ELEVATE YOUR STEREO

In the latest issue of Ireland rock magazine Hot Press, the Stereo MC’s (back with a new album 9 years after the brilliant ‘Connected’) comment on their stint on the road with U2’s Zoo TV tour: “I can’t diss anything about that ‘cos it was great and U2 were brilliant and everybody on the tour was really friendly, but it just wasn’t really what we should’ve been doing. These shows tend to be once every four days, and there was a lot of dead time just kicking around imploding on ourselves, ‘cos you can’t just zip back to England for a couple of days and try to do something creative…” I suppose another go at it is out of the question then? Let’s face it, they were the best band ever to open for U2 and they’d be brilliant for the Elevation tour.

PLEASE, DON’T

The Edge tells the San Francisco Chronicle “ I think if any of us really seriously could have gone on to a solo career, we already would have.”
I guess our dreams of a “Larry Mullen Jr: Ambient Music to Seethe By” album won’t be realised. Wonder what else we’ve missed.

REVEALED

U2 are mentioned in this Guardian interview with Michael Stipe, but the really interesting part of the conversation comes when the interviewer suggests REM’s album title suggests: ‘[…] some of the prevailing themes – the album, for instance, seems full of spiritual imagery and allusion, seems underpinned by the notion of elevation, ascension, of uplift, both physical and spiritual?’ Stipe answers: “That’s an interesting take,” he nods, apparently serious and reflective, “and Peter [Buck] has been saying the same thing.”

Later it is suggested REM’s new songs: “[…] seem to hover around what Brian Eno once pinpointed as one of the key unspoken ideas of our time: spirituality without religion, without the notion of God.” And Stipe replies: “[ …] it seems endemic in our generation that, as you get older, you start looking for spiritual meaning. People who reach their forties often seem to start patching together some version of a belief system.”

BITTER SWEET

Jam! goes to Miami and likes what it sees. Well, most of it. “Unfortunately, the show began to lag in the middle with one-too-many slow-tempoed numbers, like the new songs, Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of and In A Little While along with Sweetest Thing — which had never been played live before and should never be again…”

“THERE’S A MR BONO AT THE DOOR

… says he’s gonna let down your tyres.”

“Anyone is welcome to tape our shows and pass them around to their friends. But if you start selling them, we will find where you park your car and we will pay you a little visit.”
– Bono, in Propaganda.

BALLS, BATS, PONCEY SHOES…

Pssst, from the Sunday Age’s sport section, features Bono paired with Australian cricketer Mark Waugh in its weekly `Separated at Birth’ section. [sorry, no scan]
“It’s not just the lairy shades, or the fact that they spent most of the 1980s with pretty awful mullet haircuts. Both men have had their share of big hits, and pushed their share of sharp singles. And they’ve been part of the most successful outfits of recent times. It doesn’t matter if it’s hit like a bullet, Mark Waugh’s always ready for the edge, while Bono always looks ready for a No.1 with a bullet when combined with The Edge…”

Sam Beckett

We just read something Irish poet Samuel Beckett said:

“Beckett: “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
The friend: “Yes, it makes one glad to be alive.”
Beckett: “Aw now, I wouldn’t go that far..”

It seemed appropriate.

YOU SPIN ME ROUND

U2 Guatamala have scans of the recent Spin cover and article on U2. And we were also pointed to a Sunday Times article we’d missed. Check the cute picture: “We’ve never been cool, we’re hot. Irish people are Italians who can’t dress, Jamaicans who can’t dance.” Adam makes the most poignant remark: “I’m not sure you ever get to be an ex-rock star. You can get to be a fading star. That might be a tragedy, but you never get to be an ex.”