traffic for the royal couple.”